Birmingham state herald., 1897-01-10
ROIJhANIA IN TIE BALANCE Russia, Octopus Like, Is Reach
 ing Out for Ii.
 1.1, alItAI0E
THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE
In Danger of Disruption Through the Greed
 of the Iron Ruler.
MlpELENs POSITION EMBARRASSING
He. Too, Feels the Need of All the Gun ming He Possesses-Cecil Rhodes Has the Trump Card Up His Sleeve
 and Will Not Turn Loose.

London, Jan. 9.-Copyright, l69i, by the New York Sun Printing and Publishing Colt is curious to observe how gradu- I ally the European press is awakening to the knowledge of Russias paramount position in the eastern question. Yester- day, for instance, the London Standard gave prominence to- a communication from it's Vienna correspondent in regard to what he describes as a new departure in the Austro- Hungarian foreign policy. The departure in a sense is new, but it was announced and described in this correspondence weeks ago. The Stand ards correspondent declares very truly that if Russian preponderance is to be allowed in any form whatever in Bull garia and Constantinople it will not be possible for any length of time to main- tain Austrias supremacy in Roumania, Servia and Greece, and on the eastern shore of the Adriatie or Gulf of Salonica. She will in the end be cheated out of her share of influence in Constantinople as well as of the compensation granted her for silently looking on while Russia pockets the key to the east of Europe. That process of cheating, or whatever other term may be applied to 1t, has, as a matter of fact, within the knowledge of readers of the Sun, already gone great deal farther than the Standard seems to know. Russia, concurrently with her direct operations in Constanti- nople has been steadily working in Rou- mania, the small Balkan states and. Greece .,and if a crisis should come to- morrow 1t would probably find all these arraigned on the side of Russia. It is merely a case of worshiping the rising sun. Roumania, for some time past, has been virtually an ally of the ripple al- liance powers, but her attitude recently has caused great deal of anxiety in Vienna Should it really prove true" said conservative Roumanian states man to the Standards correspondent the other day. that England and Austria have abandoned Consta tantinople as no longer desirable against the growing power of Russia in the Black sea, we Roumanians should certainly turn Rus sian from the king downwards. With Russia supreme in whatever form you like in Constantinople it would be suicide for us not to be Russian heart and soul"
 Russia has certainly taken earnestly in hand the task of detaching Roumania from the triple alliance and beyond doubt she will succeed. Her methods are but a duplication of those successfully followed elsewhere. Newspapers are 7 springlng into existence. the editors and contributors of which are men hitherto quite unknown, who are maintained out of funds of mysterious origin. They are adroitly edited and are insidfously anti Austrian. In the villages Russian agents masquerade as socialists whose favorite demand is for universal suffrage, which, in the opinion of the statesmen referred to. will result in the destruction of the constitutional. political edifice painfully and laboriously reared by King Charles, and possibly, of the dynasty itself.
 An equally interesting contest for su- premacy is proceeding in Abyssinia be- tween Russia and France on one side and England and Egypt on the other Em- peror Menelek is beginning to feel his position embarrassing. After defeating Italy in square fight he naturally con- cluded he was very great man and it pleased him nightly to have the big European powers send special envoys to court his friendship and make him pres ents. But the pleasantest part of this business Is pretty well over and he has now got to utilize all the clevernesS he possesses, which is a great deal, to avoid taking sides. The suspicion that his new friends are prepared to gobble him up whenever the operation can be performed with reasonable safety and minimum cost, does not add to Mene1ek's enjoy ment of his position. Russo-France in- fluence for the moment prevails with the result that Menelek has refused the help of the Anglo-Egyptian army to smash up the Mahdi and the Deverish hordes next autumn, but politicians with a sporting turn of mind are disposed to accept odds in favor of England's ultimate victory. She has been badly beaten in the diplo- matic fight in Europe, but she has way of winning in semi-civiliZed countries. particularly in Africa, which some pow CTS have not yet learned because they are mostly new to the business.
 The Rt. Hon. Cecil Rhodes, ex-premier of Cape Colony. ex-dictator of South Africa and organizer of the filibustering raid into the Transvaal made by Dr. Jameson and winked at by the British government. is on his way to England, after triumphant progress through the colony. Rhodes is in the position of @ prisoner out on bail, but according to long cable reports of his recent doings in South Africa he is the hero of war and diplomacy and popular darling. The whole demonstration of the British in South Africa, who year ago pretended to disavow sympathy with the raid into the territory of peaceful neighbor, and justified the strenuous policy pursued by President Kruger and his sturdy burgh- CTS responsible for the safety of the re- public. is perfectly plain. Rhodes, his accomplices and the British colonists in general are simply sorry because the raid failed, and are prepared to make another attempt whenever the moment seems pro- pitious. So far there is nothing in the att titude of the press of this country to which exception can be taken. ma iority of the newspapers warn Rhodes that he is overdoing the unselfish patriot business, and declare that it would be as
  til the commission, before which he is to give evidence. has furnished inquiries. But likely as not they will change their tone when Rhodes reaches these shores and receives the popular ovations which are now being generally prepared for him. Rhodes is the millionaire head of a syndicate of millonaires who will not grudge to spend whatever may be re- quired to keep going the popular agita- ton in his favor. Rhodes himself evil dently means to fight to the end, and his recent speeches indicate that he believes that the government will not place be- fore the commission all the evidence in their possession for fear of compromising some individuals more exalted even than the. ex-premier of Cape Colony. If the commission contrary to general expecta- tion. should definitely report that Rhodes directly organized the raid, the natural result would be a state trial, with Rhodes in the position of Warren Hastings, and this Is what the government means to pre- vent. if it Is at all possible, and provided the colonial minister, Joseph Chamber. lain can be rersuaded tO acoIiasce