Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-08-13
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European Statesmen, in a Way,
Mere Puppets.
Great international Issues Have for
Some Time Been Leading UP
to the Conflict Which Is
Shaking the World.

Washington.-Th roots OF the ter
rible European crisis strike deep IN
the past. Four elements can be
traced In the process that has brought
about the actual situation, declared
prominent diplomat. First the Napo-
leonic legend appropriated and ex-
ploited by Napoleon III, whose ampi-
ton 1t was to become, as his uncle
had been. the arbiter of war or peace
I'm Europe; the intense desire ana
practical need of Russia to expand
toward the open ocean, intensined oy
the aspiration for eastern empire; the
growth of Germany under the guild
ance of the iron hand and will OF Bis
marck: the need of Great Britain TO
preserve inviolable the safety OF the
seas around her island capital, on
which her very existence depends, and
which involved practically the suprem-
acy of the whole ocean. The first OF
the movements that Immediately led
to the present situation was Napoleon
HIS aid to the Italian revolt against
Austria, followed by Bismarcks attack
on Austria, and her replacement by
Prussia as the head of the German ma
tionalities. Then came the senseless
challenge of Prussia by the French
emperor in the absurd matter of the
Spanish throne, giving Bismarck an
excuse If not a justification for the
war with France which left that ma
ton mutilated and, for the time be-
ing, crushed.
In the confused and perplexing
years that ensued on this war the
three nations we have mentioned
strove to defend and extend the vital
interests we have indicated, while the
statesmen of France, with infinite diff
ficulty, sought to regain position of
safety, making possible internal de-
velopment and the recovery in some
degree of international prestige. The
newly aroused and tremendously Wig
orous national feeling of Germany,
trained and directed by the marvellous
brain of bismarck, and later by the
singular genius of the present en-
peror, wrought miracles Of energy and
expansion at home and abroad in all
the fields of industry and commerce
as well as of military development.
Against the triple alliance, framed to
aid this progress, there gradually came
about the healing of the ancient ami
mostly between England and France,
the French alliance with Russia and
the understanding between Russia,
France and Great Britain which con-
stitutes today the somewhat indefinite
but powerful combination known as
the triple entente.
1t is easy to denounce these group
ings of the six powers, professedly
formed for mutual defense, and to de-
clare that they have precipitated the
war. But it is not easy to deny that
they have been inspired If not COM
PEELED by the play of great interna-
tional forces, of which the statesmen
of Europe have been the more or less
unconscious agents. And it Is to be
recalled, dark as the prospect now is,
that in these later years the members
or the TWO groups nave IN actual 1act
been able to avert a general war un-
der conditions that nearly all of them
believed made war certain. Certainly
the desire for continued peace. the
dread of the necessary consequences
of war, have not been lessened by the
startling demonstration of the inf1u-
ence for disaster that the near ap-
proach of war exerted. With the great
body OF financial business throughout
the world practically paralyzed, with
the machinery of credit, internal and
external ungeared and thrown into
the most distressing disorder and con-
fusion, with millions on millions of
values vanishing under the menace of
war. what must be the result of a
general conflict?