At a meeting of several thousand peasants of the Ukraine, held on April 29, a resolution was passed calling for the overthrow of the Government, the closing of the Central Rada, the cancellation of the Constituent Assembly convoked for May 12, and the abandonment of land socialization. General Skoropauski was proclaimed Hetman and was recognized by Germany. The German advance into the Ukraine continued, military rule was established in Kiev, and several members of the Government, including the Minister of War, were removed on the ground that the Government had proved too weak to maintain law and order. Vice Chancellor von Payer, speaking before the Main Committee of the German Reichstag on May 4, attempted to justify Germany's use of the iron hand by declaring that grain had been withheld and that prominent Ukrainians, members of the Committee of Safety, had been caught planning the assassination of German officers. Rostov-on-the-Don was occupied by Germans on May 9, but was recaptured by the Russians the next day. M. Tchitcherin, on May 12, sent a wireless message to Ambassador Joffe, at Berlin, instructing him to try to obtain from Berlin cessation of every kind of hostility, and declared that captures of Russian territory violated the terms of the treaty of peace. He also gave assurances that the Black Sea Fleet would not attack the port of Novorossysk, which the Germans threatened to capture. In an evasive reply the Commander in Chief of the German troops in the East said he could only agree to the cessation of naval operations against the Black Sea Fleet, provided that all ships returned to Sebastopol and were retained there, thus leaving the port of Novorossysk free for navigation. A Swedish report of May 14 told of a German ultimatum to the Bolshevist Government demanding the occupation of Moscow and other Russian cities, the abolishment of armaments, and the effecting of certain financial measures which would practically make Russia a German colony. Professor H. C. Emery, the American who was seized when the Germans landed in the Aland Islands, was freed from prison, but was still detained in Germany, according to a report received on May 5. The British Foreign Minister, A. J. Balfour, announced in Commons on May 5 that Great Britain was ready to grant temporary recognition to the Esthonian National Council. Transcaucasia proclaimed its independence on April 26, and a conservative Government was formed, headed by M. Chkemkeli. Ciscaucasia proclaimed itself an independent State on May 14. The Caucasus proposed peace negotiations with Turkey May 10. Russian Bolshevist troops crossed the Caspian Sea in gunboats and recaptured Baku from the Mussulmans May 17. Emperor William issued a proclamation, May 14, recognizing the independence of Lithuania, allied with the German Empire, and saying that it was assumed that Lithuania would participate in the war burdens of Germany. FINLAND.