THE INVASION SCARE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4296, 4 March 1901, Page 7

THE INVASION SCARE

Tim invasion scare* which not long ;.o-o afflicted Great Britain has now, it would seem, caught hold of Belgium, in both cases, says the London correspond- . ent of the “S.A. Register,” France inlays the. role of the reputed aggressor, and, to tell the truth, there is much more feasibility in. the idea of an aitemptad conquest of ffhe continent;'., than of the insular Power. The fact isj that early in,the week the report reached Paris that the.. Belgium Courted of Military Defence * had-had under consideration an alleged proposal by- Gen. 1 Zurlinden submitted in 1897 to the Higher Council of War of his country to proceed with the annexation of iTrauce’s northern neighbour. Of course, the general was at once asked to say whether there was. any foundation for the statement, and lie- contented himself with living an evasive reply, but whether he took that course to puzzle the quidnuncs or because he could not honestly deny the soft impeachment it is impossible to say. The Paris correspondent who gives currency to the story hatched in Brussels remarks : —“I am inclined to attach no importance •to the rumour, though I hear on many sides that there may be, and is probably, something in it.” In any case, that such reports should be. in circulation testifies trumpet-ton gued to the prevalionce of a spirit of international unrest and suspicion, and proves that the peace convention held at the instance of the Russian Czar has been more provocative of distrust than of confidence and mutual amity among the States which were parties to it. • i