The week has been full of reports from Spain about
a Hohen-
zollern candidature for the throne. The story appears to be that Prince Bismarck has decided against Don Carlos, as too much under the influence of Rome, and sent Krupp guns and money to Madrid to suppress him ; that he has vetoed the selection of Dofla Luisa or her husband, the Duke de Montpensier, and that he is anxious to renew the negotiation broken off by the war. It seems not a little dreamy, all that, unless Berlin is prepared to conquer Spain, which she has not the means of doing ; but it is certain that the rumour is loud, that Prince Bismarck has an active policy in Spain of some kind, and that if he could detach her finally from France, he would greatly in- crease the security of Germany. It is scarcely conceivable, how- ever, that Serrano should entertain such an idea, or that he could obtain any decided support from an Alfonsist army. Even if Prince Leopold had the governing faculty of the Hohenzollerns, he would need an army of fifty thousand foreigners to keep him on his throne, and that would be insufficient. It is difficult to imagine even an object for a story which, though a provocation to France, will not tempt her to war unready.
