Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/139

Rh but of course I can't as long as it is in Russian. French is the diplomatic language, and I wonder they don't make an edition for foreign circulation."

"Did you ever hear," remarked the Doctor, with a smile, "of the attempt of Prince Bismarck to have German take the place of French as the language of diplomacy?"

Neither of the boys had heard the anecdote, which the Doctor gave as follows:

"Shortly after the close of the Franco-German War, in 1870, Bismarck thought he would establish German as the diplomatic language, and with

this object in view he made use of German instead of French in an official communication to Prince Gortchakoff, the foreign minister of Russia. Gortchakoff promptly replied to the communication, and wrote in Russian. Bismarck saw the joke, and desisted from further attempts to carry out his design." "Returning to our subject," said the Doctor, "there are daily papers