NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ON Saturday last, Herr Tisza, the Hungarian Premier, made a speech which has created a good deal of excite- ment. Replying to a Deputy who wished the Hungarians to join in the Exhibition which the French are organising for 1889 in honour of their Revolution, he dissuaded the Hungarians from exhibiting. It was possible, he said, that the Hungarian flag might be insulted, as France was now in a most excited condition. Moreover, the exhibitors might incur imprudent pecuniary risks, for though France was now at peace, nobody could guarantee that disorders might not shortly occur there ; and then the Government of Buda Pesth could not pro- tect its subjects. This speech is considered in Paris insulting, and although the French are unreasonably thin-skinned, it is certainly more outspoken than is at all usual in diplomacy. The Parisians suggest, as usual, that Prince Bismarck is at the bottom of it ; but it would appear more probable that the Hungarian Ministry are growing weary of Russian menaces, and embittered against France as the great ally of Russia. Indeed, on Monday, Dr. Falk, the usual Chairman of the Foreign Committee in the Hungarian Parliament, and a close friend of the Premier, addressed his electors in this sense, even expressing a doubt whether it would not be better to attack Russia, than to bear any longer this costly condition of preparation for defence.
