GERMANY'S POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 527, 7 June 1909, Page 5

GERMANY'S POLICY.

KAISER AND TSAR. \

ANCLO-RUSSIAN RELATIONS., AVOWED CAMPAIGN OF SEVERANCE. (BT TILEORAPII—»EBSB A63OCIATIOK—CoriMaHT.) Borlln, June 4. German papers are jubilant over tho coming interview between the Tsar and the Kaiser, wliiali it is thought will tend to weaken Russia's relations with England. "UNITED WE STAND." ' BERLIN DEEPLY- INTERESTED. Berlin, June 4. The tone of an article in' tho "Neueste Nachrichten" in reference to tho British Imperial Press Conference indicates that tho Germans are closely watching every effort to promote the unity of the British Empire. THE TRIPLE PROBLEM OF THE POLES. STOLYPIN TO ATTEND.

(Rec. Juno 6, 4 p.m.) Berlin, June 6. It is stated in well-informed circles in Berlin that one of the chief subjects to be discussed by the Tsar and the Kaiser is the question of Poland in all its aspeots. \ Tho Premier of Russia, M. Stolypin, will be present at tho interview. SEVENTEEN MILLION POLES. A JOINT WORRY FOR THREE POWERS. i The Poles constitute a pressing racial problem for each of three Powers, Germany, Austria, and Russia. "Tho Turkish revolution," writes one authority, "may prove to have been been a starting point of a revolution in the situation of Europe. . Russia,, driven, by hard experience to turn her eyes once, liioro westwards and southwards, has begun to display new interest in Balkan affairs. The Russian. Constitution and the Rnssian'understanding with England have drawn towards Russia the sympathies of the Slav world. Nco-Slavism,' ostensibly non-political, has replaced tho old aggressive Pan-Slavism that preceded the fatal policy of Far Eastern adven- . ture.

Weak Point of Russian Slavism. . "'Neo-Slavism' has ono weak point—the relationship between Russia and tho Poles. The 17,000,'000 Polos living in! Russia, Austria, and Prussia are a force which no statesman can afford to ignore. Polish tenacity, thrift, and industrial potentiality are such that the dream of Polish reunion seems to-day far less chimerical than it seemed a generation since. But the Polish question involves for Russia issues even more important than those of her relations to Germany and Austria-Hungary. Bet Icr educated and more active than the Russians, the Poles, with equality of onportunitj-. might scoure practical control of the Russian Stato just as they have obtained predominant influenco in many Siberian centres, and have coine to exercise in Austria an influence greater than that exercised by any people of equal number. Teuton v. Slav. "This is a contingency for which Russia in not yet prepared; but it indicates that, far from being-dead, the Polish question still lives to trouble European Governments; and, though the manner of its final solution may depend upon the solution of anothor and still obscurer Slav Problem, that of the future of the 30,000,000 Little Russians, or Ruthenes, in South-West-orn Russia and Galicia, it cannot fail to be an important factor in the groat struggle bo. tween Teuton and Slav which many far. sighted students of international politics descry upon tho horizon. "Tho attitude of Russia owards Scrvia and towards the annexation of Bosnia-Horzegovina by Austria-Hungary is a-proof that Russia does not intend to- abandon her spiritual pro* tectorate over, the Southern Slavs; and a sign that, in future,, questions, of rncial solidarity may acquire even greater prominence than thoso of dynastic. Interests or commercial rivalry. . •

A Great Statesman Watitod. "The forces engaged in ethnic, struggles arc too. complex, to bo directed by any ono mind. Even'if the Emperor William'be the figurehead of th.4 Teutonic world, ho is no-more its leader than the Tsar is leader of the Slavs. True, a statesman may. riso who, concentrating in his hand the threads of a raoinl policy, may direct or exploit an ethnic taovemont mnoh as Bismarck in tho sixties directed and exploited tho groat liberal movement of the Germans towards national unity. But no such statesman is yet in sight Europe gropes'in the dark to'find a path of safety, and often discovers at' tho eleventh hour that sho is on tho brink of o chasm. 1 '