The Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1913. PEACE AND WAR.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 4539, 24 May 1913, Page 4

The Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1913. PEACE AND WAR.

Sir Edward Grey nays that "although the cause* working for war are not yet dead’ tho forces which make for peace are growing in strength, and his assurance on tihis point makes pleasant. reading. The position at. tho boginning exf last month was even more critical than the cablegrams indicated it to bo (remarks a conteinponary). The British Foreign Minister himself told the House of Commons that the international agreement with respect to the Albanian frontier had been “accomplished only just in time to preserve peace between the Great Towers” and indicated quite clearly that IMontenegroV defiant attitude was imperilling that peace. The position was seen from another point of view by I)r. E. J. Dillon, who had reached Russia, just when the Pan-Slav agitation was at. its height and feverish preparations were being made for War. “The country is ablaze with oxeitement,” he wrote. “The minds of politicians of every colour are forced to the tormenting problem olf Slav against Germ sin, to which in ordinary times hardly one'in a thousand among them would pay even passing attention. The tide of popular isession is rising fast.” If Austria had attacked Montenegro at that time Russian interference on behalf of the little Slav country would haw: been inevitable. Tho tension wan ifiareoeed by the speech r>f the German Chancellor in placing the new defence propomis before the Reichstag, for Herr von BM:h-

mann-Hollweg alluded in outspoken language to the possibility of a gigantic struggle for supremacy between Germans and Slavs. “It is as well known to the Russian statesmen as it is to us,” he said,-“that the Pan-Slav current of which Bismarck complained and which rendered Bismarck uneasy has been enormously promoted by the

victories of the Balkan Slavs. The Bulgarian victories were celebrated as victories of the Slav idea as opposed to the German idea. It is impossible to consider French and Pan-Slav aspirations, otr the influence of Balkan events on. the European situation or the military strength of Germany’s neighbours as isolated factors. Germany is wedged in between the Slav world and the French . The lesson of the hour is that she must keep as strong as possible.” The Montenegrins saved Europe from calamity by yielding to pressure, after vindicating their military honour at Scutari, without provoking a new conflict, and apparently the situation has become since then a deal easier. Perhaps the straggle between the Slavs and the Germans has Iwvm merely postponed, bnt in such a matter time is always the ally of peace.