Mr. Parnell would have understood what was meant, and have acted upon the hint.

But instead of negotiating, excommunication was resorted to, and then Mr. Parnell certainly entered upon a course which the whole of the English Press could not but condemn, and which greatly astonished his friends here. But, after all, human nature must be taken into account. Here is a man who for years had devoted all his efforts to the noblest of causes; who had created a political party out of the most undisciplined of members; who had suffered imprisonment and endured the calumnies of the Pigottists for the cause; when, lo, all at once, because he has been weak enough to fall in love with another man's wife, he is crushed, denounced, hunted down, spurned like a pariah. He stood at bay. Who would not have done so? He employed against his former friends the most formidable arms. How had he been treated? We have a proverb which says, "That is a very vicious animal; when attacked it defends itself." Mr. Parnell defended himself.

He, moreover, defended himself with marvellous ability, notwithstanding his defeat at a bye-election. For what was the object he had in view? The thing was to show as clear as daylight that the rupture between the Liberals, the Radicals, and the Dissentient Liberals on the one hand, and himself on the other, meant civil war in Ireland; the indefinite postponement of Home Rule; almost certain victory for the Conservatives at the next elections. And he showed this; proved it; demonstrated it. His fiercest enemies. can no longer disguise this fact. If in one way or another peace cannot be re-established among the Home Rule members-and peace can only be re-established by an agreement with Mr. Parnell-farewell to all hope, farewell to all chance of a final victory for Mr. Gladstone. The "Grand Old Man" will not see the Promised Land before dying.

A reconciliation is, therefore, what all must hope for, and we who sympathise deeply with the Liberals and the Radicals, we who after no little hesitation have at last taken up ardently the cause of unhappy Ireland, have no more earnest desire. Before all things, save the Irish cause. On both sides, on Mr. Gladstone's as well as Mr. Parnell's, sacrifices must be made. But what kind

of sacrifices? Merely sacrifices of amour-propre.

Any hesitation, either from obstinacy or foolish pride, and the victory will be imperilled which is certain if union be restored, a victory which will be of the most glorious character, for it will mean the emancipation of a noble nation.

In my opinion Mr. O'Brien has taken a correct view of the situation. Mr. Parnell's feelings must be considered; but afterwards the Irish party must have an acknowledged leader. Can Mr. Parnell be that leader at the present moment? No; he must give up all idea of it for some time. Can Mr. Justin M'Carthy be that leader? No; Mr. Parnell's friends will never accept him. A third choice must, therefore, be made, and Mr. Dillon would be the man. I said to my friend Mr. O'Brien, on his return from America, "You are an apostle; do not try to be a saint." I think he understood what I meant. The O'Shea case must be forgotten on both sides. The quarrels, the unjust attacks, nay, even the terrible epithet, gutter sparrows," which Mr. Parnell flung at his adversaries, all must be forgotten. And, with a new Irish leader, union must be re-established, for union means victory, and discord means defeat.

Do you wish to carry the elections? Do you wish to save Ireland? If so, there is no time to lose, and peace must be at once restored.

JOSEPH REINACII. Member of the French Chamber.

Berlin.

W

HEN the Emperor William started last summer on a second visit to the Czar, in whose capital he had already been, on first ascending the throne, people tried in vain to divine his motive for thus pressing friendship upon an apparently unwilling neighbour. The riddle is not solved yet. Some people, to be sure, persist in declaring that the most unlikely explanation must for that very reason be the correct one, viz., a determination on the part of the young monarch to press upon the Russian ruler the wisdom of a European Disarmament. I mention this surmise simply because it has found acceptance in many influential quarters. Has it been remembered that control is as impossible between Powers which have agreed to disarm as it is indispensable? This proposition once admitted, another will scarcely be gainsaid: that a proposal of disarmament made to the Russian Emperor can, under no circumstances, be altogether free from a sinister suggestion of something like a threat of war.

No sort of mystery would seem to hover over William II.'s visit to Windsor Castle, now to all appearance fixed for July 27th. He is urged by the most obvious desire to give public expression to those friendly sentiments between the two countries which for many years had remained in abeyance. To us he appears to have chosen his time well. So much eagerness evidently prevails in England to revive the old ties and strengthen the new ones, and such deep interest is exhibited in the development of the Emperor's character, that he will be received, we imagine, with true British cordiality. London will, of course, be visited. And there, within the City precincts, the youthful sovereign will be able to convince himself of the truth of one of his latest utterances, which electrified the best part of this nation and raised strong hopes of economic reforms. A short time ago he sent his photograph to our Postmaster-General, Herr von Stephan, an able administrator, who was celebrating his jubilee, and under it were the following words:

"Intercommunication (Verkehr) is the sign under which the world stands at the close of the present century. The barriers which separate nations are thereby overthrown, and new relations opened up between them." This sentiment, however agreeable to Free Traders in this country, has a distinct battle-sound in the ears of the Junker class. No observer of what is passing can help perceiving that discontent is rife among them. Lower duties on the importation of cereals and of timber, the abolition of certain class exemptions in rural districts, and a stricter assessment of the Income-tax, are reforms which people are looking forward to. It is an awkward fact, too, that Herr Miquel at the Treasury, the Home Secretary, the Chancellor, and the Emperor are fully resolved to carry out these measures of public utility without fear and without favour. The storm-signals are not yet hoisted. When they are, the cry of the vested interests will grow louder and louder. Our aristocracy are the most feudal and the most exacting in Europe. They have been pampered by what a Parliamentary speaker the other day called Bismarck's aristocratic socialist policy. What with bounties on beetroot sugar, bounties on spirits, duties on corn and timber-out of the taxpayers' pocket, all of them-the cup seems full to overflowing. Let me mention here a few facts in connection with this subject. The total loss to the Exchequer, together with the loss suffered directly by the consumers through these bounties, has been officially stated at about eighteen millions sterling in thirteen years. The yearly bonus to great distilleries, all of them owned by the great lords of the potatofields, amounts to rather more, viz., two millions sterling on the strength of one of Bismarck's closing legislative acts. The duty on rye, imposed in 1879, of sixpence per cwt., has been quintupled since 1886. Taking the whole indirect taxation together, it has increased within ten years from 5s. to 13s. per head of the population.

It is impossible to attach too much importance, in the interest of the world's trade, to the negotiations now being carried on at Vienna between the delegates of Germany, Austria, and Hungary, which are big with promise of a Treaty of Commerce between the

two neighbouring Empires. Caprivi has in a very pointed manner expressed his conviction that they will be carried to a successful issue, which means that, to satisfy the Austrian demands, some at least of our duties on manufactured goods will be lowered, and the duties on cereals also, to please the Hungarians. However fainthearted and halting our corn law reformers may appear, high praise is due to them for initiating a policy which cannot possibly end where it begins, with lowering, as we shall probably do, our duty on the chief cereal of this country in the proportion of five to three. The total abolition of the duty cannot fail to ensue in time. Meanwhile, we must congratulate ourselves on a return to the beneficent economic policy inaugurated by Napoleon III. in 1850, and abandoned by Bismarck in 1879.

At

It is worth pointing out that the State is rich here out of all proportion with the people's aggregate prosperity. this moment it may probably be asserted without any exaggeration that Prussia is proportionally wealthier than any other country in the civilised world. What would the readers of the NEW REVIEW think of England if her real estate was found to be more than equal in market value to the sum total of her National Debt? Would they have dreamt of transforming into Government property, to be administered solely by the Government, all the country's railways? And if her Chancellor of the Exchequer was to announce in years of average commercial prosperity that the railways under his administration had not merely paid interest on the purchase-money but produced a surplus as well which would suffice to pay the interest on all the rest of the National Debt-would his words be greeted with applause or with cries of "Reduce the taxes"? And yet, such exactly is the case with Prussia. Her "Woods and Forests" (including the State Railways) are so valuable that, strictly speaking, no such thing exists as a National Debt in the country. And again, the State Railways (in consequence, let it be remembered, of a scrupulous and honest administration) pay so well when the traffic is good that the interest due on the outlay, £291,739,130, becomes a mere fleabite.

If,