DR.

R. GEORG MICHAELIS, the German Chancellor, issued a statement Sept. 5 in regard to alleged disclosures at the trial in Petrograd for high treason of General Soukhomlinoff, former Minister of War. The Chancellor sought to prove, from certain testimony in that trial, that Russia was responsible for beginning the war. He said:

The statements of the former Russian War Minister and the former Chief of the General Staff (General Januschkevitch) are of the greatest importance. They are calculated completely to destroy the legend of Germany's guilt in starting the war, and they will force European opinion, if the reports are allowed to be published abroad, to revise its judgment on Germany.

The moment at which these disclosures were made is the more favorable, as we have just had knowledge of the American reply to the Pope's note urging peace. In Secretary Lansing's answer the German Government is described as an irresponsible Government which secretly planned to dominate the world, which chose its own time for the war, and cruelly and suddenly executed its plan; which did not heed legal barriers or truthfulness, which flooded a great continent with the blood, not only of soldiers but of innocent women and children, the helpless and the

poor.

When adopting these accusations from the Entente factory of calumnies, the American Government obviously had no knowledge of the course of the proceedings against General Soukhomlinoff. Otherwise its judgment would certainly have been quite different.

Blames the Czar's Advisers

It certainly is now established irrefutably that it was not Germany which chose the time for the war, but the military party surrounding the Czar, who was under the influence of France and England. It is well known that the German Emperor, who, before the war, clearly, and on every occasion, expressed his own desire and that of the German people for peace, especially regarding Russia, was surprised by the events which occurred during his pleasure trip to Scandinavian waters. Up to the last moment, in the exchange of telegrams with the Emperor of Russia and the King of England, he made the most earnest and fervent attempts in the interest of peace.

The importance of the new disclosures

is that the Czar, who had to decide as to war or peace, in fact came to the convic-. tion, from the German Emperor's efforts, that Germany did not desire war. The consequence of this conviction was his positive order to cancel the Russian mobilization, but a couple of criminals, who belied the Czar, disregarded the order and thwarted its execution.

A consequence of the Emperor's efforts also was the Czar's order to General Januschkevitch to give the German Ambassador, Count von Pourtales, assurances of Russia's desire for peace. The execution of this order was frustrated by M. Sazonoff, (then Russian Foreign Minister,) who obviously feared that the German Ambassador, who hitherto had done good service in the interest of peace, could perhaps take further effective steps for prevention of the threatening war.

Says Allies Incited Russia

Who was behind all these men? They certainly did not of their own accord plan to drive the great power of Russia, then Europe, and finally the whole world into a war of unparalleled terribleness.

I need not remind you of the relations between General Soukhomlinoff and the French group of Chauvinists, M. Poincaré and his associates. It is well known that the election of M. Poincaré to the Presidency was a sign of an aggressive Franco-Russian alliance against Germany, and that General Soukhomlinoff was ordered to Paris to play the Presidency of the French Republic into M. Poincaré's hands. At that time in Paris General Soukhomlinoff made a statement about the Russian Army and the alterations of Russian plans for mobilization, while shortly before the war he provokingly repeated well-known articles in the Bourse Gazette (of Petrograd) about Russia's preparedness. A long time previous aggressive plans against Germany were prepared by an influential political group in France, England, and Russia.

Regarding English influence at Petrograd during the critical days July 29 and 30, (1914,) I only need to refer to a telegram of the Reuter correspondent at Petrograd and to the well-known report of the Belgian Chargé d'Affaires, de l'Escaille, which clearly show that the certainty of English support strengthened the determination for war of the leading men of Russia.

Alleges Attempt to Dupe Germany While Russia thus prepared an aggressive war, and secretly mobilized not

only against Austria-Hungary but against Germany, attempts were made to mislead and betray Germany in order to gain time for Russia to move her troops to the frontiers. The word of honor of General Januschkevitch will live in history, as Major von Eggeling, who at that time was the German Military Attaché at Petrograd, telegraphed the word of honor of the Chief of the Russian General Staff and expressly referred to his statement that until July 29 in the afternoon no order of any kind for mobilization had been given.

General Januschkevitch declared to the German Military Attaché that the reassuring statements of General Soukhomlinoff of July 27 regarding the eventual Russian intentions as to mobilization were still good. Despite this, General Januschkevitch had in his pocket the prepared mobilization order. Germany was to be duped with a proposal of arbitration at The Hague Court while Russia busily continued to bring her army to a war footing for the attack which had been planned.

In this connection the importance of the Czar's telegram to Emperor William, which was dispatched July 30 at 1:20 o'clock in the afternoon, and which announced the general mobilization of the Russian Army, is evident.

This mobil

ization, according to the Czar's wellknown ukase of 1912, meant war against Germany, and was intended to maintain the deception that the military measures which were in force were solely ordered for reasons of defense against Austrian preparations.

The Czar's telegram also announced the visit of General Tatischtscheff with a letter to Emperor William. Where was Tatischtcheff? Can it be possible that General Soukhomlinoff and General Januschkevitch and their accomplices prevented his departure, or was the announcement of his mission only intended deceitfully to lull Germany into security?

Hegemony of Europe

Germany was obliged to enter a most serious fight for the defense of her existence because she was threatened by her neighbors, France and Russia, which were eager for booty and power, which wanted to destroy her, and which were urged on by the island empire beyond the Channel because England was of the opinion that it was a fight for the hegemony of Europe, as Viscount Grey, formerly British Foreign Secretary, once said.

England did not like to see contested this hegemony, which she believed was menaced. For this reason she supported Germany's hostile neighbors in their policy which aimed at war. Neither the German Government nor the German people, which are unshakably devoted to their imperial leader, were at that time or

at any other time filled with the lust of power or conquest, as has been falsely ascribed.

If the contrary had been true, then Germany would certainly not have allowed (to pass?) the opportunity which more than once was offered, in the years which elapsed between the last war with France and the outbreak of today's world war, to begin the war under less difficult conditions. In that period of European history were moments when England and others were paralyzed by warlike complications, outside of European. Despite these facts, our hands did not seize the sword which, as Mr. Lloyd George once admitted, we were forced to keep sharp, owing to Germany's menaced position in the heart of Europe.

Nothing else but the mischievous will of the criminal enemy war agitators forced us into the sanguinary defensive war for life and freedom. No American note can alter this historical truth, which now again is confirmed by General Soukhomlinoff and General Januschkevitch, nor can the American note shake our firm determination to fight in loyal harmony between the crown and the people for our war aims, namely, maintenance of our rights to Germany's integrity, freedom, and a future of assured peaceful development, for which our heroes have now been fighting and bleeding for more than three years.

Charged With Suppression

On Sept. 7 the Russian newspapers reached Copenhagen with details of the testimony to which the Chancellor had referred, and it appeared that he had suppressed or overlooked important parts of it in arriving at his conclusions as expressed above.

Accounts of the trial published in the Novoe Vremya of Petrograd showed that in the attempt to prove that Russia was responsible for beginning the war the Germans either deliberately suppressed or omitted important parts of the testimony given by General Januschkevitch, ex-Chief of the Russian General Staff.

In its report of the trial the semi-official German news agency omitted in its entirety a passage regarding an interview between General Januschkevitch and the German Military Attaché in Petrograd. It appears from the Novoe Vremya that General Januschkevitch testified precise reports had been received that German mobilization already was secretly in progress. The Russian Staff

T

HE British Labor Party conference on Aug. 21, 1917, decided by the narrow margin of 3,000 votes, in a total of 1,234,000 ayes to 1,231,000 noes, to send delegates to the Stockholm conference. Its previous vote to send delegates had been 1,846,000 ayes to 550,000 noes. It was this earlier action that had caused the break in the English Cabinet and forced the retirement of Arthur Henderson. The close vote on Aug. 21, notwithstanding the ardent appeals for affirmative action by Mr. Henderson, was regarded as a victory for the opposition, and the Stockholm conference was regarded from that moment as doomed. Such, indeed, proved to be the fact, for a few days later the conference was called off to an indefinite date and Mr. Henderson himself withdrew his support; the English labor vote in its favor was subsequently recast and was found to be overwhelmingly against representation.

An effort was made late in August to revive the International in England by an inter-allied Socialist conference of the Entente nations.

The United States was not represented at the conference, and one South African delegate was the only representative of the British overseas dominions. Delegates from pacifist bodies were in the majority. Seventy delegates, representing Great Britain, Belgium, Russia, France, Portugal, Greece, South Africa, and Italy, were present. More than half of them were British, representing various sections of the Socialist and Labor Parties. The Trade Union Congress, representing the bulk of British labor, had only eight delegates in attendance, and the Labor Party twelve.

The conference considered the reports of two commissions, one appointed to deal with the general question of the International Socialist Conference at Stockholm and the other to consider and report on the drafts of peace terms submitted by the various Socialist par

ties. The commission on the Stockholm conference decided by a majority to recommend that all sections of the Socialist and labor organizations should be represented at that gathering, and voiced a protest against the decision of the British Government to refuse passports to delegates.

The Belgians made a united protest against attendance at the Stockholm conference. They, with their supporters from other countries, decided that Emile Vandervelde, Belgian Minister of Munitions, should move, and that Camille Huysmans, Secretary to the International Socialist Congress, should second an amendment to the committee report, to the effect that the Socialists of Entente countries should not be represented at Stockholm. This amendment was defeated.

It having been decided that the conference must be unanimous before any action could be taken, this protest of the Belgians and others left the matter where it was before the London conference met.

Declaration By the Delegates

A declaration signed by the Belgian, British, French, Greek, and Italian representatives at the conference in London, where, it is declared, the Socialists of the allied countries reaffirmed their faith in the principles proclaimed at their first reunion, was published Sept. 2 by Humanité, the Socialist organ.

The European conflict, says the declaration, began through the antagonism of the capitalistic group, through imperialistic policies and the deliberate aggression of Germany toward its neighbors. This aggression, it is asserted, still menaces the existence of nationalities and faith in international treaties. More than ever, continues the declaration, the Socialists, after three years of war, believe that the victory of German imperialism would spell defeat and the elimination of democracy and liberty from the