NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE is a "scare" every week. This week it has been caused by an official notification that in the event of an expeditionary force being sent anywhere, Lord Napier of Magdala would command, and Sir Garnet Wolseley would be the Chief of the Staff. As Sir Stafford Northcote explained on Thursday, these are not " appointments," but " selections" made a fortnight ago, but their public notification has undoubtedly a certain significance. We presume that the British Government is contending over some point of the Treaty of Peace with the Government of Russia, and that these announcements mean, or are intended to mean, that the resistance is in earnest. They have treated much excitement in St. Petersburg, where, as in London, there is a party which declares that Russia is insulted, that now is the best time for accepting war, and that the Eastern Question should be settled once for all by seizing Constantinople. As we do not know the point round which the conflict turns, we can form no opinion on the merits of either aide, but we can form an opinion on this,—It is wise, both for the war party and the peace party, to wait and see the grounds of quarrel fully stated, before they excite the nation further, either for war or peace. Unfortunately the war party seems to con- sider Russian success by itself sufficient ground for war. She is too strong, they say. Yet that argument, when attributed to the military party in Germany, was described as cynically wicked.
