The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-16
Russia's Duty to France.

According to a despatch from Paris
which we published Thursday, Premier
Rouy1ER, soon after the retirement Of
NJ. DELcAssE from the Foreign Office,
intimated distinctly to the Car that the
vital interests Of France required him
to do something definite for her protec-
ton against German aggression. We
are told that he went so far as to suggest
that unless Russia should promptly
recognize some of an ally's obligations,
to the discharge Of which the restoration
of her military strength on her western
frontier would be essential, France on
her part would cease 10 see much
advantage in the continuation of an
alliance which thus far has proved
onesided No careful observer of recent
events will dispute the credlbilitv of
this report If NJ. RouvIER did not say
what is ascribed to him he fell short of
a French patriots duty.
As we have pointed out, the unique
opportunity offered to German ambition
by the virtual, if temporary, placement
of Russia from the list of the great Eu-
ropean Powers may we'll have exposed
the Emperor WILLIAM II. to certain lrri-
tating interrogatories on the part Of
some of his subjects and especially Of
the military class. You and Your grand
father, they may say in substance, have
repeatedly and signally increased the
German Army, until it has become, as
YOU and we believe, the mightiest war
Lo, ho hoe hob
What are these instrumentalities meant
for? They cannot be needed for de-
Tense, for so long as the Triple Alliance
endures the German Empire is invul-
nerable. With Austria and Italy as allies
she would have found such military and
naval resources as she possessed in 1870
amply sufficient for self-protection.
What possible purpose, then, can have
prompted the steady distention Of the
army and the creation of formidable
fleet except the purpose of aggrandize-
ment, the settled determination to profit
by the first favorable occasion to seek
the augmentation of German influence
and power on the European Continent?
For transmarine expansion huge army
is not required; besides, it il obvious
that II Germans covet a colonial empire
the quickest way TO get it is to conquer
it in France or Holland. It is notorious
that in 1871 BISMARCK could have Sc
cured all the outlying dependencies of
France in exchange for half the pecuni-
airy indemnity exacted. For that mat
ter, he might have extorted the colonies
and the indemnity both, and but few
years We're to elapse before many Ger
mans, looking back, marvcled at their
own moderation. Compared with other
European Powers, the Emperor VIII
LIAM must perceive that for the moment
he is much more nearly omnipotent than
BISMARCK was in 1871 when the friendly
neutrality of Austria and Russia might
be abandoned at any moment.
1t is plain to every one after the event
that NJ. DELcAssE during the last six
teen months was blind to the jeopardy
in which the eclipse of Russia's military
Had he forescen it, he must have urged
his Russian ally to avoid a war in the
Far East, or. having entered upon it and
discovered the almost insuperable diff
Guilty of fighting many thousands OF
miles from a base, to come to some
agreement with Japan as speedily as
possible, Moderate terms could have
been secured at any time during the first
months of the contest and even after
the fall Of Port Arthur. 1t ought, in
deed, to have been as clear to NJ. DEL
CAssE as 1t now is to NJ. RoUvIER that
Russia, having entered into a solemn
covenant with France, had no moral
right to draw from her allys Golfers
almost $4,000, 100000 and then defraud
her OF the quid pro quo by withdrawing
from the line Of the yistula for decima.
ton, and perhaps destruction, at the
further end Of Asia the many army
corps on which France relied to exert
salutary restraint and to create /,