THE EQUILIBRIUM OF EUROPE.
By Editor
In an editorial on this subject, the Springfield Republican says that Peace in Asia has brought conditions which are favorable to endless rumors and even alarms in the field of diplomacy. It is not the same Europe that we knew prior to the Russo-Japanese war, or even to the battle of Mukden. The old order that prevailed for some fifteen years after the triple and dual alliance had been formed has lost its equilibrium, and Europe, in a diplomatic sense, has not found itself again. And after reviewing the present condition, the growing friendliness between France and England, the growing distance between Russia and France, and the strained relations between Germany and Great Britain, also the grave situation in Austria-Hungary, it says: What, then, is to be the exact basis of the new balance of power in Europe? The uncertainty that now obscures the question is the real cause of the continued liveliness of European discussion and the occasional alarmist nature of prevalent speculation. The most important query to be raised is the one that nobody likes even to hint at—that is, Can a new and permanent adjustment be found without another war? All observers must agree that no more important task now confronts European statesmen than the steadying of the international equilibrium by the methods of peace and friendship. Surely these are troublous times, and the old earth will never know peace again until that time shall come when Christ the Lord shall reign, and all self-seeking wickedness forever be destroyed.