The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1875.
It would scarcely beout of place, in commenting on tho news latterly received from Europe, to introduce the subject by expressing pleasure at there being nothing of importance in it. Very fortunately for the world, there appears to be a lull in continental politics; and, although amid so many conflicting interests and with so many questions unadjusted, in the settlement of which human passions are deeply moved, there must, sooner or later, be conflict of mind, if not of physical force—for the present there is comparative rest, i In certain corners of the world there is disorder. Spain has not contrived to . settle the disputed right to the : monarchy, but continues the slaughter of its own people. It is a barbarous and profitless war, involving no political gain for the people themselves, no matter which party has the advantage. ' It is a Avar purely to settle a personal claim to a Crown, which will sit uneasily on the head of the victor j whoever he may be, and which must be ' maintained by means similar to those : by which it has been acquired. Could the Spaniards realise their true interest, nothing can be plainer than that no national advantage can be gained through seating a man on the throne who, for his personal aggrandisement, desolates the country he proposes to rule, bombards cities, destroys means of intercommunication, encourages insubordination, promotes rapine, ruins commerce, agriculture, and peaceful industry, and i demoralises the people. All these are the consequences of the civil war that has raged so long in that distracted country, and were Don Carlos to withdraw his claim to the throne to-morrow the evil consequences of this war of succession cannot be obliterated for generations to come. Tho Turkish Provinces are still unsettled, but most probably may be pacified by the concessions which the poverty, not the good will, of the Sublime Porte compels it to make. The other rumors of war relate to disturbances between the United States and Mexico, and to a ricketty settlement of an obscure dispute between Great Britain and China. Taken altogether, these several national disputes have produced less apparent influence upon the welfare of the rest of the woild than would a meeting of trades' unions in one of the parks of London. Yet the state of Europe presents a curious problem for the student of social ecoThe military organisations of the chief powers are the most singular features of the age. The four great powers on the continent, mutually afraid of each other, have entered into one of the most expensive and ruinous competitions in which nations can engage : they are trying to outdo each other in warlike preparations. National armies tire not now numbered by tens of thousands but by hurdreds of thousands under arms, and millions in reserve. The arming of those in actual service, the arms in reserve for those who may be called in case of need, thecnormouscostof fortifications, guns, ammunition, and equipment equal and more than equal the expense of actual war a couple of centuries ago ; and if to these be added the naval forces, steam vessels fitted up with enormous guns, ironclads costing half a million each, every shot fired from whicli involves a waste equal to ten or fifteen pounds in money, it becomes matter for surprise that the national revenues will bear such expenditure in addition to interest on debts already incurred for war. Nor does the actual outlay reveal the whole perhaps scarcely half the cost of these establishments. It is not merely what is spent but what is not earned that has to be considered. France, Germany, Austria, and Kussia, in time of peace, withdraw from reproductive industry two millions of men capable of earning annually probably eighty millions sterling in wages. These and the cost of their maintenance and equipment have to be borne by the remainder of the population, and in addition to this permanent withdrawal of industrial energy, in order to be able to use the reserves with advantage in case of war, they have to leave their employments one month in the year for practice in arms and manoeuvres, thus adding one-twelfth of the earnings of some millions of men to the already ruinous expense of socalled defensive preparations. Such is the aspect of Europe at this moment. Little wonder is it that notwithstanding ages have past since the gathering of large populations together, the masses of tho people remain comparatively poor. The system must have an end, but how long will it last, and by what means is it to be corrected ? None can answer that question nor foresee the convulsions that will precede the end. One fain would hope that financial difficulties may prove the corrective rather than that mutual injury each possesses the power to inflict.
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Evening Star, Issue 3965, 9 November 1875, Page 2
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808The Evening Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1875. Evening Star, Issue 3965, 9 November 1875, Page 2
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