Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-05-01
wha, Of a Secret Understanding.

l she has WiIHOuL d pui Pos'N ~ eo---o
further, nor would she nave taken
position from which retreat would DC
\ difficult, if not impossible, without an
understanding with Russia or sucf
knowledge of the situation as would
4 assure her immunity from the inter
i vention of others in the quarrel. BIND
i nc the Grecian movement looks, it has
rot been blindly made. While cll the
Powers, apparently in concert, are de
manding peace, those who are benlna
the scenes know that there is no real
concert that the war for which all the
great Powers have so long been prepaf-
ling is close at hand. and that the gain
ering storm may break almost imme-
diately.
| Peter the Great more than any ruler
of his day-indeed, more than any ruler
| of any day-realizcd that the world
| was changing over to a time when the
developments of peace would throw out
the combinations of war. He was a
mechanic as well as a king, because
he saw that the day of work, of pro
duction. was to supersede the day ot
robbery and destruction. The bottom
idea of all the views he entertained, OF
all he left TO guide Russia, was the de-
velopment of Russia into great COM
mercial and industrial nation. That
| idea has governed all the workings of
the Council of State.
The tradition which makes Constant
NOBLE the future capital of Russia grew
out of the idea of making that city the
great commercial city of the world. TO
recover il from the Moslem has been
the sentimental part. To make it the
great mart of the world has been the
real objective point to the Russian gov
| ernment since the time of Peter the
Great, though this has been kept in the
| background. But plans were laid out,
With this in view. at the close of the
| Napoleon wars, and have been steadily
| ladhered to from that day. For a quar-
| ter of a century past, efforts have been
concentrated to so shaping events that
| situation such as exists today would
grow up. Russia is ready in all ways
to carry out her plans, and if the pres
ent situation precipitated by Greece
results in general war, as it must il
war begins between Greece and Tur-
key,it will be found that Russia alone Is
working to d general plan and has forces
and means to carry it out.-W. F. MA
| SON MCCARTHY, in North American
Review for May.
The above, like all magazine articles,
was, of course. written several weeks
ago before recent developments had oc-
CURED. 1t was then thought that
Greece would not be so foolish as to
| alr1 Oh of
the support of one or more of the great
Powers Russia seemed to be the
Power most likely to have such secret
understanding with Greece, did such
agreement exist. Colonel McCarty is
recognized as an authority on Russian
affairs and his argument is at least
plausible, or was, when it was written.
There is not the slightest question but
that Russia desires the commercial and
naval advantage possession of Con-
| stantinople would afford her. But the
condition of affairs today seems TO in
dicate that if she We're party with
Greece to such a scheme as Colonel Nc
Carly thinks existed, she has been
thwarted. There is no more preteXt
today for Russia to siege Constantine
pie than there was before the outbreak k
of the present war. True, Turkey
flushed with success may be reluctant
to obey the orders of the Powers and l
quarrel may ensue, the result of which
no man can now foretell. Possibly, in
this way, Russia may profit.
Russia has for years been looking
forward to an opportunity to interfere
and certainly it is not unreasonable to
suppose that she is ready to encourage
| q condition that would seem to require
! her to do just that. Prince Lobanoff,
whose policy has continued to be the
one followed by his successor. Count
Mouravieff, once expressed as his view
of the Turkish situation that the
best course for Russia to pursue if she
wished to get possession of Constant
nople and Of the lions share of the
| pickings of the sick mans remains,
would be to encourage the Sublime
| Porte in all its evil; to let her, as he
expressed it. stew in her own juice,
| Russia contenting herself with adding
fat. in order that Turkey might the
more quickly reach the stage where the
| Juice would boil over. This is the pol
icy which allowed the Armenans to be
| slaughtered, which refused to effect
| settlement in Crete when settlement
| would have been easy. The German
| Emperor has been willing to promote
this policy AND France has acquiesced.
England could do little and this ex-
plains why the guidance of the con
cert has been left of late in the hands
of Mouravieff, England meanwhile turn
| ing attention to South Africa. Mour-
avieff is a very close friend of the King
of Greece. Thursday nights dispatches
| stated that a Russian vessel was in
waiting to take the royal family on
board in case of revolution in Athens.
Indeed it looks as if Russia would be
l .