The Washington herald., 1919-05-04
BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERsToN.

writer was called on the carpet be-
fore a high official in the British
foreign office and threatened. in the
most polite and suave manner imagin-
able. with deportation
Before the official. as he spoke. lay
"dossier'' containing the complete
record OF those of my actions and
stories that had been deemed worthy
OF record by the foreign office and
war office. and that dossier was at
least a foot thick.
Some rather terrifying extracts
from the secret reports Of the intel
hgence department were read to me.
gave in, and promised to be good
Was I'm Hot Water.
What got me in hot water on this
occasion, as on others in the past.
was that I had learned too much
about what was going on in Rus
sia and was too anxious to pass on
that Information to the American pub
lie
As it was. several of nv stories
from London throughout 1916 had ac-
quainted my readers from time to
time with the treason of the Cars
court to the allies and the progress
of the revolutionary plot. and so far
as / know no other newspaperman
sent over such dispatches
Britain at this time was Czarist
Russia's ally, and l desire to state
that 1 think the foreign office in its
repressive measures against my copy
was acting fairly and according to
Hoyle. and my only surprise at the
time was that they gave me as much
rope as they did.
However. on this occasion I had
gone too far. Ihad written a story.
that has never yet seen the light.
describing Russia's offer on October
Is of a separate peace to Germany
and Austria at the expense of France
and Britain.
was compelled to promise that
during the war / would write no more
accounts of the misdeeds and treach-
cry of the Car and his ministers,
and that promise / was to keep even
after the revolution in Petrograd had
taken place.
II was a promise l had to make.
when / stood shifting from one foot
to the other like schoolboy caught
at some trick. before the grave and
shocked dignitary of the British gov
ernment. for the alternative was i'm
mediate and permanent return to the
United States.
The passage OF time has now ab-
solved me from the pledge to keep
quiet. and I have recently obtained
some documents OF highest historic
importance proving what even in 1916
] knew from sure sources, that only
the Kerensky revolution prevented a
peace between Russia, Germany and
Austria fraught with most disastrous
consequences for France. Great
Britain, and the world. Had this
peace been signed the still united
Russian armies might have taken the
field against the allies during the
1919 campaign.
Betrayal Proposal.
Russia made the astonishing pro-
posaI to the central powers. on March
8. 1911. that the Suez Canal be taken
from Great Britain and placed under
the control of an international COM
mission.
This was one of the peace terms
that the agoniZed autocrats of Petro-
grad put forward in the hope Of
patching up an alliance with the
HapsburEs and Hohenzollerns before
the revolutionary storm should burst
over their heads.
They were too late. for in a week
the mobs Of the capital had risen and
i'm nine days after the Gar placed his
signature to his offer to betray his
associates he had signed his abdica-
ton. But before this last separate
peace offer there were two others.
{ am able to summarize the terms
proposed in all three.
The spring and early summer OF
1915 wer marked by Gen. Brussiloff's s
great victories in Galicia over the
Austrians. but in the autumn the
Russian premier. Sturmer. and the
leading members of the ruling clique
around the Car, had decided that the
true interest of the autocracy lay in
coming to an agreement with the
enemy dynasties.
They saw clearly by this time that
4 prolongation of the war wound
mean their downfall. and as between
accepting defeat and facing revolu-
lion they had no difficulty in deciding
that they preferred the former
Accordingly Russia, as an indication
of her change of heart betrayed
Rumania in the autumn. I wrote a
story to this effect at the time that.
needless to remark, got no further
han the files of the War Department
in London.
Promising to assist Rumania with
$4,000 troops against the possibility
of invasion. the Russian court lured
Bucharest to a rash invasion of
hungary across the Transylvanian
Alps and then. when Mackensen's
hastily concentrated army of German
storm troops took the offensive, not
only failed to send the men. but held
up the guns and ammunitions upon
which Rumania counted to enable her
10 resist.
So Russia. cleverly enough as SEEM
ID then to her rulers. removed from
the map a small state to which she
1ad been compelled to make incon-
Eenient promises Of territory.
Acceptable Terms.
1t was while this betrayal was in
progress that Count Sturmer, on Oc-
tober Is. 1916. addressed a secret peace
proposal to Berlin and Vienna
In this document he offered to tear
ap to the Pact OF London and make
separate peace. remarking that as
Russia had already more than full
hlled her obligations to her allies she
would reserve henceforth complete
freedom of action for herself
Russia offered terms that were most
acceptable to Austria-Hungary. Then
n occupation OF part of Galicia and
of her Bukowina- she proposed to
withdraw from all Hapsburg territory
and call the war with the Emperor
Charles a draw.
Bulgaria was tempted by offers of
erritories belonging not only to Rus
ia's enemy Turkey, but also to the
sery state Russia flew to arms to
iefend in 1914, Serbia.
Petrograd promised Car Ferdinand
he coveted Turkish fortress Of