11 JANUARY 1868, Page 1
Prussia is almost aghast. The King looks serious, Count von
Bismarck drops his voice, and special correspondents hardly dare to record the news. It is, nevertheless, only too sadly true that there will be a deficit of 300,000/. in this year's budget, almost the cost of a new ship. Such a thing has not occurred in Prussian memory, and Prussians feel as if, after all, national unity might be bought too dear. We do not remember a more complete or more comic illustration of that wonderful State thrift which more than any other quality has made Prussia strong. Her statesmen really care to save, and consequently she defies France with her taxation head for head less by almost two-thirds.
