The German Reichstag has accepted the Commercial 'Treaty with Russia.
The vote on the first Clause was accepted as crucial; and while all Agrarian Conservatives except four voted against the Government, two-thirds of the Centre supported the Treaty, only thirty-eight voting against it. This large reinforcement to the Liberals, Democrats, Socialists, Alsatians, and some fractional parties, made the result certain, and the Clause was carried by 200 votes to 146,—a majority of 54. The Opposition were cowed by a majority so unexpectedly large, no farther divisions were taken, and it was believed on Thursday that the final vote to be taken on Friday would be practically a formal one. The delight felt in Russia at the acceptance of the Treaty is -quite remarkable, and has greatly modified the feeling against the German Emperor. The cultivators of the South have in fact regained a market without which they were in danger of bankruptcy. They could not get elsewhere cash with which to pay taxes.
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