NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE tension between Austria-Hungary and Servia, and con- sequently between Russia and Austria-Hungary, con- tinues to cause grave anxiety. It is true, no doubt, that none of the Powers concerned wants war. Indeed, they may be said to view the prospect of war with something approaching horror. Yet undoubtedly they also dread peace under certain con- ditions as even worse than war. At the moment the statesmen of Austria-Hungary, strange as it may seem to the ordinary man, would tell you that it would be better for Austria-. ,Hungary to bring on a European conflagration than to endure the intolerable injmy to Austro-Hungarian interests which must be caused by Servia possessing a port on the Adriatic. In the same way Russian statesmen, though they, too, are perfectly sincere in loathing the idea of war, hold that war :would be better than deserting the interests of the southern Slays as represented by Servia and her allies.
