Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-12

did not know the tsar imagined that it was
a menace to the peace of Europe Those who
knew the tsar knew otherwise. The object
Of Alexander III in thus restoring the equili-
brium of Europe and in satisfying the
wounded armour propre of France was the
natural culmiuation of the policy which won
for him the title of the peace keeper of the
continent. In his eyes France isolated,
France nervous, France desperate, was
constant menace to the peace OF the world.
At any moment it might make a plunge, by
which it might hurl not culy itself but all
other nations into the hefl of a general war.
To prevent this it was necessary to offer 1t
inducements sufficient to lead it to
acquiesce in the status quo There were
two perils of war before Europe,
both threateued by France. It had
never accepted either the German
possession of Alsace- Larraine or
the British occupation of Egypt. To at
tempt to re-establish her position either in
Metz or in Cairo meant war. To minimize
the risk of any such peace-shattering policy
Alexander III, without asking for any eX-
press disclaimer by his ally of hostile de-
signs directed either against Germany or
Britain, virtually secured the practical ac-
ceptance Of the status quo by Offering France
an alliance which was guaranteed to fall to
pieces IL she undertook an aggressive war.
Russia flung over the French republic the
immense aegis of her alliance, delivering
France from all dread of attack from with
out and restoring her at once to the position
in Europe which she had lost in 1870. But
all these advantages were forfeited If France
drew the sword against the existing order,
the status quo de facto on the Rhine and
the Nile. Hence the Franco-P Prussian al
lance became, as it was Intended it should
become, solid security for European
peace and therefore, little as the French
like it, virtual conservation Of the treaty
OF Frankfort. 1t was acclaimed. no doubt,
by the Chauvinists of the boulevards as il
it were the first step to the Revanche. 1t
was exactly the opposite. But Baron
Mohrenheim appears to have fooled the self
deluded Frenchmen to the top of their
bent, while the tsar, conscious that he had
made the limitation of the alliance abso-
lutely clear to the rulers of the republic,
felt under no obligation to make public
declarations which might have annulled the
whole object of his policy of peace, The
tsar knew also that although the boule-
wards of Paris might reyel in the delrium
of anticipated war, the French nation, pacific
and Industrious, hailed with immense relief
an alliance which delivered it at once from
all risk OF foreign attack or from the stll
greater peril OF such a heaGIong rush TO
ruin as that which eliminated on the battle
field Of Sedan.
The Drcyfus CnSc.
France is preoccupied with the Dreyfus
case. And the Dreyfus case is militarism
come to judgment, militarism made manifest
before the world. The tree Is known by its
fruits and the impeachment OF miitarism
on economic grounds contained in the
circular is supplemented and made
complete by the revelation of the outcome
Of mllitarism in the moral field. "Militar-
ISM says the tsar 'empties the pockets
Of the nations" And France, responding
across the continent, as deep answers unto
deep, answers, "and destroys their souls!"
France preoccupied, absorbed, possessed
by the Drefus case, Is the drunken helot OF
militarisn today. Ii is as one bewitched
The prey Of some fowl, obsessing demon
which takes a peryerse delight in compelling
Il to swallow in all manner OF dedlements
rom which ideal France, the deathless, the
divine, would have recoiled with angry
'eorn. 1t Is the nemesis OF the system
against which the tsar has taken the field,
france never had more numerous or bet 1
ter equipped army than It possesses at .
present, But France never was weaker
more timorous, more under the terror Of .
hose nightmares which disturb the sleep
oi nations. II is not an exaggeration to say
hat the net result up TO date Of all the sac
'lhces which France has made over It's arm
'menis IS to make it prey to panic to an
extent almost inconceiyabie 10 anyone out
side Of Paris. You ask in amazement,
Why all this tremendous hubbub over the