Springfield Weekly Republican

The Cat Under The Brussels Meal.—The Brussels conference, be it remembered, is not a step toward either the millennium or universal peace. Its ostensible object is to lessen the horrors of war, but its real purpose is to increase the advantages and add to the power of the great military nations in time of war. Nothing would do this more effectually than a restriction of the privileges of the maritime powers. Russia and Germany especially desire this. The former, at least, has nothing to fear from her continental neighbors, and if only maritime warfare were to be rendered comparatively harmless, Russia would have no opponents of any consequence anywhere. But in their relations to other states, this country and Great Britain have identical interests. Both are maritime powers. Neither keeps a large standing army, and both are pre-eminently interested in commerce.—New York Times.