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C GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY J From Berlin yesterday a dispatch says: Speaking li Itefore crowded galleries in the IMM| today, li Chancellor von Betliman-Iiollweg made known Ger- f inanys | ositi ii regarding peace. "As long as in fi the -ountries «ii our enemies the guilt and iguoraure « f statesmen are entangled with confusion of i ul - a lie opinion, it would be folly for Germany to make i, to Proposals which would U"t shorten hut lengthen the j, •Wt rat ion of the war." said the chancellor. "First i trie masks must 1„- torn frmn their faces. At j] in p present they speak of a war of annihilation against n •ts. We have to consider this fact — that theoretical t arguments for peace or propositions will not advance y n : they will not bring the end nearer. If our ,, enemies make peace pro| osals compatible with Ger- y inanys dignity and safety, then we shall always be ready to discuss them. Fully conscious of our un-shaken at military success, we decline the responsi- | Itility for the continuation of the misery which now fills KuroiK and the whole world. Nobody can say c, that we are continuing the war because we want to r conquer this or that country as a pledge." En- t thusiastic cheers tilled the rcichstag chamber when j the chancellor concluded his reply to the peaee in- v terp lalion of Or. Philip Scheidemann. socialist "„ leader. At first there was tense silence throughout j the whole bouse and galleries. This was inter- iupt -d by vigorous signs of assent. Chancellor a von Bethmau-Hollwcg first declared that tlxe pros-|M- ts of i eace discussion in the rcichstag had ex- . cited great expectations and much satisfaction in . the countries vf Germanys enemies. That this feeling should prevail was incomprehensible, lie • said, in view of Germanys successes in Serbia afler opening the road toward her Turkish allies ! and after threatening the most vulnerable points of tin- British empire. Although this situation, be said, would explain the desire of Germanys enemies J for pea«-o, none of them have made any overtures. • They rather cling to the intention which they publicly had announced at the lieginning of the war. lie said, with "naive brutality." The chancellor i reviewed recent utterances aliout |H ssible peace cou- 1 •lit ions that have come from Germanys enemies. 1 He mentioned among these the handing over of : Alsace-Lorraine to the French, the annihilation of « the so-called I»russian militarism, the expulsion of i Ihe Turks from Europe, the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France and the creation of a I greater Serbia, including what is now the Austrian i province of Bosnia. An Athens dispatch of yesterday says: "Anglo-French forces have begun to retire from southern ; Serbia toward the Greek frontier, according to • ottieial dispatches today. It is ttelicved here the withdrawal is part of a general plan determined ii| ou immediately afler the Serbian retreat. How far the expeditionary forces intend to withdraw was not indicated. But dispatches from Greek frontier IM.ints during the night reiHtrted the Anglo-French front under heavy attack by large German and Bulgarian forces. The Bulgars are smashing hard at General Sanails right and center. German troops ■ have lieeii brought up against the allied left and 1 center. By combined pressure the Bulgar-Germau 1 iirniies are striving to squeeze Sarrails forces out : of Serbia and across the Greek frontier. It is I believed here the expeditionary forces are outnurr.-liercd ■ nearlv two to one. News of the allied r ■-treat has cau*«-d the greatest excitement here. The tension in official circles has suddenly increased. Wilh tlie battle drawing closer to the Greek frcn tier it is realized lure that King Constantino may Ik- forced to decide between the entente and the , central empires within a few days. There has I 1. -en severe fighting on the French front during the last twentv-four hours, according to press dispatches j from Saloniki. The Bulgarians are MM to have made no impression on the French lines i in the Doiran-Demirkatou section. The accurate . tire of the entente artillery decimated the Bulgarian*. According to news from other sources the Bulgarians are concentrating considerable forces in the • Stnimitza region. Official Serbian advices pla?e . the number of Serbian troops who retired into Albania at 220.4KIO. The Austro-tierman forces em-ploycd . in the Serbian campaign are estimated at twenty divisions 240.000 men. Five of the di- • | visions are said to Ik- Austriaus." i dispatch of vestcrday from San Juan. Perto . Rico says: The Porto Rico liner Coamo was stopiied I this morning by the French cruiser Descartes, which took four German firemen from the merchantman on lioard the warship. The search lasted fr .in 1 until 5:341 oclock. The officers, the crew and the entire list of passengers were examined. , It is reimrted that the Descartes was looking for Waldeinar Hepp. German consul at San Juan, and Join Stubhe. the Austrian consul, who are now in ev York thief Steward Schaade of the Porto , Rico liner Carolina was taken from that vessel last night. The Coamo and the Carolina are Amencui steamships owned by the New York and Porto Rico J Steamship company. The Coamo was bound for San 1 Juan from New York, bavin" left that port on t DecenilM-r 4. The Carolina arrived at San Juan December 1 and was to have sailed thence for Ponce. The French war office yesterday afternoon gaye the of hostilities on the out a rejK.rt on progress Galliuoli peninsula, which reads: On the fifth of ■ December an attack made by the enemy was coni-idetelv checked bv the French fire. December 4, was characterized by an effective fire from our r trench guns, which made a breach in the lines of f Hie enemy and caused the explosion of a Turkish . depot of munitions. The enemy responded by a violent bombardment, which, however, caused no 1 damage On the Sea of Marmora a British submarine has lorpedocd and sent to the bottom the 1 urk-ish tori edo-boat destroyer Yar Hissar. Two officers " of the Turkish vessel and forty men were taken prisoner. Embassador Penfield. at Vienna, was expected to • deliver vestcrday the note from the 1nited States ■ asking that the Austro Hungarian government dis avow the submarine attack ui on the Italian lin -r I Auoona punish the submarine commander, make I reparation for the American lives lost and give assurances that there will be no repetition of such 1 act* tntil the communication is given out for puo-lication officials decline to discuss its contents. It t is said lnmever. that while couched in diplomatic language it is vigorous in tone and carries a protest more emidiatic than any of the communications sent to tieruiauy following the Lusitauia disaster. On account of" the delays in cable communication between Washington and Vienna, it probably will be e a week or more before an answer can Ik- received. Embassador Page, from London, yesterday advised lit the taie department that Great Britain had ac-ceeded . to the American protest against the re-ouisitioning of ships of the American Transatlantic « Company Test cases will lie made of the steamers s Hocking "and Genesee, which will not be requisitioned but held pending decision or the prize court. In the meantime Croat Britain assures the I uiteil j State* that no other vessels of the company will 1 lie seized Secretary Lansing, in announcing the e receipt of Ambassador Pages dispatch, said Sir I Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador, also had * informed him of the decision of the foreign office, which is understood to carry with it cancellation , J] of the order requisitioning the Hocking and Genesee. A speedy trial of the test cases is expected. .mf Details of diamond smuggling plots, by means of f which diamonds of several millions of dollars value B have b.-eu brought into New York without paying I duty have l eeu revealed there by a man familiar ■ with the diamond business of Antwerp. It was his J estimate that in the last six months diamonds ■worth *•" 000. *"i had arrived in New York hidden in iiarcel-liost packages. The smuggling has l evn „ Mopped by the seizure, a fortnight ago. of the last t Parcel sent A British cruiser stopped a lioat bound •1 from Rotterdam to Copenhagen, examined the mail il •i board and confiscated the particular package, in J which were concealed diamonds to the value I f 841.000. Cant Fred Jebsen of San Francisco, who disappeared mvsteriouslv from that city several months * Lifo ind later was rejH.rted to have joined the Ger nian navv is dead, a victim of the war. friends js announced" there yesterday. A letter says lebse,, II was killed when the German submarine I -..0 was * lin. I ulH.li by the British patrol lioat. the Baraloug. •• o, August P.* Jebsen owned the steamship Maz.it-lan which it is charged, delivered a cargo of coal li. the German cruiser Leipzig in Mex.can waters. H. wis hunted by United S.ates authorities for ,,: months He was a leading clubman of San Fran-ciso.. 1- the son of Michael Jelisen. German steamship p owner and member of the German rcichstag. With the approach of the time limit for the expiration v- of the Earl of Derbys scheme of voluntary F enlistment— I ceeiulier 11— there has been during the • 1- t two davs a tremendous rush «.f new recruits :n ." V*ocImi .1 to secure the benefit of the group system. ; Zul- , oennits recruits to enli t for deferred service. recruiting .-enter* are l«ing beseiged day and ,i The n."ht so much that urgent calls are being made for ,r more clerks and doctors to meet the rush This js is not confined to London, but is apparent all over the ie country Premier Asquith next week will ask parliament ,; autlH.riz.- the raising of another million to altogether 4.OO0.0O0 He Is expected !;j men making time to announce the result of the ie at the same Earl of Derbys voluntary enlistment campaign. Berlin reported yesterday that four towns near ir the southwestern Serbian frontier have l ecn captured 1- b the Bulgarians. They are Ochrida. • eighteen miles north of the Creek border: Sturga. • £ the-., of Ochrida: I "™- thirty-five miles al-.ve J Ochrida and Djakova. over lhe b.rder in south west"™ Montenegro. The outstanding feature of ,f the situation on the Serbian front as shown by m-tomation. received at Berlin 1* that the Albania* a li li f fi a i, to j, i j] in n t y ,, y at | c, r t j v "„ j a . . • ! J • i 1 1 : « i I i ; • ■ 1 1 : I ■ , I j i . • . . • | . I , , 1 J t tribesmen, particularly the dedoubtable Arnauts, j; « have risen again*! the fragments of the Serbian forces which have succeeded in getting across the ft— III | into the Albanian mountains. 3 ] The Russo-R.iumaniau frontier station at Ungeni and the harbor of Roui have been closed, accordiug Bucharest dispatches yesterday. Thousands of t Russian iroops are aniving at both frontier town*. . The Russians are displaying the greatest activity Bessarabia. Ingeni lies 123 miles north of Reni. i J near a railway leading through Kishinef and soutu ► through Roumaiiia. with branches extending to the O Bulgarian frontier. Concentration of Russian troops O near Reni for an offensive against Bulgaria has been 4 O reported several times. 4 0 A decision of the greatest importance was reached the fourth session of the allies war council in 4 Paris yesterday, it is understood. No announce- 4 ]l ment lias been made thus far. In view of yester- 4 days discussions, it is generally believed the allied 1 4 representatives have reached an agreement as to 4 ► the future conduct of military affairs in the , Balkans. England, a high French official hinted . yesterday, favored the immediate withdrawal of the ! allied expeditonary forces from Serbia. General Joffre was understood to opiiose this action, and to 41 . lie supported strongly by General Giliusky, Russias * .representative in the war council. 4 The largest labor organization in the history o* England, representing about 2,000.000 men. was formed yesterday for the purpose of offensive or defensive action in matters respecting wages and 4 i conditions of work. The organizations comprising the alliance are tlie Miners Federation, the National 4 4 Union of Railway Men and the National Transport Workers union. The constitution adopted provides 4 that joint action can be taken only after the con- 1 4 sent of the three organizations concerned is ob- t 4 tained. - According to dispatches received by the Frank- 4 I furter Zeitung. Montenegro has expressed a desire for a separate peace. King Nicholas, according to the dispatches. | ersonally handed to the entente . ambassadors a document suggesting the possibility of a separate- peace for Montenegro, which was J represented as exhausted and unable to withstand the sujierior forces of the enemy. The ambassadors replied that in such a case they would break iff diplomatic relations and cease giving the assistance that hitherto had been accorded Montenegro. London newspapers of yesterday morning describe an unique experiment in state socialism which will i 4 be tried at an nunamed city in north England, where 20.000 men will soon be employed in muni- i tion work. To provide for the men and prevent ex- 4 tortionate prices the government has acquired all 4 stores and shops in the district and will either allow the proprietors to sell goods under license or . will, in most cases, run them under direct con- trol of the government. Secretary of State Lansing announced yesterday * that he bad lieen informed that Eliseo Arredondo has been made Mexican ambassador to the Fnited , States. Mr. Arredondo has represented General Carranza at Washington for the past couple of years. His selection as ambassador was expected. « following the recognition of Carranza as the head 1 of the de facto government of Mexico. 1 Representative Mann, republican leader of the 1 4 house, conferring with President Wilson yesterday 4 on defense plans, agreed that the army and navy 1 I should be strengthened, but reserved the right to « oppose certain items in the program outlined by , secretaries Garrison and Daniels. The president , 4 and Mr. Mann agreed that defense legislation . should be framed in a nonpartisan manner. Andrew Freedman. once an intimate of Richard , 4 Croker and former baseball magnate, who died in New York citv December 4, provided in his will that . half his residuary estate, estimated at ,000,000. should be used for the establishment of a home for J the aged "who have been in good circumstances. but by reason of adverse fortunes have become poor and dependent.* A bracelet of Brazilian jewels and a corsage of rare tropical feathers came Wednesday to Mrs. Norman Gait, the presidents fiancee, as wedding gifts. They were brought by Dr. A. J. De Oliveir.i Botelho of Brazil, first to arrive of the delegates to the Pan-American Scientific Congress, which meets in AVashington December 27. An advance of the Turks on Aden, in southern Arabia, near the entrance to the Red Sea, is announced in a Turkish official statement as reeeifed in Amsterdam and forwarded by the Central News correspondent there. The statement says: Between Mahadi and Aden successful fighting oc-J curred. Tlie Turks are advancing on Aden. 1 Austrian warships lvombarded the port of Dnraz-zo Monday, and also shelled the Italian wireless station, the Montenegrin consul at Paris reported yesterday. Several Albanian, Montenegrin and Italian vessels were sunk.
