Norwich bulletin., 1918-03-06
FACTS AND COMMENT

scribe to any terms that GernnaTHy might propose did not serve to halt the invasion of Russia. which accord l ing to it's leader, Gen. Hoffmann, was to continue until the peace was actu- ally signed and carried out. Some re- sistance must at last have made it. self felt however, for the city of Pskov. 160 from Petrograd, apparently l changed hands several times, while l further to the south the Germans were unable to take Vifebsk.
 !, As the invasion continued another pitifully useless proclamation was is sued urging all to a brave, heroic, obstinate and pitiless resistance.'s In | this elaboration to resist by the very
 man who deliberately destroyed his country's power of resistance the only ! logic lies dn the view that it is not Russtas fate which is in the balance but the fate of the revolution. Lenine's | belief is that any other government | than his own would be "capitalistic, ' | whether it be that of the reinstated 1 Car or only that of a group less ex- | treme than the Bolsheviki. He argues l that even though the Germans take all the soil of Russia. the spirit of the l revolution, i. e socialism, would stll be preserved and wpuld gradually work l to break down the German state. Un- | Even supposing autocracy were to win
 the peresent worldwide struggle, which may God forbid. the leaven of mans l brotherhood to man would still be working and would eventually triumph | even in Prussia. But Lenine will not | see that a Germany victorious now would establish absolutism in power over the world for years to come. A loser is apt to see very quickly where 1 he was in the wrong, but success blinds a victor and years must elapse 1 before his moral sense wakes suffici- entity to force him to condemn and forever reneunce the course that | brought him prosperity.
 | When it came to deciding who should 1 go to Brest- -Litovsk and bear the od- l ium of signing the humiliating peace terms. Trotzky fiatly refused and minor members of the BolsheViki gov ernment Were chosen. The peace act
 ually signed is very vague in some of it's terms and leaves Germany as free to interpet as she was to impose the conditions. The fate of the Bal tic provinces is entirely in her hands and even the boundaries of the Uk- raine, that fragment of Russia that first formally concluded peace, are left un-
  sia's losses are very exactly defined Not only must she give up all of Turkish Armenia that she has won in the present war, but the fruits of four former wars with Turkey are taken Il from her including the Black Sea I harbor of Batoum, the great port for the shipment of the old of the Cas- plan Sea region. One fifth of the
 worlds supply of oil comes from the
 Caspian, for this region produces more
 than all Mexico and is second only to the United States. The nation thai
 holds Batoum has in it's own power
 the entire output of this great oi
 6eld.
 IF With the utter collapse of Russia , and the eonsequentN reinforcement O the central powers, entente sympathi gers find themselves casting about fo other possible reserve forces. Natln- !. ally they think of Japan. The Anglo I Japanese treaty originally contemplat 3 | ed action in the Orient only and witt D that in view Japan early in the wa. , attacked and seized the great Germal . base at Eiao Chau, China. and there
 by eliminated Germany from the. Fla
 East. Now, however, with all Russi; open to an invader, a reentry of Ger
 
 7 Vladfvostock is piled high with wa material of both American and Japan : ese manufacture and would be ! prize worth the while of either Bol
 sheviki or Teutens, Neither must b allowed to have it and Japan is tn
 only power in position to prevent thi 5 outcome
 FI Japan is no. sounding the Allies ol ell their views of her possible action i : Siberia either singH or in commo a with one or more of them. Sing1 . there might be cause for apprehensio,
 lest she permanently retain any ter :, ritory she might presently occupy, ye ! a joint expedition is apparently out C s the question in view of the need c : all the Allies forces on the wester
 | front The Alles are it is true unite S in their determination to defeat Ger h many. and yet statesmen would be la f in their duty did they not have i . mind all possible eTentaalitieS. Henc
 Japan before embarking on any sue
 extensive enterprise as the occupatio . of Siberia, wants to know just ho7 s her allies will view such an actioI e Meantime even since the Japanes e mission visited Washington last fal
 Japanese citizens of military age hay
 been quietly closing out their bushes
 on the Pacific coast and going hom
 flor visit" as they say. but they d e not buy return tickets. And no '- news comes that there is a sinila
 exodus of Japanese citizens from Mex T ico. It cannot be without purpos # that the Mikado is thus getting a i, available forces in hand
 The American forces in France al l. now definitely located in the dispatch ,e es in at least two places on the Ion
 battle line, northwest of the fortres of Foul on the lower side of the Sa
 Mihiel salient and also about the mic
 de of the line along the Chemin ds y Danes. Both on the offensive an le the defensive these new arrivals haA n fully come up to requirements. Sl
 the Aillette valley the French wel
 preparing for a raid or the Germa A trenches and invited the ArnericaI IF who were shsa.ing the sector with the ,a to join. CSlarscteristicalIy enough u 's whole American force volunteered ar
 from them two officers and twent,
 four men were selected to make up re group of one hundred in all TT at party" wsJs successfully pulled c DC and netted twenty five prisoners il
 cluding two officers a machine gl
 and much of the information that W; ve desired The Americans proved then F. selves brave steady and resourcef to and quite the equal of the French ,0 spite of the long practice of the la ter-~
 The first real experience with Gs w man gas fell to the lot Of the Amer D. can troops occupying the sector ne ly Foul on Tuesday, Feb. 26th. Thr % men were killed and many oyercon
 but the force as whole stood the
 ground valiantly and did not perm