12 JANUARY 1918, Page 2

The German proposal to annex the Baltic Provinces on the

ground that their peoples have expressed a desire for German rule has excited indignation among the German Socialists as well as among the visionaries at Petrograd. A vigorous controversy has arisen in the German Press, in which it is more or less directly asserted that the principles of " self-determination " laid down on Christmas Day for the benefit of Trotsky were phrased by Baron von Kuhl- mann, but that the application of those principles so as to annex all the coveted lands forthwith was dictated by General von Luden- dorff, who threatened to resign if he did not get his way. It will be remembered that Prince Bismarck said, truly or falsely, that the General Staff insisted on annexing Metz in 1871 against his better judgment. We are invited 11 believe that Baron von 'Uhl- mann has been overborne in the same way by the Army chiefs. It is safer to assume that the servants of the War Lord are playing their allotted parts in a comedy to delude the public at home and abroad.