NEWS OF THE WEEK.
AROYAL betrothal of some importance is announced,— that of the Cesarewitch to the Princess Alix, daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse, and granddaughter of our own Queen. The heir to the throne of Russia is twenty-one, and by no means, it is said, a marked individuality ; and the Princess is seventeen, a pleasant person, with some of the thoughtfulness of the Coburgs. It is the idea of the day that Royal alliances are of no importance, and that seems to be justified thus far. They do not imply in any way alliances between the countries represented by those who marry. "Family compacts" are out of date since the Bourbons fell, and nations fight or flirt without much care or thought for individual Princes or Princesses; but, nevertheless, the whole policy of Germany might have been changed by the Emperor Frederick's marriage, and Prince Bismarck, the most instructed diplomatist in Europe, staked his position on resistance to the Battenberg engagement. The truth seems to be that an absolute Sovereign's choice of a wife is of real importance, as much importance as his choice of a Minister, but that its importance arises from the personal influence his wife may exercise, and not from any international effect which the marriage can otherwise produce. The repelling effect is sometimes as strong as the attractive, and the Emperor of Germany, by blood half-English, is said to bear towards England an almost Irish distaste.
