The Dominion. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1911. RUSSIA AND THE POWERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1911. RUSSIA AND THE POWERS.

The present position of Kussia in z the world's politics is of first iin- c portance in spite of persistent at- c tempts from Berlin and Vienna to J belittle ancl misrepresent that position. Intelligence from Berlin, if i accepted as true, would make every- ] one outside the Wilhelm-Strasse be- 1 lieve that Germany in a manner ] holds Russia in the hollow of her i hand. This, of course, is very far i from the truth. Much capital has 1 been made of the Kaiser's co-called c ultiiftatum to Russia, and of Bus- 1 sia's alleged immediate submission. ] •Russia's complete version of that incident has yet to be published; in any case thcro is little to prove that the Tsar's Government would have acted otherwise than it did, ultimatum or no ultimatum. As is usual, when the whole episode is . laid bare it will, in all probability, ■ be discovered that the ultimatum was : less peremptory than it was repre- j sented to be in Germany. The • Kaiser's goslets and goslings are always tremendous fowl—could the ' inspired press of Germany be be- ' lieved. After the November meeting ; of the two Emperors at Potsdam, \ and when the German Press Bureau 1 was performing great and. valorous feats by way of alarming Europe— 1 more particularly France and Great Britain—about tlie wonderful Agreement which .had been signed and sealed, sensible statesmen and informed journals in Europe and ekewhere absolutely refused to be alarmed. The hallooing was confined to Germany, though certain writers in English reviews seemed inclined to believe that at last German diplomacy had succeeded in accomplishing something. Dr. E. J. Dillon, for example, whoso home for many years was in Russia, and who is considered by tome an authority on Russian affairs, wrote in the Contemporary Review in a strain oven more dismal than is usual with him. Russia, lie said, had been reconciled to Germany, for the Tsar had discovered that he was more in sympathy with tne monarchic and absolute' Germany than either the French-Republic or democratic England. This, however, is not Dr. Dillon's first failure to describe aright the Tsar's personal predilections. The Dominion:, several weeks ago advanced reasons for believing that Germany's diplomacy on the occasion of the ;Tsar's; visit, had been less successful, ]osa'' ,f "bfilliant, than the Wilhelm-Strasse . authorities wished the world to believe. No stores of exclusive information were then drawn, upon; . only Germany's diplomatic history and knowledge concerning the wiles of the WilhelmStrksse. Most of the facts touching the famous meeting of the Monarchs are by this time available. The world knows now that somewhat prosaic, purposeless business was discussed at Potsdam, and that the story of no startling coup da maitrc falls upon the-Kaiser.The Times was informed early this year by its correspondent in St. Petersburg that the Russian Government would shortly send a Note to Berlin replying to the German Note, received in 1907, in which Germany asked for information regarding the significance of the Anglo-Russian Agreement in so far as it affected German interests in Asia. "The reply," wrote the correspondent, "has been delayed over three years for reasons connectcd with the general relations of the two countries. These reasons were removed at the Potsdam meeting." In the Note, the Times proceeded to explain, the Russian Government would indicate the two main features of the_ conversations which took place during the Tsar's visit to Potsdam—"first, the unquestionable maintenance of the present grouping of the Powers; second, a mutual undertaking to abstain from' any new combination which might be directed against Russian and German interests respectively in Persia and Turkey." A week later the same correspondent's dispatches were candid to a degree, not at all polite towards the Wilhelm-Strasse. He wrote: "The German Foreign Office is accustomed to work with very meagro 'resources, but it certainly tries to make the most of them. The new German Foreign Secretary, Herr von Kiderlen-Waechter, is a pupil of the late Herr yon Holstein, and one of Herr von HolSTEin's favourite methods in dealing with two Powers whose mutual friendship he regarded as inconvenient was to endeavour to persuade each of them in turn that the Ger- , man Government was engaged in establishing momentous relations I with the other." ! Germany's methods could be dei scribed in no terms more concise and . correct. These methods are becoming ' pretty well known nowadays; but it is sometimes necessary to repeat the truth, not once, but many times. Coming to deal with Germany's at- . titude towards Great Britain, the Times says:—"For the moment the object is to represent _ the RussoGerman agreement with regard to • the Russian _ sphere of interests in 3 Persia in high contrast to the absence of any German arrangement with Great Britain of a similar character, especially in regard to the Bagdad Railway and the line which * may one day connect it with the Persian Gulf. It is in this respect that the present action of the German '» Press Bureau, in so far as it is intended to influence public opinion abroad, requires special attention." ; As for the British and Russian Gov(1 crnmcnts, the Times points out that a there is now at all times so frank and full an exchange of information ' and of views between them that there - is no possibility of sowing mistrust in the field of their cordial relations, . any more than thcro was five years '* ago in the case of England and France with regard to Morocco. The German press has been exulting "in the dominant position which the German Empire at present occupies," Thia, however, it nothing ij new, Subjected to a {light prowss

of analysis, it is somewhat difficult to discover in Germany's present position any solid strata of fact— not airy imaginings—to justify any particular exultation. Germany is desperately in need of fresh alliances. The much-debated friendship with 'Austria-Hungary seems to possess insufficient foundation. Neither Austrians nor Hungarians love the Kaiser's subjects ■ the reigning Houses, Hapsburg and Hohenzollern, arc mutually jealous and distrustful. The Yaterland described Italy the other day as "a negligible quantity/' But Italy, no longer a unit of the Triple Alliance, would be far from negligible. Count Aerenthal helped to bring Italy and Russia together, and Italy for years has been on better terms with Great Britain and Franco than with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The most natural outcome of the present relations of the Powers is the early emergence of the Quadruple Entente, linking together Russia, Italy, France, and Great Britain.