The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1914. THE BALANCE OF POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 66, 6 August 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1914. THE BALANCE OF POWER.

It is generally believed that Genua* foreign policy is based upon ft f*nious saying of Frederick the Ureat to that attack was the best method of defence. Great Britain's traditional policy was outlined by the same diplomatic genius, for more than one hundred and fifty years ago he wrote, "The tranquillity of Europe rests principally upon the wise maintenance of the Balance of Power by which the supeiior stingth of on; 1 Slate i h iiiade harmless by the counterbalancing weight ol several states united among themselves." For moro than three centuries the maintenance of the balance of power has been the guiding principle in Britain's foreign policy and the law of self-pre-servation compels her to adopt that policy to-day. History has shown that whenever one nation obtained undue ascendancy in Europe its powers were invariably turned against Great Britain. The Romans could never hs,ve invaded Britain bad they not first obtained the mastery of Europe and that fact has been made apparent very often. Consequently, Great Britain has embarked upon her greatest wars in order to maintain tho balance of powor on the Continent, for therein lies her own safety (remarks a writer in the Lyttelton Times). After the Franco-Prussian war, tlie balance was held fairly true by the Dual Alliance, France and Russia, on the one side, and the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria and Italy, on the other. The war with Japan seriously weakened Bussia. She lost her entire fleet and showed the nations how poorly organised were her military forces. Temporarily that destroyed the balance and Germany -took advantage of tho opportunity to wring an advantageous commercial treaty from Iher neighbor. For a while the Triple Alliance dominated the situation. Italy seized Tripoli, and Austria-Hungary felt strong enough to tear up the treaty of Berlin by annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Bulgaria, with Austria's approval, declared her independence from Turkey. The gradual development of Russia, accompanied as it was by the creation of a new fleet and the re-organisation of the | army, together witfb her surprising rejuvenation tended to restore the balance, but before that could be effected, Germany 'had made another move, this time in Morocco. France became firm, and it became known that England had given an assurance of support. The result was a diplomatic defeat of tho Triple Alliance and the restoration of the balance of power. The recent Balkan affected tho balance unfavorably for the Teutonic races. When the Allies attacked Turkey, the German and Austrian newspapers declared boldly that they would be defeated, and doubtless the wish was father to tile thought. Of late years Germany had come to regard herself as the protector of Turkey, anil the Kaiser, by his famous speech at Damascus, did his best to win the friendship of the followers of the Prophet. German writers had long held that the only way to cripple Britain'" greatness lay through Turkey. In his book, "Die liagdadbalm," IV. Paul Roarbach wrote. ;'Onc factor and one alone will determine the possibility of a successful issue in case of an Anglo-German conflict. A direct attack upon England across the North Sea is out of the que> tion. England can be attacked and mor: tally wounded by land only in one place, Egypt." He went on to say, "The policy of protecting Turkey, which is now pursued by Germany, has no other object in view except the desire to effect an insurance against Who danger of a war with Europe." The result of the Balkan war was to reduce Turkey to a negligible quantity as a European country and throw across the Balkans a line of independent States which made possible the dream of a Germanic Power from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. And the power of the Triple Alliance was lessened in more ways than one. It is Germany's aim to keep AustriaHungary intact. Any decrease in the Austrian power must be made good by ' an increase in the German power. Some writers assert that the. recent increases in the land forces of Germany are due. not to any increase in the power of France and Russia, but simply to the friction which exists between AustriaHungary and Italy. Writing, in the •'Berliner Tagcblat," Hew Wolf summed up the position by stating that Germany must oppose any measures calculated to weaken her allies (Austria-Hungary), because that would necessitate a corresponding reinforcement of Germany's defences and the effort demanded might prove too umch for the Empire. Now there can be no doubt whatever that the great success of the allies in the Balkan war has lessened the power of Austria and that her support of Bulgaria in the war between the allies and in opposition to the claims of Roumania has lost her the sympathy of that country. The result is, as one Writer put it, "The oppressed and impatient Slavs of Austria-Hungary have suddenly become restive and they may soon become dangerous to their masters. The dual monarchy is defended chiefly by Slav bayonets, for 53 per cent, of the soldiers of the country are Slavs." The result is a weakened Austria and a weakened Triple Alliance. Unfortunately for Europe, that weakening does not altogether make for peace. In Germany, as a writer in "The Quarterly Review" shows, there is the fear, to which bellicose writers are constantly giving expression, "that in a few years, especially if Vienna adopts an irreconcilable attitude towards the Croats, Slavism and the Slav element in Europe will be too str ng to be subdued, and that, if the conflict is, sooner or later, iaevit- , able, it had better come at once." (