THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1908. THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE IN DANGER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3072, 17 December 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1908. THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE IN DANGER.

There are, according to recent cable messages, signs that, as the danger of an open conflict in the Balkans is nearing} the non-Germanic partner in the Triple Alliance is preparing to safeguard its position by quitting the coalition that is directly responsible for the peril. The frankness of the Italian statesmen, who admitted in the recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies that loyalty to the Triple Alliance was daily growing more difficult, and that the only State which threatened Italy was its ally, created a sensation in Vienna. But that sensation is likely to be intensified by the categorical statement which is published by the newspaper "Le Temps," to the effect that Italy has entered into a verbal arrangement with Russia to ar:t together in the Balkans, "no matter what

may happen." Singularly, indeed, doss history repeat itself. If the statement by "Le Temps" can be accepted as correct —and it is amply borne out by the tcne of the recent utterances of responsible Italian statesmen —it means that Italy has taken a leaf out of Bismarck's book. The secret "treaty ot re-insurance" which Bismarck, as Imperial Chancellor of Germany, ratified with Russia during the currency of Germany's alliance with Austria and Italy, caused profound perturbation in Italy when it was revealed by Bismarck in 1396. And now it seems clear that this example of diplomatic duplicity has not been lost upon Italy, for, according to the statement by "Le Temps," Italy has re-insured herself with the same Power that Bismarck selected. Immediately after the sensational annexation of Bosciia and Herzegovina by Austria, when apprehensions of a coming war were freely expressed, Signor Tittoni, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, made the enigmatical remark that "Italy was forearmed against all eventualities." The significance of that remark is now obvious. Italy was not consulted prior to the annexation. And the Italian Government apparently forthwith approached the great Power .whose interests in the Balkan Peninsula are in a special sense antagonistic to those of Austria. Austria having inaugurated the practice of treaty-breaking can hardly with justice complain if her ally follows her example. And Germany, having discovered the device of a "treaty of re-insurance," is similarly debarred from objecting when her junior partner copies her method of doing international business. Looked at in that light, there is poetic justice in Italy's virtual defection from the Triple Alliance, which now includes for practical purposes only Germany, Austria, and their small satellite, Roumania, which joined the Alliance in 1896.