NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PRINCE BISMARCK has thrown a shell into the camp of the Triple Alliance. He published in the Hamburger Nachrichten of October 24th a statement that in 1884, when the Alliance was in full force, the German Government arranged with that of Russia by written agreement that if either were attacked by a third Power, the other should observe a " bene- volent neutrality" in the conflict. This agreement subsisted until 1890, when the Emperor William, on the advice of Count Caprivi, whom Prince Bismarck characterises as a narrow-minded statesman, suffered it to expire, and Russia in consequence made the approaches to France which ended in the visit of the Czar. This statement has made a profound impression in Vienna, for it is perceived to mean that if Alexander III, had chosen to force Austria to declare war, say, by a menace to Roumania and the freedom of the Danube, Germany would have looked on passively without lending her any aid. The agreement almost involves a treachery, and has been met by German officials with a refusal to discuss negotiations so "strictly secret," and by those of Austria with expressions of confidence in the honesty of the Emperor William, which is not in question. The Triple Alliance, it seems clear, has received another wrench, and the Austrian Government, alarmed and irritated, has turned once more to Great Britain, whose policy, but yesterday denounced, is again, it is stated, taken into favour
