The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-09
10 There Danger Of War Between
Sweden and Norway?

According to telegram which we
published on July 8, both Sweden and
Norway, Notwithstanding official denials,
are preparing actively for hostilities by
land and sea. Here is a situation with
which the Hague tribunal, or an i'm
partial mediator like President ROosE
WELT, seems eminently fitted to deal, and
lovers of peace throughout tho world
would hail the success Of an attempt to
shield the Scandinavian peninsula from
the horrors of a civil war.
1t Is true that a complete restoration
of the union of the two kingdoms, which
has lasted about ninety years, but which
has been repudiated by a unanimous
vote of the Storthing, or Norwegian
Parliament, is scarcely likely to be eff
fected by pacific agencies. 1t ought to
be possible, however, for their respec-
tive interests to be so accommodated as,
while rcserving to each Of the kingdoms
absolute independence, to provide for
their common security against future
Muscovite aggression. No thoughtful
observer of events can doubt that Rus
STA. having once definitely renounced the
hope of naval and military ascendency
in the Far East, will seek an outlet to the
ocean either through the Persian Gulf or
through the Bosporus, or through one OF
the Norwegian harbors on the North Sea.
The energies of colossal nation will in
evitably follow the line of least resist
ance. IL the present league between
Great Britain and Japan shall be devel-
lance, it will be idle for the st. Peters
burg Government to caress projects of
southwark expansion through Persia,
Afghanistan and British India. The
leviathan must seek n breathing hole
either in the North Sea or the Mediter-
ranean.
In which direction Russia will gravi-
tate depends. undoubtedly, as we have
said, on the relative magnitude of the
impeachment presented. 1t is possible
that the hour is near at hand when all
the great Christian Powers of Europe
might agree upon solution of prob
lem long deemed nsoluble-namely, an
anicable partition of the Ottoman pos
sessions whereby Russia might secure
the long coveted prizes of Constantinople
and free access for her Black Sea feet
to the .Fgean. 1t is quite as likely, how
ever, that the conflicting claims of Rus
STA, Austria, Germany, England and
France to shares of the Turks inheri-
lance might prove, as they have proved
80 often, essentially irreconcilable. There
would then be nothing left for Russia
but resumption of the project begun
by the foundation Of st. Petersburg and
continued by the seizure of Finland, a
project which, for its ultimate object, can
contemplate nothing short of the abb
sorption of Scandinavia. II such a
scheme could be carried out. the Russian
Empire might become a rival of Ger
many and France, if not of Great Britain
also, for preponderance in the North
Sea and the North Atlantic.
In view of an eventuality which would
be fraught with menace to Scandina-
Wan independence and to the peace OF
the world, the urgent necessity of cor
dial cooperation for mutual defense
ought to be patent to every Norwegian
and every Swede 1t must be recog-
nized, however, that the temper ex-
hibited by the Swedish Riksdag when it
was convoked the other day to consider
the crisis caused by Norway's secession,
gave token of evaporation rather than
Of foresight. As we pointed out at the
time, the tone of many of the speeches
made in both houses of the Diet was
bitter and bellicose. 1t is true that the
chambers confined themselves for thcmo-
ment to the appointment of a joint COM
mittee instructed to frame and present
to the Norwegian Storthing the condi-
tions on which Sweden might acq,licsce
in the dissolution of the union. That,
under the influence of the irritation
which pervades some sections of the
Swedish population, the terms formu-
lated are unlikely to be such as the Nor
wegians will accept may be taken for
granted, if there is foundation for the
report that Sweden has already taken
a