Prince Bismarck can hardly be content. He has been beaten
in the Reichstag by a vote of 128 to 112 in his attemptto make of the Samoan group a German colony, to be managed through a South Sea Trading Company, the majority considering the colony worthless, and the probable expenditure very consider- able ; and he has received evidence that Socialism is in- creasing. A vacancy recently occurred in the second district of Hamburg, and great efforts were made to return a Progressist or a National Liberal, leading members of both parties even stumping the city,—an unusual practice in Germany. The National Liberal, however, scarcely re- ceived more than 3,000 votes ; and the Progressist, 6,451 ; while Herr Hartmann, a Socialist chief, obtained 13,155„. or nearly double the Progressist, and 3,500 more than both his opponents. A local question — the separation of a suburb from Hamburg—had some influence on the vote, but the Socialists boast that Prince Bismarck's repressive laws have greatly increased their party. They have imparted to it, as oppression usually does, more proselytising spirit. We do not suppose Hamburg Socialists are prepared. for insurrection, but they undoubtedly mean opposition to authority of the most determined kind.
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