3 MARCH 1900, Page 2

Continental opinion, except in Italy, Greece, Denmark, and Switzerland, is

greatly saddened by British victories, and the prcsBoer newspapers are asking their Governments if it is not time to intervene. The Governments, however, are less inclined than ever to intervention, the three Emperors in particular having displayed, each in his own way, the most friendly feelings. The German Emperor has congratulated the Queen by telegraph, the Austrian Emperor has inquired what " all the tag-rag and bobtail of Europe are doing on the Boer side," and the Russian Emperor has snubbed his War Minister for reporting that now is the time to seize Herat. The French President, it is true, has said nothing, but M. Loubet has a certain talent for silence. There is, too, as we pointed out last week, a definite change in the tone even of popular abuse. We were a pitiable race, we are now again a brutal one, always crushing the weak. Very soon we shall resume our old position in the Continental mind as very greedy, very crafty, very powerful, and, above all, as the ■ lpaniard said, "too darn happy." These changes, as we have tried to explain elsewhere, do not all spring from baseness, but it is a little difficult not to smile at those who believe that " opinion" not only rules the world, but ought to rule it. The deaf have the best of it sometimes.