Taking all together, I believe that I find among the great men of our party very little agreement with our—_your_—great ideas; that is to say, in theory they may assent, but hardly as regards working to bring them over into practical life. Hofrat Beer regards it as inopportune and impossible to go to Rome as a representative of the parliamentarians; Professor Suess is a kind of war man himself in spite of his peace-breathing utterances;[31] Bärnreither considers public talk about the matter as premature, and so it goes. The proposition receives most assent, and, as it seems to me, practical appreciation, among a few cultured Poles—why? because they, having a tinge of cosmopolitanism, do not take that parochial standpoint which unfortunately plays the principal part among our German deputies. I think I have also a strong inclination to sail in the cosmopolitan channel; which has stamped me with a certain foreignness in the circles with which I am in closest political harmony, and yet—wrongly. But never mind—to business! The opinion of the Poles with whom I have talked agrees with mine that the present condition of chauvinistic hatred of Germany in France, and likewise the danger threatening us on the side of Russia, cause the Triple—or rather Double—Alliance, with its foundation of exorbitant military preparation, to be a defensive necessity, a guaranty of peace, even in the eyes of the populaces concerned. There is much truth in this too, since the French _of to-day_ are not to be capacitated, and Russia is only looking for a chance to conquer the rest of Europe and British India by a sudden attack at an unexpected moment—which, considering her supply of half-savage, battle-tried, and pugnacious men, may easily be realized some day when Russia’s shortcomings shall be exceeded by those of Europe; so probably nothing remains but to wait for the ultimate undoing of this perpetual Gordian knot, whether through the arduous work of a peaceful partition or through the horrors of war. But still there can and must be endeavor after that which can _prepare_ for the final victory of arbitration, and under this head come economic questions: customs unions, the facilitation of rail and water transportation by unified tariffs, reciprocity of the credit system and of the circulating medium, and so on. This will at least be now attempted between Germany and Austro-Hungary, and will probably be extended to Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and some of the Balkan states. The aim of these agreements is doubtless, among other things, to make the burden of military preparations more endurable, and that is _something_.