THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13999, 4 September 1907, Page 4

THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT.

Our cable messages have, recorded tho execution of the i.Anglo-Russian Agreement. The details of the treaty liavo not been yet made public, but that fact has not prevented' protest against'tho general principle of Vnv understanding between Great Britain and the muchcriticised Government ; gf R.ussia. : - So far back as some weeks ago there was. a," demonstration in Trafalgar square, organised by the Society of ■ Friends of Russian Freedom, at which a resolution was passed; 3 objecting to tho arrangement of any. agreement between the British Foreign Office .and the Russian Government, as it was believed that v " any siioh agreement' would have the effect of strengthening the position of ' the autocracy against the.Russian people," . Then, a long circular letter, forwarded',to the press in England "over the signatures of; Mr Ramsay Macdonald, |ii,P.,. : Mr Bernard Shaw, .Mr Justin M'Carthy, and perhaps a dozen other fairly' well known personages, also took tho form of a protest against a compact which its authors seemed to regard as unholy ,for the reason that' 'any alliance, , understanding, or agreement with the present ' Russian Government would be " equivalent to taking sides against the Russian people in its struggle for. constitutional rights and freedom." Further;, it Was urged that "any- such agreement is likely to diminish 'oiir prestige as' the supporter of liberty throughout the world and to : .prejudice ' the Russian people against ois Wen they, are strong ' enough to offw .us the national. alliance to which we lobk forward." Interesting as.Jhese protests are, it is not surprising that they ]Wo failed to carry much weight or to hinder the consummation of the agreement. It. would not bo'conducive. to harmony or • to. the achievement of the best of results were 'tlie ' judgment of the British public in foreign affairs to he guided to a very great extent by its opinion upon the catiscs of domestic concerns in another Empire. When the question'is regarded witli any closeness it is "difficult ,to see-any breadth in the view embodied in what has been severely •. criticised' as '" an absurd manifesto issued by a number of literaiy''and artistic people," or. to find conviction in the logio of wHajfc'.hns. been described as a puzzle-witted philantliropy which,,-if consistently applied, would end ,by ,wrapping tlie whole world in war. It is easier to'admit the conclusions of the writer who sums up the position by saying: "No power on eartli can withhold freedom frota the-Russian people when a large number of them are morally and mentally ready for it, and when British intellectuals demand that' this country shall be morally allied with the Constitutional Democrats, against the Czar the folly of the proposal'-is precisely as impertinent .and crude as if we. were asked: to identify ourselves with the Social Democrats against' tho Kaiser." Tlie. belief that' 0 yory desirable results will flow from tho "Anglo-Russian Agreement 'must have' animated strongly the Governments concerned, even though opinion will have a. wide field for dissension over the pios-; peots of the realisation of this expwtation. According to a recent statement by Sir Edward Grey in tlie House of Commons, the; direct/object' "of- the negotiations has been to prevent conj flict between the. two' Powers in Asia, where each has large interests.. The agreement has, therefore, bean arrived' at in the interests of peace, It was inevitable that its potentialities ' for national welfare in this respect should outweigh considerations which had really no bearing on what was intended to bo merely a businesslike settlement of disputes. Should, as a Russian critic seems to fear, the agreement; prove unequal to the task of removing l the : rivalry of a century and of ensuring the • peaceful future'of Asia, any well-inten-tioned endeavour in this direction is at least a. step, forward. Moreover, importance attaches to the very cmphatio. pronouncement that the alternative to ail Anglo-Russian settlement would have been a definite alliance between' St. Petersburg and Berlin. Tho multiplication or agreements among tho nations with the..view of maintaining tbe status quo has certainly proved a' characteristic of this year of. The Hague , Conference. !