The news which comes out of Russia regarding the invasion of Finland is as significant as it is interesting. It will be remembered that a few days ago it was reported that the Soviet had asked Germany for the assistance of four war vessels with which to blockade Finland, and for the services of a number of German senior officers. Both requests it is reported were refused, Now a telegram from Paris reports that three Soviet generals and six other leading Red Army officers have been executed because of the setbacks the Russian Army has received at the hands of the Finns, while the correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" in Moscow reports that the conspiracy of silence by which the Soviet Government had hoped to keep the truth of the disasters in Finland from the masses has failed and that considerable anxiety is being felt in the capital. It may not always be possible to test the accuracy of some of the reports which come to hand, but of this last it may be said that it presents no great difficulty. The correspondent would not have learned of the defeats in Finland, unless people in Moscow were becoming apprised of them, for no especial privilege with regard to t receipt of news is ever given correspondent! and what he learned of Soviet defeats he must have acquired in Moscow. It follows that Moscow must be acquainted with the Soviet failure on the borders of Finland, and his description of the reaction to be seen can, therefore,.be taken as approximating the truth. What was to have been merely a man hunt of Finnish policemen by a vastly superior Russian force has been transformed into a complete defeat with losses quite unexpected on the part of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.