25 NOVEMBER 1916, Page 2

The British, French, and Italian Governments have most wisely backed

up the protest of Russia against the creation of the new kingdom of Poland. It is pointed out in a joint manifesto that the employment of the inhabitants of a conquered territory as soldiers is not rendered legal by merely proclaiming that the form of government in that territory has been changed, and that the change of government during the war is itself an illegal act. The Central Powers are condemned for having thus offended against " the most elementary principle of justice and morality." The manifesto inferentially confirms the promises of the Tsar to the Poles, and proves that the whole Polish problem is, as the Russian papers observe, not merely a Russian domestic question but essentially an international one.