king preparations on
a tremendous scale to have her paw fall heavily on somebody."

The French _Revue des Deux Mondes_ said about this time that a war
between France and Germany would almost inevitably lead to a general
European war, on a scale such as the world has never before seen.

The Russian _Viedomosti_ of February 5 said: "No compromise is
possible between Russia and Austria concerning Eastern affairs,
without detriment to Russia and the Eastern races. German intervention
is useless, and will only create hostility between Russia and
Germany."

The Boston _Herald_ correspondent of February 5, said of France and
Germany: "Now both are counted as among the most civilized and most
humanitarian on the face of the globe, and yet the _certainty of war_
between the two hereditary enemies on either side of the Rhine is _as
certain as anything can be_. When it comes, be it sooner or later, one
of the two adversaries is inevitably condemned, if not to total
annihilation, at least to such a crushing punishment that for many
long years the defeated power will be little more than a geographical
expression on modern maps." His letter concluded with an elaborate
statement of the military resources and condition of the two nations,
which approximate an equality in the aggregate.

A Paris dispatch of the same date said that "Prince Bismarck has
succeeded in establishing a coalition between Austria, England, and
Italy against Russia. Germany will join the coalition if France
supports Russia."

The New York _Sun_ of February 7, said: "We suppose there is no
subject which just now is more earnestly discussed among intelligent
Americans than the probable result of the war between France and
Germany which is believed to be approaching. France ought by this time
to have outstripped her enemy in point of military efficiency. She has
laid out since 1871 nearly twice as much on her permanent armament,
and she devotes nearly twice as much to the current military expenses
of each year. She has maintained a larger peace establishment, and she
should have it in her power to bring to the field a larger number of
soldiers who have served under the colors."

February 10 the Paris correspondent of the Berlin _Post_ said that
General Boulanger was growing in popularity, and "is regarded by the
masses as the long-expected liberator. The whole country is anxious
for _revanche_ [revenge], and is arming silently, but with the evident
belief th