Land & Water 
February 28, 1918 
in any case, it is probable that the numbers of the men in the 
Russian uniform still to be found in that front have been so 
far reduced by desertion as to render them incapable of any 
serious effort, even if they were still an array. 
A rumour was ciurent that the Solny Soviet, or rather its 
handful of cosmopolitan masters, would make immediate 
peace with the enemy and even go to the length of paying 
them a considerable indemnity, although they had already 
repudiated the just debts incurred to the Allies while their 
country was still being defended at the expense of those 
Allies. This rumour has been confirmed. There is nothing 
to prevent the enemy walking into Petrograd and restoring 
order if he thinks it suits his lx)ok politically, and we may 
take it for granted that an\- terms he chooses to impose upon 
the masters of the Soviet (some of whom :ire his iigents) will 
be eiccepted. Meanwhile, these gentry have sent yet another 
message through the wireless which they control to the effect 
that aJl the enemy no\\ asks of them is tlie cession of Li\'onia 
and Esthonia ; j^-ace with the Ukraine and with Finland 
(that is the withdrawal, if possible, of the Revolutionary agents 
from those districts) ; the re-imposition of the Turkish yoke 
upon the Christians of Erzeroum ; the internment of the 
Russian battlesliips, o! our own ships, which we sent to help 
Russia before the usurpation of her present ephemeral rulers. 
« * * 
There has been a very considerable increase in the policy 
of bombing the Western German towns since Christmas. 
.\nd the authorities issued in the course of last week an inter- 
esting table of the results. From this we find that during the 
first fifty days of the year thefre was a continuous bombing 
of the whole ; one immediately behind the German lines, with 
the exception of the second week of January, and rather more 
than a fortnight at the end of that month and the begin- 
ning of I-'cbniary, when weather conditions were unfavourable. 
The large town of Maimheim (290,000 inhabitants), a some- 
what distant point, was twice visited in the interval with a 
very heavy bombardment, and it is satisfactory to note that 
Treves, an important railway and manufacturing centre, 
and an esj^cially important point of concentration for troops, 
was bombed with great thoroughness no less than seven times 
in less than four weeks. These details refer to the British 
ser^^ce alone. Meanwhile, there has also been a continuous 
series of raids upon such railway centres of Lorraine as lie 
behind the enemy lines, and particularly the big junction just 
outside Thionville ; the steel works in that town were also 
bombed, and these and the railway received a very heavy 
weight of projectiles no less than seven times in five weeks. 
It is to be hoped — and we think to be presumed — that 
this policy has not interfered in any way with the normal 
work of aircraft within the fighting zone, which is, of course 
by far the most important function the service has to perform. 
There has always been a danger since the recent and accelera- 
ting changes in our methods of Government at home that the 
subsidiary work of bombing centres behind the lines — work 
which is essentially in the nature of reprisals — might trench 
u?x)n the only vital and necessary function of flying machines, 
which is, like that of all military engines, the weakening of th6 
enemy's armed forces. 
Our warranty for believing that the science and common 
sense of the soldiers has here overborne the folly of the 
politicians and their maintainers lies in the objectives chosen. 
Xo doubt the civilian population of these German towns was 
terrified, which is an excellent thing. Positively it weakens 
the enemy ; and negatively it will, make him more amenable 
to give up this particular form of fighting which he invented. 
But it would be deplorable if such a side issue were in this 
stage of the war to take the place of effective military action 
or to diminish it. Every one of the places visited contained 
an objective of a strictly military charaxiter, and as much the 
greater part of the raids took place by day these objecti\-es 
could be accurately located. 
* * ♦ 
The Austrian Government has made an ambiguous declaar- 
tion with regard to the fate of the province of Cholm, which 
It had proposed to hand over to the newly-constituted subject 
State of Ukraine. It has, for the moment, said that it 
would " postpone " any decision, and it haS done this in view 
of the \'ery considerable movement aroused in Poland by the 
proposed policy of annexation. 
The declaration as it stands is, of course, worthless Its 
sequel will depend, like everything else, upon the issue of the 
war. If the enemy can compel the Western Allies to accept 
their victory in the East of Europe and their continued supre- 
macy upon the Continent, especially if their victory is sealed 
by ■concessions made to us upon the West, the obvious policy 
of the Central Empires will be to erect a new diminished and 
weakened Polish State, and to create as man\ sources of 
division as possible between the other artificial "States which 
they propose to erect all along its Eastern border If on 
the other hand, the ..Allies succeed in defeating the Piussian 
military machine, then all the Prussian plans regarding 
Eastern Europe will be forgotten and the arrangement of 
those districts will lie, not in the hands of Prussia, but of the 
Western Powers. 
* >i> « 
The House of Lords was the scene last week o' an almost 
mediaeval ceremony when the Prince of Wales was introduced 
and took his seat. Those who were privileged to witness it 
were for the moment transported from these sombre sorrowful 
days, not so much by the brightness of the robes, which had 
something of a theatrical touch, but by the quaint stateliness 
of the language of the proclamations which the Clerk of the 
House read out. They carried the mind backward and a 
thought that must have been present with many, was that 
never has a Prince of Wales, not even Edward ' the Black 
Prince, seen so much of war as this Edward has beheld. 
The day afterwards the Prince went first to Wales and then 
to his Duchy of Cornwall to inspect the industrial side of this 
vast combat. Like all members of the Royal House, he has 
an insatiable thirst for facts, and he entered with spirit into 
the various operations of mine and factory. His three years 
at the FVont have given him confidence in himself ; he has 
never been obsessed by the mere externals of his position, 
and he has acquired a charm of manner, which brings out 
more plainly the strength of character that lies behind it, 
and makes for him personal friends wherever he is known. 
* * * 
The application of compulsory rations 'to approximately 
a fourth of the British population, which began this week, is 
an interesting experiment. We shall learn to what extent 
discipline still holds sway over the democracy of these islands. 
Those who predict a complete collapse of the scheme are not 
wanting, but, in our opinion, their opinions are not based upon 
a wide enough knowledge of their own countrymen or on the 
extent to which voluntary and involuntary rationing was 
already in force. Grumbling, of course, there will be, and at 
first the machinery is bound to work badly, but we shall be 
much surprised if the country is not astonished at the ease 
and quickness with which the populace adapts itself to the new 
conditions, that is, of course, assuming that the rations per- 
mitted are available. 
At the same time, we view with distrust the new powers 
which are being granted to the Ministry of Food for entering 
private houses in order to ascertain whether there is waste. 
These powers, so contrary to the spirit of this realm, should 
only be utiUsed under most exceptional circumstances. We 
believe it to be true that no nation is freer from " graft " 
than ourselves, but because of this to argue that all subordinate 
officials are adamant against a discreet piece of silver or a 
judicious rustle of a " Bradbury," is to talk arrant nonsense. 
This sort of appetite grows with eating. Lord Rhondda will 
do well to remember the sequence of the Lord's Prayer. 
" Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil,' 
and will not try to reverse it by endeavouring to deliver u 
from evil by leading us into temptation. 
* * * . 
The vote of the engineers is a serious event but not yet in 
any sense disastrous. Roughly the situation is as follows. 
The Government have introduced a Man Power Bill which 
overrides certain agreements made with the Trade Union. 
The A.S.E. stipulated for a separate conference on the subject, 
and as a matter of formal right their case was good. The 
other unions involved objected to any separate 
agreement between the Government and the A.S.E. Thus 
the problem was complicated by jealousies between unions 
as well as by strained relations between the A.S.E. and a 
Government department. The ballot taken on the acceptance 
of the Bill was in the main a test of the men's determination 
to insist on a separate conference. The adverse majority 
is overwhelming but this vote does not commit the engineers 
to a strike ; it is only at present a demonstration. 
* * * 
The committee, under the chairmanship of Sir John 
Lavery, formed to obtain a characteristic example of the work 
of Ivan Mestrovic for a pubhc collection, has decided to 
apply the amount already subscribed, £350, towards the 
relief in wood. Descent from the Cross. It is hoped that some 
heroic group in the round, like the Mother and Child. originalK- 
thought of, may be secured in happier times. 
To complete the purchase of the relief a sum of £200 is still 
required, and the committee appeals with confidence to those 
who have been moved by the measureless sacrifice of tht 
Serbian race and the tragic expression given to it in the art of 
the Serbian sculptor. The example chosen is a fitting symbol 
of the first, and would, it is believed, be welcomed among our 
national treasures as representing a remarkable side ol 
.Mestrovic's art. 
