Evening Post. TUESDAY. AUGUST 19,1902.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 43, 19 August 1902, Page 4

Evening Post. TUESDAY. AUGUST 19, 1902.

WORLD-POLITICS AND ,THE COLONIES. ♦ International politics, or world-politics as the Germans call them, have not hitherto had any great interest for colonials as a class. Canada, it is true, has followed -with oloso attention the relations between Great Britain and the United States, while Australasia has felt deeply concerned in Anglo-French and Anglo-Gorman diplomacy in the Pacific. Each of the self-governing colonies has in fact devoted itself to one little " section alone of international politics, tho section being in every case that which immediately affected the colony in question. Other sections were entirely disregarded or considered only bo far as they bore upon the particular section. There were two main reasons for this aloof ness. In the first place, tha colonies have been absorbed in the manifold problems connected with the settlement and development of their own new countries. They have for a long time enjoyed almost complete autonomy in these domestic affairs, while they have had no effective voice in matters of foreign policy. Colonists have naturally turned their energies to tusks that were ready to hand and under their own control. They have lost somewhat in breadth of vision by this narrowing of their horizon, but they havo on tho other hand gained in intensity of application to louil questions. The second reason is that Kurope is still nominally, and until i recently was actually the great arena of j world politics. Tho colonies are remote i from Europe •, they have little practical [ intercourse other than commercial, and j that not considerable, with Continental European peoples. Colonists lnvc, there fore, not been encouraged to become <»c- j quaitited with the views and aspirations , of Continental nations or the circumstances Mhicli actuated our Imperial statesmen in their diplomatic dealings with foreign Powers. A change. howover, is rapidly coming over the attitude of the colonies. This is due partly 10 the growing closeneyt of the Imperial connection, the rising feeling of interdependence between the parts of the Empire. The colonies realise that they must share more or lc<s in tho advantages and disadvantages accruing from Imperial foreign relations, that in the last resort they must stand or fall with tlio Empire. Colonist*-, at icast the moie thouuhlli)] among them, are consequently | awaking ,to a moro vivid interest -v j world-politics. But there- is al?o another cause for the change. Europe- is no longer the sole, and perhaps not even tho chief scene of international activity. International politics huvo in truth bocome world-politics. Asia, Africa, and the Pacific are more oftan the subject matter of diplomacy than Europe iteelf. All tho Great Powers are seeking to become World-Powers, commercially or territorially. Tha United buues has been dragged into tha vortex, of the international struggle for existence and supremacy. The colonies as parts of a gTont world Empire feel a similar attrnction, and the instinct which is guiding them is that of self-preservation. The Triple Alliance, the Dual Alliance, tho Austro-Russinn entente, «nd the FrancoItalian rapprochement would a few years ago have been treated >i itli comparative indifference by colonials, but this neither can nor should be the case any longer. Within the past few months there have been some interesting developments in the grouping and relations ot tho Great Powers. Shortly beforo the last English mail left Europe the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy had boon renewed for twelve years aa from May next. This led to some important pronouncements by leading foroign statesmen like M. Delcasse, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, and also to a general discussion in the columns of the European press. Since then, wo have learnt by caWo of visits paid by the King of Italy and the German Emperor to the Taar, of a tour made, by the Dutch Premier to the Courts of the Triple Alliance, of further developments in the Prussian anti-Polish campaign and sundry other events which have a bearing on the course of internotional politics. The present situation can no longer be summed up in the division of the Great. Powers other thnn the two Anglo-Saxon Powers into two mutually auspicious camps, one comprising Geimany, Austria Hungary and Italy, the other France and Russia. Formally | stated that is the position, since the ; Triple and Dual Alliances still hold good. But several links between the na- \ tions apart altogether from the two main leagues, havo been established, Olid strangoly enough, thoy have been forged in almost every aw to meet problems outside Europe. Italy and France have come to an understanding not only upon tariffs and commercial treaties, but nlso upon the politics of Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, Morocco, and tho hinterlands of those African States. Statements made by responsible Ministers in the French and Italian Chambers indicate a drawing together of the two Latin peoples. Italy declares that her membership of the Triple Alliance does not mean that she will couutenunco any uggression on France. Franco declares that she and Italy are in complete accord as to their respective Mediterranean interests, European and African. Moreover, the King of Italy has immediately after the renewal of tho Triple Alliance visited in company with his Minister for Foreign Affair* France's great ally, the Tsar. Germany and Russia have been working together in the Far East, and community of interest in those regions has led to a friendliness which found expression in Emperor William's trip to Revel. Aus-tria-Hungary has been showing Franco signs of goodwill, and has, moreover, renewed her Balkan agreement with Russia. The dislike felt by the Austrian Slavs for Prussian anti-Polish polity hus nocessarily caused a bettor feeling between them and Russia, the admitted head of the 61nv races. The Triple Alliance, which benefits permnny more than either of her ptrMiers, him, it would Beeiih been weakened by

lliose cross divisions or supplementary agreements. Thi> Dual Alliaiuv. ou tho 01 tier hand, has boon strengthened by the oxU'nsion of its shlipiv ol operations to tlu> Fur East, tho diplomatic counter to l ho Ant(lo-Japnnotits Alliance, Great Britain li;\m refusort to be entangled in any Kuropt'im Alliance during timu.t of peace. Her agreement with Japan has strengthened hi'r position in that part of tbe world whi'vc she wn« weakest nnd suemod most dependent on German friendship, while she Tins a tacit family understanding with the United States that helps both nations to bear the "white man's burden" in the bywnys of the. world. So long as the Triple Allianceand the Dual Alliance, hold good, and ar<> informally connected by the various agreements between the members of the one and those of the other, the peace of the world is assured, barring extraordinary uccidents. The balance is preserved among Continental Powers, and that balance is such that there cannot be any joint aggression on the Anglo-Saxon Powers, and that thero is little likelihood of on& upon ■ the Anglo-Japanese League in the Far East. But — and it is a strong adversative — thero are two powerful foes to peace at work, Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism. Germans drearr of a great Germanic Power embracing Holland and Gorman Austria, white many Slavs look to Russiaas tbe future head of a great Slavic Confederation. Slavs and Germans are struggling hard in Austria, and kept from open hostilities only by the influence of their common Emporor, the aged Francis Joseph. The danger to be> feared was aJluded to a few weeks ngo hy the Paris cosreßpondent of The Times. "I venture to affirm," he said, "that aa long aa Francis Joseph lives peace is not mennced. Whenever that guarantee of EuroScan peace disappears, whenever the conict between Pan-Germanism and PanSlavism breaks out, all treaties will be shattered like glass, and the thunderclap across the political horizon will n,t ono blow efface all' the signatures to existing engagements." A European war nowadays would mean almost certainly a war waged all over the world. That is why even here in far-off New Zealand we cannot ignore the foreign relations of the nations.