6 JANUARY 1872, Page 11

M. Thiers is doing his best to diminish the impression

created in Germany by Tonnelet's murder. Ding the sitting of Friday se'nnight, the President, in a speech to the Assembly on the situa- tion, described the acts of Tonnelet and Bertin as " criminal," and added, "such acts bring down on us harsh words, to which silence is the only fitting reply." The Chamber applauded, but M. de Remusat apparently has answered Prince Bismarck's despatch by another, declaring that the German journals show at least as much bitterness of feeling as the French. This is true, but it is expressed in a different way, and in a language which is not universal. German satire galls nobody, but French satire bites.