The Times' correspondent in Paris attributes to the Due Decazes
a pamphlet in which it is asserted that Prince Bis- marck stirred up the Eastern Question, in hope of a quarrel with France. The Duke, if the writer be he, asserts that from 1874 Prince Bismarck has been offering provocations to France, and, aware that he was baffled in 1875 by a European Concert, he has endeavoured to set the nationalities by the ears over the Turkish Question. A great war once afoot, he would, he thinks, be able to deal with France alone. These state- ments strike us as a little dreamy. That Prince Bismarck is disappointed at the rapid recovery of France,—one of the most wonderful phenomena of our day, and not half sufficiently explained—is probably true, but that he would stake Ger- many on another war, without new provocation, or without an active ally, we find it difficult to believe. It is a much easier policy so to gratify Austria as to assure her adhesion to the alliance which, while it lasts, makes war almost impossible. No Power or combination of Powers, not provoked beyond en- durance, would invade Central Europe, with its two millions of drilled and movable men, and complete organisation for war. It is much more probable that the Prince desires quietly to push Austria eastward, and obtain her German provinces.
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