23 JUNE 1917, Page 2

Herr Hoffmann, member of the Swiss Federal Council and since

1914 Minister for Foreign Affairs, has resigned his office as a direct consequence of his endeavour to intervene in the German interest at Petrograd. At the request of the Swiss Pacificist Socialist, Herr Robert Grimm—notorious in Switzerland for his pro-German activities—who was then in Petrograd, Herr Hoffmann transmitted, by means of the Swiss official cipher, the terms of a German peace proposal. For attempting to communicate this proposal Herr Grimm was expelled from Russia as a German agent. In a semi- official statement issued at Berne in reply to severe criticisms in the Times, Herr Hoffmann admitted the facts as outlined above, but sought to justify his action on the grounds that he had acted hide- pendently, " without being influenced from any quarter; in the interest of encouraging an early peace, and consequently in the interest of Switzerland herself." On the following day (June 19th), at the meeting of the National Council, a letter was read from Herr Hoffmann announcing his resignation, as well as a communication from the Federal Council stating that- they had no knowledge whatever of Herr Heffimum's action in- Petrograd.