Herr von Varnbiihler, formerly Minister in Wiirtemberg, and now Member
of the German Parliament, delivered on the 5th inst. a speech in which he declared that just before the conclusion of Prince Bismarck's agreement with Austria, Germany was in imminent danger of invasion. It "was officially ascertained" that Russia had assembled an army of 300,000 men within two hours' railway journey of the German frontier, near Breslau, that a proposal had been made to France for an active alliance, and that the pretext was to have been the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and the Herze- govina. The plan, when shown to M. Waddington, seemed to him too dangerous ; he revealed it to Prince Bismarck at Gastein, and the German Chancellor instantly baffled the plot by the agreement with Austria, which leaves her free in the Balkans, at the price of assisting Germany, in the event of attack by two Powers. M. Waddington, it is stated, denounces the story as absurd, and it certainly looks very dreamy ; but the German Government was alarmed at some plan entertained at St. Petersburg, and supposed to be one of attacking Austria to the Panslavic cry. Only one does not see why France should have been expected to choose such a very bad opportunity, when both Germany and Austria would have had to fight for life.
Previous page
