ALARMING POSITION OF CONTINENTAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Star, Issue 3513, 27 May 1874, Page 3

ALARMING POSITION OF CONTINENTAL AFFAIRS.

, A Berlin correspondent writing to a contemporary, in the course of his communication thus describes what he considers to be the slumbering volcano which is likely at any moment to burst forth, dealing death and destruction in every direction. The writer says “ That we shall have the customary quantum of official and semi-official at tides, representing everyone as an unmitigated and malignant alarmist who does not believe in eternal peace between the two itaipires, now that the two Emperors have publicly embraced r each other on a railway platform, is a matter of course ; but when we remember that this identical everlasting friendship between the two Emperors afoi'e'said, was announced only eighteen mouths since, on the occasion of the Berlin meeting, and that two at least of the regal trio are already beginning to write each other down once more, it is not likely that the present assurance will be very generally credited The truth is, that Germany, having leasserted her independence, which she lost in the religious wars of the 17th century, all the various powers that formerly preyed upon the dilapidated centre of Europe considered themselves deprived of their ancient sport, and are aspiring either to recover lost ground, or, if that bo impossible, to indemnify themselves by conqueac in some other direction. \ he peril threatening Europe therefore, is a triple one. Some of the many neigbors of Germany may combine to attack her, or seek for compensation somewhere else; or Germany herself, being alarmed at what is preparing around her, may deem it prudent to back one or other in some such enterprise, to make sure of one friend at least; or, failing to accomplish this, she may carry out the vaticinations of the Bismarck note, and endeavor to anticipate the onslaught of the party she fears moat. So various are the alternatives, and so universally affected by them is every part of this ancient continent of ours, that ail Europe seems to have been convetted into volcanic soil. Where and when the flame -: will burst out of the quaking ground, nobody knows. Still there is a general presentiment that things cannot long continue in their present plight, and that an eruption will be shortly be brought on, either by the ambition of the unruly, or by the indignation of those who are obliged t» arm in selfdeience, when they would prefer devotingthemselves to industry and culture. It is wilh an eye to these contingencies that the Russian Government have just introduced general conscription. I need not to tell you that no Empire in the world is rich enough to adopt this institution in reality, and that though the principle may be legally enacted, there is always an additional provision enabling the authorities to let off as many as they lack money to enlist. In Germany only the strongest are taken, the rest being either freed already from the obligation, or remanded for a time, ou the ground of bodily incapacity. In Russia, where the number of the men at the disposal of the Government is still greater, and the natural wealth comparatively less, the physical infirmity dodge is insufficient, and drawing lots is resorted to as the means of exempting the surplus. Still, if the percentage hitherto enlisted in Germany is adhered to in Russia, that Empire, after fifteen years, the period during which the men are liable to be called out, will have an army of 3,000,000 of men. To secure this, no more than 225,000 recruits need be annually levied, a figure which is comparatively small in a nation numbering rather more than 70,000,000. The slightest acquaintance with history is enough to convince anyone that, however advanced, no nation would find it easy to resist the temptation of conquest, wheu once in possession of such a host. Least of all will the Russians be able to forego the lust of aggrandisement, being neither sufficiently cultivated to object to war for itself, nor sufficiently developed in point of trade and commerce to feel the interruption of their daily work. Indifferently officered as the Russian troops may be, the fearful number to which they are to be raised is a bad look-out for all Russia’s neighbors, not excepting those who may happen to be on good terms with the Czar’s Governmtnt just now. Germany, especially, finds herself in a predicament than which nothing more aggravating can well be imagined, with Russia forming an army of 3,000,000. France of 2,400,000, and Austria of I,ooo,ooo—Germany, with her 1,300 OUO now, and 1,800,000 in twelve years’ hence, is J in the midst of a fiery furnace, and must exI pect to be soon put upon her mettle once

more. I believe I already told you in a previous letter, that instead of the 13 ,000 so long enlisted out of her 40,000,000. 170,000 recruits are henceforth to join her army every year. Though a portion of the additional expenditure occasioned by the increase is covered by the savings consequent upon the reduction of the time of service from three years to two, something like 15,000,000 thalers a-year are required to carry out this new ‘reform.’ This is rather hard upon a country which, even till now, has been spending one-third of its income on tbe army, not to speak of the Lair out of six the French milliards bestowed upon the insatiable military ogre by way of bonus. Quousqu tandem