The Continental Press is still hostile to Great Britain, but
its comments on the war in South Africa differ greatly in tone. The French papers, as a rule, affect still to see in the news evidence that the British will be beaten, which they say will be vengeance for Fashoda! The German papers judge our troops fairly, and only Flint that Germany will be guided by her own interests, and that her interests impel her on a course which remains undisclosed. The Austrian journals
are obviously greatly surprised at the conduct of British soldiers, and are inclined to be respectful because English- men are brave; while the Russian editors are boiling over with spite and fury. All British action with them is dictated by " brutality," and they apparently wish to egg on France to inter- fere. It is always unpleasant to be misjudged, but our readers will make a mistake if they attach too much importance to these effusions. Outside France the papers have nowhere fall liberty of speech, except about foreign affairs, and often, therefore, pour out upon the foreigner a bitterness generated by undue repression at home. The certainty, too, that their utterances will not affect the action of their Governments deprives Continental journalists of much of their sense of re- sponsibility. Add a certain genuine enjoyment in abuse, such as you may see in sections of our own lower class, and foreign criticism is deprived of much of its biting power. What remains we must tolerate calmly, as one of the drawbacks of too great prosperity.
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