5. _The Use of the White Flag._
During war between states A and B, an outlying fort of a harbour of
state A is being bombarded by the fleet of state B, and is in danger of
capture. Suddenly the white flag is hoisted on the fort, and a boat
flying a white flag and carrying an officer and some men leaves the
fort and makes for the flagship of the bombarding fleet. Thereupon the
fleet receives the order to cease firing. Shortly after this has been
carried out, the boat flying the white flag, instead of continuing its
course, returns to the fort. Under cover of this manoeuvre the
bombarded garrison succeeds in abandoning the fort and withdrawing in
safety.
6. _A South American "Pseudo-republic."_
The following appeared in the _Times_ of April 26th, 1904:
"The utility for the practical politician of the study of that branch
of sociology to which M. Lebon has given the non-classical name of the
psychology of crowds is amusingly demonstrated in the fact of the
efforts of the still nebulous State of Counany to materialize and to
attain a separate and independent existence among the South American
Republics. What is taking place would seem to be a simple phenomenon of
suggestion, induced by the example of Panama. The fate of the vague
territory known as Counany had been settled, as every one supposed, by
the arbitral sentence of the Swiss Tribunal by which this region, with
which France and Brazil had played diplomatic battledore and
shuttlecock for more than 175 years, was finally handed over to the
latter Power.
"Brazil has never, it appears, taken effective possession of Counany,
and the population, whose flag, if ethnographic differences were to be
symbolized in it, ought to be a sort of Joseph's coat of many colours,
are now apparently once more appealing to the civilized world to aid
them to secure a separate existence. What recently occurred on the
Isthmus of Panama, when a new State sprang full fledged into being,
would seem to have been an object lesson acting automatically on the
nerves of these Indians, whites, negroes, and half-castes, welding them
into a compact whole and giving them a self-consciousness craving
European sanction. Hypnotized by Panama, and, it may be, counting upon
the eventual support of one of the Continental Powers which has already
shown the world that Brazilian affairs are not beyond the range of its
diplomatic vigilance, Counany steps once more to the fore.
"A Paris morning paper, the _Journal_, plays the _role_ of introducer
of the new Counany Ambassador. This Ambassador is a certain M. Brezet,
who comes to France, in spite of the sentence of the arbitral tribunal,
as President of a State which is described by all competent authorities
as a _pseudo_-republic, summarily wiped off the map as an independent
State. M. Brezet, moreover, is a Parisian who has served, it is said,
in the French forces in Guiana. He is now for the second time enjoying
the confidence of the Counanians, strong in the prestige won by his
success in having repulsed the Brazilians who sought dutifully to carry
out the terms of the clauses of the Berne Decree. 'After having
prepared the military and administrative reorganization of Counany, he
has come on a mission to Europe to defend the interests entrusted to
him.' Such is the story reported by the _Journal_.
"Counany, now described as the vast territory between the Amazon and
the two Guianas, is not merely a relatively accessible stretch of
coast-line and _Hinterland_ for a certain enterprising European
colonial Power, which has already prospected in Brazil, Venezuela, and
the unknown world between the Amazon and the Orinoco. Counany is
likewise on the high road of sea communication between the south of
South America and the eventual link between the Atlantic and the
Pacific, known as the Panama Canal. The Counany coast-line is a
covetable strip of the South American coast which at more favourable
moments might even distract our attention from Morocco."
7. _A Tavern Brawl._
In 1902, in an inn on the German side of the German-French frontier, an
altercation arises between Franz Heller, an Austrian subject, and a
Frenchman. They leave the inn together, still quarrelling. The
Frenchman hits Heller with his stick and runs away across the frontier.
Heller, however, draws a revolver and shoots the Frenchman dead. The
French government demands his extradition for murder.
8. _A Threatened Diplomatic Rupture._
The following appeared in the _Times_ of Feb. 22nd, 1908, dated Sofia,
Feb. 21st:
"A diplomatic rupture between Servia and Montenegro is threatened. The
Servian Minister has been instructed to leave Cettigne should
satisfaction not be accorded for certain injurious observations made by
M. Tomanovich, the Montenegrin Premier, in the course of a recent
speech. Relations between the two dynasties and countries have long
been strained, and the quarrel has become acute since the refusal of
the Servian Government to take the measures demanded by Montenegro
against refugees and others accused of participation in the recent plot
against the life of Prince Nicholas."