Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1909. FORCE MAJEURE IN EUROPE. AUSTRIAN ANNEXATIONS AND THE BERLIN TREATY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 8 April 1909, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1909. FORCE MAJEURE IN EUROPE. AUSTRIAN ANNEXATIONS AND THE BERLIN TREATY.

THE Balkans irNis seems io haye been ended without, bloodshed irr the present. Bulgaria secures without ligl'tin" the independent e she declared. Bosnia and Herzegovina beromn Austrian provinces. And Servia. deserted l>y Russia under tin eat "I the (.ennan '•mailed ii.it," is dragooned out ot her ideal of .i Danubian fede.-ati.-m. But it is a long time sinre Europe has b»held and submitted to such a heavy blow strut U at the sanctity ot treaty obligations as that indicted by the weight of its combined armaments by Austria backed up bv Germany. Those two nations were both parties to the Berlin Treaty, and their plenipotentiaries signed the article providing that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be occupied bv Austria for certain purposes hut should remain an integral part ot the Turkish Empire. A few months ago Austria deliberately broke her pledged word by annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, and now Germany has in like manner broken her pledged word bv assisting Austria to maintain her sovereignty over the provinces that have been wrested from Turkey. Threatened with an immediate attack by the combined forces of Austria ana Germanv, the policy of the Ru-sian Government collapsed, and with it all hope of successfully resisting the Aus-trian-German designs in the Balkans. 1 he Servians and their country, which was nominally the bone of contention have been abandoned to their fate, which is, apparently, to be Tcutonised in the near future, "and England has been obliged to acquiesce to a settlement arranged avowedlv by the weight of armaments and not by principles of equity.

*•*_"■*..-' m 9 . . . The immediate result of the Austrian annexations is that Austria takes a good step towards Salonika, which she has coveted so long; Russian influence in the settlement of Near Eastern questions has been annihilated; and Germany, making no direct r.ilp. from the Bosnia-I^rzegovina settlement, establishes a claim on Austria for assistance when she makes her next move. Commenting on the situation as evolved from the tearing up of the Berlin Treaty, a contemporary declares that "the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is likely to be shared before long by other' countries in the riallean Peninsula, should be a warning to certain other small and tveftk States in Europe, which occupy a geographical position in regard to Germany analagaus to that which parts of the Balkan Peninsula occupy ui regard to Austria. In other words, if German support enables Außtria to acquire r.eiv territory, and new outlet* for her maritime trade, it is not improbable that Austrian support may at the fitting time be invoked to so overawe other Powers that Germany may acquire new tervitorv ancl new" seaport; fronting the North Sea. The fate of Bfifnia ano Herzegovina, and xho approaching fate of S-.-rvia, j.hou.ii convoy an ominous warning to Belgium di'id Holland. " . . . .

The question of most moment to civilisation as presented hy the enforced pacification of t h * Halkans by the .Vl.s'tr.ian annexations and their acceptance wiitH' fore; majeure is that the sanctity of treaties i,o Jongcr exists so far as those made by f-ti'oiiff Powers with weak ones are concerned. Two great military nations of Continental Europe have broken faith deliberately while at least one of them has overawed a third great military na. tion, tho avowed <;hani]t!'on of the Dan'ubiaii peoples, bv a threat to mobilise on the'Russui'n ti'ii.ijier and invade Russian territory unless the cuniVe taken was acquiesced to.. Obviously, as the other great Poweis, notably Britain, prefer the breaking of solemn treaty obligations to a war in assertion of the sanctity of international covenants, the security which a weak country enjoys under the guarantee ot a treaty )i % ijuefe i]l jipioij. The immediate and' logical d«iui;tioi ( ly H!,»t the destruction of confidence in the stability of international arrangements must lead to the practical application of the diplomatic axiom that "a blockade to be binding must be effective." • •••<•

Finally, (he menace to international peace is in the cynical and open policy of the "mailed" fist 1 ' Germany has played in the Balkans tettlement It is lieyonjl question that the method by which Germany ti,«i nop her recent success embodies a Kettlec) principle ot (ier diplomacy. I'"or instance, in Vice-Ad-miral Curt von Maltzahn's erudite work on "Naval Warfare," we find a most ilJuminatinK pfcssage bearing on this point. "This armed peace," writes the Oorman vice-admiral, "which many people leitfi'f] na o monstrosity, is ill my opinion eiitively nompatlljlg with the essence and Mjn of war, and only Utopians, who will not rcoognise the necessity of wur, will condemn !t. Jupt as in war our aim is to compel our enemy to make peace on our terms, so it is the purpose of armed peace to mass tbe instruments of war in Buch strength and in Ruch preparedness that our ioe, ti^i j? the Slate whose interests have come into conflict pith fIW own, will prefer to continue at peaee with us on our conditions."