LEADING ARTICLES. 



481 



to war ; nor is there any instrument in 

 writing which enlarges the entente into 

 an alliance. All that has happened is 

 that in 1905, and again in 191 1, the 

 British Government gave the French 

 Foreign Office a verbal assurance that 

 if France were made the object of at- 

 tack in consequence of circumstances 

 arising out of the Morocco settlement, 

 Great Britain would be prepared to sup- 

 port her. It has, however, been stated, 

 and the statement is no doubt correct, 

 that early in the present year the French 

 Foreign Office again approached the 

 British Government with an inquiry as 

 to its intentions in the event of a war 

 in which the north-eastern frontier of 

 France might be threatened through 

 Belgium. The answer to this question 

 is understood to have been conveyed 

 verbally to the French Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs by the British Ambas- 

 sador in Paris. It was to the effect that 

 in such an event His Majesty's Minis- 

 ters would take the circumstances into 

 consideration, and would hold them- 

 selves free to act according to the neces- 

 sities of the case, but that they would 

 not countenance action by France. 



THE AUSTRIAN POINT OF VIEW. 



The Austrian point of view is ex- 

 plained in the Cones fondant by 

 " Schwarz Gelb," a pseudonym which, it 

 is slated, conceals the identity of a high 

 Austrian personage. This writer speaks 

 of the unfair attitude adopted by the 

 French Press towards Austria, and en- 

 deavours to reply to the charges made. 

 The idea governing the situation in the 

 French mind, he says, seems to be the 

 Triple Entente against the Triple Alli- 

 ance ; Austria is the ally of Germany, 

 therefore, down with Austria ! But the 

 writer declares that Austria is not the 

 enemy of France, nor has she any hos- 

 tile feeling towards France. Having 

 explained that Austria, unlike the other 

 Great Powers, has not gone in for ex- 

 pansion, he shows how much more vital 

 a question than ever for her is the in- 

 dependence of the Adriatic. Equally 

 important to her is real autonomy in 

 Albania, and to yield on either of these 

 points would spell the worst disasters 

 to the Monarchy. 



RUSSIA AND BULGARIA. 



Austrian mobilisation has been re- 

 presented to satiety as a provocation to 

 Russia. But if Russia did not mobilise 

 she was certainly the first to increase her 

 army and to adopt measures anything 

 but pacific. After her victories, Bul- 

 garia will steadily pursue the realisa- 

 tion of her dream of the formation of a 

 great independent Slav Empire, with 

 Constantinople as the capital. On the 

 other hand, Russia, though she may not 

 be able to lay hands on Constantinople, 

 will not care to allow anyone else to be 

 established there, and she is bent on see- 

 ing the Bulgarian frontier fixed in such 

 a way that the Straits and Constanti- 

 nople shall not be at the mercy of a 

 sudden attack by Bulgaria. In this 

 sense Russia has voluntarily suoported 

 Austria. The counsellors of the Tsar 

 realise that the development of Bulgaria 

 must bring in its tram the development 

 of Neo-Slavism, a thing almost as dis- 



r;J; 



Pasquino.'] 

 ITALIAN 



VIEW OF THE POWERS 

 MONTENEGRO. 



! Turin. 

 AND 



