Year: 1874

Inc remarkable religious controversy now
waging in England is followed by new
phenomena. There were, for instance, two
or three apparently harmless dispatches
scattered through our European news col
consideration in the view of the Manning
Gladstone war. The temper of the European
mind is SO uncertain, and there are so many
angry conditions in the relations of the States,
and this religious question assumes SO mucn
prominence that it is wise to consider critically
the slightest indication of the temper OF the
times Thus we have the word of Disraeli,
as told in 'Lothair' and repeated in many
speeches, that we are on the eve of great
crisis So we cannot study the signs too
closely. We observe that Prince Gortschakoff
has arrived in Berlin and has had interviews
with Bismarck and the Emperor. Prince
Gortschakoff is one of the most distinguished
marck he was the leading statesman of
Europe. He is now seventy-six years of age,
and people naturally ask what leads him in his
old age to take an inclement winter journey
from ST. Petersburg to Berlin. This is a
natural question, one that cannot be asked
without uneasiness Accordingly the telegraph
gives US reply. prince Gortschakof has
discussed proposals tor the revision of the
Russo-German customs regulations for the
benefit of commerce and international inter-
course" In other words the telegraph asks us
to believe that Prince Gortschakoff has ac-
tually come to Berlin upon cold November
errand, that could have been as well performed
by consul general or an under secretary of
state, to talk about salt and beer and hay and
-four ~!


We pass to Paris and we find that news
paper as calm and respected as the Journal
des Df6ats has been making a severe attack
upon Mr.. Disraeli "for his disclaimer that
his recent Guildhall speech referred to the
Won Arnim case The Journal says:--
'Ir. Disraeli has simply apologized to Prince
Bismarck for his offensive utterances. 1t is
apparent from this incident of Mr.. Disraeli's
apology that England in her turn has been
invaded. The Prime Minister can no longer
Berlin" A criticism of this nature from
journal OF the standing Of the Journal des
Dfbats means great deal And we can
learn the value put upon these criticisms in
Germany when we remember the concluding
words of the speech addressed to the German
Parliament by the Emperor William. Royal
orators are generally vague in their speeches,
and to find the royal meaning we are COM
PEELED to read between the lines The
Emperor's exact words are as follows:-
81 know myself to be free from all tempting
thoughts to employ the united power of the
Empire for other than defensive purposes.
Conscious of the power at our disposal my
government can afford to pass over in silence
the suspicious unjustly cast upon their policy.
Not until the malice and party passions to
whose attacks we are exposed proceed from
words to actions shall We resent them. In
such an event the whole nation and it's princes
will join me in defending our honor and
rights" This is declaration the more we
read it the more menacing it appears. Why
should q great Emperor care particularly
about the criticisms of foreign journals
What has Germany to fear that the old King
should brandish his sword in the face of
Europe? What Power attacks" his imperial
policy? Isit France, or Austria, or Russia
1t would seem to US that Germany has been
treated with remarkable cordiality and for
bearance by the other Powers. England saw
the partition of Denmark without q move
ment. France yielded to Sadowa with
simple protest. Russia stood with drawn
sword to prevent any interference in the mu-
tilation of France. Germany has had the
utmost indulgence from Europe. She has
gained great advantages; but victory as in
the case of Napoleon, seems to have taught
the Emperor simply arrogance. He does not
propose to pause in his career, and the prob
lem now in all European minds is, ''Where
will he striker" Is it not also sad comment
upon the civilization of our blazing, boastful
century to see q great monarch and the head
of great empire wantonly invoking the
spirit Of war? Germany has had three wars
in ten years, and we should think that even
the martial spirit of a Hohenzollern would
be satisfied


The uneasiness occasioned by speech like
this from the Emperor, and the prodigious
spread of this religious flame, would explain the
visit of the Imperial Chancellor to Berlin. 1t
is not the first sign Of unrest that Russia has
shown. The whole Brussels Conference
movement was an appeal for peace or for such
notifications in the actual doing of war that
strife would lose its terrors. This Brussels Con-
ference was, in some respects, romantic idea
an effort to adjust all the hard and brutal
conditions of war to the conditions Of modern
civilization. But the fact that martial Power
like Russia should become SO suddenly anxious
to deprive war of its terrors and to modify in
ternational law in the interests of belligerents
shows that in the mind of the Gar the busi-
ness of beligerency is not at an end. In