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[Illustration: VISCOUNT MILNER

The new British War Secretary in succession to Lord Derby. He had been a
member of the War Cabinet since its creation in December, 1916

(_Central News_)]

[Illustration: GENERAL SIR W. R. MARSHALL

Commander in Chief of the British forces in Mesopotamia

(_Central News_)]

[Illustration]

 CURRENT HISTORY

 _A Monthly Magazine of The New York Times_

 Published by The New York Times Company, Times Square, New York, N. Y.

 Vol. VIII.
 Part I.

 No. 3

 June, 1918

 25 Cents a Copy
 $3.00 a Year

[Illustration]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

                                                                PAGE

 CURRENT HISTORY CHRONICLED                                      381

 BATTLES IN PICARDY AND FLANDERS                                 389

 THE GREATEST BATTLE OF THE WAR, By Philip Gibbs                 398
 America's Sacrifice, By Harold Begbie                           410

 AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN BATTLE                                     411
 Overseas Forces More Than Half a Million                        413
 American Troops in Central France, By Laurence Jerrold          415
 American Shipbuilders Break All Records                         418

 THIRD LIBERTY LOAN OVERSUBSCRIBED                               419
 Former War Loans of the United States                           421

 AMERICAN LABOR MISSION IN EUROPE                                424

 PROGRESS OF THE WAR                                             426

 GERMAN LOSSES ON ALL FRONTS                                     431

 GREAT BRITAIN'S FINANCES                                        432

 TRADE AFTER THE WAR                                             434

 FINLAND UNDER GERMAN CONTROL                                    438
 Peace Treaty Between Finland and Germany                        445

 GERMAN AGGRESSION IN RUSSIA                                     449

 MORE BOLSHEVIST LEGISLATION, By Abraham Yarmolinsky             455

 LITHUANIA'S EFFORTS TOWARD AUTONOMY, By A. M. Martus            458

 THE RAID ON ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND                                460

 GERMAN U-BOAT CLAIMS: Address by Admiral von Capelle            467
   The Admiral's Statements Attacked                             469
   The Month's Submarine Record                                  470
   A Secret Chapter of U-Boat History                            471

 SEA-RAIDER WOLF AND ITS VICTIMS                                 473
   Career and Fate of the Raider Seeadler                        476

 TREATMENT OF BRITISH PRISONERS: Official Report                 479
   American Prisoners Exploited                                  484

 THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF RHEIMS, By G. H. Perris                485
   The Abomination of Desolation, By Dr. Norman Maclean          486

 LLOYD GEORGE AND GENERAL MAURICE                                488

 THE NEW BRITISH SERVICE ACT                                     491
   British Aid to Italy: General Plumer's Report                 492

 EMPEROR CHARLES'S "DEAR SIXTUS" LETTER                          494

 THE ISSUES IN IRELAND: Report of the Irish Convention           496
   Greatest Gas Attack of the War                                504

 PLUCKY DUNKIRK By Anna Milo Upjohn                              505

 GERMANY'S ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE BELGIUM                             511

 STRIPPING BELGIAN INDUSTRIES: The Rathenau Plan                 516
   Spoliation of Belgian Churches: Cardinal Mercier's Protest    523
   Belgium's Appeal to the Bolsheviki                            525

 SERBIA'S HOPES AND RUSSIA'S DEFECTION By Nicholas Pashitch      526

 RUMANIA'S PEACE TREATY                                          529
   Summary of the Peace of Bucharest                             531
   Bessarabia Voluntarily United to Rumania                      535

 THE WAR AND THE BAGDAD RAILWAY By Dr. Morris Jastrow            536

 LICHNOWSKY'S MEMORANDUM                                         539
   Full Text of von Jagow's Reply                                541
   German Comments on von Jagow's Views                          545
   Germany's Long Plotting for Domination By H. Charles Woods    548

 THE EUROPEAN WAR AS SEEN BY CARTOONISTS: 31 Cartoons            551




 ROTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS

 VISCOUNT MILNER                                           _Frontis_

 GENERAL SIR W. R. MARSHALL                                        "

 CHARLES M. SCHWAB                                               394

 JOHN D. RYAN                                                    395

 STAFF OFFICERS WITH PERSHING                                    410

 LEADERS IN WAR ACTIVITIES                                       411

 BARON STEPHAN BURIAN                                            426

 LEADERS IN IRISH CONTROVERSY                                    427

 BRITISH WAR LEADERS                                             458

 FRENCH AND AMERICAN TANKS                                       459

 AMERICAN REGIMENT IN FRANCE                                     474

 FRENCH CHATEAU IN RUINS                                         475

 MARCHING TO THE FRONT                                           506

 HARVARD REGIMENT IN BOSTON                                      507

 TRAFALGAR SQUARE IN WARTIME                                     522

 TYPICAL SCENE IN FLANDERS                                       523




CURRENT HISTORY CHRONICLED

[PERIOD ENDED MAY 19, 1918.]


SUMMARY OF WAR ACTIVITIES

Four weeks of comparative calm on the western front intervened after the
furious fighting that had continued throughout the preceding month. The
Germans made several desperate efforts to smash their way through the
British lines to the channel ports, but they failed. The British and
French lines stood firm as granite, and the enemy suffered frightful
losses. The battle lines remained practically unchanged.

From the English Channel to the Adriatic there was complete union of the
British, French, American, and Italian forces under a single command;
these forces, including reserves, were estimated at 6,000,000 men. No
military event of importance occurred on the other fronts, though the
British made some further advances in Palestine and Mesopotamia.

In political matters the month brought events of more importance, chief
of which was the renewal of an alliance between Germany and Austria;
this was accomplished at a meeting of the Emperors.

The acceleration of troop movements from the United States to France was
a feature of the month, the estimate for the four weeks running as high
as 150,000; it was semi-officially stated that in April, 1918, more than
500,000 American soldiers were in France, and that by Jan. 1, 1919,
there would be 1,500,000 of our fighting men at the front, with 500,000
more at transportation, supply, and civil work; the speeding up of
shipbuilding and other war work was significant. The Third Liberty Loan
aggregated more than $4,000,000,000, with 17,000,000 subscribers,
proving a brilliant success. The President by proclamation extended
enemy alien restrictions to women also. A bill was passed enabling the
President to consolidate and co-ordinate executive bureaus, thus giving
him extraordinary executive powers. The sedition law was strengthened. A
new commercial agreement was made with Norway.

In Great Britain the chief event was the triumph of the Premier over a
military group that tried to overthrow his Ministry. There was a
recrudescence of the spirit of rebellion in Ireland. In France the
conviction of the Bonnet Rouge editors on a charge of treason deepened
confidence in the stability of the Government. The German penetration of
Russia continued, and all the evidence indicated that the country was
coming under Teutonic control, economically, industrially, and
financially. The humiliating peace forced on Rumania was ratified, and
the country passed practically under German and Austrian domination.

The month's record of enemy U-boat losses strengthened faith that this
menace was being eliminated and that new allied tonnage would exceed
losses in increasing ratio from May 1, 1918.

The chief naval event was the daring British raid on the German
submarine bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend; the channel at the first named
port was blocked, and the harbor entrance at Ostend, by means of a
second raid, was partially blocked, resulting in a serious hampering of
submarine operations. The Italians penetrated Pola Harbor, May 14, with
a small torpedo boat and sank a 20,000-ton Austrian dreadnought.


SINN FEIN PLOT FRUSTRATED

During the night of May 18 the British authorities in Ireland suddenly
arrested at their homes about 500 of the leading Sinn Feiners on the
charge of having treasonable communication with the German enemy. Among
those arrested were the Sinn Fein members of Parliament, also the
conspicuous Irish agitators and irreconcilables, both men and women. A
proclamation was issued by the Lord Lieutenant declaring that a
conspiracy with Germany had been discovered, calling upon all loyal
Irishmen to assist in suppressing it, and urging voluntary enlistments.
It was believed that this prompt action had prevented a contemplated
uprising, which was being aided by German spies. Comparative calm
followed the arrests.


FOCH'S ARMY COMPRISES ALL RACES OF EARTH

It seems certain that never in the world's history were so many
different races, peoples, and tongues united under the command of a
single man as are now gathered together in the army of Generalissimo
Foch. If we divide the human races into White, Yellow, Red, and Black,
all four are largely represented. Among the white races there are
Frenchmen, Italians, Portuguese, English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish,
Canadians, Australians, South Africans, (of both British and Dutch
descent,) New Zealanders; in the American Army, probably every other
European nation is represented, with additional contingents from those
already named, so that every branch of the white race figures in the
ethnological total. There are representatives of many Asiatic races,
including not only the volunteers from the native States of India, but
elements from the French colony in Cochin China, with Annam, Cambodia,
Tonkin, Laos, and Kwang Chau Wan. England and France both contribute
many African tribes, including Arabs from Algeria and Tunis, Senegalese,
Saharans, and many of the South African races. The red races of North
America are represented in the armies of both Canada and the United
States, while the Maoris, Samoans, and other Polynesian races are
likewise represented. And as, in the American Army, there are men of
German, Austrian, and Hungarian descent, and, in all probability,
contingents also of Bulgarian and Turkish blood, it may be said that
Foch commands an army representing the whole human race, united in
defense of the ideals of the Allies. The presence, among Foch's
strategic reserves, of 250,000 Italian soldiers is peculiarly
interesting, as no Italian force at all comparable to this in numbers
seems ever to have operated on French soil, though French armies have
again and again fought in Italy. During the early wars of Napoleon this
was the case, and again in 1859, when the battles of Magenta and
Solferino gave names to two new shades of red. In 1870 also there were
French troops in Rome; their withdrawal, in the Summer of that year,
opened the way for the final union of Italy.


MEETING OF THE GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN EMPERORS

The German and Austrian Emperors held a consultation at German Great
Headquarters on May 12 to discuss future relations between the two
empires. Emperor Karl was accompanied by Foreign Minister Burian, Field
Marshal von Arz, Chief of the General Staff, and Prince Hohenlohe,
Austrian Ambassador at Berlin. Germany was represented by Imperial
Chancellor von Hertling, Field Marshal von Hindenburg, General
Ludendorff, Foreign Secretary von Kuehlmann, and Count von Wedel,
Ambassador at Vienna.

According to an official statement issued in Berlin, all the fundamental
political, economic, and military questions affecting present and future
relations were thoroughly discussed, and "there was complete accord on
all these questions, tending to deepen the existing alliance." In many
quarters the impression prevailed that the result of the meeting
was to define and recognize formally the subservient relations of
Austria-Hungary toward the German Empire. The State Department at
Washington made public a report based upon indications given by the
Berlin newspapers that the agreement made at the meeting concerned three
points:

    1. The duration of the alliance was fixed for twenty-five years.

    2. Germany and Austria-Hungary are to sign a military convention
    imposing upon each much stricter military obligations than did the
    preceding treaty.

    3. The economic relations will be regulated so as to realize the
    plan of Mitteleuropa.

A solution of the Polish question was also arrived at, according to a
newspaper statement published in Berlin, on the lines of complete union
between Austria-Hungary and Poland. Another message said that the German
and Austrian Emperors had selected monarchs for Poland, Lithuania,
Courland, and Esthonia. It was officially stated that no actual treaty
was signed.

One of the most interesting subsequent revelations was that King Ludwig
of Bavaria and King Frederick August of Saxony were also present at the
meeting at German Great Headquarters. Some of the reports represented
these two monarchs as having been present uninvited.


THE PRINCE SIXTUS LETTER

Arthur J. Balfour, British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, replying to
inquiries in the House of Commons, May 16, stated that Emperor Karl's
peace letter to Prince Sixtus, which had been received while Mr. Balfour
was in America, was

    a private letter written by Emperor Charles to a relative (Prince
    Sixtus of Bourbon) and conveyed by him to President Poincare and the
    French Premier under seal of the strictest secrecy, but with no
    permission to communicate it to any one except the Sovereign and
    Premier of this country, [Great Britain.] The letter was
    communicated to the French and English Premiers under these pledges.

He stated that he had no secrets from President Wilson, and added:
"Every thought I have on the war or on the diplomacy connected with the
war is as open to President Wilson as to any other human being." He
declared that he regarded the Sixtus letter as not a peace effort, but a
manoeuvre to divide the Allies. He declared that they were not fighting
for "a bigger Alsace-Lorraine than in 1870," and added:

    If any representative of any belligerent country desires seriously
    to lay before us any proposals we are ready to listen to them.


Lord Robert Cecil, Minister of Blockade, in the same debate, after
indorsing the preceding statement of Mr. Balfour, added this reference
to Russia:

    We have no quarrel with Russia at all. On the contrary, with the
    Russian people we have always desired to be on the closest possible
    terms of friendship. We are anxious to do all we can to support and
    assist the Russian people to preserve Russia as a great country, not
    only now, but in the period after the war.

Lord Robert denied that Great Britain had any quarrel with the
Bolsheviki over their domestic policy, saying:

    That is a matter for Russia, and Russia alone; we have no other
    desire than to see Russia great, powerful, and non-German.


ATTACKS ON HOSPITAL SHIPS

The British Admiralty issued an official announcement on May 1, stating
that it was considered proved conclusively that the British hospital
ship Guildford Castle was attacked by a German submarine in the Bristol
Channel, March 10, and narrowly escaped destruction. At the time the
Guilford Castle was carrying 438 wounded soldiers and flying a Red
Cross flag of the largest size with distinguishing marks distinctly
illuminated. The attack occurred at 5:35 P. M., in clear weather. Two
torpedoes were fired. In evidence of attacks on hospital ships the
British Admiralty quotes the following extracts from the German official
message, sent through the German wireless stations on April 24, 1918:

    With respect to the results of the submarine war for the month of
    march, the Deutsche Tageszeitung says: "Lloyd George and Geddes
    falsify the losses of ships plying in the military service (?
    ignoring) so-called naval losses, auxiliary cruisers, guard ships,
    _hospital ships_, and very probably also troop transports and
    munition steamers, that is to say, precisely that shipping space
    _which is particularly exposed to and attacked by the U-boats_.


TWO MORE LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS ALIGNED AGAINST GERMANY

On April 22, 1918, the National Assembly of Guatemala declared that that
republic occupied the same position toward the European belligerents as
did the