The German Reichstag was opened on Thursday with a message
from the Throne of some importance. After a feeling reference to the condition of the Crown Prince, in which there is no mention of any lingering hope, and a notice of some internal measures, which include a higher protective duty on corn, the Emperor declares that he is trying to make peace "by
forming alliances to make common cause against unjust attacks." "The nn-Christian inclination to fall upon neighbouring nations is foreign to the German character"—Poland, your Majesty P- " and the Empire has no aggressive tendencies." Germany, how- ever, does not rely wholly upon her virtues as her strong walls. " For the warding-off of such aggression, and for defending our independence, we are strong, and by God's help will become so strong that we can calmly confront every danger." With this end, Bills will be introduced to reform the Landwehr and the Land- storm, and, we may feel assured, will result in a large increase of the available strength of those two bodies, which, with the Army, now include in their ranks every healthy man in Germany under the age of forty-five. The Government, it is clear, still dreads first of all the double attack from France and Russia which might compel it to call its entire population into the field. The reference to the Military Bill, it is said, slightly depressed the Bourse, as did also the absence of any allusion to the visit of the Czar.
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