NEWS OF THE WEEK.
T"great event of the week ought to have been the beginning of the blockade by Germany of the whole of the shores of the British Islands. Strangely enough, however, Der Tag passed in complete calm, and we are now informed by German wireless that it was a mistake to suppose that anything particular would happen till some days after the 18th. One of the German papers, indeed, speaks of ten or fifteen days having to elapse before the hour strikes. In fact, the day when Britain is to become a wretched, starring, isolated island, cut off from all human intercourse and devoted as sacrifice to the German war Gods of the Empyrean and the Deep Sea, has been put off—just ss the capture, first of Paris, then of Calais, and then of Warsaw, has been constantly post- poned. Here we may remark that there is really something very touching in the way in which the German people show no signs of disappointment or disillusionment in these repeated examples of unfulfilled prophecy. Indeed, it is hardly too much to any that an Imperial prophecy, whether fulfilled or not, stirs their hearts like a trumpet. If the Kaiser were to announce that his troops would simultaneously enter Cairo, Cape Town, Melbourne, and Calcutta on April 1st, not only would he be implicitly believed, but when the inevitable post- ponement for "ten or possibly fifteen days" came a patient and obedient people would only express their admiration of his powers.
