We confess we look forward with extreme anxiety to Lord
Clarendon's action in this matter. If he adheres to the Palmer- stonian traditions, we shall be allies of France in defending Turkey, and shall soon find ourselves in open hostility to North Germany, the very worst attitude we could possibly adopt. Is it our business to arrest the unity of Germany, and consequentforma- tion of a strong and peaceable power in Central Europe ? Yet this is what will happen if Great Britain allows herself to be dragged into an alliance with France against Russia. Until her unity is complete Germany cannot allow her great Northern ally to be seriously weakened, and must sooner or later interfere for her protection, thereby bringing on the contest all Europe has been awaiting ever since Sadowa, a contest in which we shall at all events seem to Germans to be on the wrong side.
