The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1911. PEACE BROKEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 86, 2 October 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1911. PEACE BROKEN.

A famous statesman said, just bofor<2 the outbreak of the Franco-Pussian war,; that the outlook for the unintcrrupi ?•] peace of the nations was never bright-?, than it was at the moment. A few years ago, after the conclusion of hostilities between Japan and Russia, the horizon was equally tranquil. Yet within the last two years or sb the clouds of war have been hovering dan- j gerously close over Europe. There was the first Moroccan embroglie, wherein Germany revealed the mailed fist and threatened France with war unless she 1 compelled her Minister of Foreign Affairs (M. Delcasse) to resign and abandon his policy, which course France, be- 1 reft of the aid of Russia, which was seriously crippled by the war with Japan which she had just emerged from, and possessing no other ally of strength, humbly obeyed, the dispute being subsequently referred to the Hague Arbitration Tribunal. Then, taking advantage of the domestic troubles in Turkey, the abdication of Abdul Hamid and the advent to power of the Young Turkish Party, the Bulgarians threw off the Ottoman yoke and announced—and secured —their independence. No sooner was this achieved than Austria, egged on by Germany, seized the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, tearing up the Berlin treaty, and defying all the great nations that were signatories to the treaty. Russia, with her eyes on the provinces herself, moved to protest, but Germany rattled her scabbard, and. exit the Muscovite! Britain and France, and Turkey of course, protested at this flagrant violation of a sacred treaty, but the protests were unaccompanied by force, the only protests nations like Austria and Germany understand or recognise. Xo sooner had things settled down than France told the world that her assistance was wanted at Fez, in Morocco, and thither she marched and settled down with a large and well-equipped force. Spain, with a burlesqued travesty of the French excuse, proceeded to settle down, with an intention no less deliberate, to occupy coastal dis- | tricts round Larache. Then Germany suddenly realised that she, too, had interests in Morocco, and forthwith despatched a cruiser to Agadir. Then we had. the ''Moroccan crisis," "lowering clouds," and all the rest, of it. The clouds happily were not broken, probably because Germany had not taken into consideration the possibility of British intervention, or more correctly speaking, British support for France. Germany's game of bounce failed, and during the last week or two she and France have | been threshing out claims and compensations in a mood that, so far as one can judge by the scrappy items that are cabled out, has been quite amicable. Xo sooner is Europe "out of the wood" in respect to Morocco, than Ttalv comes to light with grievances, and claims in connection with another of the Barhary States, the State of Tripoli, over which she has exercised a more or less shadowy influence for some years, but which belongs to Turkey. Evidently Italy felt she was entitled to some of the African spoil, and since she was quite out of the running so far as sharing in the Moroccan prize was concerned, sTie quite naturally turned to Tripoli, and. as one kind of a stick is as good as another for beating a dog. seized upon the alleged ill-treatment of some of her subjects there as a pretext for armed intervention. We heard nothing of Italy's alleged wrongs in Tripoli until a few days ago. They could not have J>een no very serious. The press of England and other countries has been taken q u ,^ 9

by surprise at the sudden development. I It would seem that Italy did not want I to wait to have her alleged wrongs re- j dressed by peaceable means. Turkey's ! attitude has been purely conciliatory. She has been ready to meet Italy in j any reasonable way, and to grant relief j if such were necessary. But Italy takes up the "stand and deliver" attitude. She declares: "If war is to be avoided we must be granted such preponderance in Tripoli as will render us mistress of the province, making the Sultan's sovereignty merely nominal." No wonder

the London Times comments that "the step Italy is taking seems out of all proportion to her grievances, and to bring the peace of Europe in more imminent danger than has threatened it since the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina." Her action is nothing short of international piracy. There must be something behind it all that the world has been kept in ignorance of. Italy, of course, wants territory. All the great Towers seem to be affected by the same earth hunger. But it is strange that Italy should in such a bare-faced manner seize the present moment to gratify her lust. Has the ambitious and astute Teuton anything to do with her action? Defeated in his attempt to get a slice of Morocco by the unexpected appearance of his arch-enemy John Bull on the scene, he may have got behind Italy and persuaded that country to occupy Tripoli, so as to ,be able to stir up strife among the Mahomedans when the oppor ; tune moment arrived, and thus cause trouble to both France in Tunis and Morocco, and Britain in Egypt. Or there may' be another motive. Austria is in Germany's debt for the help that made, possible her grabbing of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Possibly she wants-to place her other ally, Italy, in the same position. Germany, as anyone acquainted with the Bismarckian policy pursued in that country knows, does not do these things purely from an unselfish or friendly desire. She looks for a quid pro quo. Ever since the Emperor visited Jerusalem, Germany has been taking quite a lively interest in the Mahomedans, 1 and particularly in Asia Minor,,a very rich country, where she has been endeavoring to squeeze concessions from the Porte for a considerable time past. It is possible she is coveting that country, and, when she is ready, will call on her allies to "make good" by extending their diplomatic and, if necessary, their material support. This may be purely conjecture, but the fact cannot be got away from that Germany must find room for expansion, and will take a powerful lot of stopping. Whether it is reasonable for Britain to en-, deavor to prevent her expansion is another and a big question. The moral of Italy's descent on Tripoli is plain. It is that we are living on the edge of a volcano, and a very active one at that, and that we should as a nation be in a constant state of preparedness for the trial of strength which, as surely as night follows day, will assuredly come unless man's nature undergoes a complete transformation in the interim and his sword is converted into an agricultural implement.