• LORD SALISBURY AND PRINCE BISMARCK.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sta;—A letter with the above heading in. the • Spectator of May 13th is apt to recall Napoleon L's well-known dictum, that a lie with a start of twenty-fur hours is immortal. Reporting to the Kew York Herald, nearly three years ago, a conversation I had 'at the time with Prince Bismarck, I dis- ttly dialed that the Prince had ever made the often-cited remark. comparing Lord Salisbury to "a lath of wood painted to look like iron." And yet, although the Herald's report and its various reprints in different countries must have had prac- tically millions, of readers, the, old story still crops up from time to time in sundry places with a persistence savouring of— immortality. • Therefore, I return to the subject, thinking I am at 'liberty to state--now that the great Chancellor is no more—that I. have long had the personal assurance of Prince Herbert, Bismarck that his father never made the remark attributed: to him. More than this, I know for a fact that Prince Bismarck entertained a very high opinion of Lord Salisbury as a statesman and as a man. It was the opinion of Prince Bismarck that Lord Salisbury's capacity as a states- man had grown with the great responsibilities of his position. —I am, Sir, Arc., St. Austell, Cornwall, _May 17th. SIDNEY WHIT/ILAN.
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