THE WAR AND THE SITUATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2391, 28 December 1899, Page 38

THE WAR AND THE SITUATION.

THE GERMAN ENTENTE.

SUSPECTED RUSSIAN TACTICS.

(Fkom Ottb Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 10.

There is little news, if any, of a, trustworthy nature from the seat of war. By the time this reaches you, people in NewZealand will long hare known by cable far more about the war than we in London can know now, and will have much, later news too. , But the situation generally continues to he fraught with deepest interest. The Samoan agreement forms an important item in the elaborate policy which Lord Salisbury has been steadily working out ever since his accession to office. He has " squared " Germany very thoroughly to a!l appearance. For it is announced to-day that the German Emperor's visit to England will be by no means of that stricdy private and domestic character which had been at first supposed. On the contrary, the Emperor will .be accompanied by one, at least, of his principal Ministers of State — namely, Count Yon Bulow, the Foreign Minister, together with many other ofScials, making up a numerous suite. Among others accompanying the party will be Lieutenant-colonel Grierson, military attache to the British Embassy in Berlin, while Major Count Bredow, Baron Eckhardsteiu, and other gentlemen attached to the Gennßn Embassy in London will join ths Imperial suite at Windsor station. It is stated by the Berlin Lokakmzeiger that the German "Foreign Minister is accompanying his sovereign by the direct request of her Majesty the Queen. The i'amous band of the First Naval Division ■will be part of the Kaiser's retinue. In addition to the Royal and other rooms which are being got ready at the palace, apartments have already been taken at the .White Hart Hotel for many of the Imperial suite. According to the latest authentic announcement, it is now definitely arranged that the German Emperor will arrive at Portsmouth, in the Hohenzollern, on Mon*<iay week, and proceed direct to Windsor. His Imperial Majesty will be accompanied •by the Empress and two of his sons, and •will stay five days at Windsor Castle. The Emperor and" Empress will then proceed to Sandringham on a visit to the Prince and Princess of Wales, and will remain there for two days. - Their Majesties intend, should time permit, to pay a visit |to the Duke and Duches3 of Devonshire at Chatsworth, after which the Kaiser hopes to have a day or two's shooting in the North of Englaud. The Kaiser and party return to Germany by way of Lelth, where the Imperial yacht awaits them.

" Hopes are being expressed on all hands in unofficial quarters," sa} r s one of this evening's papers, '" that opportunity will be taken of the Emperor's visit to express in unmistakable fashion the sentiments of cordial ty and goodwill entertained by the Goveiv.ments of the two nations — German 'Anglophobic journalistic utterances notwithstanding — at the present time. Sir J. ißlundell Maple, M.H., addressing a gathering at Hove yesterday, spoke strongly, for instance, on this point. He asked not only the community but the press of England to let it be known far and wide that this was not merely the visit of a grandson to his grandmother, and of a nephew to his uncle ; it was a visit by a nation to another nation which was in trouble, and to which it was holding out the hand of friendship. They might talk of the army and navy, but where would England be if she were at war with other great . Continental Powers at this time? They wanted xo be in unity with all the great European Powers, and he would say the same if it .were the Emperor of Russia or the President of the French Republic who was coming. He appealed to them not to let this Emperor with his Empress and two sons come here in any private capacity. Let them all, as Englishmen, hold out the hand of friendship and welcome him in such a way that he would see that the English nation looked on Germany with friendly feelings. They would thus sow seeds of brotherhood between England and Germany which, for the peace of the world, and the advancement of civilisation, were so necessary. He hoped the mayors of Brighton and Hove would be at Portsmouth to welcome the Emperor with addresses, and invite him officially to their towns as the representatives of a large and important nation. Let them have him at the Mansion House and give him a big reception in London." In the city similar sentiments are finding widespread expression, and it is ardently hoped that all recollection of the now notorious Kruger telegram will now be allowed to pass away for ever.

With regard to a rumour to which I previously referred, Herr de Windt, a wellknown traveller writes : " There is now little doubt that the recent mission of Count Muravieff to France and Spain (if not to Germany) will shortly bear fruit in the shape of the acquisition by Russia of Ceuta, a Spanish possession on the North African coast. Ceuta is exactly opposite Gibraltar, and is (with modern artillery) within range of the famous rock, hitherto regarded as the key to the Mediterranean. The fact remains that at the present time a party of Russian engineers, under the guidance of Spanish officers, are carefully surveying the peninsula, which is already strongly fortified. In the event of a European war a few weeks would convert Cent* into a formidable and dangerous neighbour. Forewarned is forearmed, but it is now to Jbe regretted that Ceutu, which in 1810 was a British possession, was ever restored to its original owner, Spain. An enormous price is to be paid for this tiny strip of land, which, although useless to Spain, may prova of enormou3 strategical import-

ance to a rich and powerful nation. Ceuta has only one good harbour at present, with anchorage to warships of the first class." " An ominous rumour was set afloat the day before yesterday that Russian troops had occupied Herat. That, if true, would have been a direct casus belli with Great Britain. But the St. Petersburg correspondent of one of to-day's papers says that having made' inquiries in thoroughly wellinformed quarters concerning the report that Russian troops had occupied Herat, he was at once " told that the report was absolutely and entirely without foundation ; that Russia had no intention whatever of undertaking any political adventures in the direction either of Herat or of Afghanistan ; and tnat she is resolved firmly to adhere to the arrangement concluded with Great Britain under which any sphere of influence in the Ameer's dominions is confined exclusively to her Majesty's Govern-

The Moscow correspondent of another London daily paper hears that one of the divisions of the Grenadiers, whose headquarters arc in Moscow, has been warned to be ready for active service. " According to rumour, for which no confirmation is yet obtainable, the troops are intended for Persia. There are eight regiments of Grenadiers stationed here, but so far as I can gather it is the first division only that has been warned. A deep sense of unrest and apprehension of coming events prevails in Moscow."

Meanwhile the French Government is quiet and decorous, but the Paris gutterpress is more hysterical and malevolent than ever. Deep chagrin has been caused on the Paris Boulevards by the news of the AngloGerman entente. li'Autorite says : " Now we know the reason for Germany's changed attitude over the Transvaal Great Britain has come off too cheap, and once more has got the best of the bargain." L'Eclair remarks : "It remains to 'be seen whether the concessions are the price of Germany's benevolent neutrality- in the Transvaal."

A prominent Austrian paper, the Neu Freie Presse (Vienna), on ths other hand, observes : " Xapoleon named the British nation a nation of shopkeepers, but in our opinion -the shopkeepers have jmt the chivalrous French to shame by the manly fortitude they have shown in the face of disaster. In every other country, including France, there would have been an outburst of popular fury demanding the sacrifice of some convenient scapegoat to appease the indignation of the nation, but in England there has been patience, order, and a just recognition of the difficulties of the situation."

The following remarks by a Canadian paper are interesting and suggestive : — " Great Britain has despatched an army which reminds one of the forces of Marlborough or Wellington. When the Boer war is over she will have this large body of trained and thoroughly equipped men twothirds of ihe way to India, and nearly halfway to China. She seems' now to ba approaching a height of power a-nd pride unprecedented in history, and her need will be to bear in mind the warning of Kipling's recessional — the responsibility, the duty of self-restraint, which ought to accompany overwhelming strength."' In view of what I paid recently as to Sir William But'er's £rave responsibility and Mr Schreiner's loyalty, ihe following from a London weekly has its significance : " Time, or stern inquiry, will, too. bring to fullest light the truth of the charges levelled b\' The Times correspondent against Mr Schreiner and Sir W. Butler. 'With respect to the latter, it may have been an niter incapacity to grasp' the situation. To have taken no perceptible nieasures of defence along the Transvaal western border is well nigh incomprehensible in any soldier who was content to place duty above prejudice or partiality."