Evening Post THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1905.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 59, 7 September 1905, Page 4

Evening Post THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1905.

THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION. « In the negotiations of private life the chief use of bluff is to precede and promote a settlement, and after that end has been attained the game is regarded as up. The stupendous negotiations which were happily concluded at Portsmouth, U.S.A., last week have, however, been governed by a different rule, for, so far at any rate ; as Russia is concerned, the game of bluff has been pursued with more brazen vigour than ever since the settlement was reached. M. Witte himself set the example by boasting at the very moment when an agreement had been reached thab he and his colleagues had won "a complete victory" ; the Russian Foreign Minister has represented the Tsar as having dictated terms as though to a conquered enemy ; and the Tsar himself comes out as a humorist of the first water by sending a sort of apology to General Linevitch for not putting • the valour pf the army, "which he is convinced would have been able to inflict a serious defeat on the enemy," to any further test. As the latest word from the front is thab of the French war correspondents cited yesterday as commenting unfavourably on "the disorder, ignorance, and complete disorganisation in the Russian army," there is no reason to suppose that Linevitch's victories would not have been of the same humiliating and disastrous character as those of Kuropatkiu ; bub nobody will grudge a little cheap comfort of this kind to an army which has not had much el&e to cheer 'it. Some of tho olher utterances referred .to have been much less excusable, and it is to be hoped that Japan will realise that they were primarily intended for home consumption to save the face of the autocracy, and not to insult a f cnerous foe. The unoste'natious signing of the tieaty, the fear of the Japanese delegates for the "stones — perhaps dyna- j mite" that may greet them on their return, and the "stupefaction and disap- ' pointmont" with which the news of peace was received in Court circles at St. Petersburg, all indicate that the Governments of both countries recognise that they will have a hard task in justifying their action to their respective nations. While Japan continues to confine her utterances- for the most part to the usual diplomatic courtesies, the Tsar is reported as having cenaured M. Witte in brutal fashion for -consenting to the partition of Saghalien Island. " His Majesty declares," says the St. Petersburg ■correspondent of The Times, " that if his first plenipotentiary had displayed diplomatic skill Japan would nave renounced her claim to portion of the island, eince she was determined to secure peace at any cost->" Nicholas 11. can be as wise after 'the event as many other persons of defective intelligence, and he can be as brutal in his ingratitude as if he were a strong man instead of a weakling, but we may t-easonably hope that before the week is out the marionette will be pulled by other wires and made to speuk with the voice of ufie party of peace and reform. It ib pleasant to turn from thifa pitiable display to the prospect of international readjustment which is held out by se\eral items in the news of the last few days. In the interview with M. Wifcte >yhiL'h was reported from Washington on Monday, he said that Russia's recent experience had , taught her the danger of dictant enterprises for which sht w.is unprepared, that " her proper sphere in Europe was now restored, and tha.t in t'vo years she would reconstitute hei military power." He declared for the otrengthening of the Franco-Rvs&ian alliance, " Especially when the balance of power seemed to be compromised," spoke favourably oi a Rueso-Japane3s entente, and " considered ths possibility of a Russian agreement with England, Franco, and Japan was logical, and that such an agreement would be moist advantageous to Russia." The representation that England was disappointed at "tha conclusion of peace ho condemned ad'"dishonest," and for the benefit of Fnince he pointed out that if hhe had recently been obliged to yield for tlie sake of peace, " Russia being engaged ekewhere," sho need no longer ym'd when her cause was just and reasonable. M. Witte's statement constitutes one of the most remarkable utterances on international politics which have boen heaid for a long time,' and fully equals in importance the recent fu'.niinations of the Kaiser to which it is intended to bo a counterblast. It is, of course, at Germany, and at Germany alone, that M. Witle's proposals aie aimed, for what other Power has takon advnntage of j Russia's entanglement to bully Franco, I ami disturb the equilibrium of Europe? j Even now German military preparations are said to be continuing along tho , French frontier, in tho shape, especially, i of the concentration of railway stock and | the lepair of roads ; and while the French | authorities arc leported to have taken i precautions to avoid surprise, no precau- ■ tion that they can take will ha\a as sobering an effect upon Ihe Kuiser as the consciousness that when he faces Franco ho lias once more a slrong man aimed behind him on his eastern frontier. There arts, fortunately, indications that M. Witte's views are receiving a good deal of support from his count rj men. A lemarkdble article woe cited in our cablo manages \esterday from the newspaper Russ, a Moscow Liberal organ, which "advocated friendship with England for tho maintenance vi the European equilibrium " Tho same journal approves tho Aligio-Jupuuese treaty as calculated to res' rain Russia from "fantastic and ruin- | on*. Asiatic adventures," and as we are I told at Ihe same lime that a fierce contio- ! versv is raging in the Russian press | generally with regard to this treaty, it is obviously not exciting tho same unnnimous opposition from tho nation which welcomed the conclusion of Us predeces- i s>or in 1902. The be.'t news of nil, thouizh it can hardly be accepted as authentic until confirmed , fiom other j I sotuces, is thnt supplied to us on the aulhoiity of the St. Petersburg correupoi'dent of the Temps— numdy, that "an Anglo-Russian [modus] vivendi respecting Persia and all Asiatic questions will be -arranged iit nn early date us> a uoiollnry of the Anglo-French understanding." Such an arrangement would be an even more appropriate corollary to the AngloJapnncsc alliance, of which Asia "is tho special subject, iind if it really is negotiated, the uiidiMwlaiuling between tho lour nations named by M. Witte woti'd lii- not far from an pccomnlished fact, 'flic pence of the world would be more sure.y guaianlced than evei if this muginfii'onl idciil could be attained, and what hut the ambition of the us yet irrepressible Kaiser Mould be the loser?