The Irish standard., 1903-05-16

the physical might of Europe. Italy,
drifting more and more from her Ger
manic commitment, is finding in these
TWO gigantic powers her normal inter-
national association. Such IL triple al
lance. probable in the near future will
be invincible on that side of the Allan
tic. There lies our safety, and there
Is our surcst alliance if we are to join
hands across the sea- with any foreign
powers.
There is an undue emphasis ut pres
ent, 1t seems to me, in the talk about
Germany. At the moment, She is
scarcely able to take care of herself.
seemingly on the Verge of general
bankruptcy growing out of her over
strain for series of years to exploit
her industries. and to maintain her
army as against France, at an expense
quite beyond her means. Then. too,
her imperialism. founded as it is upon
Il doubtful and rather loose alliance of
semi indcpendcnt princnalities, is an
experiment. Sandwicled between
France and Russia, essentially power
| less as against the accumulated wealth
and houndless credit of the one and the
weight of numbers of the other-aud
the unified naval and military prowcss
OF the two straining her back to MAIN
tain an army which she cannot af-
ford, and to create IL navy that she
cannot Use when she has created it,
she is more Il menace to herself than
to anyone else. Facing further COM
plcation of her finances in her efforts
TO compete with her richer and stronger
rivals on sea ana land, she will Go well
for the next half century if she con-
serve herself. and if she succeed in thu
fullncSs of time in realizing that dream
of German unity that has eluded the
grasp of Tcutonic kings and states
men for more than half Il thousand
years. She must placate her agrarianS,
and make her peace With the great
towns. aud >tablish her manufacturers.
and fntten out her slender purse, and
assure herself and then the world-of
her stcadicd imperial existence, before
she will constitute Il peril for us. I'm
til she is as rich as France, as nunlpr-
Gus as Russia and rs wrll-cuuipped i'm
mercantile marine us Great Britain or
at least until she comes 10 the front
in one or the other of these directions.
| no one or the greater powers need
much concern itself about her. The
Germans have always been an intelli-
gent and aggressive race, always Il
world factor TO he reckoned with but
never at any time a financially indie
pendent or Il Suprrlativcly powerful
people. Poor, Industrious. divided and
unllcky, Germany has always made Il
good fight for about third place on the
Continent. The happy combination If
accidents, by force of which she pre-
vailed in the war of 1871 with France,
has given her for the time being Il
relative consequence in Europe which
Il Teutonic power never had before.
That has little turned her head, be-
ing all so different from the old order
of things. And still your German takes
himself and his. commerce and his
emperor Il bit too seriously; and there
is a volume of talk in the world just
now about Germany and the Germans
which is out of proportion to their real
or Immediately prospective Importance.
If other people therefore allow our
German friends to do all the talking of
this sort, it may develop that some
large part of the present German
world-conscqucncc is verbal. But how
ever that may be, and whether Ger
many works out something Or nothing
from her present complications, IS
more a problem for John Bull than for
us. Germany is on his hands. not on
ours. ..
Tho path of safety for the American
nation leads anywhere rather than to
London. No one was ever partner with
| Albion but to his hurt. From what
ever point we view 1.-THE war in the
|
Crimen or the rape Of Egypt, or the
squahblcs over Turkey. or the control
OF tho SlIcZ Canal. or the Venezuela
aggrcssiOns, or the Newfoundland en-
lroglio, or the very recent attempts to
muddy the water at Panama. or the
South African Outragcs. one after the
Othrr-it is tho same. England is IL
good partner only when she is not in
| the firm, and when she has no voice in
the directorate At the moment. she
has nothing to offer us in exchange for
our exceptional and exclusive friend
ship hut the hot end of the poker and
the ill-will of Europe. 1t isn't a mat
ter of saving or losing her trade. or
of increasing our business with her or
her colonies. Trade follows the price
current. not the flag, or sentiment, or
oneness of race. People buy where
goods are cheap and to their liking.
not from affection for the shop-kceper.
Speaking commercially, we shall not
lose twenty shillings Il quarter through
snubhing England never so brutally,
or gain guinea a year by falling into
her arms never so effusively. She hns
traded with us--it is common Knowl-
cdgc-and will continue to trade with
us, only as it is to her commercial in
tcrest: and she will do more Of it,
rather than less as time runs on, even