_May 4th._--The Chancellor, who leaves for Frankfurt to-morrow, wishes the _Kölnische Zeitung_ to write somewhat as follows on the object of the journey: “The personal conference between Prince Bismarck and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, the necessity of which has been felt for some considerable time past, will have begun by the time these lines go to press. To-morrow morning at 8 o’clock the Imperial Chancellor, accompanied by the Councillors of Embassy Bucher, Count Hatzfeldt, and the Attaché Count Wartensleben, will leave for Frankfurt, where Jules Favre will probably have already arrived. Apparently the French have come to understand that their interests urgently require the removal of the suspicions which have arisen in regard to their good faith since the arrangement at Versailles. We ourselves must also know exactly where we stand with them. It is necessary to hasten the conclusion of a definitive peace. Some progress must finally be made in that matter, and France must cease to imagine that we will allow ourselves to be kept dangling in suspense, or to be imposed upon and manœuvred into an unfavourable position. She must respect our rights and not endeavour by pettifogging subterfuges to whittle down, or perhaps, indeed, disown the consequences of the preliminary peace. It may be taken for granted that the principal subjects to be dealt with at Frankfurt will be the manner of payment of the war indemnity of five milliards of francs, the surrender of the German merchant vessels which were not condemned by the Prize Courts before the signature of the preliminary treaty, the position of the Eastern Railway--which, after the Versailles arrangement, can no longer be regarded as an open question, although it has been treated as such by the Government of M. Thiers--and finally the regulation of the frontier. On the German side, however, it will be sought first of all to clear up the situation, and hasten the negotiations for peace, which have been brought to a standstill through the unjustifiable demands of the French. It is to be hoped that the Frankfurt negotiations will open the eyes of those members of the French Government who have not yet succeeded in thoroughly understanding the position of affairs, and in recognising the legitimacy of the claims based upon it from the German standpoint, and their necessity from the French standpoint. In all probability they will not fail to receive a serious and unequivocal reminder of this necessity from our side.”