A PRINCELY REWARD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1158, 9 May 1884, Page 4

A PRINCELY REWARD.

wd years ago the Cgaa, a Polish newspaper then and since frequently supplied with interesting and aothep tic political information hy the great Polish magnates intimately connected with the Court of Berlin, published V statement to the effect that Prince Rtamark had invited a Polish nobleman of repute as a patriot, to Varan, early in the year 1881, in order to talk over the relations of .Russia tp Poland the influence being (as llu|4 sia’s attitude towards Germany was at theitime awunfriendly and dtart sohie what threateniugjme) that the German Chancellpr,. contemplated thp possibility of iniluuhg Polish patriotisqi and aspirations towards, independence as a means ofexereising pressure upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. When the statement' in question appeared, and was widely, circulated throughout the Slavonic and German Press, Prince Bisraark’s official organ gave it a flat contradiction, characterising it as “a silly invention, if not a malignant falsehood.'’ It has, however, recently cropped up in a phamphlet published at Lei prig, under the title of “ Bismarck, or Twelve Years of German. Policy,” from which it has been, promptly reproduce'! in several Polish journals! In reference to this unsavory revival, the following paragraph, j exhibiting strong enternal evidence of having been dictat'd by the Chancell-i or in person, has just appeared in the ‘ Norddeutsohe Allgemeine Zeitung ’; —“ Prince Bismark never wrote the letter printed in the ‘Czas,’ or the above-mentioned pamphlet. He has not written any letter to any Pole for many yearn, nor has any Pole been at Varzin for many years. -Neither does the Chancellor remember, living the retired life he leads, having seen or spoken to or written to a Pole for many years Let the Czas and the author of the phamphlet speak out as precisely as he does. We challenge them to disclose the sources ot their information, or, at the very least, the name of the Polish magnate referred to. We are, moreover, empowered to pay the sum of 100.000 marks (L 5,000) to whorasover will show us the letter above mentioned or any invitation to Yarzin of the sort; and the sum of 100 marks (L 5) to whomsoever can joint out the originator of the whole invention,” As an absolute innovation in the way of offical dementis this step on the part of the most original statesman of modern times is well worthy of attention in diplomatic and journalistic circles.