NEWS OF THE WEEK.
GENERAL VON CAPRIVI delivered a strong speech to the Prussian Reichstag on Friday week in favour of .optimistic views of the situation. He maintained that pessimist views were due mainly to the journalists, who, in their hunger for sensation, blamed the Government whenever nothing went wrong. The meeting of the French and Russians at Cron- stadt altered nothing, for even in 1870 the War Ministry had considered the problem of war with a double front, and "what have we got to object to in other people shaking hands?" The Emperor of Russia is as peaceful as it is possible to be; and as to France, her heightened self-consciousness has diminished, not increased her nervousness. Military writers were always .exaggerating the dangers of the Empire. The armies of the Triple Alliance were equal in number to the armies of Russia and France, and perhaps superior in the quality of the troops who would be at first employed. The Russian garrisons were not on the German frontier, but in stations three hundred miles away. The whole speech was one in defence of full preparation and tranquillity, and produced a profound impression in the Prussian Chamber.
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