Diplomatists on the Continent are much excited by a sudden
visit which Signor Giolitti, the Italian Premier and Minister of the Interior, is paying to Count von Billow at Homburg. It is argued that the Italian would not quit Rome at a time when, owing to the general strike just ended, his duties are severe unless he had been summoned, and speculation is eager as to the cause of the summons. It may be, it is said, that a project of mediation is to be discussed, ltaly being the least interested of the Great Powers, and therefore the best "go-between." Or it may be that difficulties have arisen in the Balkans which Italy, as the Power that has provided a chief for the Macedonian gendarmerie, can most easily solve. Or, again, it may be that the German Emperor wishes to rebind the somewhat relaxed links of the Triple Alliance. It is quite possible that all these conjectures are unfounded, and quite certain that all are conjectures merely. It is improbable that Signor Giolitti would so greatly disturb opinion without some reason which he deems adequate ; but the emergencies which Courts think serious are not always those upon which public attention fixes itself.
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