The German Reichstag was opened on October 22nd in a
speech, read by a Commissioner, the interest of which consists in heavy new demands for the Army and Navy, and in the announcement that Germany is to have a separate Colonial Office. The Emperor declares that his hope of peace is as strong as last year,—indeed, stronger, " owing to the per- sonal relations which the Emperor has since cultivated with the rulers of friendly and allied neighbouring States ;" but for all that, the military department wants £330,000 a year more for its permanent expenditure, besides a loan of £7,100,000, most of it for a great increase in the Artillery. The Navy also requires £125,000 a year more money, as well as £1,400,000 for constructions. The sums are not very large when compared with the demands of English departments ; but the German Government always insists on value for its money; and its very habit of economy suggests that it is still uneasy. There must be a point at which Germany will be fully armed; but just as it is reached, she will probably have invented a new rifle firing sixty shots to the minute, or a gun of some new metal weighing no more than wood. We can see no end to this competition, except the exhaustion of the Treasuries, or a discovery, only to be made in war-time, that little armies per- fectly appointed can defeat the huge masses now under arms.
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