The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1914-09-24
RUSSIA HAS ALL TO
WHICH |MPER|LS
Regardless Of Her Stand, Brit
aims Position In Mediter-
ranean Is al Stake.
nm ne Nav Ynrh woridl

on one side OF the EuFUpehD uaAtie
field grimly ready TO meet their foes.
Russia, with England and France,
hound together In the more elastic I'M
lon OF the triple entente. have I'M
sheathed their swords In the face OF
the triple alliance.
II is now a war OF giants. They will
fight TO the death unless all signs fail
II will be the most stupendous war
mankind has ever known. The mind
il staggered In contemplating Its stu
pendous possibilities In carnage, In
devastation, In ruin OF commerce and
international profit making, IN the final
wounds OF war which century may
not heal.
Little Servia IL lost sight OF. She Is
but n cipher in the game, pawn
upon the checkerboard Her wrongs Of
the past, her crimes OF the present, are
OF small importance In this herculean
struggle OF titanic forces.
We shall hear much OF encounters on
land and sea II the confiagration OF a
great war sweeps over Europe, light
ing Its torch In the nations Of the
triple alliance and the triple entente.
But two vital questions will be ever
uppermost in the minds OF the states
men who sit at the helm OF govern
ment In the capitals Of st. Petersburg,
London, Vienna, Berlin, Paris and
Rome directing the affairs OF their diff
ferent states. They have the heritage
OF the past to guide them, the wise
counsels left by statesmen long since
dead and gone, but who knew how to
govern and how to guide, who learned
IL by success and by defeat. They
have the future in their minds and pol
icies that are worked out slowly, little
by little, now gain, now loss. The
objective points remain ever the same.
Two Vital Questions.
The two vital questions Of this war
will be:
The possibility of Russia becoming
so powerful that she can go TO Con-
stantinople and stay there.
The possibility of England becoming
so weakened that she can no longer
adequately guard her passage to and
fro through the Mediterranean sea.
These are questions, both Of them
older than either the triple alliance or
the triple entente. They are response
BILE, as primary motives, for the forma-
ton of both of these divisions of ma
tional powers. They will inevitably
become ultimately affected one way or
the other by the consequences of this
war
The arraying of Germany and Aus
tria against Russia. with whatever as
sistance Russia may get from her al
lies. Is spoken Of as conflict for the
Of the Teuton or the Slav
in Europe But the supremacy of the
Slav means nothing more or less than
that the mighty Slav nation of the
north, ever winged like a huge bird |
ready for fight to the sea, shall have |
freedom to make its way to Constan-
tinople and from thence. through the |
Bosphorus and the Aegean sea, to Asia. |
The Mediterranean.
And the supremacy Of the Teuton--in |
other words, the victory of Austria and |
5ermany-means nothing more or less I
han that England shall lose her liber-
" Of passage through the Mediter- /
Russia must needs 90 through the
Black sea and the Bosphorus TO get /
lose TO her Asiatic possessions. Eng |
and must needs have free passage I
through the Mediterranean in order to
Ne able 10 obtain food for sustenance.
Austria and Germany may fight to-
,ether against Russia on one pretext
n another, but what they want final
Y as their reward is control of the
sea. Germany has no
llace upon it to call her own. With
IA enormous feet, second only to that
II mighty England. Germany has no
Mediterranean port Austria has the
,ort OF Trieste and that OF Fiume
lpon the Adriatic, an arm of the Med
terranean sea Could the two Teuton
,owers prevail in this war they could
,otfle up England's food supplies com
ne to her from all parts OF the world
through the Suez canal and from
here into the Mediterranean. from
Egypt. over which England has pro-
ectorate; from Australia, New Yea
and and from India.
England raises In her own land Of
Great Britain such small part Of the
God she needs daily TO put upon her
ables that II could be called nothing.
With II and with nothing more her
,eople would soon starye 10 death.
he Is practically the only country on
artb so dependent She gets most of
Ier food through the Mediterranean
ca. Austria and Germany are fight
ne TO control this. her base OF sup
lies. II Is England's vulnerable point.
he Achilles heel OF her power. Her
oes can. by striking her there. give Der
he wound Of death.
Berlin Congress Of rs.
One must take swift glance 10 the
serlin congress Of 1878 10 find the ,
oundation stone upon which Is built |