LEADING ARTICLES. 



271 



had been extinguished and the Republic 

 of Cracow suppressed ; and, of course, 

 long before the Bourbons had been ex- 

 pelled from Naples and the Austrians 

 from Venice. Great Britaui alone among 

 the countries of Europe, retains both the 

 geographical limits and the political 

 system of eighty-five years ago. France, 

 Germany, Russia, Italy, Turkey, Den- 

 mark, Roumania, the Balkan States, 

 have lost territory or gained it. Spain 

 has passed from monarchy to republic 

 and from republic to monarchy ; Por- 

 tugal from monarchy to republic ; 

 Sweden has been sundered from Nor- 

 way, and Holland from Belgium ; the 

 Papacy has been deprived of the last 

 vestige of its temporal sovereignty. 

 There is no parallel for a succession of 

 changes so rapid and so sweeping in an- 

 cient or modern history since the Near 

 East and the Middle East were broken 

 to pieces by the conquests of Alexander 

 the Great, \inless it be m the general, 

 but transient, upheavals and reconstruc- 

 tions of the Napoleonic era. 



ENGLAND'S ATTITUDE. 

 England should cause it to be under- 

 stood" as we believe Sir Edward Grey 

 has done during the past few months, 

 that her attitude towards the rearrange- 

 ment of European territory and the re- 

 adjustment of European relationships 

 is one cf amicable disinterestedness. 

 She can wish well to all parties without 

 being entangled m partisanship with 

 any. We shall do our best to promote 

 the' settlement of an>- differences which 

 may arise bv discussion and mediation, 

 so far as it is acceptable ; if. unhappily. 

 the divergences should lead to a quarrel 

 or rupture we ought to make it clear 

 that we shall not "feel ourselves called 

 upon to take sides in the disinite. We 

 shall, of course, use all the influence we 

 legitimately can as benevolent neutrals 

 to secure the recognition of European 

 public law and to prevent such gross 

 and flagrant violations of solemn en- 

 gagements as have disgraced the past 

 few years. For the rest, we can safely 

 let It be known that our position is one 

 of conservatism and defence. The cor- 

 ner-stone of that position is the posses- 

 sion of a Navy of preponderating 



strength, measured by its relation to the 

 next most powerful maritime armament. 

 If Germany, or any other State, thinks 

 proper to equip herself with a gigantic 

 navy, we have no right to object ; but 

 we have a right to retain our own mar- 

 gin or superiority, and with the help of 

 our Dominions and Dependencies we 

 shall continue to do so. We shall meet 

 with fewer difficulties in the task if we 

 cause the conviction to prevail that our 

 fleets, and our armies as well, will be 

 employed for defensive purposes alone 

 — for the defence of these islands, in 

 the first place ; and, secondly, for the 

 security of our overseas possessions and 

 areas of control. When these are 

 affected— as they might be in Persia, on 

 the Indian frontier, or m North-Eastern 

 Africa — we come into the transaction as 

 principals, and can claim that we must 

 be consulted upon any territorial 

 changes or transfer of sovereignty that 

 may be contemplated. 



lUaddcraduisch.^ [Berlin. 



SUSPICIOUS COUSIN JOHX. OU THE NAVAL 

 AGREEMKNT. 



" Yon tliiiiU Mrs Gerniajiia, that yon can 

 tnitlifullv guarantee that as the years go by thg 

 l)()v will not sret an, fat as I am?" 



