Omaha daily bee., 1891-10-03
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.

The optimist speeches of Chancellor Won
Caprivi, pronounced soon after the edict
ordering a relaxation in the passport system
applied to Alsace-Loraine, indicate a sudden
change In the attitude of Germany. A few
days before the young Emperor William ii
had recalled. at the Erfurt banquet. that
Napoleon | had humbled Germany in that
same city in 1907, and that France had been
more than humbled, IN her turn, at Sedan
and Paris; and he had appealed to his officers
to get ready for the approaching inevitable
war. Now all this is changed, and the main
tenance of European peace seems to be tho
watchword of Germany, which is invited TO
forget tho 'Wacht am Rhein.r The latest
correspondence from Buda Pesth to Euro
pean papers may explain this sudden moui-
fcation of sentiment in German official cir
Giles. 1t is said that while Emperor
Francis Joseph of Austria was attending the
great mauuuyres recently executed by his
Austro-Hungarian troops, the leading
Magyars, who dislike Germany perhaps
still more than they hate Russia, used their
influence over the emperor in an aEti-Ger-
man direction. The ''casus-foederis,' or
cases in which the new Austro-German
treaty of the triple alliance would compel
the two allios to support each other, had not
yet been practically determined in the text
of the treaty. 1t is said that Emperor
Francis Joseph has finally decided to recog-
nize as 'casus foederis'' only the three fol-
lowing circumstances First, an attach by
France on Italy; secondly, and attack by
France on Germany; and thirdly, an attack
by Russia on Austro-Hungary. 1t will be
noticed that no mention Is made of the case
in which Germany would take the offensive
and attack either France or Russia, and this
may explain, in part, tho sudden peaceful
and optimist attitude of Chancellor Won
Capriyi.
~.
1t seems from full official reports that the
rumors of the seizure of Sigri, on tho Turk
Ish island of Mvtilene, had a broader and
more solid foundation than the mere landing
of IA picnic party of British naval officers.
Twelve mines were placed across the mouth
of the harbor, and eight guns were landed by
British vessels to protect the mines and boat
stations. TO be sure, all these warlike works
were removed in due time, and 1t is said that
the Turkish officials gave consent before
hand to tho liberties taken with Turkish soil.
but tho question naturally remains unsolyed
whether or not the demonstration was in tho
nature Of an experiment, testing the feast
bility of establishing, on short notice, a we'll
guarded naval depot on an island vir-
tually commanding the entrance to the
Dardanelles. And If, in English eyes, the
permission granted by Turkish authorities
for the passage of the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus by vessels of the Russian ''volun-
teer'' navy seemed like the abdication of
Turkish independence, what must Russians
think OF ottoman officials who permit foreign
war ships TO place mines across the entrance
OF a TURKISH harbori The exhibition of timid
weakness made by the ~sultan's government
in both directions emphasizes the contempt
ible farce of maintaining by outside influence
a lettering and unworthy state in one of the
fairest portions of Europe. Turkey should
be wiped out of existence as q European
power, and the whole Balkln peninsula
brought as speedily as possible under the rule
of some progressive ana really independent
government, I
~.
IL Is Africa which, Just at tho present mo-
ment, obtains the largest amount of atten-
ton at ST. Petersburg and Moscow. Russia
Is determined to secure what she considers
10 DO he" fair share in the partition of the
Dark continent, and has apparently come TO
the conclusion that the Egyptian Delta and
Abyssinia would suit her purposes bette
than any other portion OF Africa. Accord
iugly, she has adopted her customary tactics
for the purpose OF bringing both OF them
within the sphere of her religious influence,
aud IN natural consequence within the range
ultimately Of her political power. In Egypt
she has taken advantage of an appearance of
affinity between the Orthodox and the
CoptlG churches to the czar as the
protector Of the Copts in the same man
uer IN which the French CLAIM the right TO
protect tho Roman Catholics throughout the
Orient. Tho Copts form the noneyed and
therefore the most Influential Glass Of tho