Salt Lake Telegram | 1903-05-09 | Page 4 | Russia Preparing for a General War

Frcpirl : fcr a G::rd Vcr. Russia's" warlike preparations, in - Manchurian f caports ara indicative of a speedy crisis in the far East. Another sign of impending war in. the near Last, which may be truly called ominous,, is the publication of an article in a supplement of the Kussian military journal, Itasvjedshik. This journal jour-nal is in close touch with the Russian War oQce. The writer of the article complains that Russia has waged eleven wars with Turkey without obtaining any substantial gain, because she was too afraid of the other powers to exploit to the full her victories. He urges that Russia should seize Constantinople by a bold stroke. . iNo other power, it is contended, would dare to attempt to dislodge the Russian by hostile operations. The Black Sea squadron, acting in co operation with an army of 200,000r "would' suffice suf-fice to capture Constantinople. The ships of the volunteer, vol-unteer, fleet, and of other Jtussian companies could l-e used as transports and land troops both on,. the Asiatic and European coasts near the Bosphorus. Probably the French fleet in the Mediterranean would support, the Russian forces,' but in' any case the torpedo mines in the Dardanelles would prevent pre-vent the, British fleet from interfering in defense of Constantinople.. Russia, the article concludes, ' could easily annex Constantinople and European Turkey without ja European war, and this would be the best and simplest solution of the Balkan problem. prob-lem. In view, of the orders given to the Black Sea volunteer fleet to be 'ready to mobilise the article must be regarded as something more than an academic aca-demic contribution to European politics. -Advices from Odessa state that at the present moment ther6 is unusual activity in the Black Sea naval stations, particularly at Sebastopol, and it is probable: that the coal ordered by Russia from England is de-i tined for the Black Sea fleet ,Itis not wanted for China, for it i known at Odessa that the Russian coaling' stations' in the far East are kupplie4 for more than a year, to come. In fact every indication points to-war. not only-in Asia but in Europe as, well. A general conflict is .promised. , The Caar is evidently planning to make another change in the map of Europe and perhaps 'Asia, tool