THE PEACE OUTLOOK IN EUROPE.
THE following from a leading San Francisco daily, will show how the world regards the peace prospect of Europe. Referring to the late visit of the czar to Berlin, the Chronicle says:— “The emperor, in toasting the czar, said he drank to the continuance of the friendship which had subsisted between their houses for over a hundred years, and which he was resolved to cherish as a legacy from his ancestors; and the czar, in reply, thanked the emperor for his kindly sentiments, and drank to his welfare. “While all this gush and buncombe was going on, the German Government was submitting to the Bundesrath a bill to authorize the loan of about $62,000,000, the most of which is to be expended on account of the military. It is a peculiar coincidence, to say the least, that while these two sovereigns were vowing eternal amity, and, metaphorically at least, weeping on each other's necks, the Legislature of one of their countries should be asked to borrow so large a sum for the government to expend for military purposes. This fact is much more significant than the honeyed words of the two monarchs, for words are very much cheaper than bonds. “What does Germany want of all this money? The recent election in France should have put to rest all fear of attack from that source, for it is certain that the republic means661peace, and that no French Republican leader, be he who he may, would dream of putting himself at the head of the party of revenge, if there be any such party now in France. Bismarck has just said that England had decided to be a fat ox and not a mad bull, so there is nothing to be apprehensive of in that quarter. What power, then, is there except Russia to inspire this new financial departure on the part of Germany, and to cause her to spend so much money for military purposes. “The net indebtedness of the German Empire, funded and unfunded, is about 420,000,000 marks, and it seems quite certain that it would not be increased by so large a sum as 249,000,000 marks unless the government thought there would be urgent necessity for the money very soon. Germany cannot have been blind to the extraordinary activity of Russia in making preparations for war, and it is certainly not an unreasonable conjecture that this new loan is intended to meet those preparations. The czar and the emperor may hobnob and drink each other's health now, but if next spring a Russian army appears on the border, there may be a struggle which will be just as fierce and desperate as though the love feast at Berlin had never taken place.”