The German Reichstag has been summoned at a very kinusual
season of the year, but it does not appear that it has met for any purpose except to sanction a commercial treaty with Spain. Probably Prince Bismarck used the opportunity to give a fright to France by the semi-official article on the violence of the French Press, which he inserted in the Nord Deutsche Gazette. That article is now admitted to have been more or less intended as a snub to General Thibaudin for talking -of mobilising an Army Corps on the eastern frontier of France, a. snub which, no doubt, had other uses, but which Prince Bismarck loves to administer from time to time, as the school- master loves to cane,—just to keep his hand in. Apparently, there is no intention at present of pushing the alarm further. The Reichstag, when it has completed its little job, is to be allowed to separate without any farther sensation.
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