The assertion that the French Ambassador at Berlin, M. do
Saint Wilier, had resigned his post in consequence of his din. inclination to serve under M. de Freycinet's Government, appears to have been a complete mistake. The Times' corre- spondent states, on the authority of a conversation with him, that M. de Saint Vallier's attitude towards M. de Freyeinet is perfectly cordial, and that his resignation had been determined on and tendered before M. Waddington's administration came to an end, and was a consequence of M. de Saint Vallier's dis- approval of Clause 7 in M. Jules Ferry's Education Bill. In fact, the Ambassador's regard for M. de Freyoinet tended rather to delay than to hasten his resignation. And it was the resignation of M. de Saint Vallier which afforded the occasion for Prince Bis- marck's strong expression of confidence in the Ministry of N. de Freycinet on New Year's Day,—an expression probably none the less cordial, that the rumoured warlike preparations of Russia make the German Chancellor all the more anxious to give France no pretext for a hostile attitude. Moreover, M. de Freyeinet, on his side, seems entirely indisposed to look for any such pretext.
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