The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3173, 20 March 1911, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1911.

The International Outlook.

Reviewing the international situation in the February “Contemporary,-* Dr. E. J. Dillon says much that is of considerable interest at the present time. It is his opinion that recent disclosures about the Russo-German agreement, which is still in an embryonic stage, have let loose a tempest of passion in the forests of newspaper leaves throughout the world; For the political configuration of Europe is being transformed Vto our disadvantage. Russia, by sliifting her quarters for a more comfortable position, has tipped over the beam and upset the nice and precarious balance of European power. And now the cry is every nation for its

bwn integrity: and AustriaTGermany. for. . the bverlordship of Europe. Naturally’', . the-Governments of France and Great j Britain do not relish the ferment cans- 1 ed by this unwelcome change, which I they imagined they were effectually hin- j dering, and one cannot well imagine M. Pichon announcing to the Chamber that - the Triple Entente had fallen upon evil ; days. This accordingly discountenanced the warning voices of the “prophets of evil.” “Assume for a moment,” continues Dr. Dillon, “that Russia, after the Manchurian, as after the Crimean, campaign, feels herself exhausted and in need of a long period of repose, of recueillement, as Gorchakoff termed it, in order to recuperate her forces, remodel her army, rebuild her navy, and extend her network of railways. Looking • around, she perceives that the only Power capable of hindering her from enjoying that much-needed peace is Austria-Germany, whose armies could sweep the battlefields of the Continent more readily than Ruvter’s squadrons swept the seas. It is borne painfully j£p upon her that if she strikes up a frifpclly covenant with AustriaGermanfr she may nurse her forces withouf' let and develop them to her heart® content, whereas if she continues to bpd aloof she must be ever on her guaJftl against some dangerous surprise, which she is powerless to ward off or emcle. If Holland and Belgium be invited to join the German Federation on Jpe same basis as Bavaria or WurttemJnirg; if the independent States of the fGerman and nearly-allied races on the I Continent be drawn under the wings of > the Teutonic eagle, and Germany’s territorial possessions and land and sea forces swell correspondingly, treaties and stipulations being set aside unceremoniously, will not that be a formidable. a repellent set-off to the peace vouchsafed to the ex-members of the Triple Entente? Of course, all the small States concerned would enter into the federation of their own free will. The circumstance would be one of the feathers in the cap of the German Kaiser. And what Power would risk a war single-handed in order to hinder the incorporation or assert its own right to compensation?” Dr. Dillon concludes by remarking that in the East analogous advantages would be sought for and obtained by the all-powerful militarists. Turkey’s goodwill is already assured. The Young Turks have thrown in their lot with the Triple Alliance, moved by considerations which no fairminded man will blame as unpatriotic. At first, indeed, they groped their way in the dark, and the guides we gave them did not help them to find it. Since the defeat, and still more since the dissolution of the Triple Entente, they have discovered it. In Persia, Germany has had oft-rejected claims allowed by Russia, and henceforth she will be one of the guardians of the Iranian realm, the powerful champion of another Mohammedan people. That is part of the concrete upshot of the Potsdam meeting.