THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11303, 22 December 1898, Page 6

THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION.

■LOBD: SALISBURY'S SPEECH. \ ■:' <r ; ' /■■" ■■;-/.'.':.: ' ;':" ''•'■'/ '■ '":,l"':'^':':'■'.'■ ' I (Peom Our Own CoRBESposDEST.) . , .":.' :, /s ."' rVV:tONI)ON',-!ii(pvember:ll. ; .'. . Lord Salisbury has spoken .!• But the -world is little1 wiser than before." The. true in- , wardness of, the.international.situation still t remains an unsolved, mystery. ! Perhaps it was unreasonable to expect that the Prime Minister would " show his hand" at a.-'Lord Mayor's dinner, : with ; reference to an .international crisis of the gravest and most complex character. At any rate he didn't! What he did say was very moderate, temperate, and: judicious. • The only fault that even the Paris papers can find with his speech was that he assumed somewhat the tone of a victor. It would have been difficult to touch at all on the .Anglo-French, question without the mildest remark automatically assuming that tone through sheer-irresistiblenes.s of hard facts. ' -This is what the British""Prime,Minister 'did"say:•— : .. ■ ■ ■'■■ ' " We have had quite recently to consider , the question of European war. Not, I j will say, from a very near, distance, but] at all events with great interest and con- j sideration. The result has turned out' happily. At one moment it seemed possible ■ that it would turn; out otherwise, but the , great judgment and common sense displayed i by the French Government in circumstances j of unusual difficulty l^a-ye, I think, : relieved ; Europe of a very dangerous and.threatening j storm. But while matters were to some i .extent in suspense, and the assurances which j were prodigally lavished by newspapers on both sides of the channel led the world to believe that war was perhaps nearer than it really was, these considerations, and many others which you will readily guess, forced upon her Majesty's Government the necessity of taking such precautions as we should j not have taken unawares 'if any danger-j were suddenly to come vipon us. These : precautions were taken with great prompti- j tude and effect, and I think they fully I merited the laudatory language which has j been used by the gallant' admiral.. But the j necessity for them, or at .least the immediate ; necessity, has passed away, and some sur- j prise is expressed on both sides of the water | that all preparations .have not suddenly j ceased.. But you cannot at a moment's j notice., put a: stop to all the precautions ' which the presumed "proximity of danger ' might have suggested; and it is not to be i assumed that1 because these precautions .' are not immediately stopped they indicate j any of the feelings by which they were ; qriginally produced. '. 1

----"I know that many conclusions have been j drawn from the fact1 that <i certain- amount j of activity—it is a good deal exaggerated, j but still ■it good deal of activity—is pro- i ceeding in our dockyards. I know all kinds' of conclusions as to our future intentions ; have been dawn. Some people ■will 'say jwe intend to seize, Syria, others that we j intend to seize Crete, and a third view is ; that we intend to declare a protectorate ! over Egypt.—(Loud . cheers.) It is quite! clear, if some of my audience were at the j head of affairs what would be done—(laugh- ; ter and renewed cheering),—but I am sorry ■ to say that for the present I cannot rise to j the height of their aspirations.— (Hear. ; hear.) Ido not say that if we were forced by others into a position which we do not. '■ now occupy,, I would venture to prophesy ! what, would take place ; but we are quite sufficiently satisfied with the state of things ... as it-now exists at present, and we do not. think that any cause had arisen for an offer at present to modify it on our part. Ido not-'saji.it, is entirely com-, fort-able ;': I do no't^say, that .occasionally! friction does not arise; but I say that, ; looking, at the matter all round, and con- | sidering the feelings of- other'people as well i as of ourselves, we think that we can very j reasonably rest for the present with, the j state of things which now exists. .! " But do not let me.be understood by that . to say that we consider the events of the last j three months, have had no effect upon our ; position in that country.. That is impos-,: sibla to say. A stricken field is one.of the , stages v.po7i the road.of hfstory, and a state i of things that existed .before a stricken-field cannot be the name' as thoSe that exist.. : afterwards. The victory of Lord Wolseley \ at Tel-ei-Kebir wo's the beginning of. our ;. modern Anglo-Egyptian history. Our posi- : tion in Egypt after he-struck- that blow was j. far different from what it'bad been before. ; The same thing has happened with. Lord ; Kitchener's victory at Omdurman. ■ Our ,- position in Egypt after lie struck that blow j is not the same as it was-before ; but Ij earnestly hope that no circumstances will j arise which will make it necessary to modify j in any degree our position hi Egypt. Foil' am convinced that the.world woujd not get on as peaceably as it does now if such i a necessity were, imposed upon us."— | (Che,ers). . ■ ".'.'.'■..• | It must be confessed that Lord Salisbury's j utterances were so studipusly and elaborately I Vague as to bear a most laughable resem- j blanee to the utterance of the heroine of i Lear's "Nonsense Verses.", The only item j of information he vouchsafed was stale news, j "All the rest was mere platitude. And yec i who will say that'the Premier was hot per- i fectly right? The slightest word too much j would have been the. spark to the Puvis ■ powder magazine. The slightest word too j little would have outraged British patriot- \ ism, which is so ebullient just now. That j his cautious vagueness was "prudent is j demonstrated by the tone of the comments in to-day's French newspapers. The matter i is so important and .the situation so preg- ! nanfc with,tremendous potentialities that it will, I think, be interesting if I quote the. opinions expressed by some of the leading | French journals this morning. For instance the .Gaulois says: '.' We are j glad to remark that the speech delivered by | Lord Salisbury at the. guildhall.' yesterday I evening fully responds to our expectation. It was the duty of the head of.the, British Cabinet, whose high intelligence and conciliatory character had unfortunately been subjected to the influence of unbalanced public opinion, to modify as far as possible the effect produced in France by proceedings which might easily have been avoided, and to replace the Fashodn- question on the . ground it should never have left. We ex- j pected from him words of appeasement and concord, and we should feel thankful to him for having spoken them."; The Figaro remarks that at the Guildhall banquet an. admiral alone spoke in a j bellicose strain and-that the.civic element, i on the contrary, was distinguished by the j moderation and diplomatic correctness of its | language. The journal continues as follows: "The new affirmation of,the British claims to absolute sovereignty over Egypt—which was expected from Lord Salisbury—was not -made, at least, not in a!form to * embitter relations which are already very difficult. Perchance the English Premier was embarrassed by the enigmatic silence of the French Government arid; Parliament. Perchance being better advised, wiser, and ; .better informed than the greater part ot our j London colleagues, he considered that the; present position of Great Britain on the j Upper Nile could only be rendered more j difficult by an act of violence such as the j declaration of a British protectorate over j Egypt. The counsels of wisdom prevailed, and we are sincerely glad that they did, in the interest of civilisation and of the future of the two nations." - ••■■ . ■ The Evcnement says: "The speech of the British Prime Minister sends forth a sour smell of fog ;it exhales a haughty hypochondria, united to fastidious pretensions. The Premiers on jthe two sides of the Channel are not alike,: ' Ours, Democratic as he may be, gives the'great lord.an example of good grace and diplomatic courtesy. One of the 'most extraordinary features of the French attitude is its • utter and hopeless inconsistency. I At one moment French writers abuse England for her \ " brutal" abuse of. superior strength in bullying, a weaker nation, and threatens her that "a time. Mill come!" It is dedared that all the French coast and ports j lie at the mercy of the English fleet, which ! could destroy them all at will. In the | next breath it is proudly announced that the French Mediterranean fleet is ready for sea, and prepared to meet any foe. England is threatened , with the capture j and sack of London! at an .early date. In i fact there is a perpetual undulation be- | tween whimpering appeals .to England to "hit someone, of her own size" and bluster- j ous vapouring, about French vengeance-' to I come. Still, on the whole the British | Premier's speech seems, to have made a | good impression. But, a* so many are asking on both sides of the Channel, "Apres? -What after Pashoda?" Ah, < that is .where the mystery comes in! Noi hiviy kuoys. and Lord.. Salisbui-vwun't: tell. ,

; The" future"ofTtlieT" Balir-el-6hazal has; yet-' to -be determined, and1; that may "prove.;a 'tbugh'problem.'-.'■ ''W r 7 ■•-•'"••' .'^"/'r ":;: 15rigla.rid's ' position is quite 'clear; and; precise. ■: So much so is:it, indeed, that:the British Government'see no need of proclaiming a protectorate over Egypt'; ori of ; doing: ;'any thing to "-regularise" Tour position as'some' of their supporters' begged them i.O do: *" Why, should.- we?-" 'Lord Salisbury says in'effect.' "We know, what' we mean, and if other! Powers' don't, that is not our business. ; We" are' there, and :there we -mean, to.'stay, so wliyvshoiiid we say ■anything about it? Everybody knfcws that we won't go. unless we .are turned out, and. nobody cares .to try that- on, so we mean simply just to go'on-ih'bur," own.way 'without caring what; the Sovereign: of Egypt, or. his .suzerain, the Sultan, or all the..European ,-Pqwers think about it. i If they don't like' it, let them try to. turn us out." Now that is not what',Lord Salisbury said in so many words, but it is clearly the inwardness of his. utterances: And it is 'what the whole nation means. 1 We' have awakened to our strength,, and donlt intend to stand any, nonsense from anybody. ''..': . .., '.'.' ..-.,.-

' ■ Italy, and England may. yet have to make common cause against Mer.elik. of Abyssinia, who. is , suspect-sd. of mean-ing mischief. On the other hand,' France is bitterly . enraged'with Russia for her failure to assist. France in averting " the humiliatioii of Fasho'da " and for practically, proclaiming, "by [ "means ; " of the disarmament nianilesto, her determination not to aid "France iri, the .-'desired.. revanche, against Germany." "What's the good of, such an ally as that?" ask indignantly several French writer?, and speakers. , But the end is not 3'et. The whole world-is. a powder magazine, which , any chance spark may explode.. The situation is perilous in the highest degree. .■..,..