The daily gazette., 1875-02-18
FROM the N Z. Journal OF Commerce.
~ n EUROPEAN WAR IM-
PENDINGP

The press of England is prematurelv
and unnecessarily alarmed over the
Tis TSar prospect OF great European war.
me Inc leading journals, the light maya.
dines, d ana even the grave quarterlies,
aweil upon the subject with a horrible
fascination; As might be expected the
more they look at the war-eloud in the
norlzon, The blacker and more portent
gus II grows. The anxiety felt in En-.
iand Is taking on the form of a panic.
IL the English people may be said to
yielo 10 SUCH an ignoble emotion. At
any rate, they are deeply concerned
!esI lne outbreak of the war which thew
.niagine TO be close at hand NAV catch
them unprepared. 1t seems to he as-
sumed That the next war NAV not leave
England to pursue the agreeable and
Prohtable, course of neutral. but that
she may de dragged into the conflict
ny uncomfortable events, or forced in
nonor TO bear q part in it. Isshe ready
1or this =? The best organs of nnblic
opinion say-No. An able military
critic, MIR: Fl. M. Hosier, in the last
number OF the GenHcmen's Mooozjne
says that "if England will save herself
she must be willing to spend her mo.
aey freely to maintain large and ef-
nclent regular army" This is now
only w. strong She has double or
treDle That force of militia and yolun.
teers, but these he pronounces "nse.
less; The navy he regards as Eng
lands sole defence against the attach
OF Power like Germany. and he
anxlouAy inquiries whether large
proportion of her men-of-war are net
old-1ashloned and unfit to cope with
the modern improved sea ea-armaments
1t seems like hersey to doubtEngland's
supremacy OF the sea, but misgivings
upon this point continually appear in
the English press. That such thought
should be entertained in we'll informed
and intelligsntEnglish circles is a most
remarkable proof of the unreasoning
alarm causedb by the German victories
of 1901. That alarm found an early
expression i'll the burlesque report of
the "Battlo OF Dorking," "and has since
remained rooted in the British mind.
To us, the successful invasion of Eng
land by tlihd rate rival Power like
Germany seems sheer impossibility.
1t is obvious, however, that England
would not be competent to meet an
armed and dilled nation, such as Ger
many anywhere on the continent, and
it is that consciousness of her inferi-
ority which makes her nervously ap-
prehensivs of the future. In full be-
lief that great European war is i'm
minent, different public counsellors
tender their advice how to avoid it. A
thoughtful writer in the British Quar-
terly Revasao for January suggests that
an intimate alliance between Austro-
Hungary, Italy and England would re-
store the equilibrium destroyed by the
Franco German war. These, with
Belgium, Holland and Switzerland, ARE
the nations most interested in preser-
wing peace, and their united prudent
offices to that end would undoubtedly
have good effect. But no such al.
lance, offensive and defensive is pos
sible. Italy is too deeply indented to
Germany and too closely. intert ~ineo
with her interest, to take any a, sion
hostile to her great patroness. With
out Italy the rest of the combination
counts for nothing in European war