A great hound of Prince Bismarck, which goes by the
name of the " Reichshund,"—the dog of the Empire,—has been credited this week by the " Jingo " papers with the political sagacity needful to discover that Prince Gortschakoff is the true enemy of the German Empire. The dog is a very quiet creature, with a most pacific reputation, but he really attacked the Russian Chancellor in the German Chancellor's study. Nevertheless, he did not act proprio mote, as the current stories suggest. The Russian Chancellor, who is in a very weak state of health, began to totter before he reached a chair, when Prince Bismarck ran hastily forward to assist him and prevent him from falling,—an action which the dog mistook for a hostile onset, whereon he joined his master in the fancied attack, knocking down Prince Gortachakoff with his great paws, and holding him there. Prince Bismarck, in spite of his great muscular strength, had much ado to pull off this " dog of the empire," and the situation must have been a very grotesque and awkward one. But it is not only by dogs that hasty movements to offer help are sometimes mis- taken for the preliminaries of attack ; and if Lord Beacons- field is not careful with his offered Protectorate to Turkey, possibly Plenipotentiaries who are more powerful, though they may be less muscular, than the " Reichshund," are not unlikely to take the alarm.
