The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-07
A GENUINE WAR CLOUD.


and elevation. p. F. Lyons, Observer.
A GENUINE WAR CLOUD.
1t is the very irony of fate and Of
diplomacy that the prospect of war in
the East, which now, for the first time,
seems imminent, is the creation of that
policy of shame which the great
powers adopted for the declared pur-
pose of making such war impossible
These nations have declared that their
sole concern is to prevent a disturb
ance of the peace in Europe. Not one
Turk. Not one of them, were it a free
agent, and had it not to consider the
possible effect upon it's fortunes,
would have hesitated to inter-
fere long before this to protect the
victims of Turkeys rule in Armenia.
They are all fettered by the horrible
fear Of a general European war 1t is
no empty phantom. If the world ever
sees another war between two of it's
great nations, it will be the deadliest,
cOstliest and ghastliest spectacle ever
witnessed. The improvements in all
the machinery Of war, the investment
of hundreds Of millions in great IRON
clads that must go to the bottom in
any general engagement, the general
adoption of smokeless powder and Of
small arms of extraordinary range and
power of penetration, place the results
OF an engagement today beyond the
power Of imagination to picture Even
the victor in such a contest must come
out of it practically bankrupt. The per
centage of soldiers disabled would ex-
coed all records. The expenditure of
money necessary would be unparal-
leled.
1t is because they realize this that
the rulers of Europe are determined to
avert war at any cost. They cannot
agree upon any scheme of partition of
the Turkish empire. Once let that go
to pieces, and they feel that they will
be caught in the maelstrom and shat
tered against each other in the en-
d power
in Europe. Urged by this great neces-
sity, they went to the shameful length
of firing upon the insurgent Christians
III Crete, rather than to permit any
change in the status of Turkey That
deed, which startled the civilized world
and has raised mutinous voices every
where against the governments that
were party to 1t, was the price they
paid for continued tranquility Yet, as
so often happens, their crime threatens
to bring about the very result which
1t was committed to forestalI. So far.
Greece declines to yield. If the powers
had quietly taken up the cause of
Greece, had announced to Turkey that
she must surrender Crete, and had
added it, by their authority, to the
Grectan dominions, there would have
been an end to the matter. The sutton
would have fumed, but he would have
been powerless.
Now all Greece is in revolt. 1t looks
as if the king could not withdraw from
a
unit In demanding resistance, even to
the allied forces of Europe, if need be.
in behalf of Cretan independence of
Turkey. The forces are called out. from
tiers are armed, and the announcement
calling home all the Greek reserve
wherever they may be, to take part in
desperate impending struggle, looks
as II the old Greek spirit was aroused
and the nation was ready to stand, to
death if need be, against the over
whelmiug forces of Europe. as it once
met and deffed the greatest empire of
Asia Unless the powers humiliata
a war that would be even more fatal
to European peace than the dismem-
berment of Turkey, because by no pos
sibility could England, France, Ger
many and Russia be held together in
an enduring alliance against Greece.
which would raise all the old jealousies
abroad, and also incite instruction at
home
The present problem Of Europe is OF
her own making. She reaps the fatal
reward of her criminal Incidence and
her more criminal intervention. The
clouds of war rise dark on the hori-
zon. and the wind behind them is the
breath of mightier power than that
which any monarch directs. A spirit
greater through the ages than the will
of king or empire, transcending diplom-
acy. broad and deep and generous as
humanity itself, demands that the East
ern question no longer trouble the peace
or befoul the record of this age. They
who have sought peace at the price OF
the surrender of humanity are caught
in their own net. Never was the stu
alton more warlike, and the train to
which the match seems about to be