Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-14
VIEWS or DIPLOMAT
Russian Fleet and the OAR
danelles.
EFFORTS WITH TURKEY
TRIED TO MAKE SOME KIND OF AN
AGREEMENT.
Combination of Squadrons Would tive
Gear Great Advantage in
the Far East.

Undoubtedly Russia has done all In her
power to come to an agreement with 1ul
kew to allow the Russian Black sea meet
passing through the Dardanelles For
considerable time the European caplnets
were greatly agitated by the possibility Vi
such step. which might even at this iate
hour turn the fortunes of war in favor Oh
Russia. If the powerful Black sea meet
We're enabled to join the two Baltic squao-
rons now on the way to the theater OF war
in the Chinese sea the Russian naval SUI
premacy over the brilliant but smaller Jap
anese navy, which at best must have been
sorely tried by the great nine-months ma
val campaign, would be insured Since the
final success of the entire combat rests al
most solely upon the domination of the sea,
both warning powers strain their resources
to the utmost, one to maintain, the other
TO win back the domination over the wa
terways between Japan and the Asiatic
continent. Only in this light the desperate
step of sending the Baltic fleet on its i'm
mense mission around the world under the
most difficult crcumstan without coal
| ing stations, depending simply upon col
liers can be explained.
1t is realized therefore, of what supreme
importance some secret agreement between
Russia and Turkey, which would make the
passing OF the Black sea squadron tnTOuSH
the Dardaneles fait accompli. would be
not only for the beligerent, but for all the
great interested powers. 1t has been sug-
gested in several quarters that Turkey
might simply connive at the Russian sor-
tie and plead her inability to prevent it.
No one who knows the topography of the
Bosphorus and the absolute military con-
troll of the straits by Turkey would con-
slider breaking through Of the Black sea
fleet against the sultan's will possible at
all Numberless Krupp cannon of the lat
est type in open and masked batteries at
every curve of the strait dominate this
waterway SO completely that not single
cannon boat could push through without
permission. The fact that both Baltic
squadrons have sailed and have not been
reinforced by one single Black sea vessel
Is proof sufficient that the Russian advances
at Constantinople have failed
True Nature of Negotiations.
The true nature of these negotia lions will
probably never be known, but they were
surely entered upon by Russia, although the
excitement over the exit Of several ships of
the volunteer fleet through the Dardanelles
and their subsequent attacks against British
and German ships of the volunteer marine
had already made a great and universal
stir. Russia was actually forced to with
draw the converted volunteer ships to her
Baltic ports, as they could not return to
armament after their passage They We're
short of being branded as pirates and
would surely have led to active compica-
tons with England had they not been with
drawn in time. AS to the sultan, he GER
tainly received a strong protest from the
ambassadors of the neutral powers, and
Herewith his future action in refusing any
further tacit aid to Russia was prescribed.
According to the Paris treaty of 1856 mo
ship of war belonging to a foreign power
snail De permitted to pass into the Darda-
neIies while the porte is al peace"
The sultan recognized that any allowance
on MS part in favor of Russia, his heredi-
tary enemy bent upon the destruction of
MS empire, would put him into the anomal-
Gus position of practical Russian ally and
that In this event Great Britain would be
enjoined to represent actively Japan's In
terests in. the Mediterranean. He under
stood that the passage of the Russian fleet
from the Black yea would forever vitiate
the contention of the British Mediterranean
fleet being debarred by the above treaty
from passing through the Dardanelles to
the Black sea. Indeed. the latter posi-
Dlllty In the event of central Asiatc war
between Russia and England India is preg-
nant with the most direful apprehensions
on the part of Russia. 1t would mean not
less than the bursting apart of Russia
from the south, where she is weakest, where
Turkey borders on her territory throughout
its length, where the many millions of her
Mohammedan subjects form a solid mass
of an alien. disaffected population ready
at any tilile " throw OIL the YOKE
Failed in Plan.
All these considerations make 1t evident
that Russia failed in her cherished plan TO
avail herself of her Black sea feet for the
reinforcement of the two squadrons that
are nearing the eastern seas. 1t is hard to
decide whether to admire more the logged
heroism of this step, or to wonder at the
desperateness of the Russian situation in
IL CT WI nod
sary. Small as the chances for this fleet
are, 1t is surely doomed If before it's ar
rival In the spring Port Arthur shall have
fallen, and the Russian warships in that
harbor shall have been destroyed by their
own crews, for 1t is not to be assumed
according to the military code-that the
Russian commanders will allow them to
fall into japanese hands The desperate-
ness of sending that fleet around the world
is. however Ineligible and excusable If
there is one chance in hundred to destroy
the Japanese naval force even though at
the expense of every Russian warship that
reaches the orient, for such an event would
successfully cut the arteries that feed JAP
anese strength in China and Korea But
the defeat of the Russian fleet will end the
cars dominion in Vladivostok with its
proud name signifying ruler of the east'0
as effectively as In Port Arthur or In
Dalny.
But, to return to the Black sea feet what
is to be it's mission in the future Russian
economy of war? Is 1t to be bottled up
there forever simply to cover the Turkish
coastlands of Asia and Europe. pre-emi-
nently Constantinople? Was this the orig
inal intention when it was built up as pow
erfully as it really is? BY no means. When
Russia abrogated, In 1870, while France was
at war and England isolated, the provisions
of the treaty of Paris in 1856 that no war;
ships should be permitted her in the Black
sea, and to no military or naval arsenals on
its coasts, and began the building of q pow
erful fleet her hope was that sooner or
later Constantinople would be In her hands,
and Herewith the straits Of the Darda-
nelles, a splendid asset to let out her Black