NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ON Wednesday in the Reichstag Prince Billow—who, we are glad to note, appears to have completely recovered his health—made a speech of no little importance in regard to German foreign policy. The debate was opened by Herr Bassermann, who regretted the good old days of Prince Bismarck, whose foreign policy had made Germany "loved and respected throughout the world." Those were days characterised by " the ancient opposition between England and France, the antagonism of Austria and Russia in the Balkans, and the historical opposition between England and Russia .in Asia." He was afraid that the cool calculation of Bismarckian diplomacy had been superseded by "a period of journeys, of speeches, of telegrams, and of amiable inten- tions, a period of instability which produced a disquieting impression not only at home, but in many, cases abroad." He went on to assert that the question for Germany was : " Will Italy, in case of a war with France and England, fulfil her obligations towards us as an ally P" The pivot on which foreign affairs now hinged was perhaps England with " her well-directed policy, which doubtless aimed at penning Germany in." He feared that England might try to awaken in France mistrust of Germany such as had been exhibited in the Moroccan question,—a deliciously topsy-turvy view of the circumstances in which in 1905 France, the most pacific State in the world, was bullied by Germany almost to the point of war.
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