The comments of the foreign papers on. the visit are
note-
worthy. The French Press is obviously delighted, and looks forw:: rd, in at least momentary sincerity, to the removal of all occasions of grievance between the two countries, a feeling in which the Austrian Press appears entirely to sympathise. The German Press, on the other hand, is disposed to believe either that Britain, conscious of her weakness, is seeking a strong ally, or that she is plotting to undermine the Dual Alliance, and thus give herself a freer hand in the Far East. There seems little doubt that the reception is regarded on the Continent as an event, and one which, marking as it does a new friendliness between Great Britain and France, somewhat disturbs those who dream of dangerous " combinations." It is, however, also regarded as a new guarantee of peace, which, we may observe, if all desired it as all profess to love it, would never be broken. In Italy, of course, where they necessarily think first of the freedom of the Mediterranean, friendliness between this country and France is regarded with warm favour ; and even in Germany it is not forgotten that if France substituted Great Britain for Russia, the squeeze upon Ger- many, which, as a nation of conscripts, she never clears out of her thoughts, must grow perceptibly lighter. It is not likely that in Russia the new tendency is observed with any pleasure, for in Russia "the enemy " just now is Japan, and we are sup- posed—erroneously—to be bound to support Japan under all contingencies.
