The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-07-10
THREAT WILL SUFFICE
Believed Powers Are Preparing Plan to
Check the Bear in China.

Believed Powers Are Preparing Plan to
Check the Bear in China.
London, July S.-The London CORE
%spondent Of the New York Sun has sent
the following to that newspaper.
The is approaching when some
power or combination of powers must call
8 halt to Russian aggression. The con-
viction is rapidly growing that nothing
but the stern certainty Of war will check
the policy of Muscovite ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
In other words, the Russian bluff"
must be called. The question most dis
cussed the last few days Is whether the
needlessly provocative course pursued by
Russian diplomacy against the United
states, Great Britain, and Japan is a bluff
or a yelled challenge, which domestically
has distracted the administration.
commentators confess themselves
much puzzled. They cannot conceive the
motive of shrewd diplomatists-and the
Russians always have been the past mas
tiers In this line-in deliberately and un-
necessarily forcing such a triumvirate az
America Great Britain. and Japan into =
combination against them.
Cassini's Strange Action.
What European observers find the
hardest to understand is Count C~assint's
strange manner in dealing with American
public opinion That he should in the
nrst place have relied Upon the non-ex1st-
ent American ignorance may be accounted
Tor as the mistake of a man who knows
nothing OF his audience. His ignorance
became mere stupidity, however, when he
relied upon a tn Quoque as a conciliatory
argument, and assumed thai official de-
uial disposes of a statement.
Casslnis reputation in the diplomatic
world is sc good that Europe is loath to
oelleve ne has been guilty Of a series OF
esresious plumbers in the present case.
Eow. then, is one to account for a policy
which, in connection with Russian pro-
2ects IN Manchuria and the incident at
hlshlnef, has weakened American
friendship! Recklessness and almost
offense seem to be the characteristic OF
such diplomacy, yet such qualities are op-
posed to those which always nave marked
Russian politics.
II is impossible seriously to believe that
Russia is prepared to push her plans In the
Iar east against the armed opposition of
the three powers mentioned. Her indiffer-
eace TO the consequences in her recent
declaration Is a part of the game in the
opinion OF best observers on this side of
the water. =
1t Is true the domestic condition Of
Russia IS desperate. She is giving the inn
preston that she will welcome war as a
RELIEF from an internal crisis. This Is
Quite true. But 1t is also true that Rus
49, NC AooA4SIlSu lilo d WdT OIL con.
quest without the cars consent. 1t
would be necessary to repeat the tragedy
Of Belgrade in st. Petersburg before Rus
STA could enter upon the campaign which
ker present policy threatens.
When Russia Will Stop.
'Russ1a's treaty-breaking designs in the
tar east will stop when some power laws
che sword across her path. Then, and not
TIL then. There is still strong confdencs
In st. Petersburg that nobody will dare
to take this decisive move. The Russian
government expects to continue to hector
and menace with IMMUNITY, born of sac
cess, until not only Manchuria but Pektn
itself, is gained. There are indications
ehat the time is not far off when the czar'.
ministers will be undeceived. japan AL
-eady is with difficulty held in check.
there is no appetite for war In England,
but already there Is strong evaporation az
what Is denounced as the p~usillanimity Of
the British foreign office. This il SO ex-
IRENE that one Of the loyalist conservative
journals exclains today:
"'Our foreign office has, wherever Rus
lia Is concerned, lost the confidence of tho
British people, and we almost wiring the
respect of Europe
Comment like that in the house of it's
friends Is likely to spur the government to
days dispatch giving the terms of a re-
ported Anglo-Japanese ultimatum directed
to China but aimed at Russia,
I'm the meantime 1t is fully recognized
that Europe and the United States have q
direct and unequivocal right to checkmate
Russia's game in Manchuria. Some. in
deed, argue that the duty of the initia-
uve belongs more to America than either
to Great Britain or Japan, hence it is that
Is regarded as the mere by-play OF
the American Ktshinef petition is watched
here with interest. There is a feeling,
however, that the occasion Is one more
fitting for a display Of the direct, straight
forward methods Of American diplomacy