On Thursday evening the appointment of K Delcasse as French
Ambassador to Russia was announced. The event is of very great moment, and is already said to have produced " a slump " on the Berlin Stock Exchange. The Russian Government, we are told, has signified its warm approval of the new appointment, and M. Delcasse is stated to stand very well with the Tsar and to be generally popular among Russians. K Delcasse has an unrivalled knowledge of foreign affairs and has a clear objective. We do not believe, however, that his feeling towards Germany will, as is sometimes alleged, force him to violent courses. As a rule, the first impulse of a statesman of M. Delcasse's calibre, when an extremist label has been placed on his back by public opinion, is to determine to prove to the world by his acts that he is not as extreme as he is supposed to be. Again, we believe that M. Delcasse will take a pride in showing that he is not vindictive, and has no idea of being deflected from sound policy by the thought of the humiliation which the German Government placed upon him eight years ago, when at their bidding he was in fact dismissed from the French Foreign Office.
