The newspapers of May have a somewhat calmer tone than those of March and April. “There is, to be sure,” writes the _Tag_, “danger for peace in the possibility that the anti-German tendency in Russia may prove so strong that the government will not be able to check it. Another danger lies in the relations of Russia and Austria. … Although there is much talk to the effect that we shall once more be compelled to fight for our national existence, it is not absolutely necessary that such a war shall come.” On the other hand, Admiral Breusing, in the _Tägliche Rundschau_ of May the seventh, writes: “The striving of the Slavic and Mongolian races to extend their power and possessions will surely lead to an encounter with the German race.” The _Rheinisch-Westphälische Zeitung_ declares of France that “public sentiment in military and political circles has long gone over from the defensive to the offensive. Apparently the aim is to create a situation where Germany will have to choose between receding or attacking.” The _Dresdener Anzeiger_, too, thinks that the “relations between Germany and France give the key to the grouping of the European powers,” and the _Berliner Tageblatt_ says, “The future and salvation of Europe and its culture lies solely in a German-French-English rapprochement; that alone will guarantee the world-peace.” Toward the end of the month the _Dresdener Anzeiger_ writes: “The German-Russian relations have latterly taken a remarkable change for the worse. Certainly the nationalistic elements in Russia are once more conspicuously active. … Should the whole mass of the Russian people once become conscious of its nationality the world will see the most mighty movement both as regards extent and elemental intensity. … For Russia, Pan-Slavism is the idea of the Russian leadership over all Slavs.” Already in May, more than two months before there is a sign that the conflict is at hand, doubts begin to be expressed whether Italy’s alliance would be of any value in case of war. The Berlin _Neueste Nachrichten_ has to acknowledge that as far as Austria is concerned the alliance is “more a matter of the intellect than of the heart;” while the _Rheinisch-Westphälische Zeitung_ reports on May twelve that “in more than ten years such a senseless agitation against Austria has not been seen in Italy. … The Italian government is by no means master of the difficult situation in which it is placed by the demonstrations of protest against Austria-Hungary. … _Were war to break out to-day the easily excited Italian people would compel any government of theirs, however friendly to the Triple Alliance, to declare against Austria-Hungary._”