NEWS OF THE WEEK
ON Thursday week the sixtieth year of the Emperor Francis Joseph's reign was celebrated at Vienna. The German Emperor and other German rulers were present, and at the State banquet the aged Emperor spoke of the "unshakable friendship and alliance" between Austria and Germany. The Times correspondent says that the telegram of congratulation from King Victor Emmanuel was received so effusively in some quarters as to add weight to the belief that the German Emperor's real object in arranging the visit of himself and the German Federal Princes to Vienna was to affirm anew the vitality of an essentially anti-Russian grouping of the three central Powers under German leadership. This may very well be, and the German Emperor certainly chose the occasion for his demonstration skilfully. Bat when the pro- :German newspapers in Austria write as though the Emperor Francis Joseph had bound his successor to consult the wishes of Germany in all things, we must express the hope that the Archduke Francis Ferdinand will be strong enough to resist all such ex-parte suggestions, and will always remember that there are more Slays than Germans in the Empire.
