Norwich bulletin., 1918-10-16
FACTS AND COMMENT


 as fast as, weather and shipping will permit. The Allies are iil control of most of Karelia, the region between Finland and the White Sea, having dsite 6asted the b9lsheviki from their military base that the Germans had fortified for thei1i. On the 6ther Side of the White Sea a combined Nmefi- can, British; French and Russian ex- petition has advanced more than 200 miles up the Dwiha fiyef from Arch angel Operating both from the stream and from both banks. Along the ,faii- soHthward from AfeAangei toward Vologda another force is making it's way, this als6 containing an American contingent. Warfare in this region Is a combination of trefich and Indian lighting, the former along the f;l;lWay and iii the cleared spaces, the latter in the dense forests where it is ifl order, to stalk the eneffiy. The Bol- sheviki f6b, murder and destroy as they are driven back, while the vil- 1agers welcome the Allies as deliver CTS. provisional government along denlocratic lines is already iii eX- istenee in northern Russia and it's power advances along with the forces of peace and order. Were it not for the wireless, the world would bretty nearly lose track of the Russian ex- petition for the next half year The region lies as far north as Greeen- land or the Kiondike The White Sea Is frozen from October till May and there can be no material connection between the men and their homelands save by the precarious route through a possibly hostile Finland and so will be tales to tell wh,n the long lIIGe ef1 l v0 Inf iG
 "Every place but Norwich so far as 1 can find out" said a local citizen Sunday morning celebrated the com ing of peace last night And indeed great shout of joy did go up quite generally throughout the land on the receipt of the news that Germany had declared her acceptance of the Presi- dents terms, as if thereby the war had been ended and victory secured. Perhaps Norwich was not so far wrong in withholding her enthusiasm until there should be something more ldependa ble to rely on than the word of the Kaiser This premature eX- u1tation in the approach of peace is sadly out of place in America. It is only in Berlin that the crowds are right in rejoicing. Peace for Ger many means rescue peace for Ameri- | ca signifies defeat. Let Germany withdraw to her own fortified frontier, and with all Russia to draw on years 1 might eIapse before that barrier could be forced. Crush her armies now l where they stand or at least drive them home with munitions abandoned | and morale lost and there will no 1 longer exist the means to defend the 1 frontier.
 The sole advantage to the allies ] in the present situation aside from what Foch is winning from them day
 by day is the admission by the Ger man staff that the victory grasped fof 1 is hopelessly out of reach, that in fact ! they made a mistake in the summer
 of 1914 when they declared that ''the | day" had come Whatever the indiv- idual German soldier may have felt iTl
 his own heart, there was always be-
 fore him the official declaration that victory was in sight after one more
 effort He cannot fail to know that he has been deceived. His invincible Hindenburg has been defeated; his all-highest kaiser has lied! To fight
 a winning fight is possible be the cause right or wrong. Victory is ir itself intoxicating. and while victory was theirs, the German soldiers die
 not inquire. too closely as to the meth cd or purpose of their leaders. Witt
 the hope of victory admittedly gone
 the spirit of fighting is lost. Only il a righteous cause does one put up brave losing fight. This is wha Belgium and France have done fo
 four terrible years. They knew the!
 were right and in that knowledge no all the might of Germany could defea
 them. A seant three months of de | ho fi their oppressor the knowledge of fail
 ure. The moral condemnation of tn of victory becomes a crushing bur whole world though negligible in tim den when defeat staTes the outlaw na tion in the face. In one of his cele ] brated textbooks on war Genera Foch has this quotation: "A los. bat : tie is battle one believes himself t have lost This means that tn Germans, having suffered a moral de 7 feat are ripe for a material defea and Foch is the last man to yield tn advantage he has won.
 , When one compares the weeks an , months that Germany suffered
 elapse in tic conduct of the Lusitani
 correspondence, nothing is more indi
 cative of her dire need of an armistic than the haste with which she is car ? rying on the present exchanges = Prince Maximilian's first note boI
 date of Oct. 8. The presidents not
 of inquiry was sent Oct. g. The Ger
 man reply came Oct F and two day
 later the President gave his definit s answer. Nine days has thus suffice t for an exchange of notes whose re
 suits may be epoch making.
 2 The part of President Wilson l reply to the German Government ths
 most appeals to the popular mind : America is the unqualified statemer n that evacuation and arrnistice al c matters for the miliatry to decic
 upon, and that absolutely satfsfactor
 1 guarantees of our present militar d supremacy are essential To put . concrete1y, Foch will decide and if d does agree to let Germany withdra
 her armies from their present precaI e lous situation, it will be on conditio # that the allies occupy such strateg | points or German soil as Cologn Coblentz, Metz and Strassbur
 thereby assuring himself of sue z a hold on Germany that she will da = do naught but accept dictated peac Q Germany need go further back
 history than 1914 to find ample prt e cedent for this. When she was tr. a ing to deter France from taking | -, arms to back Russia in the defence
 Serbia, she stated bluntly that promise of neutrality would be wortl a less unless supported by the surrend j. l Of Tos1 and Vnrdjin as eIlarantee