NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE clouds are said to be breaking. An opinion, whence de- rived it is still hard to say, has suddenly become general that Russia and England are on the eve of an agreement. Lord Beaconsfield has become pacific ; the Czar has offered conces- sions; Prince Bismarck has become hopeful ; in all the capitals .correspondents who despaired of peace, and were glad to despair, report reluctantly more hope. The improvement seems for the moment to be real, though politics with this Ministry in power are too kaleidoscopic for certainty, but its causes are undefined, and may prove transitory. All that is certainly known is that Count Schouvaloff is gone to St. Petersburg, that the Govern- ment expect good news on Monday, and that the notion of a dissolution has been given up, as too doubtful in results. It is quite possible that at the last moment Lord Beacons- field may hold out for some formula which Russia will not accept, that the Czar's hypochondria may disappear with winter, or that the intriguers in Constantinople who want war may take some desperate step. Fortunately, they cannot find a dare- devil Sultan among the race of Othman, or the world would be in flames yet.
