The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-08

our duty as an ally to Insist upon them
 Our purely military demands were so insignificant that they hardly counted The demobilization was already mak- ing excellent progress; and we had not demanded the surrender of arms or ships.
 We did not ask for Esthonia or Liv- onia- although we would have been glad to deliver our fellow-Germans and the other inhabitants from bolshevism. This demand was not made although 1t was down for discussion and became military necessity against bolshe- vism. Peace was not delayed by our demands, but merely by the revolution ary aims of the bolsheviks, and by want of resolui ion in our delegates, as well as by the attitude of Germany and Austria. where the people, being igno- rant of the world, did not understand the inner meaning of the Russian revo- lution.
 When on one occasion General Hoff- mann adopted a more uncompromising attitude in order to abbreviate the ne gotiations for military reasons and to restrict Troszky's propaganda at the same time, there was a chorus of fndig- nation in a large number of German and Aus tro- Hungarian papers, and in all those others which. like the prop aganda of the entente, talked inceS- sanity of peace by understanding.
 TROTZKY AIDED BY GERMANS
 In these circumstances Trotzky would have been fool to have given in on any point; but he was far too clever and energetic for that His tone be- came more and more provoking, al- though he had no real power behind him; his demands became more and more insistent He threatened to with draw the Russian delegates on account of lack of sincerity on the part of the German and Austrian representatives, and had the satisfaction of being re- quested to desist from this intention. which he can never seriously have en- tertained-
 Trotzky and the entente were de- lighted with the prolongation of the negotia tons; the former took every op- portunity of delaying them; he even suggested transferring them to a neu- tral locality. He proclaimed his bol-
 shevfk ideas by wireless to all the world, particularly to the German working classea The intention of the
 bolsheviks to rcvofutionise and de- stroy Germany became more and more obvious to every one who was not to- tally blind.
 BURNED WITH IMPATIENCE The negotiations made no progress; moreover by the way they were being carried on at Brest we should not only never arrive at peace, but would un- doubtedly bring about a further fall in our fighting capacity.
 All this time was at Kreuznaeh-
 burning with impatience. and urging General Hoffmann to hurry on the negotiations. He was well aware or the military necessity. but his position did not allow him to interfere with effect.
 On January IS Troszky went to Pe- trograd, where the bolsheviks dis persed the constituent assembly. In that way they showed the world their idea of freedom of the people. But the
 Germans would neither see nor learn Trot5ky had said he would be away
 only six days; he did not return until the s0th.
 On January zS, mt my request. the field marshal declared, during a con- suItatiop at Berlin, that we must have the eastern situation cleared up. Un- til it was it would be necessary to re- tain there good divisions that were fit for employment in the west. If the Russians delayed matters auy further we ought to reopen hostilities. This would bring down the bolshevik gov ernment. and any others that might succeed it would have to make peace. ENCOURAGED THE ENTENTE There were other reasons which made me press for an early conclusion. Count Czernin was right when he spoke ironically of a spiritual wrestling match" For him, indeed, at Brest while the war was rushing on to it's greatest decision, there was neither time nor place. nor yet suitable op- ponent.
 What must the statesmen of the en- tente think of our need of peace if we tamely submitted to this sort of treat
 ment by Trotzky and his bolshevik gov ernment, a government that had not even been recognized by any other