New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-14
"THE SEAL THE SEA-"

The cry of Xenophops Ten Thousand ls inc
CRY Of the nations today. 1t is the cry tnat Is,
Of all that need to raise It 1t was TUG cry oA
America a hundred years ago, when the de-
rnand for free access to the sea by way Of the
Mississippi River led to the Louisiana purchase
II has for a few years been the cry OF our
Canadian neighbors trying to gain snorIff
outlet to the sea across our Alaskan terrllory
TO which their government solemnly renounceo
ell claim more than three-quarters OF CEN
fury ago 1t is the cry Of Bulgaria seeking 10
annex Macedonia, and OF Austria intent on
nushing her borders down until they Include
SaIonica The Macedonian Question is really
q question of getting a frontage upon the East
ern Mediterranean.
Above all is this CRY raised by Russia, whose
dipIomatic and military efforts have for TWO
centuries or more been directed toward getting
q frontage upon the always open ocean Ihat
inland empire first pushed to the sea at Arch-
angel but found that remote and iceOouno
sea. Next Peter the Great seized Azof, puI
there was only great lake, whose avenue
Of connection with the outer world was con-
trolIed by another power. The third essay, TWO
centuries ago, rought him to ST PETERSBURG g.
"a window looking upon Europe" But Peter
found that. too ice bound for much OF the year.
and left to his successors the command to seek
an ALWAYS open harbor elsewhither. To tnat
end Russia has devoted herself ever since
Peters time and has not yet succeeded
She has an ample frontage on the Euxine, ana
will one day perhaps own the DardaneiIes' CIV
ing her unlimited access to the Mediterranean
But the Mediterranean Is not the open ocean,
especially while Great Britain commands Suez
and Gibraltar. There can be no further push
ing down the Baltic toward open water, and
Sac
seems further away now than it did few
wears ago. The Norwegian dalliaDce with Rus
sia is ended and the twin kingdoms are now
harmonious In their resistance to the schemes
of the ruthless conqueror of Finland who calls
herself the "heir of Sweden" There is not
likely to be a Russian port on the Atlanuc'
then. until the map Of Europe is remade more
than we shall see it in our day.
The Pacific Ocean was reached long ago. But
the two Siberian ports are ice bound all winter
long An effort was made to grab Corea, which
Janan nluckiIy frustrated. Since then there
has been a determined pushing down through
Manchuria It was to that end that Russia got
France and Germany to aid her In GUSHING
Japan from Port Arthur. It Is to that end that
she has herself leased that place and mas
founded Dalny. 1t is to that end that she Is
now, sometimes by open and sometimes Dy
make it a Siberian satrapy. 1t is not that she
wants the territory so much as that she wants
access to the sea on its coast
There remains the Indian Ocean. Years ago
Russia sought an outlet to it by way of Afghan
jstan and Beloochistan. 1t was not so mucn
that she wanted India as that she wanted
frontage on the Indian Ocean. Great Britain
frustrated her there, whereupon she turned all
her attention toward Persia and the Persian
Gulf Twenty years ago British diplomacy
was paramount at Teheran. Now Russia Is all
powerful there. Russia alone lends money 10
Persia Russia alone has the privilege of build
ing railroads in Persia At the present mo-
ment Russia is building g. railroad from her own
Transcaspian line to Mesbed and across Persia
TO the Strait of Ormuz, where she aims to lease
territory for sea frontage until such time as
she can annex all Persia outright as she long
ago did Tartary. But now Great Britain calls
a halt and tells her she shall not gain access
to the sea at that point. If that British inJunc-
ton is made good, then, the vast Russian en-
pire will be still and for the indefinite future
shut in from the open sea, save at Port Arthur
and Dalnv and through the Euxine and Medi-
terranean.
Such inland doom must be all but intOler-
able TO such country. It must seriously inter
fere with the development Of Russian industry
and commerce and with the advance of Rus
sian civilization. 1t is difficult lot to sympa-
thize with her in her struggles to reach the sea,
the great highway Of international intercourse
Yet we cannot concede her right to gain her
outlet by trespassing on the territory or the
rights of others, unless the appeal be to the
primitive right of conquest Perhaps that right
is paramount But the exercise of it involves
the gravest issues.
THE MYSTERY OF RADIUM.