THE PEACE PARLEYS BEGIN

At four o'clock in the afternoon of November 28, 1917, a Russian delegation crossed over into the German lines under a flag of truce and asked the German commander of that sector to communicate their request for immediate negotiations for an armistice to German headquarters.

The official Russian report of this first parley was as follows:

"We crossed the line, preceded by a trumpeter carrying a white flag. Three hundred yards short of the German entanglements we were met by German officers. Our eyes were blindfolded and we were conducted to a battalion staff of the German army, where we handed over our credentials to two officers of the German General Staff, who had been sent to meet us.

"The conversation was in French. Our proposals to carry on negotiations for an armistice on all the fronts as a preliminary to a general peace were immediately handed over to the staff of the division, whence it was sent by direct wire to the staff commander of the eastern front and to the chief in command of the German armies.

"At 6.20 we were taken in a motor car to the Minister's house on the Dvinsk-Ponevyezh road, where we were received by the Divisional General von Hoffmeister, who informed us that our proposal had been handed to the highest commander, and that a reply would probably be received within twenty-four hours. But at 7.30 the first answer from the chief of the general command already had been received, announcing agreement to our proposals, and leaving the details of the next meeting to General von Hoffmeister and the parliamentarians. After an exchange of opinion and further communication by wire from the chief of the general command, at midnight a written answer to our proposal was given to us by Von Hoffmeister. In view of the fact that ours was written in Russian, the answer was given in German. The reply was: "'The chief of the German eastern front is prepared to enter into negotiations with the Russian chief command. The chief of the German eastern front is authorized by the German commander in chief to carry on negotiations for an armistice. The chief of the Russian armies is requested to appoint a commission with written authority to be sent to the headquarters of the commander of the German eastern front. On his side the German commander likewise will name a commission with special authorization.

"'The day and the hour of the meeting are to be fixed by the Russian commander in chief. It is demanded that the German commander be warned in due time to prepare a special train for the purpose. Notice must be given at which part it is intended to cross the line. The commander of the German eastern front will place at the disposition of the Russian commission the necessary apparatus, so that it may keep in communication with its chief command.'

"The Russian parliamentarians decided to appoint as the place the junction of the Dvinsk-Vilna line, whence the Russian representatives will be conducted to the Brest-Litovsk headquarters of the German commander. The time appointed is midnight of December 2, 1917. At the same time we were informed that no firing would occur unless prompted, and that enemy fraternization would be stopped. We were blindfolded again and conducted to our lines."

Meanwhile the elections for the Constituent Assembly had been called, and on November 26, 1917, the returns for Petrograd were made public. It was announced that the Bolsheviki polled 272,000 votes, the Constitutional Democrats 211,000 and the Social Revolutionists 116,000. There was considerable discrepancy between this report and others which were issued through various press agencies, though in all the Bolsheviki were the leading party, but they still fell far short of a working majority. They obtained six seats, the Constitutional Democrats four and the Social Revolutionists two. Later reports covering the elections as a whole indicated that the Bolsheviki polled about 40 or 45 per cent. of the total vote.