THE CAUSE OF WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 153, 2 July 1904, Page 2

THE CAUSE OF WAR.

rho cause of the war between Russia and Japan has a historic interest only, for at the present moment the world is engaged moro in watching the progress of the absolving Irama than in discussing the causes .ihich led up to it. Nevertheless, says the New Zealand Herald, it is as well to know what thoso who may be assumed to speak with some degree of authority have to say about the origin of the sanguinary strugigJe now being waged in the Far East. Count Tolstoi, as we learn from a caible message, haa hud Lhe courage to proclaim in the col111ns of the 1 .ondon 'rimes—a journal that the Russian bureaucracy leUwU', and whose correspondent it •uimmarily exiielU'd from St. Petersburg for fearlessly criticising its methods—that the war was not brought about in spite of the efforts of Russia to maintain peace, but >vns caused "toy immoral and ambitious men in order to defend the stupidities, robberies, and . other abominations which htwl been perpct!\al</U .11 China and Korea." .tuonth Professor Lafotttojufr-pf Brussels, in —trfepeeitt £C a meeting at Tho'H«gu# to commemorate the' frith anniversary of tho Peace Conference, declared that the war wae not attributaible to racial hatred, hut to the desire of a Russian Grand Duke to exploit the forests of Manchuria, and the fertile territories of Southern Siberia. The revelations which have been made since the war fo gan of oilicial corruption and peculation on a colossal scale, together with the astounding unpreparedness of the" Hussion army, strengthen the suspicions that influences of a personal and dishonest character may have been responsible for drawing Russia into a. war which has not only shattered "Ivor military and naval prestige, but dealt a blow to her position in tho Far Mast from which it is doubtful if she can ever recover. But whatever may have been the true cause of the war, Russia cannot :iow afford to draw out of the conflict. It is necessary for the continuance of her existence as a great Power to strain every nerve and exhaust every available source in her attempt to overcome" "the Japanese. Tho task before her is ti stupendous one, -ant! its difficulties are enormously increased by the ever-present danger of tho empire being euddealy plunged into tho throes of internal convulsions. Hut it cannot be shirked. Unless therefore some unexpected turn of tho tide should give the ivuasians an overwhelming advantage, a contingency which is extremely improlwbio, the war is like y to prove of long durat/toiu