22 AUGUST 1874, Page 1

A New York newspaper has circulated a sensational rumour that

the promised cession of Porto Rico by the Spanish Govern- ment to the Germans, was really the consideration which induced the Cabinet of Berlin to interfere so actively on behalf of the

recognition of Serrano. The Spanish diplomatists have been in- structed to contradict this report, which had been seriously taken into consideration inthe United States, and. no doubt such en arrangement was never formally mooted. But -that Prince Bis- marck has a hankering after colonies does not admit of doubt, and he would have been quite willing to take over Porto Rico from Spain if the Government at Washington had consented to forget or ignore the Monroe decree. It would, however, be more than the political life of any American party is worth to allow that dogma to be violated, and the eagerness with which the American Government was interrogated, and forced to pronounce itself upon the first breath of the business, settled the matter. It became the cue of Spanish diplomacy at once to deny that any such transfer was in contemplation. No doubt the Americans bounce a good deal about their ability to uphold the Monroe doctrine by force, and we greatly question whether the Navy of the United States could bold its own for a week in the Antilles against the combined fleets of Germany and Spain. But both the European Powers have after-consequences to fear, and in fact, the game was seen to be not at all worth the candle.