A WAR OF CONTINENTS, AND EVEN MORE.
By G. B. Thompson
UNDER the above heading, the Toronto World, of Feb. 18, 1904, speaks as follows concerning the terrible possibilities of the present struggle in the Far East:— Are we about to witness the most stupendous drama that ever was enacted upon the face of the globe in the way of a struggle of the races for supremacy? Are we to see the maps of Europe and of Asia blotted out for a moment; and then completely recast and redrawn with much fewer lines? Is there to be, in the almost immediate future, a gigantic struggle between the nations of the world? No one who is watching the war now begun between Japan and Russia, and who is a student of what is going on in other quarters, will be surprised at almost anything happening. Let us present a few significant facts:— First of all, Great Britain is bound by treaty to assist Japan if two nations attack her, and by a somewhat similar treaty France is to come to the aid of Russia. So that a small act may involve our own empire and the Republic of France, making four great powers in the struggle. And four being in, others must follow. Germany would seize the opportunity. She has an autocratic emperor, a man with a policy and with an immense fighting machine, naval and military, and a full war-chest behind him. William knows what he wants, and those about him have a similarly clear idea of what they would like to see as Germany's future. Germany is only waiting for a favorable moment to expand: to seize Holland and Denmark in the way of extension toward the west, and her desire to extend to the southeast implicates Austria and probably a portion of Turkey, bordering on the Black Sea. The German people also have a dream in regard to the Holy Land, Syria, even reaching out in the direction of Persia. Let a world-war of races begin, and Germany will try to emerge from it as a great belt of territory from the Atlantic to the Adriatic and Black Seas. In Asia the situation is extremely critical. China could, on the instant, be put into a political ferment, and Japan acquire such influence as to establish a Japanese dynasty and leadership of five hundred millions of yellow people. These five hundred millions turned against Russia to the north might substantially check that great empire's movement in the direction of the Pacific. All the yellow people in a blaze might set the millions and millions of native subjects of Britain in India in a state of unrest, and seriously question English power in the East. Any of the possibilities that might take place are of a most surprising character, and some of them are probable events. Russia and Germany, for instance, could agree to rearrange the map of Europe, driving the Turk across the Dardanelles, and they might be assisted in this by France. China and Japan, reorganized under Japanese leadership, might declare the doctrine of Asia for Asiatics, and, especially if aided by Russia, might drive all other European nations off that continent. The United States stands midway between the two continents. Even that country, that was isolated in the past, has recently taken on imperial habiliments, and might see its way to enter into the struggle. A war of great nations and races and a war of continents may yet be the outcome of the conflagration started the other day between Japan and Russia. Just what will be the outcome of the present war between Japan and Russia no one can accurately foresee. A prominent man said, a few days ago, that the peace of the world was gone forever. It may be so. One thing is certain, we have reached the time when the "nations are angry," and the wrath of a long-suffering God is impending. The perils of the last days are here; men's hearts are failing them for fear, as they see trouble coming on the earth. These things all speak to us of the nearness of the end, and solemnly admonish us to prepare for the coming of Him whose right it is to rule. No matter what turn events in the Far East may take at present, the final and terrible struggle of Armageddon will not long be delayed.