Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-14

| ali COMBINATIONS With great policy.
The freedom of the Baltic existed in 1854.
fand also in 1870. The efforts of the neutral
league from 1779 to 17S5 to obtain recogni-
| ton of the closing of the Baltic were flu
mirals Napier and Parseval-Deschenes en-
| countered no objections in passing through
the Baltic straits and landing in the Is
i land of A1and.
Ltvonia. Esthonia and Courland. The aris-
| tocracy is German, but the people are Firms
| or Livonians
| The classification of these provinces has
provoked the German residents and the Ger
| mans of Germany who are hostile to the
! Russian government There is thus in the
German m ind question of the Baltic prov
| 1nces analogous to the Schleswig- Holstein
| question. The question may sleep so long
/ as there is peace. but 1t may awaken the
| moment there is trouble between Germany
! and Russia.
These provinces. situated between Ger
| many ami Russia, were formerly and for
long time part of Swe-
| were Once den, but were annexed by
| Sweden's. Peter the Great by the
| treaty of Nystadt, when the
( Baltic sea ceased to be Swedish lake.
! Kiel. now German city of So 100 inhabi-
| tants on the Baltic. owes its Importance to
! Its port and the canal ninety-nine miles
North sea.
The breach between Denmark and Prus-
! STA resulted in the treaty OF London in 1853,
which guaranteed the integrity of Denmark
| and was violated by Bismarck In 1864.
Schleswfg-Holstein and Luxembourg were
/ seized from Denmark. and Prussia would
| have then annexed Denmark but for the
| cabinets of Europe.
| Such in brief are some incidents that show
that fire smolders. along these Baltic
shores When the Baltic question was be-
/ Ing discussed In 1905 and when a British
Meet had made a manifestation in the Bal
tic. Count Reventlow, in an article that
| excited much attention then, raid:
This British fleet has come to preface
| Tor war by taking soundings in the Belt and
the Lund; photograph important points on
| the coast: study the nature OF the fortifica-
| tions. and finally it has come to inaugurate
| q grave conflict
The Baltic question therefore is not new
and Mr. f-avino's note of warning may not
| be inopportune.
correspondent of the Times writes from
Stockholm concerning the Baltic question.
| which has created great excitement and
| comment in the Swedish press. He quotes
J the Svenska Dagbladet as saying:
/ Sweden does not desire to speculate on
| the special good will of any great power.
| She would rather be left outside the oliti-
| cal game. and is therefore prepared to de-
| fend the neutrality of her territory if ever
sion of Swedish policy and intentions they
| 1.-THE expressions of the Paris c5rresponden)
| may be catesorically denied
| To this challenge of the Sve ,ska Dag
| bladet the author of The Closing OF the
Baltic replied:
FIR. Lavino's The Dasbladet seems to
Replv. make rather light of the
situation described in the
Times of the 9th of March. l have have
! good reason to emphasize the contents of
my message, and in doing so l beg to state
that certain aspects of the question with
which it dealt had been brought under the
notice of the Swedish public some time be-
fore my telegram appeared.
The following is translation from the
Nyar Var It'd
The relation between the project OF
treaty guaranteeing Norway, and the agi-
tation in favor of one establishing the neu-
trality of the three Scandinavian countries
| is too obvious to escape notice. The object
! in view is in each case the same, although
1t is disguised in accordance with the pubic
opinion whose favor it is sought to secure.
There is, On the one hand, British public
opinion, which is concerned exclusively with
Norway and ignores the rest OF Scandina
via; and. the other hand, that of Ger
many whose interests are concentrated
upon pan-Germanc supremacy in a neu-
tralized Baltic.
LIT is evident that whatever powers may
undertake to guarantee the integrity of
Norway their guarantee would remain
practically illusory If they failed to secure
the cooperation of Sweden. and to find her
in such a way that our country would con-
slider it to be to her honor and advantage
to assume the responsibility and the eX-
pense of that guarantee; for. whether guar
| anteed or not the neutrality of Norway is
of no value, unless it-be maintained by en-
ergetic defensive measures Now Norway
herself is not in a position to take those
defensive measures. Sweden alone of the
! three Scandinavian countries is able to put
a sufficient number of troops the field
| to defend the neutrality of the peninsula
Our former partners In the union. although
they now have perfect liberty in the direc-
! ton of their foreign policy, still desire to
continue to take advantage of the armed
! forces of Sweden. This is the object of the
declaration of neutrality, in which it is
wished to include Sweden; for certainly
! such conditions would be added to that
declartion that Sweden although her right
| of decision in questions OF foreign policy
| would be more restricted than it was
under the union, would find herself. as a
matter of fact as closely bound as in the
past. and that not for the defense of her
own interests. but for those of the political
| systems of great mower which wishes to
| keep the whole world in leash.
! X
| A correspondent of the Times from Chris
| tiana reports an important debate in the
| storthng on the subject of
| important the naturalization of Nor
| Debate. way Mr. Castberg, deputy,
| radical nationalist asked if
! the naturalization which being consid-
| cred was a guaranteed neutrality or only
| a recognized neutrality. The minister for
foreign affairs. Mr.. Loevland, replied that
| all conceded the necessity of replacing the
treaty of 1855, which guaranteed tie in
| tegrty of the united kingdoms of Sweden
| and Norway, by another referring only to
| Norway. There was no question of a guar
| anteed neutrality by the powers, which
| would embarrass the action of Norway. Mr..
| Bernier. the president OF the storthing. de-
clared that Norway should not be deprived
| by any treaties of the right to join her
| forces to those of Sweden In case the latter
| should be attacked in any way which might
| threaten the independence of Norway.
The eminent jurscOnsult Mr. Ucherman,
| in an article which has gone the rounds of
all Scandinavia, opposes naturalization,
which would be useful to a united Scandi-
navian peninsula, but disastrous to Nor
| way standing alone.
Among the subjects for discussion in the
| impending conference at The Hague the
| question of the Baltic sea and the neu-
! tralization of Norway or the Scandinavian
peninsula may replace the uch-mooted
question of the limitation of ornaments. lie