The German Reichstag has accepted the new Treaties of Commerce
under which Central Europe and Belgium enter into a Zollverein, almost unanimously. The German Emperor is greatly delighted with this work, which, he thinks, besides binding Germany, Austria, and Italy together, will greatly enrich them ; and on December 18th, in a dinner to the Deputies, he paid a generous tribute to the new German Chancellor. "We stand," he said, "at a turning-point in history, and the merit of this is due to Caprivi," whose health he himself proposed. General von Caprivi has, as a mark of the Emperor's high favour, been created a Count, and will evidently for the future share more directly the Imperial responsibility. Prince Bismarck still opposes the treaties and their modified Free-trade, but the resistance to them in Germany has melted entirely away. The truth is, the Con- servatives could not resist without resisting the Emperor, and if they are not Royalists, they have no logical standing-ground.
