Prince Bismarck has been compelled to make one great con-
cession to the minor States. The new tariff, and the tobacco duties together are expected to yield nearly 210,000,000 a year, but any surplus over 26,500,000 is to be placed at the disposi- tion of the minor Parliaments, which will be relieved to that extent from the necessity of imposing internal taxes. It is probable that nearly the whole amount will be demanded by the Empire in "contributions," but the effect will be that the central organisation will appear to the local officials, if not to the people, to cost nothing. The vote deciding this arrange- ment was passed by 211 to 122, and must therefore be considered a popular one. The German Chancellor, in his final speech upon his now policy, denied that he had made concessions to the Ultramontanes, but declared that his Government was independent of party ; that it would accept support from all parties ; that it would pursue the course it thought right, and that whether it was loved or hated was matter of profound indifference. He had not broken with the Liberals, but the Liberals had slipped away from him, and adhered to a policy which ended in Socialism. This is frank despotism, but there is one grand compensation. If Prince ]3ismarck, with all his genius and his success, and his despotic temper, thinks it absolutely necessary to have a majority on his side, his successors, sure to be feebler men, will have to court a majority and obey its ideas,—which is Parliamentary government.
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