WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7392, 19 February 1902, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.

THE ANGLO-JAPANESE TREATY. There are many who have waited with extreme interest to hear the public expression of Russian opinion on the treaty lately concluded, not only because of the enormous interests of Russia in Manchuria and the Farthest East generally, but also because when Russia, during the Penjdeh trouble, sent cruisers into the Pacific, and threatened Australia ■ tralia and New Zealand, she stepped out from the ruck of the Powers as the sole one whose menace to these colonies was more than academic, and thus her permanent establishment in Manchuria as sovereign lord would add to the dangers of the South Pacific states. During tbe late troubles in China the press and Ministerial pronouncements ot Russia were the direct antithesis to her actions, and thus, in discussing- the treaty, she has but; to refer to her former assertions as guarantee of her wish to t reserve the territorial integrity of China. It is quite certain that if the preservation of China from aggression by other than herself will suit Russia's book, she will conclude that it is preserved till she is ready. For the next two or three decades a losing war would be utter ruin to Russia, and Japan had declared she would fight about Manchuria, and many think that she would win, If the last £ wins a war, then it is probable that in a struggle with a moderately rich country Russia • would lose. She has for the time spoken of, to progress by means of underground diplomacy and secret treaties, if at all. She must do anything rather than fight, and Germany is the most inclined to take advantage of her dilemma, Britain the least. It is probable that the treaty will ombarrass German ambitions rather than Russia's. Russia after all is advancing in her natural sphere of expansion, due east along her uncivilised frontiers just as the United States progressed to the west. But the actions of Germany in China have been swashbuckling acts of wanton aggression, and the large increase cf her fleet in Chinese waters lately announced does not argue for peaceful intentions. And it has lately been borne in on the Russian mind as it has upon that of England that Skobeloff was right whan he said :—" Not England, but Germany — voila Vennemi," as he sought his country's foe. Germany would be a menace to Russia in Manchuria were she powerfully established in Shantung. 6he would have established another point of attack on the Bear in the great struggle between Teuton and Slav which is sure to come. t ■ - -