BISMARCK ON THE VALUE OF A DEAD ENGLISHMAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 194, 17 August 1871, Page 4

BISMARCK ON THE VALUE OF A DEAD ENGLISHMAN.

A German correspondent asks nn English paper : — " What is the value of a dead Englishman ? and since that the question has just been answered by a telegram from Athens. The Chamber of Deputies has been informed by the Greek Ministry that the country will have to pay to the widow of ' the English lawyer, Lloyd,' who was last year murdered by Greek brigands, the trifling compensation of £10,000. The price, we are "told, had been fixed in London. Count Bismarck's paper goes on to BB y . <Is an English tourist, assassinated by Greek bandits, worth more, in hard cash, than a German soldier who had lost his life in defending his country and his home against an invasion undertaken with the avowed purpose of despoiling and enslaving Germany ? If the German be as good as the Englishman (which we venture to assert) we are willing to accept the English valuation, and be satisfied with the above-mentioned modest sum for each of our countrymen slain in the present war. Is the widow of a landwehr soldier less worthy of a pecuniary compensation than Mrs. Lloyd ? Is the robust and broad-shouldered John Bull to hector - over and spoil frail and tiny Greece, while Germany is pharisaically, condemned for advancing against France claims incomparably better founded ? The war indemnity to be paid by the aggressive power, large as it may seem, will fall short of recouping Germany for her military expenditure, the pensions to the maimed, to widows and orphans, and the losses resulting from the long interruption of trade and commerce. The payment of this indemnity relates to the past ; the retrocession of Alsace and Metz regard the futnre. France, we are assured by the Telegraph, will have all England on her side in her next war with Germany ; an eventuality which our contemporary contemplates with evident gratification. We should be very stupid if we did not profit by the many hints we find in the London press, and make our Western frontier as strong as we can. In the meantime England, which so well understands the policies of the shop and the counting-house, will act wisely in sticking to her mercantile vocation, and refrain from officious intermeddling in matters that affect Germany and France alone.'