NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PEACE has exploded in Europe like a shell. It was not nineteen days since the vote of the Diet against Prussia gave the signal for the strife, not fifteen since Dresden was occupied, not seven since blood was actually shed, when, on the 5th inst., the Moniteur announced that Venetia had been ceded, that the Emperor of the French had been requested to act as mediator, and that he had accepted this high func- tion. Yet within that short space of time, less than our own interregnum will last, the relentless energy of the Prussian Government, to which Count von Bismark is heart, Count von Moltke brain, and the Princes hands, has cleansed Northern Ger- many of its Princelings, defeated Austria in three engagements and one immense pitched battle, exposed the hollowness of Aus- trian power, broken the reputation of General Benedek, released Venetia, elevated Prussia to the rank of the first military Power, and compelled every civilized State to commence the rearming of its soldiers with a new and expensive weapon. The Ten Days' War has accomplished more than the War of Seven Years, and it would almost seem as if the terrible pace of human affairs had at
• last extended itself to military operations. If it has, the gain to humanity is indefinite, for the mighty changes still required may be accomplished with no loss save that of soldiers in the field.
