The Austrians are much offended by a sentence in a
speech made last week by Count von Billow, in which he declared that the Triple Alliance was "no longer altogether indispensable." They consider the words a depreciation of the value of Austria as an ally, which, of course, if Sincere, they are. The Pesther Lloyd, however, while deprecating such expressions, doubts their Sincerity. The 'Chancellor, it says, "spoke as he did out of tactical reasons, out of con- siderations connected with the German Customs Tariff." In other words, he wished to defy the pressure placed on him to keep the new tariff on food fairly moderate lest the Triple Alliance should suffer. . That is a probable explanation, but Count von Billow's statement is a terribly seribus one to make for such a reason, and one which a judicious Minister would have avoided. It shows, moreover, that the Chancellor has abandoned all hope of avoiding a sur- render to the Agrarians. His best chance of minimising their demands was to plead that the relations of Germany to the Russian and Austrian Empires would not allow him to inflict such a blow on their agricultural prosperity as the prohibition of their chief exports would be. If, however, as he intimates, Germany is ready to stand alone, he can hardly employ that argument.
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