Hevtpw of Reviews, 1/8/06. 



History of the Month. 



119 



ing the reduction of armaments by international 

 agreement at the coming Hague Conference, and 

 he accepted the resolution as an intimation to other 

 Governments that we are willing to take the lead. We 

 ought to take the lead in reduction, if only because 

 we have hitherto taken the lead in the other direc- 

 tion. No Empire in the world spends so much in 

 powder and shot as we do. No other Empire in the 

 ,' orld has added thirty millions a year to its military 

 and naval expenditure since the last Conference met 

 at the Hague. But there is little hope that any 

 serious reduction will be made until there has been 

 an all-round improvement in the temper witn which 

 nations regard each other. And that is why the first 

 decisive step towards the reduction of the Budget 

 for War is the creation of a Budget of Peace. 



Among other welcome signs of grace 

 Other Signs ^^^^ indications of progress to be 



Grace. 



noted with gratitude last month in 



the domain of international peace 

 is the establishment of such friendly relations with 

 the Russian Government that there seems ever\' 

 probability that the British fleet will visit Cronstadt 

 in Julv or August, thus carrying out an old project 

 (if mine which was thwarted in 1888. M. Isvoltzky, 

 the new Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, who 

 has succeeded Count Lamsdorff, is personally well- 

 lisposed to this country, and every effort will be 

 made to secure a friendly arrangement of the very 

 fi-\V outstanding questions that remain open. Another 

 small item, but one which is significant of njuch, is 

 that the Servian regicides have at last been remitted 

 to the obscurity of private life, and therefore w^e may 

 hope for the resumption of diplomatic relations be- 

 tween King Peter and the British Government. In 

 foreign affairs Sir Edward Grey has been fortunate 

 in having secured the Egyptian frontier from dangers 

 which threatened it on either side. The Sultan, 

 under threat of an ultimatum, at the last moment 

 withdrew the advanced posts by which he was 

 threatening the integrity of Egypt from the Sinaitic 

 peninsula, leaving the frontier to be delimited by a 

 ( 'ommission. On the other side, the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 province, leased to King Leopold in 1894, now re- 

 \crts to Egypt, with the exception of the Lado en- 

 clave, the lease of which the King retains during his 

 life. Arrangements are made for railway construc- 

 tion from Lado to the Congo frontier, and for 

 mutual free transit; and all future frontier disputes 

 are to be referred to the Hague Tribunal. 



The welcome change that has taken 



Stride'' place in the moral atmosphere of 



Forward. Parliament was well illustrated by 



the reception given to Mr. T. 



Taylor's motion directed against the opium traffic. 



Nothing has so discredited the good name of Britain 



as the part which we once played in forcing opium 



Turkey's Designs on the Suez Canal. 



Map showing the boundary olaiintd by the Sultan, the British 

 view, and strategic position of the Pritish Fleet. 



upon the reluctant Chinese. Of late years we have 

 been sufficiently ashamed of this poisoning of a 

 whole people to retire from all direct participation 

 in the trade, confining ourselves to levying a tax of 

 three millions a year upon the opium exported from 

 Lidia, and growling more or less savagely whenever 

 any attempt was made by the Chinese to prohibit 

 the importation of Indian opium. This growl is to 

 be heard no more. Mr. Morley, in replying to Mr. 

 Taylor's resolution, proclaimed aloud, in the hearing 

 of the Chinese worid, that if the Chinese Govern- 

 ment wants to prohibit the import of opium from 

 India, the Indian Government is prepared to face 

 the loss of three millions a year with equanimity 

 for the sake of a good conscience and the approval 

 of honest men. The question now is whether the 

 Chinese Government will take any action. The door 

 is open, says Mr. Morley. Yes, but it may be like 

 the open door that has been set before the Chinese 

 coolies in the Transvaal, though not one single 

 coolie has elected to walk. 



