The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1896-01-16
TEE COMING GREAT WAR
Csnstantinopls viii Be the Source Of
the Conflict.
MANY NATIONS WILL BIZ INVOLVED
The ssOregenlan, Makes some Pre-.
aicsiens on this Absorbing Subject
The Next Sea Fight viii he n
Hos One.

After all, the Trausvaal affair and the
Venezuela affair are mere minor Incl
dents In the great drama Of war which
seems to be unfolding in Europe, Asia,
Africa and America. Should war be-
tween Great Britain and the United
States result from dispute over the Mon
roe doctrine, says the Ore0onian, prob
ably IL would only be side issue In q
greater war between Great Britain and
Russia, as our war OF 1912 was side
issue in the Napeleonic wars. Should
war between Great Britain and Germany
result from the friction in South Africa,
probably it would only be side issue in
q war between the continental powers
and Great Britain, whose theater would
embrace all four continents, as did the
great colonial wars OF the last century.
War has become so terribly costly and
destructive that it is not made on small
occasions. The Venezuela affair is a
small occasion for Great Britain, and it
Ia certain that in the end she will make
reasonable concessions to avoid it, and
that the United States will be content
with these concessions. There will be no
war between the countries unless we
shall be drawn into conflict OF nat ion 8,
as we were in 1912. The Transvaal af-
fair 10 small occasion for both Great
Britain and Germany, and war never
will result from that alone, though Ger
many may make it pretext for publicly
giving effect to secret alliance with
France and Russia. having for its object
the aggrandizement of all these at ex-
pense OF Great Britain in all quarters of
the globe.
There is only one pending occasion
great enough to involve Europe in the
mighty sacrifices Of modern war, and
that is found at Constantinople. Ifthere
shall be war, it will proceed from Turkey,
not from South America or from South
Africa, though it is not incredible that
war, once started, might extend until il
involved all the unsettled causes of dis
content pending among all the nations OF
the world.
The situation in Turkey has los t none
OF it's tension, though the worlds notice
has been distracted from it by side is
sues. Murder and rapine hold carnival
In Armenia, in defiance OF the treaty of
Berlin, which all the powers are pledged
to sustain, but which Great Britain
treacherously annulled by secret treaty
with Turkey, pledging herself to prevent
action In Asia Minor by Russia, the only
power able to protect the Armenian
Christians. This act OF characteristic
selfshness on part OF Great Britain has
created a deadlock whose consequences
are the scenes OF horr 4 now enacting in
Armenia, and which can be broken only
by q combination OF powers strong
enough to enforce the Berlin treaty and
defy the Anglo-Turkish treaty by which
it was annulled. 1t is almost certain
that such combination has been formed
by Russia, France and Germany, and
that by it's order Russian army corps
will march into Armenia as soon as the
SHOWS melt in the spring. to restore order
there, while Russian and French fleets
stand ready in the Black sea and the
Mediterranean to check any counter
movement on part of Great Britain.
1t is almost certain, then, that, unless
Great Britain shall retreat from her po-
sition in the east, her feet and those of
France and Russia will meet in conflict
somewhere between the Black sea and
the Aegean, and that their meeting will
decide the fate of the Turkish empire.
War, once begun, may spread to unsus-
pected bounds. 1t is probably the policy
of Germany to avoid actual war, and to
perform her obligations in the alliance
by holding in check Austria, the tradi-
tional ally OF England; but she may be
drawn into the conflict, nevertheless,
should it spread to Africa, where she has
present, and to Asia, where she has pros
pective interests. II Is the policy of the
United States to keep out of European
wars, but she might be drawn into this,
an she was drawn into the war OF 1872,
in defense OF national interests. But all
other motives and causes OF war will be
subordinate to that now ripening in Tur-
kew