The German Emperor has again been telegraphing. He is honorary
Colonel-in-Chief of the 85th Russian Infantry, and as that regiment has been ordered to the front., be has tele- graphed to the commanding officer declaring that he is proud of the fact that it has the honour of fighting "for the Emperor, the Fatherland, and the fame of Russia." He ends with the words : "My sincere wishes accompany the regiment. God bless its standards." Great efforts are made in Germany to explain away these words, and it is even suggested that they are intended to facilitate the raising of a Russ'an loan in Berlin ; but the commonalty see clearly their plain meaning,—viz., that the Emperor wishes the Russian standards to be carried to victory in the war. That is natural, for reasons which we explained a fort- night ago, but it is unusual for the head of a neutral State to make his sympathies so clearly manifest, and Tokio will remember the telegram as the British have remembered the telegram to Kruger. Prophetic politics are usually misleading, but impulsive politics are equally liable, if only because they
