The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-01-24
From Our Regular Correspondent.
LONDON LETTER.
Lospox, Dec. 80, 8 8

LDNOOS, DSS. w AVA
Those beligerent echoes which
have been rumbling round Europe
during the past few days, like the
distant sound of thunder. seem to
be diving away again. The journals
of Vienna, Pesth, and Berlin, still,
indeed, carry on an interchange OF
"wars and rumors of wars" but
their tone is less alarming. The
Bourses of the Continent also, which
never took the disquieting reports
very much To heart, have ended ap-
parently by disregarding them alto
gether, and the news from each great
financial centre is that prices are
steady"
When neighboring States grow
stronger, frontiers will naturally be
reinforced; but between works OF
this kind and ornaments that create
apprehension Of war there is is great
am interval as between the time
when the fortresses Of Posen and
Konigsberg were founded, to the
present day. In other words. there
is in all this no more a sign Of the
insecurity of peace than in the fact
that France and England are
strengthening the armor plating OF
their respective battle ships. If one
desired to be critical it might be re-
marked, no doubt, that ships OF war
can move about, and, being intend
I'd for loconotiOn, menace no par
~ticular point or foe; while the es-
sential meaning of a fortress is that
it guards a certain spot, and has rel
erence to a special danger.
If Europe ever arrives at the stage
of peace and good will" really and
visibly exempllfied, it will not be, |
fear. until more than one Gordian
knot of Continental policy has been
united by the sabre's edge; nor will
the mild and holy influence of its
faith restrain Christendom from the
illogicality of its practice. Yet CIV
ilization gains even by deferring
wars when they cannot be prevent
ed; for each day of peace accumu-
lates Influences which eventually
will be stronger than human ambl
ton and emnities. When somebody
said to Canning, I'VE must fight
sooner or later" he spoke like a
wise man by replying, IN heavens
name, then, let it be later"
Yet, whatever the future keeps in
store for Europe, and however
gloomy the inner state of Continental
politics may appear to close Observ-
ers, the clouds have passed for the
present. There has. indeed, result
ed good from the a scare in so far
as it has led to the publication of
the general terms constituting an
offensive and defensive alliance be-
tween Germany and Austria. There
could exist no better insurance of
peace than that union, 80 long as it
remains conservative and not ag-
gressive. 1t is a stern check to the
designs of Russia, ever fretting
behind the barriers OF the Berlin
treaty, bitterly dissatisfied with the
turn of aflairsin Egypt, and plagued
at home by NihiIism and by i'm
pending financial bankruptcy. In
Asia, however, the frontier Of the
monstrous Tartar Empire comes
nearer and nearer to India, and rash,
indeed, vopld that British Govern
ment be which Jays all its plans for
domestic reforms, forgetting the for
eigI necessities that may arise. The
calmness of the Bourses on the con-
tinent proves that the muttering
storm has passed, and that the air
is clearing. An era Of quiet and
commercial activity would not only
do Europe good all around. but help
to settle more than one political
problem which now appears fraught
with future mischief. There is no
visible ,eason why the state of re-
pose now existing in the European
world should not continue for a long
time, and the longer it endpres the
better must become the chance OF
pacific solution to many a difficult
question of international life. At
all events, 1t is o vast advantage that
the world is witnessing Q Christmas
tide unstained by bloodshed. No
war is anywhere going on at pres
ent, and the longer that placid Pc
Rod continues the better it will be
for all humanity.