9

A.—3d

The substance of his speech (which reaches me at a late hour—ll o'clock—before the sitting is at an end) was simply this: that the Imperial Government does not aim at pursuing a colonial policy in the sense that England or France does, but merely desires, and is determined, to afford Germans, wherever settled, the protection of the Empire. And in this connection he took occasion to inform the Committee that he had yesterday received a telegram from London to the effect that the English Government had no objection to Germany affording the necessary protection to Herr Liideritz and his settlement at Angra Pequena without prejudice to the question of suzerainty over the district. Later. In spite of Prince Bismarck's energetic speech in the Committee, there is little chance that the Transoceanic Steamer Bill will be accepted. The Prince left the sitting about 11, but the debate was warmly continued. Extraordinary interest was manifested in the result by outsiders. The Cha.ncellor repeatedly said that Germany did not desire to found a colonial empire like England and France, but was merely determined to protect German settlers wherever they were* including those at Angra Pequoua. In view of the published despatch of Prince Bismarck to the German Consul at the Cape, in which he declared that Herr Liideritz had already been assured the protection of the Empire, the ex post facto assent of Lord Granville to this fait accompli is sure to excite sneering and unfavourable comment in the German Press.

[The Times, Wednesday, Juno 25.] Gekman Colonial Policy. Berlin, June 24. The main topic of interest here to-day is naturally the speech delivered yesterday evening by Prince Bismarck in the private sitting of the Budget Committee, to which had been referred the Bill for subsidizing a double line of steamers to Australia and the East. Some idea of the importance attached to the subject by the Chancellor himself may be formed from the fact that it is thirteen years since he deemed it necessary to attend the sitting of any Committee whatever, the last occasion on which he did so having been in 1871, when the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine was under consideration. Yesterday again, to a certain extent strange to say, it was a question of what may almost be called territorial aggrandizement for the Empire, which induced him to do such an exceptional thing as to attend a Committee meeting and stay there till well on to 11 o'clock at night. But the incident is further remarkable for the fact that this is the first time for several years that the Chancellor has delivered himself on any point of foreign policy. Secrecy and reticence are the principles of his action as Foreign Minister, as tliey have also, in a great measure, been the secrets of his success. He abhors blue-books, which form no part of the regular machinery of Government in Germany, and it is long since any deputy ventured to interpellate him on the subject of the Empire's international relations, with the slightest hope of getting the desired answer. It is therefore all the more remarkable that he should have condescended yesterday to speak sofrankly on the subject of his colonial policy, which has lately been the cause of so much conjecture and controversy in the German Press. A large portion of the Press of the young Empire has for some time back been crying out for a colony of some kind, as a child weeps for want of a toy; and now that a toy colony has been given it, in the shape of Angra Pequeiia, we may expect to have fewer manifestations here of ill humour towards England, who was supposed to look with a jealous eye on the gratification of the young Empire's ambition. The Bill for subsidizing, by an annual grant of four millions of marks, a double line of steamers to the East, had been received with decided coldness in the Eeichstag itself, and referred for further consideration to the Budget Committee, which it was confidently expected would acquit itself of its duty by shelving the measure. For these Committees are composed of representative members of the various factions, and, as a general rule, their decision is espoused by their partisans in the full House. Knowing, therefore, that the Opposition element rather preponderated in the Committee sitting on his Steamers Subsidy Bill, Prince Bismarck would seem to have resolved to make another strong personal effort on its behalf. The sitting was private, and the various reports of the Chancellor's speech have oozed out through those who heard it; but its general sense seems to have been as follows : — The colonial question was intimately related with the Subsidy Bill, and the fate of the measure would certainly influence the attitude of the Government in the former respect; but all he wanted was a definite vote of the Eeichstag on the subject, and then he would know where he stood. The forwarding of letters, &c, by the proposed linos of steamers was not the only end he had in view. Ho had other irons in the fire, and he did not wish to let them grow cool. In the matter of colonial policy, he had previously felt the pulse of the nation with the Samoa Subsidy Bill, but that had been rejected, and, unfortunately, all such questions were regarded exclusively from the party and not the national point of view. The Packet Steamers Bill was a new feeler in the same direction, and its treatment by the Eeichstag would be decisive for him. A colonial policy was only possible when they were all united. The Bill certainly implied a vote of confidence in him, but it did no more than the St. Gothard subsidy, which was cheerfully granted in 1870. As for the colonial question itself, ho did not desire to proceed on the English or French model, and say, " Here will I found a colony, and leave the rest to bureaucrats." The comparatively insignificant naval power of the Empire deterred him from pursuing such a system. But it was otherwise with, snch Germans as had found their clothes at home too small for them, and who, moved by their own free will and independence, had settled abroad. To these the protection of the Empire must be extended, if they were insufficiently protected by other Powers, or not at all. And, in this connection, he was glad to say that he had, on Sunday, received a telegram from the English 2—A. 3d.