THE DYING NATIONS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10062, 14 June 1898, Page 4

THE DYING NATIONS.

We have mentioned two of the countries which were obviously alluded to by Lord Salisbury when he spoke of the dying nations of the world, whose fate it was to be cut up among the living nations. Spain and China are those most in evidence at the present moment. But it is not very difficult to think of a list of others which must have been in Lord Salisbury's mind when he spoke. There is Turkey—the " Sick Man" who has been on the point of dying for the last half-century, but who exhibits surprising rallying power when the lookers-on think the final convulsion must surely be at hand. Morocco and Persia are also in the " sear, the yellow leaf," and no man can say when the crisis of their fate may come. Portugal, the Congo Free State, Brazil, and most of the smaller American Republics are also countries with no great amount of vitality. Not one of them could stand a day were it not that the Great Powers, looking on %t the tempting morsels with hungry eyes, are each afraid to make the final snap for fear of being set upon and torn by his fellows. What Herr yon Bulow stated recently in the Reichstag to be the attitude of Germany in regard to the partition of China is cynical but suggestive. "We should certainly," he said, " not take the initiative in a " partition. All that we did was to " see in good time that whatever '" happened we should not draw a " blank. The moment when the train I " starts does not always depend on the J " will of the passenger; it is his busi- " ness to see that he does not miss " the train. The devil take the hind- " most." This we fancy expresses the attitude of most of the " living countries" in regard to those that are supposed to be J dying. Each is disinclined to J make the first move, but none wants ! to be behindhand when the scramble i comes. Even England, which already ; has a fair share of the world's territory, and is not anxious to add to its responsibilities just at present, feels that it cannot afford to stand aloof J when the great game of '• grab" I begins. A leading English journal thinks we should let it be known at once what it is we want and what is our irreducible minimum. Roughly speaking, it thinks we should claim \ the following:—Permanent occupation

of Egypt; a thin • slice of the Congo State, sufficient to form a link between Uganda and Nyassaland; Delagoa Bay, in Portuguese East Africa, op to the Limpopo. Furthermore, we must keep our West African Hinterlands unimpaired, and we must keep the interests already ear-marked as ours in China and the Far East, Lastly, we must let the world know that under no circumstances will we allow any combination against the United States. The object of all these demands is not so much to get more territory as to "help, guard and make " efficient what wet already possess." It is possibly, forfxeasons which we have already indicated, that the general scramble may be delayed for some time yet. When it does come it is to be hoped that we shall have at the head of our affairs statesmen who are keen, firm, alert and vigorous. They will need all their wit 3 and all their courage at such a crisis in the world's affairs.