A hundred years ago From the 'Spectator,' 16 Idly /870—The
bolt out of the blue has struck. The European War, which we predicted so confidently, and as many of our readers thought so rashly, last week. has arrived even mom quickly than we expected ... War wai formally proclaimed by the French Government at 2 p.m. on Friday, in a mani- festo to the Chambers, which, according to Reuter, makes the pretext for war a circular from the King of Prussia justifying the affront to M. Benedetti, and releasing Prince Leopold from all obligation to decline the Throne of Spain. The real cause of war, the vote of fifty thousand soldiers against the Empire, is of course not mentioned but Paris has gone mad with patriotic pride, the French army is moving on the Rhine, and Europe must pass through a year. perhaps years, of misery, in order that one single man may secure the career and the position of one single child. This war has no cause, no motive, no justification, save the fear of Napoleon Bonaparte that without it his boy's succession would not be clear.
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