We have commented on this occurrence sufficiently elsewhere, but must
add here that the French are in a white rage about it, and that the action of the German Government is still uncertain. The Foreign Office at Berlin is quite ready to apologise and atone, if the killing occurred on French soil ; but if it occurred cer German, as the Prefect of Colmar and the soldier Kauf- mann affirm, it will be most difficult to give any satis- faction. The soldier in that case acted on his orders, and for the Emperor to apologise for any legal act done in obedience to an order within his own dominion, will be next to impossible. The incident, therefore, will not be closed at once; and though both Governments are anxious to avoid a quarrel over an event they did not prepare, the occurrence will leave behind it great irritation. The French think such rigid orders are brutalities, and, moreover, that they would not be given but for a wish to inspire terror in the Lorrainers, whose persistent devotion to France wounds German self- esteem. Thero is an increased desire, therefore, for an oppor- tunity of self-assertion, which greatly increases the ardour of the "patriots," and makes the position of the statesmen who defend peace increasingly difficult. They are accused, more
especially by the population of Paris, of shrinking before Bismarck even when Frenchmen are assassinated.
