practical method of utilising the Heir-Apparent as agreeable to the Prince as it would be advantageous to the nation.

of France.

Every one is delighted that France The Dreams should be humoured. She has sulked so long in the corner, eating her heart out in sullen discontent, that for sheer sympathy and compassion it is well that she should be warmly welcomed when she once more ventures out into the society of her equals. As she can never again have the reality of that power which she so misused in the past, we are all only too glad to allow her the consolation of its semblance. But of course it is only a semblance. The French Foreign Office, whatever amicable arrangement they may have effected for mutual support in China, is under no mistake as to the absurdity of the popular delusion that France has an ally in Russia for the furtherance of her aggressive designs on Germany. There is no Government in Europe outside the Triple Alliance that would offer a more stern and effective opposition to any attempt to recover the lost provinces than that of Russia. France is tranquil, and professes to desire peace" Therefore the Tzar extends a cordial greeting to his effusive visitors. But let France propose to make war, and she will be very rudely awakened from her fool's paradise. The Tzar, no doubt, thinks that France is all the more easily kept in hand if she is humoured a little. Therein he is right. And in this matter the British Government is of the same

opinion. The extraordinary demonstrations at Quebec, where our French Canadian subjects accorded to a French squadron as warm and enthusiastic a welcome as that which Admiral Gervais received at St. Petersburg and Moscow, meant just about as much or as little. To listen to the speeches in Quebec, people would imagine that the French Republic expected to hoist the tricolour once more upon the heights of Abraham. But of course that is just as ridiculous as the notion that Alexander III. will for a moment encourage any attempt to recapture Alsace and Lorraine.

is therefore the natural, necessary, and habitual standard of comparison to which we adjust our naval estimates. But that is no reason why we should not be civil to our neighbours when they pay an afternoon call; and we were so civil that some people in France seem to have lost their heads a little. Portsmouth tricked itself out with flags, and banquetted its visitors with princely hospitality. The crowd sang

the Marseillaise; the Municipality made itself the host of the officers and men; the Admiralty opened the Dockyard to their inspection; the Queen reviewed the fleet, and gave a Royal reception to its commanders; and on the strength of this French newspapers declare exultantly that England has detached herself from the Triple Alliance, whereat there is much huzzaing and newspaper rhetoric. This is all as the mere foam of champagne. As England was never attached to the Triple Alliance, she cannot be detached from it. But England has not varied, and will not vary, a hairbreadth from her declared policy of offering a steady and unflinching opposition to any and every Power which seeks to disturb the peace of Europe. Therein England and Russia are as one. Their's is the real peace alliance, which holds the balance between the Triple Alliance on the one side and France on the other. So long as England and Russia hold together there will be no war.

France,

The English fleet in the Mediterranean has England, been paying visits to French ports in and Egypt. the South, for nowadays our international courtesies are all naval; President Carnot is expected in England as a guest of the Queen-to be followed, let us hope before very long, by the President of the American Republic; and if dinners and general junketing can consolidate peace, the nations need have no fear of war. But as M. de Blowitz tells us in the remarkable article summarised elsewhere, the tranquillity of Eastern Europe hangs on the life of Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary; and there has been an ominous reminder last month, in the shape of Turkish representations, that France has not yet reconciled herself to our position in Egypt. The Turkish Government is believed to be meditating trouble at Cairo. Rumours are rife that the Khedive is to be marked down for deposition; and there is no doubt that after next General Election the French will try what intrigue, and possibly menace, can do to bundle us out of Egypt. They are defeating their own game if they threaten the stability of the Khedivial throne. We went there to establish it on firm foundations. We shall stay there till our task is done. If we are asked when that will be, we

Sarah does here. In the eyes of the Australians, France can scarcely be said to exist. The fact is that we are overrun with Germans and with German goods. That fact, if it be a fact, will probably do more to arrest the nonsense talked about "cutting the painter " than any number of sermons in the press and elsewhere about loyalty to the old country. Australia is gradually being surrounded by German colonies. There are several Germans in our Parliament, and the most serious part of the business is that Germany is now turning her attention to the western coast-that is to say, Perth-which is the most thinly peopled and perhaps the richest colony from the agricultural point of view. The Germans have just arranged for making a railway, over 300 miles long, through the centre of the richest district, with the Government of Western Australia. Germany is doing all she can to direct the stream of German emigration upon Australia, about 600 Germans coming over every month by the National line of steamers. If this goes on, they will soon acquire a marked preponderance.

The End of

While the Old World has been using its the War navies for peace manoeuvres and interin Chili. national picnicing, in the New World war has been going on in grim earnest. Last month the Congressionalists of Chili seem to have decided that the hour had come for a decisive dash on Valparaiso, the capital and stronghold of the Dictator Balmaceda. The arrival of the two ironclad cruisers expected from Europe would have enabled the Dictator to contend on more even terms with the Congressionalists on the element where they at present are supreme. An attempt was therefore made to force a decisive battle before the ships arrived. Valparaiso, defended by heavily armed forts, was invulnerable against direct naval attack. The Congressionalists landed every available fighting man at their disposal at Concon on 21st August, about ten miles north of Valparaiso. They were attacked by the Dictator on the 22nd. There was fierce fighting, 20,000 men being engaged on each side. The Dictator had the worst of it. He was dislodged from his position, and driven backward upon the city. Then he rallied his shattered forces under cover of the fire of his forts, and made a last stand at Placillo on the 28th. The carnage is said to have been frightful. Both his generals were killed. Very little quarter was asked or granted. The combatants fought with cold steel face to face, and three thousand are said to have fallen. Balmaceda's last public act was to send a telegram to Europe saying that he had gained a complete victory, the whole of the Congressional forces having surrendered to escape utter annihilation. Hardly had the telegram been printed in our newspapers before the final blow was delivered which shattered his cause into irretrievable ruin. Männlicher magazine rifle, like the Chassepott on a famous occasion, did wonders. Balmaceda's troops fled into the city, which was at once handed over to the foreign Admirals in the harbour, who in turn handed it over to the conquerors; Santiago soon after capitulated; and Balmaceda, a hopeless fugitive, was believed to have endeavoured to cross the Andes in mid-winter. If taken he will be shot. He deserves

The

to be hanged. Thus ends the Civil War in Chili. By some miracle the foreign warships have escaped being involved in the fighting, although on one occasion the captain of the Warspite is reputed to have threatened to bombard Valparaiso to punish a shot fired at one of his boats. There is little hope for these South American Republics until they pass under the joint tutelage of England and the United States-a con summation that may be nearer than some suppose.

American Foreign

The United States of America, as may be seen by a glance at the illustrated article Policy. on the Sandwich Islands which I publish elsewhere, have decided definitely not to allow Pearl Harbour to slip from their grasp. Pearl Harbour will be, in their hands, the Malta of the Pacific. They concluded last month a Reciprocity Treaty with Spain which gives them virtual possession of Cuba for all commercial purposes. Hayti will sooner or later come under the Stars and Stripes. In Behring's Sea British and American gunboats are enforcing a close time for the seals. At any moment a joint intervention may be precipitated in Chili. Every additional warship that floats the star-spangled banner at her peak increases the urgency of the establishment of a good understanding that may hereafter ripen into a good working and, if need be, a fighting alliance between the two branches of the English-speaking race in the Western hemisphere. The suggestion no doubt will scare the older people both in the Empire and the Republic. But nothing would excite so much enthusiasm among the younger men than such a practical mode of healing the breach that has existed since the days of George III.

American

Trade.

At present, however, the Americans are not thinking of political or naval supreof the commercial macy so much as ascendency which Nature this year seems to be offering them with both hands. A veritable famine has smitten the quondam granary of Europe. Russia, confronted with absolute lack of bread for her teeming millions of peasants, has forbidden the export of rye, and turns anxiously westward for some substitute for her failing crops. Germany, deprived of her usual supply from Russia, looks also across the Atlantic for breadstuffs. Here in England the summer has been unusually wet. In India a drought, happily not so severe as at one time seemed probable, threatens to deprive millions of their scanty subsistence. America teems with plenty, and her ingenious sons have discovered how to make it rain to order by successive Even without this, an explosions of dynamite.

unusually bountiful harvest enables her to offer