CORNERS FOR NAUGHTY NATIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8112, 10 September 1904, Page 2

CORNERS FOR NAUGHTY NATIONS.

Foto?s FttLi&el *7 Msaai Otitr than "War. "Go into a corner, you naughty, »aughtjf nation!" So spoke the cix Great Power* of Europe one day last summer to tb« fcrring Kingdom of Servia, when at one fell swoop a group of assassins made awajj with the Obrenovitch dynasty. "We sha'n't speak to you for a. lonf time," thoy said, and a day or two after tie massacre several Ambassadors ana their households -were leaving Belgrade station for an indefinite "leave of absence, from which some of them have not y«b returned. "You bad, bad man t " said the sama Powers on August 31, 1896, to Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey. "You have massacred thousands of Armenians. W« would like to go to war with you atou* it, if we were not 56 afraid of each, other. Never mind. We sha'n't light up on your? birthday. There!" „ And on .that anniversary not a tingle European Embassy showed * glimmer ol light. Their blinds were drawn down* and the European quarter of THE CITY WAS GLOOMY AS THK GKAVB. This little punishment, it was said, we« felt far more severely by the erring SuU tan than a dozen collective notes of pro? test. Nobody goes to war with Turkey, fos (he very simple reason that difecifly one Power shows itself hostile to. tW Sultan* some otHer Power jumps tip and proclaims herself hie friend. But when countries lind themselves at loggerheads with the Port*, they have a fairly simple method of inflicting punishment which hurt*. . . . . They merely seize the 1 Customs revenue* at Smyrna-, which is like depriving ' .■■-*• schoolboy of hia pocket-money, and jn * very short time Turkey is brought to her senses.* •■■■•■ -♦ "You sba'n't have your pocket-money, 1 * is a very favourite way of dealing with the world's naughty children. Venezuela,. the incorrigible babe of the west, has suffered this punishment so often- that-. she does not seem to mind it. The only diflfr culty is that every Power who has a debt- . against Venezuela hits upon, the idea of seizing her duties, i • ' AND A SCTrETMB BNSUES. Then, Uncle Sam steps in, and stops the punishment, with, a sort of hint that ha sympathises with Venezuela. "Boys will be boys," he says; "'besides, if there's any pocket-money to be stopped, I guess I'm. the right one to do tiie. stopping." 'And so it was last year. Of all Venezuela's debtors, it was her kind Uncle' Sam who first got his claims satisfied. Naughty/ big Francs got up one day in 1890, and said to th« whole world : "Personally, I -don't care a fig for anybody i" flnd accordingly she passed a Tariff Law excluding nearly all nations from her markets. She denounced her treaties of commerce with seven nations, and, altogether, was a distinctly bad, if big, nation. But She was punished by harmless little Switzerland, and the punishment hurt very much. Switzerland raised her own tariff, against French goods. She drank Spanish instead of French wince. wore German, clothes, made her own silk, took . Belgian machinery. But this was not the severest - punislunent. In a moment -of triumph' Switzerland SAID TO HER POWERFUI. XEIGHBOTO : " Sha'n't use your railways, or your ports; or your ships. Shall send my goods to America through Belgium, Holland and Britain, Sba'n't use your horrid Meweillwl at all, but Genoa, Antwerp and Hamburg. There!" „ . - And the transference of Swiss commerce \ to non-French ports meant a loss toFnmoa of eleven milnon franca (£440,000) m freights and commission. ' * "Neither shall I read your homd "books, added the vengeful Swiss, "but shall read German ones instead. You know -whaft that means, eh?" , Franoe winced. It was a. nasty ttaust, for Switzerland stands midway the rival Powers, and a Switzerland with wrman sympathies would 'be an awful tning °By r sueh'mean* as this little Switzerlandbrought the pioud Frenchman to his senses* and in 1895 the French Chamber voted v favour of a friendly agreement with Switzerland by a majority of five hundred . «n* thirteen, as a result of the fearful damage done by .the smaller State. Russia was naughty in the matter or tariffs in 1893. In addition to ieism« ibe» ; tariffs against the world F*?^\ •»£**• flicted particular injury on -her jMigMwnjv Germany, by making her pay «* ***£ tariff, whereas Germany s rivals paid t*« lower. Germany, of course, replfed by shutting out Russian produce, end tie twq / Powers fought a furious tariff war. IO BuTEusL had a <™ n « J"^™" 1 * out of which that Powe* <^d n ot get. "Your shies sha'n't come to Rassia) • was the awfufdecree. "They shaU^ pay M rouble (3s 2d) a ton for every visit they make, whereas other nations, who^ aw good, only have to pay about Tnercl something for you to think over. . And Germany was floored. For M* northern towns live almost, entirely^ .by their Baltic trade with Russia, and they were threatened with ruin by this, punishment. Germany, besides, could not hujß Russia by retaliating, for Russiati thips do; very little trade with German ports. - # " You* are all very rude, and very malicious," said injured John Bull to, 'E**™*i Germany, Belgium and Holland Jn 1801k when the slanders about *our Transvaal war was 'being circulated all over Europe. "But you shall be punished," he continued. "I sha'n't call on you this yeur.This threat ds far more terrible than ■» sounds. Scores of Continental towns, notl only watering places, but inland centres,, such as Brussels, the Hague, ana m«n£ German cities, look to Britaeh and American tourists for their summer revenue^ an« the falling off of visitors BKOtJGHT KCTI TO HANY HOTBISi bouses and shopkeepers. American . visitors, by the way,; avoided the Content to a great extent, a^ they, too, were sub • jected to insults. • t . ... .' The late Queen herself administered the snub direct to France by changing be*, winter resort from the French $o tht Italian side of the Riviera. - . • Last y^ar, it should be remembered, th« Kins did not as nsnal go to Hombiirg^ but to \larienbad, in Austria. A» the ; King has more Or less eef the fashion for Homburg, his Majesty's change of plan gave a tremendous- impetus to the Austrian rival. A word from Royalfy, too, or some per- ; sonage of high rank* has been, known moi* than once to crush a whole industry, and 1 , ,:' through that* to puaish a nation. t ..\ A note to the effect that a reigning . Sovereign no longer smoked Habana cigars would undoubtedly punish the Island ©i Cuba in the most appalling fashion, *» y society invariably tak«s ite lead frem tw monarch in such dictates of taste. ;i: During a critical period between Ger* -v ■' many and France Bismarck inflicted almpsi al great a blow on his enemy at tie dm-- , ner*taMe as he could on a battlefield.^Ht let it be known that he no longer dton|| French wines. Without doubt tnu Hi* had a great deal to do with the derelo^ment of the Rhine win* 1^ •*£ thsreby wais injurious to the whole Fresdt nation.