M. de Witte, the Finance Minister of Russia, sees, we
suspect, in the near future a necessity for a loan. At least he has been repeating to many Austrian interviewers at Abbazia strong representations of his master's intention to keep peace. Russia, he told the BOrsen-Courier, would not go to war, even if France began, or was the cause of one breaking out. He still more strongly affirmed to the Neue Freie Presse that the Czar was unconditionally for peace, and asked if his Majesty had ever made a single remark which alluded in any way to the possibility of war. Ha denied that Russia wished for sovereignty in Bulgaria, though her amour-propre had been wounded there, and explained the scenes at Toulon and Cronstadt, caused by the visits of the Russian and French Fleets, as explosions of popular sympathy. Do Russian Admirals perhaps receive orders from the populace P He also alleged that all Russian wars with Turkey were produced by a desire to open the Dardanelles to ships of all nations, which is only true if we add " to obtain Constantinople as a guarantee that the Straits shall always remain open." Official Russians always smooth things in public, but we think M. de Witte's speeches may be taken as evidence that the Czar sincerely desires peace. Russian Ministers do not announce their Sovereign's opinion upon important points of policy without his express permission.
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