Another Triumph for Arbitration. It is only a few months since that the world was threatened with war over a trumpery dispute between France and Germany that was known as the Casablanca incident. The German Consul at Casablanca had been detected by the French in smuggling non-German deserters from the Foreign Legion on board a German steamer. The French authorities, catching the Consul's servants in flagrante delicto, assaulted them, and recaptured the deserters. It was just one of those cases in which the pretext of honour could have been used to avoid arbitration. Fortunately neither Power wished to fight, and they agreed, although not without considerable pressure from the neutral Governments, to refer the question to the Hague Tribunal for adjudication. The moment this was arranged, all fear of the dispute endangering peace disappeared. It was as if a slow match that had been lighted in a powder magazine had been dexterously lifted up and dropped into a pail of water. No one took any further interest in the question. No report of the proceedings at the Hague appeared in the press. Last month the award was published. Both parties were discovered to have done what they ought not to have done, and both have expressed their regret. What could be more obvious and more sensible? Yet people persist in talking about arbitration and the Hague Tribunal as if they were mere sentimentalism. They are at least as practical as a Dreadnought, and they are a great deal cheaper. The Union South Africa. The Union of South Africa in one Dominion under one flag will soon be an accomplished fact. At the second Convention the scheme of the Constitution was approved, with a slight concession to the dwellers in the country districts of Cape Colony. Natal, however, insisted upon a plebiscite being taken before she adhered to the Union, and according to current report the Referendum will go against the Union. In that case Natal will be left outside. "This train is going to start, and to start now. We are all going aboard, but if you like to remain on the platform, you can please yourself. We are going on." That is the word of the rest of South Africans. General Botha and Mr. Smuts are coming to London with other delegates bringing the new Constitution. They will receive a hearty welcome. But I hope they will go back realising that the conviction of England is that the future test of their capacity for statesmanship will be their treatment of the natives. The Situation in Turkey. There has been no further revolution in Turkey as yet, but Abdul Hamid stil! lives in his Palace Prison at Salonica, and the forces of Moslem fanaticism and of Turkish racial pride may at any time rally in his name against his successor. The frightful orgy of massacre and rapine which has desolated Cilicia affords a lurid reminder as to the savagery of forces which can be let loose at any time in the Ottoman Dominions. For the moment the Macedonian army, under Shefket Pasha, is supreme. There may be a certain semblance of regard paid to the Constitution and to the Government, but the real master of Turkey is the Commander of the Army. That army at present is exclusively Mohammedan. It is proposed to introduce 25 per cent. of Christians into its ranks. It is a perilous experiment, which will not be persisted in as soon as the real commander of the Faithful, Shefket Pasha, finds that it should be abandoned. It is not well to pour too much new wine into the old bottle of the Turkish Empire. Meanwhile, by way of discouraging the discontented to attempt another counter-revolution, hangings go on merrily in the streets of Stamboul. These Turks have the courage of their convictions, and by way of teaching a lesson to the populace they string up the condemned in a public street and leave them swinging, so that their swollen and distorted features may strike terror into the hearts of the malcontents. Rumours of Impending War. There is a general uneasy feeling in the Near East that the accession of Francis Ferdinand to the Austrian throne may be immediately followed by an Austrian advance on Salonica. Servia regards the prospect as serious enough to justify the expenditure of two and a half millions sterling on munitions of war; but so long as everything remains quiet in Constantinople it is doubtful whether the Austrians would venture upon so bold an aggression. The story goes that Germany will support the master of Salonica in consideration of concessions which would practically make Trieste a German port. It is difficult to believe that either at Berlin or Vienna they contemplate a step which would so certainly render it impossible for Italy to remain any longer in the Triple Alliance. Last month, in Vienna, the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Kaiser made public speeches, in which they laid stress upon their regard for their Italian ally. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." The British Foreign Office seems to think that the danger in the Near East is not imminent, otherwise Sir Edward Grey would hardly have allowed the British Minister at Sofia to proceed just now to his new post at the Hague. Neither would Russia have chosen this moment for changing her Ambassador to Constantinople. M. Tcharykoff's Appointment. M. Zenovieff, who is getting on in years, is to be replaced by M. Tcharykoff, an old friend of M. Lessar. He is one of the ablest and the most trusted of the younger generation of diplomatists. Few Ambassadors have seen so much service as M. Tcharykoff. When the second Peace Conference was to meet, M. Tcharykoff was sent to the Hague as Russian Minister, and very ably he fulfilled the arduous duties of that post. If he had a fault, it was excess of amiability. It seemed difficult that M. Tcharykoff could love anybody as much as he seemed to love everybody, and to his good temper, savoir faire and industry was due the smooth working of the Conference. Last year he was promoted from the Hague. to be Adjoint or Assistant-Secretary of Foreign. He will Affairs to M. Isvoltsky. M. Tcharykoff and M. Isvoltsky had been boys together and students at the same college, where a constant rivalry in class cemented the friendship which has stood the test of time. Now it is announced that M. Tcharykoff is to be Ambassador at Constantinople. be a worthy successor to M. Zenovieff, M. de Nelidoff, and General Ignatieff. If a crisis should arise in Constantinople, M. Tcharykoff may be relied upon to do his utmost to secure the co-operation of the Embassies in the preservation of peace. The German Emperor and Empress at their home on the Island of Corfu. Prince Oscar is the figure on the right of his father, the Kaiser. The figure with the beard is that of the Chief Court-Marshal, Count Eulenburg. be prepared in that event to raise a European question, which would be of the gravest kind. Mr. Bennett thought they were going too far by arbitration; but if he read the Berlin Act, which bound them to arbitration, he would see that there were circumstances and commercial questions connected with the Congo in which it must be admitted that arbitration was the only honourable solution. The sooner arbitration comes the better. For, according to all reports, the King's transfer of his sovereignty has made no change for the better in the Vampire State of Central Africa. Woman Militant. The American delegates who attended the International Congress of Women in London have gone home with the determination to urge American women to adopt more vigorous tactics in their campaign for the Suffrage. That is the best answer to those who persist in asserting that the Suffragettes have compromised the cause. It is doubtful, however, whether the American Courts will venture to clap American women into prison, no matter what militant tactics they may pursue, and unless the women are sent to gaol it will be difficult to rouse sufficient enthusiasm for the The Queen of Holland with the Heiress to the Dutch Throne. campaign. Mrs. Pethick Lawrence declared last month, with perfect accuracy, when announcing the organisation of another deputation to Mr. Asquith for June 29th, "the light that leads us burns in Holloway Gaol. It is prison that has given power to this movement." The Woman's Exhibition and Bazaar held last month in London was a great success, making a profit of £5,600. One of its most attractive features was an exhibit of the different ways in which first-class misdemeanants are treated. If they are men they are in clover, if they are women they are in quod. No imprisoned Suffragette has ever been accorded anything like the privileges which I enjoyed in happy Holloway. But Mr. Herbert Gladstone has not yet thought of trying to smother suffragettism with kindness. A New Playground for the World. Lord Grey, writing to me from Ottawa, sends the following glowing description of the future playground of the world: "It is in the power of British Columbia to furnish the world with a playground superior to any existing elsewhere. Glacial ice-falls with huge lumps of ice, as large as a log hut, tumbling at periodic intervals during two months of the year, over precipices from 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet high, with a rattle of reverberating thunder all around; hot springs, Aladdin caves, snow slides where people can slide down 3,500 feet like a streak of lightning, innumerable unscaled but scalable peaks, virgin heights where the foot of man has never trod-all this and more is in possession of British Columbia. If the people make the most of their opportunity, and bring the attractions of their Province before the attention of the world, there ought to be a considerable traffic in that direction." |