Evening star., 1905-08-20
WOULD CLOSE
SEA TO ENGLAND

1
reports that Germany and Russia would
close the Baltic sea. indirectly with the
| assistance OF Sweden and Denmark with
the object OF protecting themselves against
| England. was at first treated here as a SUBJ
5ect not worth mentioning. Suddenly. how
| ever. the supposed project has become
| topic Of general discussion. Tine German
| suggestion that the Baltic sea should be
| converted into mare clausum accessible
| only to the navies Of the powers whose
coasts are washed by the sea may there
/ fore be said to foreshadow a new align
| ment in European politics. And coming AS
| 1t does just at this time when there Is
] trouble between Norway and Swaden. it
| presents some interesting complications
One reason why the project of treating
I the Baltic closed sea is attracting uu-
usual attention is found in the fact that the
| British naval visit to Baltic waters comes
| In few days. being considered a sort of
! counter demonstration to the recent Ger
| man visit. Newspapers and politicians here
| begin to regard 1t as political demoEstra-
| ton OF the first Importance which Is cal
culated to counterbalance, II not to out
weigh. the impression created by the re-
cent activity OF German SQuadronS IN the
sea under discussion The air Of proprietor
| ship with which during the past few weeks
the German navy has been arranging re-
ceptions for itself off the Danish and
somewhat mixed feeling at Copenhagen, at
Stockholm and at Christiana. The imperial
meeting In the Gulf of Finland between the
czar and the kaiser belongs, in sense, to
| the same category. How imperative and
how impressive the appearance of British
ships in these waters is may we'll be gath
cred from the fact that no sooner had the
news of this cruise on the part of the Eng
liSh channel feet become known than the
agitation started in Berlin by couple
| of ChauyeniSt journals.
*
The Baltic has been facetiously styled
| 1.-The jumping off place for the admirals of
| the Atlantic. 1t is difficult to understand,
outside of the mere politics of the matter,
what Interest Sweden could have In being
condemned to tete tete in the Baltic
either with Germany or Russia. Denmark.
| IL under the obligation of closing the sound
and the great and little belt. would expose
| herself to an attack by the English which
| would place her insuiar territory In their
hands. She wouid risk more in assuming
| those new obligations than in strictly full
! filling those imposed upon her by her pres
| ent independent position. Russia, which has
nothing to fear from British fleet for the
| broken coast line Of Finland. would have
| no great interest in tying her hands and in
| directly cOnsentirg in advance to an In
| vasion of Denmark by Germany.
At the same time it begins to appear here
| to the students of diplomacy as though the
| Mediterranean was not sufficient field for
the opera tionS of German enthusiasm and
energy. There are those. however, who re-
| gard the entire matter as ballon d'essai
| by Prince Bulow to ascertain the present
direction of diplomatic currents. Germany
might almost succeed in closing the Baltic
| If she were to complete the absorption of
! Denmark and to impose her suzerainty
1pon Sweden.
! Unfortunately for himself. the kaiser,
| in his attempt to create the Baltic into a
| sort of Black sea, seems to have omitted
! the cables from his calculations. The re-
! suit has been that his diplomatic juggling
! has been quickly discovered by the powers
! concerned. The German plans which sue
! oeeded admirably in 1870 have been
| frustrated by the more modern and more
| rapid methods of communication. The
schemes of the kaiser have been made
known to all of the chancelleries shortly
after they were propounded, and have
consequently been rendered fnnocuous. The
| attempt Of the kaiser to place a prince OF
his house upon the throne of Norway failed
because of premature publicity. The re-
cent conference with the czar suffered be
cause Of the hurried counter movements On
the part of the other nations of Europe.
AS a result of all this discussion and OF
these attempts to drag Norway and Sweden
INTO lnIS ClOSeu sea controversy 1t IS pOSSl-
bic that the two Scandinavian nations will
be driven together and obliged to adopt at
| least some common means of offeuse and
defense. This union Of the two countries,
possibly not under a single executive. but
connected by some form of treaty or alli-
ance, might have Eeen brought about in
the near future in any event. Possibly the
movements of the German emperor in ref
erence to the closed have only precipi-
tated matters. England which is friendly
to Sweden. as will be shown by the COM
ing of the channel feet may be relied upon
TO use her good offices with Norway.
The decision of the Norwegian StorthinE
70 put the question of the dissolution OF the
| union with Sweden before the nation in the
form of referendum marks q distinct ad-
vance toward a satisfactory settlement Of
the dispute between the two peoples. A refer
endum one of the two alternative
me thods suggested by the special commit
tee Of the Swedish riksdag of giving the
Norwegian people an opportunity OF mani
Testing their will clearly and categorically;
the other was the dissolution of the pres
ent storthing and general election. The
Norwegians have chosen the shorter and
less cumbersome method. A general cleo
ton in the present temper of the Norwe-
gian people would probably have made very
little difference in the composition of the
storthng. The Norwegian government,
therefore. has not allowed itself to be in
fuenced by the purely academic argument
that the Norwegian constitution does not
PROVIDE Tor a referendum. II does not, but
there is nothing in the constitution which
prevents the storthing from passing
short act lega1izing the practice. This. 1t
appears. Is the line which Is to be followed
In their acceptance of the Swedish sugges-
ton and in their choice of the method of
putting that suggestion into effect the Nor
wegians have taken position which will
make 1t easier for the two nations to CO.
operate in the event Of necessity or In
emergency. provided they are menaced by
outside foes.
The Swedes. on their side. have been fair
Iy expeditions. and both chambers have
adopted the proposals of the special COM
mittee unanimously. In the case of the first
chamber in which aristocratic and conser-
vative feeling is strong. this is rather re-
markable. and to some extent minimizes the
unfavorable impression created by the res
ignation of the Ramstedt cabinet. The riks-
dag will still continue in extraordinary ses-
sion though the actual sittings will be sus-
pended and the members allowed to return
to their homes They will be within reach
of the telegraph and can return to Stock
holm when required to deliberate upon the