Transcriber's Note

The cover image was created by the transcriber, and is in the public domain.

BISMARCK

SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY

BISMARCK
SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY

BEING A DIARY KEPT BY

Dr. MORITZ BUSCH

DURING TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE INTERCOURSE WITH THE GREAT CHANCELLOR

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. I

London

MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1898

All rights reserved

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,

LONDON AND BUNGAY.

Copyright in the United States of America.

NOTE

The English edition of Dr. Busch’s work which we publish to-day has been translated from the original German text in the possession of the publishers. A few passages have, however, been omitted as defamatory, or otherwise unsuitable for publication. Dr. Busch contemplated incorporating bodily in the first volume a reproduction of his earlier work: Prince Bismarck and his People during the Franco-German War; but while the many valuable additions which he made to it have been preserved, such portions as would no longer have presented any special interest for English readers have been considerably abridged.

PREFACE

The work which I now present to the German people contains a complete[1] account of all the events of which I was a witness during my intercourse of over twenty years with Prince Bismarck and his entourage. Part of it is not entirely new, as I have embodied in it portions of the book published by me in 1878, under the title: Prince Bismarck and his People during the Franco-German War. I have, however, restored the numerous passages which it was then deemed expedient to omit, and I have also dispensed with the many modifications by which, at that time, certain asperities of language had to be toned down. The bulk of the present work consists of a detailed narrative of the whole period of my intercourse with the Prince both before and after the French campaign. I collected and noted down all these particulars respecting Prince Bismarck and his immediate supporters and assistants, in the first place for my own use, and secondly as a contribution to the character and history of the Political Regenerator of Germany. The sole object of the diary which forms the basis of this work was to serve as a record of the whole truth so far as I had been able to ascertain it with my own eyes and ears. Any other object was out of the question, as it was impossible that I could desire to deceive myself. Subsequently, when I thought of publishing my notes, I was fully conscious of my responsibility towards history, the interests of which could not be promoted by material that had been coloured or garbled for party purposes. I wished neither to be an eulogist nor a censor. To my mind, panegyric was superfluous, and fault-finding was for me an impossibility. A tendency to the sensational is foreign to my nature, and I leave the pleasure to be derived from grand spectacular shows to lovers of the theatre. I desired to record the mental and other characteristics which our first Chancellor presented to me under such and such circumstances, thus helping to complete, and at times to rectify, the conception of his whole nature that has been formed in the public mind from his political activity. The profound reverence which I feel for the genius of the hero, and my patriotic gratitude for his achievements, have not deterred me from communicating numerous details which will be displeasing to many persons. These particulars, however, are part of the historic character of the personality whom I am describing. The gods alone are free from error, passion, and changes of disposition. They alone have no seamy side and no contradictions. Even the sun and moon show spots and blemishes, but notwithstanding these they remain magnificent celestial orbs. The picture produced out of the materials which I have here brought together may present harsh and rough features, but it has hardly a single ignoble trait. Its crudeness only adds to its truth to nature, its individuality, and its clearness of outline. This figure does not float in an ethereal atmosphere, it is firmly rooted in earth and breathes of real life, yet it conveys a sense of something superhuman. It must furthermore be remembered that many of the bitter remarks, such as those made previous to March, 1890, were the result of temporary irritation, while others were perfectly justified. The strong self-confidence manifested in some of these utterances, and the angry expression of that need for greater power and more liberty of action, common to all men of genius and energetic character, arose from the consciousness that, while he alone knew the true object to be pursued and the fitting means for its achievement, his knowledge could not be applied because the right of final decision on all occasions belonged by hereditary privilege to more or less mediocre and narrow minds.

I will allow the Prince himself to answer the question as to my authority for communicating to others without any reserve all that I ascertained during my intercourse with him. “Once I am dead you can tell everything you like, absolutely everything you know,” said Prince Bismarck to me in the course of a conversation I had with him on the 24th of February, 1879. I saw clearly in the way in which he looked at me that, in addition to the permission I had already received on previous occasions, he wished that I should then consider myself entirely free and expressly released from certain former engagements, some of which had been assumed by myself, while others had been imposed upon me. Since then my knowledge increased owing to his growing confidence in me, while his authorisation and the desire that I should use what I knew to the advantage of his memory remained undiminished. On the 21st of March, 1891, during one of my last visits to Friedrichsruh, the Prince—apparently prompted by a notice which he had read in the newspapers—remarked, “Little Busch (Büschlein) will one day, long after my death, write the secret history of our time from the best sources of information.” I answered “Yes, Prince; but it will not be a history, properly speaking, as I am not capable of that. Nor will it be long after your death—which we naturally pray to be deferred as long as possible—but on the contrary very soon after, without any delay. In these corrupt times, the truth cannot be known too soon.” The Prince made no answer, but I understood his silence to indicate approval. Finally, in the preceding year he had affirmed the absolutely unrestricted character of my authority. On the 15th of March, 1890, when the measures for his dismissal were already in progress, and he himself was engaged in packing up a variety of papers preparatory to his journey (a work in which I was allowed to assist him), he asked me to copy a number of important documents for him and to retain the originals and copies in my possession. On his remarking that I could get these documents copied, I called his attention to the fact that a stranger might betray their contents to third parties. He replied, “Oh, I am not afraid of that! He can if he likes! I have no secrets amongst them—absolutely none.” That statement, “I have no secrets,” gave me liberty, at least for a later time, to publish those State papers the contents of which I had hitherto kept secret, as he must unquestionably have known better than I or the rest of the world who may have held other views on the subject.

So far respecting the essential point. That he whom I honour as the first of men sanctioned my undertaking is entirely sufficient for me. I do not ask whether others give it their blessing. The great majority of those referred to have since departed from this life and taken their places in the domain of history, where the claim for indulgent treatment is no longer valid. Those who are still with us may believe me when I assure them that in now publishing these pages I have no thought of causing them pain or of injuring them in any way. I simply consider that I am not at liberty to preserve silence on those matters which may prove unpleasant to them in view both of my own duty to tell the whole truth, and of the desire expressed by the Chancellor (to whom I still feel myself bound in obedience) that nothing should be concealed. The diplomatic world, in particular, must be represented here as it really is. In that respect this book may be described as a mirror for diplomatists.

I must leave the reader to form his own opinion as to my capacity for observation and the discovery of the truth. I may, however, be allowed to say that several long journeys in America and the East, a lengthy tour in Schleswig-Holstein during the Danish rule, undertaken for the purpose of reconnoitring that country, and a period of rather confidential intercourse with the Augustenburg Court at Kiel were calculated to sharpen my wits. A mission which I filled at Hanover during the year of transition, and, above all, my position in the Foreign Office in Berlin and the intimate relations in which I stood towards its Chief during the war with France, together with the renewal of that intercourse from 1877 onwards, gave me exceptional opportunities of developing both my memory and power of observation. For several years I was acquainted with everything that went on in the Central Bureau of the German Foreign Office, and later, in addition to what I ascertained through the confidence of the Prince, I obtained not a little information from Lothar Bucher which remained a secret, not only for private persons, but often for high officials of the Ministry.

The diary on which my work is based, and which is often reproduced literally, gives the truest possible account of the events and expressions which I have personally seen and heard in the presence and immediate vicinity of the Prince. The latter is everywhere the leading figure around which all the others are grouped. The task I set myself, as a close observer and chronicler who conscientiously sifted his facts, was to give a true account of what I had been commissioned to do as the Prince’s Secretary in connection with press matters, and to describe how he and his entourage conducted themselves during the campaign in France, how he lived and worked, the opinions he expressed at the dinner and tea table, and on other occasions, respecting persons and things of that time, what he related of his past experiences, and finally, after our return from the great war, what I ascertained respecting the progress of diplomatic negotiations from the despatches which were then exchanged and of which I was at liberty to make use either immediately or at a later period. I was assisted in the fulfilment of this task by my faculty of concentration, which my reverence for the Prince and the practice which I had in the course of my official duties rendered gradually more intense, and by a memory which although not naturally above the average was also developed by constant exercise to such a degree that in a short time it enabled me to retain all the main points of long explanations and stories, both serious and humorous, from the Chancellor’s lips almost literally, until such time as I could commit them to paper—that is to say, unless anything special intervened, a mishap which I was usually able to avert. The particulars here given were accordingly, almost without exception, written down within an hour after the conversations therein referred to occurred. For the most part they were jotted down immediately on small slips of paper, only the points and principal catchwords being noted, but which made it easy, however, to complete the whole entry later on.

This sharp ear and faithful memory, joined with a quick eye, stood me in good stead in the years of welcome service which I undertook as a private individual for the Prince. To these and to the habit of putting all that I had experienced, seen, and heard in black on white without delay, I owe the accurate accounts of the memorable conversation of the 11th of April, 1877, of the visit to Varzin and the statements made by the Chancellor on that occasion, as well as the long list of detailed reports of pregnant and characteristic conversations that I had with him from the year 1878 up to 1890 in the palace and garden at Berlin when, at times of crisis or under other circumstances, I was either invited by the Prince or called on him without invitation for the purpose of obtaining news for the Grenzboten or foreign newspapers. I kept up the same habit of committing everything of moment to paper during my various visits of shorter or longer duration between the years 1883 and 1889 to Friedrichsruh, where in the year last mentioned I was engaged for several weeks in arranging the Prince’s private letters and other documents. This custom also served me well in that ever memorable week in March, 1890, when I spent some of the darkest days of that period in the Prince’s immediate vicinity, nor did it fail me when I again greeted him in the Sachsenwald in 1891 and 1893, and was able to convince myself that in the interval his confidence in me had as little diminished as had my loyalty towards him.

Whoever is familiar with the style in which the Prince was accustomed to express his thoughts when in the company of his intimate associates will be at once impressed with the genuineness of the instructions, conversations and anecdotes communicated in the following pages. He will find them almost without exception literally reproduced. In the anecdotes and stories, in particular, he will nearly always observe the characteristic ellipses, the unexpressed pre-suppositions, and the manner in which the Prince was apt to jump from point to point in his narratives, reminding one of the style of the old ballads. He will also at times note a humorous vein running through the Prince’s remarks and frequently become conscious of a thread of semi-naïve self irony. All these features were characteristic of the Chancellor’s manner of speaking. It is therefore hardly necessary for me to add that my reports, with all their roughness and sturdy ruggedness, are photographs that have not been retouched. In other words, I believe that I have not only been quick to observe, but I also feel that I have not intentionally omitted anything that was worth reproducing. I have neither blurred any features nor brought others into too sharp relief. I have put in no high lights, and above all I have added nothing of my own, nor tried to secure a place in history for my own wisdom by palming it off as Bismarck’s. Any omissions that now remain (there can hardly be more than a dozen in all of any importance) are indicated by dots or dashes. In cases where I have not quite understood a speaker, attention is called to the fact. Should any contradiction be discovered between earlier and later statements my memory must not be held responsible for them. If I am blamed for the fragmentary character of my recital then all memoirs must be rejected. If I am reproached with not having produced a work of art, I believe I have already made it sufficiently clear that I never intended anything of the kind. I desired, on the contrary, so far as it was in my power, to serve the truth, and that alone. Nevertheless, my work may not only be utilised by historians, but may also possibly inspire a dramatist or a poet. Such a writer must, however, be no sentimentalist, and no idealist. It would be wise for him and for others to let themselves be guided by some counsels of experience which will be useful as a warning against certain misunderstandings both as to the sources of my information and the degree of my credulity. These counsels have always been present to my mind, although, perhaps, through a sense of politeness towards the public, or even, it may be, a real confidence in their common sense, I have rarely thought it necessary to call attention to the fact. This advice I propose to repeat here in a general form and without any special application. In the first place, then, there are people who sometimes really believe that they have actually said or done that which it was their duty to say or do in certain circumstances. Others, again, frequently leave their hearers to judge whether their remarks are meant to be sarcastic or serious. Furthermore, inter pocula and in foraging for news, the meanings of words must not be taken in altogether too literal a sense, if one does not wish to make a fool of himself. Although truth may be found in the bowl, it usually contains more alcohol than accuracy; and the scribblers of the press very often thoughtlessly accept appearances for realities when they come from “well-informed circles.” Finally, even those who wilfully mislead serve the truth in so far as they enable the experienced to detect their falsehood.

A good deal of what I report and describe will appear to many persons trivial and external. My view of the matter, however, is this. The trifles with which the prætor does not trouble himself often illustrate the character of a man or his temper for the time being more clearly than fine speeches or great exploits. Now and then very unimportant occurrences and situations have been, as it were, the spark which lit up the mind and revealed a whole train of new and fruitful ideas pregnant with great consequences. In this connection I may recall the accidental, and apparently insignificant, origin of many epoch-making inventions and discoveries, such as the fall of an apple from a tree that gave Newton the first impulse towards his theory of gravitation, the greatest discovery of the eighteenth century; the steam from the boiling kettle which raised its lid and ultimately led to the transformation of the world by the locomotive; the brilliant reflection of the sun on a tin vessel which transported Jacob Boehme into a transcendental vision; and the spot of grease upon our table-cloth at Ferrières which formed the starting-point of one of Prince Bismarck’s most remarkable conversations. The morning hours affect nervous constitutions differently to the evening, and changes of weather depress or raise the spirits of persons subject to rheumatism. Indeed it must be remembered that learned theories have been formed which, expressed in a plain and direct way, amount roughly to this—that a man is what he eats. However odd that may sound, we really cannot say how far such ideas are wrong. Finally, it appears to me that everything is of interest and should receive attention which has any relation to the prominent central figure of the great movement which resulted in the political regeneration of our country—to that powerful personality who, like the angel mentioned in the Scriptures, stirred the stagnant pool, and gave health and life after the lethargy and decay of centuries. I followed the Chancellor’s career with the eyes of a future generation. At great epochs trifles appear smaller than they actually are. In later decades and centuries the contrary is the case. The great events of the past bulk still larger in men’s minds, while things which were regarded as unimportant become full of significance. It is then often a matter for regret that it is impossible to form as clear and lifelike a picture of a personality or an event as one could wish for want of valuable material originally cast aside as of no account. There was no eye to see and no hand to collect and preserve those materials while it was yet time. Who would not now be glad to have fuller details respecting Luther in the great days and hours of his life?

In a hundred years the memory of Prince Bismarck will take a place in the minds of our people next to that occupied by the Wittenberg doctor. The liberator of our political life from dependence upon foreigners will stand by the side of the reformer who freed our consciences from the oppression of Rome—the founder of the German State by the side of him who created German Christianity. Our Chancellor already holds this place in the hearts of many of his countrymen; his portrait adorns their walls, and they inspire the growing generation with the reverence which they themselves feel. These will be followed by the masses, and therefore I imagine I may safely take the risk of being told that I have preserved, not only the pearls, but also the shells in which they were found.

Many of the Chancellor’s expressions respecting the French may be regarded as unfair and even occasionally inhuman. It must not be forgotten, however, that ordinary warfare is calculated to harden the feelings, and that Gambetta’s suicidal campaign, conducted with all the passionate ardour of his nature, the treacherous tactics of his franctireurs, and the bestiality of his Turcos, was bound to raise a spirit in our camp in which leniency and consideration could have no part. Of course, in reproducing and in adding other and still more bitter instances of this feeling, now that all these things have long ago passed away, there can be no intention to hurt any one’s feelings. They are merely vivid contributions to the history of the campaign, denoting the momentary temper of the Chancellor, who was at that time sorely tried and deeply wounded by these and other incidents.

I trust my reasons for including a number of newspaper articles will commend themselves to the reader I do so in the first place to show the gradual development and change which certain political ideas underwent, and the forms which they assumed at various times. Furthermore the greater part of them were directly inspired by Prince Bismarck, and some were even dictated by him. By mentioning the latter articles I hope to do the newspapers in question a pleasure in so far as they will now learn that they once had the honour of having the most eminent statesman of the century as a contributor. All these articles furnish material for forming an opinion upon the journalistic activity of the Prince, which hitherto only Wagener of the Kreuzzeitung, Zitelmann, the Prince’s amanuensis during the years he spent as Ambassador at Frankfurt, and Lothar Bucher were in a position to do. On the 22nd of January, 1871, the Chancellor himself remarked, referring to the importance of the press for historians: “One learns more from the newspapers than from official despatches, as, of course, Governments use the press in order frequently to say more clearly what they really mean. One must, however, know all about the connections of the different papers.” This knowledge will in great part be found in the present work.

The reason for reproducing certain portions of my previous writings in this book is that they are essential for the purpose of completing the character portrait given in the diary. Without them it would be deficient in some parts, and unintelligible in others. The reproductions referred to are in almost every instance considerably altered and supplemented with additional matter, and they now occupy a more suitable position in the work than before.

MORITZ BUSCH.

Leipzig, July 30, 1898.

CONTENTS

BISMARCK

SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY

CHAPTER I

MY APPOINTMENT AS AN OFFICIAL IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE, AND MY FIRST AUDIENCE WITH BISMARCK—WORK AND OBSERVATIONS UP TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE

On February 1st, 1870, while living in Leipzig and engaged in literary work, I received—quite unexpectedly—from Dr. Metzler, Secretary in the Foreign Office of the North German Confederation, who was at that time occupied principally with press matters and with whom I had been in communication since 1867, a short note requesting me to come to Berlin in order to have a talk with him. On my arrival I ascertained, to my great surprise, that Dr. Metzler had recommended me to Herr von Keudell, Councillor of Embassy, who was then in charge of personal and finance matters in the Foreign Office, for a confidential position under the Chancellor of the Confederation, which he, Metzler himself, had previously held, and in which my chief duty would be to carry out the instructions of the Chancellor in press matters. I was to be in immediate communication with the Chancellor. My position for the time being would be what was called “diätarisch,” that is to say without any claim to a pension and without a title. Further details were to be arranged with Herr von Keudell on his return from his honeymoon. For the moment I was only required to declare my readiness in general to accept the offer, and later on I was to formulate my wishes and lay them in writing before Herr von Keudell.

This I did in a letter dated February 4th, in which I emphasised as the most important condition that I should be entirely independent of the Literary or Press Bureau, and that if my capacity for the position should not prove equal to the expectations formed of it I should not be appointed an official in that department. On February 19th I heard from Metzler that my conditions had been in the main agreed to, and that no objections had been raised with regard to that respecting the Literary Bureau. I was to discuss the further arrangements with Keudell himself, and to be prepared to enter upon my duties at once. On February 21st I had a satisfactory interview with the latter, in the course of which we came to an understanding as to terms. On the 23rd I was informed by Keudell that the Chancellor had agreed to my conditions, and that he had arranged for me to call upon Bismarck on the following evening. Next day I took the official oath, and on the same evening, shortly after 8 o’clock, I found myself in the presence of the Chancellor, whom I had only seen at a distance once before, namely, from the Press Gallery of the Reichstag. Now, two years later, I saw him again as he sat in a military uniform at his writing table with a bundle of documents before him. I was quite close to him this time, and felt as if I stood before the altar.

He gave me his hand, and motioned me to take a seat opposite him. He began by saying that although he desired to have a talk with me, he must for the moment content himself with just making my acquaintance, as he had very little time to spare. “I have been kept in the Reichstag to-day longer than I expected by a number of lengthy and tiresome speeches; then I have here (pointing to the documents before him) despatches to read, also as a rule not very amusing; and at 9 o’clock I must go to the palace, and that is not particularly entertaining either. What have you been doing up to the present?” I replied that I had edited the Grenzboten, an organ of practically National Liberal views, which I left, however, on one of the proprietors showing a disposition to adopt a Progressist policy on the Schleswig-Holstein question. The Chancellor: “Yes, I know that paper.” I then went on to say that I had at the instance of the Government taken a position at Hanover, where I assisted the Civil Commissioner, Herr von Hardenberg, in representing Prussian interests in the local press during the year of transition. I had subsequently, on instructions received from the Foreign Office, written a number of articles for different political journals, amongst others for the Preussische Jahrbuecher, to which I had also previously contributed. Bismarck: “Then you understand our politics and the German question in particular. I intend to get you to write notes and articles for the papers from such particulars and instructions as I may give you, for of course I cannot myself write leaders. You will also arrange for others doing so. At first these will naturally be by way of trial. I must have some one especially for this purpose, and not merely occasional assistance as at present, especially as I also receive very little useful help from the Literary Bureau. But how long do you remain here?” and as he looked at his watch I thought he desired to bring the conversation to a close. I replied that I had arranged to remain in Berlin. Bismarck: “Ah, very well then, I shall have a long talk with you one of these days. In the meantime see Herr von Keudell, and also Herr Bucher, Councillor of Embassy, who is well acquainted with all these matters.” I understood that I was now at liberty to go, and was about to rise from my seat when the Chancellor said: “Of course you know the question which was before the House to-day?” I replied in the negative, explaining that I had been too busy to read the reports in the newspapers. “Well,” he said, “it was respecting the admission of Baden into the North German Confederation. It is a pity that people cannot manage to wait, and that they treat everything from a party standpoint, and as furnishing opportunities for speech-making. Disagreeable business to have to answer such speeches, not to say such twaddle! These eloquent gentlemen are really like ladies with small feet. They force them into shoes that are too tight for them, and push them under our noses on all occasions in order that we may admire them. It is just the same with a man who has the misfortune to be eloquent. He speaks too often and too long. The question of German unity is making good progress; but it requires time—one year perhaps, or five, or indeed possibly even ten years. I cannot make it go any faster, nor can these gentlemen either. But they have no patience to wait.” With these words he rose, and again shaking hands I took leave of him for the time.

I was thus enlisted in the ranks of Bismarck’s fellow-workers. An opportunity for the general instructions which he proposed to give me never occurred. I had to enter upon my work at once. Next evening I was twice called in to him to receive instructions for articles. Later on I sometimes saw him still more frequently, and occasionally in the forenoon also—now and then as often as five or even eight times in one day. At these interviews I had to take good care to keep my ears well open, and to note everything with the closest attention, so that two pieces of information or two sets of instructions should not get mixed up. However, I soon found myself equal to this unusually trying task, as Bismarck’s opinions and instructions were always given in a striking form, which it was easy to remember. Besides, he was accustomed to repeat his principal points in other words. Then, again, I made myself all ears, so that, through practice, I gradually succeeded in retaining long sentences, and even whole speeches, practically without omissions, until I had an opportunity of committing them to paper. Bismarck used also to send me, by one of the messengers, documents and newspapers marked with the letter V and a cross, signs which indicated “Press Instructions.” When I found such papers on my desk I looked them through, and subsequently obtained the Chancellor’s directions with regard to them. Furthermore, when I had anything of importance to ask or to submit for his approval, I was allowed to call upon him without previous invitation. I thus practically occupied the position of a “Vortragender Rath” (i.e., an official having direct access to the Chancellor), excepting only that I had neither the title nor the sense of infallibility common to all such Councillors.

The newspapers to which the articles thus prepared were supplied were the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, then edited by Brass, which was the semi-official organ, properly speaking; the Spenersche Zeitung, and the Neue Preussische Zeitung. I also frequently sent letters to the Kölnische Zeitung, expressing the Chancellor’s views. During the first months of my appointment Metzler, who had previously contributed to that paper, served as the medium for communicating these articles. Subsequently they were sent direct to the editor, and were always accepted without alteration. In addition to this work I saw one of the writers from the Literary Bureau every forenoon, and gave him material which was sent to the Magdeburger Zeitung and some of the smaller newspapers; while other members of his department furnished portions of it to certain Silesian, East Prussian, and South German organs. I had similar weekly interviews with other, and somewhat more independent, writers. Amongst these I may mention Dr. Bock, who supplied articles to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, and a number of papers in Hanover; Professor Constantine Roeszler, formerly Lecturer at Jena, who subsequently assisted Richthofen at Hamburg and afterwards edited the Staatsanzeiger; and finally Herr Heide, who had previously been a missionary in Australia and was at that time working for the North German Correspondence, which had been founded with a view to influencing the English press.

In addition to this my duties also included the reading of masses of German, Austrian and French newspapers, which were laid upon my table three times daily, and the management and purchase of books for the Ministerial Library. It will therefore be easily understood that while the Chancellor remained in Berlin I had more than enough to attend to. I was engaged not only on week-days, but also on Sundays, from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, and again from 5 till 10 and sometimes 11 o’clock at night. Indeed, it sometimes occurred that a messenger from the Chancellor came at midnight to call me away from a party of friends or out of my bed in order to receive pressing instructions.

I reproduce here in the form in which they appear in my diary the particulars of a number of more or less characteristic statements and instructions which I received from the Chancellor at that period. They show that the statesman whom I had the honour to serve thoroughly understood the business of journalism, and they further throw a welcome light upon many of the political events of that time.

Some days after the debate in the Reichstag respecting the entrance of Baden into the North German Confederation, to which reference has already been made, and while the matter was still occupying both the attention of the press and of the Chancellor, I find the following entry among my notes:—

February 27th, evening.—Called to see the Minister. I am to direct special attention to the nonsense written by the National Liberal Press on the last sitting of the Reichstag. The Chancellor said:—“The National Liberals are not a united party. They are merely two fractions. Amongst their leaders Bennigsen and Forckenbeck are sensible men, and there are also a couple of others. Miguel is inclined to be theatrical. Loewe, with his deep chest notes, does everything for effect. He has not made a single practical remark. Lasker is effective in destructive criticism, but is no politician. It sounded very odd to hear him declare that they were now too much occupied with Rome in Paris and Vienna to interfere with us in connection with the Baden affair. If it were possible to get those of really Progressist views to act independently, it would make the situation much clearer. Friedenthal’s speech was excellent. I must ask you also to emphasise the following points:—1. The unfairness of the National Zeitung in repeating misunderstandings which I explained and disposed of in my speech. 2. The make-believe support given to my policy by men who were elected for the express purpose of rendering me real assistance. 3. That such politicians either cannot see or intentionally overlook my principal motive, viz., that to admit Baden into the Confederation would bring pressure to bear upon Bavaria, and that it is therefore a hazardous step. Attention should be paid to the situation in France, so that nothing should be done which might endanger the Constitutional evolution of that country, an evolution hitherto promoted in every way from Berlin, as it signifies peace for us. The French Arcadians” (the party that supported Napoleon through thick and thin) “are watching the course of events in Germany, and waiting their opportunity. Napoleon is now well disposed to us, but he is very changeable. We could now fight France and beat her too, but that war would give rise to five or six others; and while we can gain our ends by peaceful means, it would be foolish, if not criminal, to take such a course. Events in France may take a warlike or revolutionary turn, which would render the present brittle metal there more malleable. There was an important point in my speech, which, however, these good people failed to recognise. That was the intimation that in certain circumstances we should pay no regard either to the views of Austria respecting South Germany as a whole, nor to those of France, who objected to the admission of any single South German State into the North German Confederation. That was a feeler. Further measures can only be considered when I know how that hint has been received in Vienna and Paris.”

March 1st.—Count Bismarck wishes me to get the following inserted in the South German newspapers:—“The speech of von Freydorf, the Grand Ducal Minister, in the Baden Diet on the Jurisdiction Treaty with the North German Confederation, has been inspired by an absolutely correct view of the situation. Particular attention should be paid to that portion in which the Foreign Minister of the Grand Duchy declared the policy of Baden to be in perfect accord with that of the Chancellor of the North German Confederation, and also to the manner in which he defined the position of the South German States towards the Treaty of Prague. Through the dissolution of the old Germanic Confederacy, those States have, as a matter of fact, become sovereign States. That treaty gives them liberty (to me: Underline those words!) to form a new union amongst themselves, a South German Confederation, by means of which they may take measures for bringing about a national union with the united North. That treaty involves no prescription, engagement or compulsion whatever to adopt such a course. Any insinuation of that kind with respect to States whose sovereignty has been emphatically recognised would be something absolutely unheard of. In the Swiss war of the Sonderbund, and also in the late American civil war, States were obliged against their own will to remain within a union which they had previously joined, but no one ever saw a sovereign State or Prince required to enter into confederation against their own judgment. The South German States, including half of Hesse, have unquestionably the right—acting either in concert or singly—to endeavour, in co-operation with the North, to advance the cause of national unity. The question is whether the present is a good time to choose. The Chancellor of the North German Confederation answers this question in the negative. But it is only possible by the most wilful garbling of his expressions to maintain that his final aim is not the union of Germany. Partition of German national territory! Calumny! Not a single word of the Chancellor’s justifies that conclusion. As Herr Lasker has not spoken at the instance of the Government of Baden, although his speech would almost convey the impression that he was a Minister of that State, it is difficult to understand where he got that idea. Perhaps it was merely the conceit of the honourable member that led him to make such a statement.”

March 3rd.—The Minister wishes the Kölnische Zeitung first, and afterwards the South German newspapers, to advocate the organisation into one great party of all men of national views in the South German States, so as to get rid of the particularism which had hitherto divided them. “The matter lies much more in their hands,” he said, “than in those of the North German National Liberals. The North German Governments will do all that is possible in a reasonable way in support of the efforts of South Germany. But the South Germans who wish to unite with us must act together and not singly. I want you to reiterate this point again and again. The article must then be printed in the Spenersche Zeitung and in other newspapers to which we have access, and it should be accompanied by expressions of deep regret at the particularism which prevents the union of the various Southern parties that gravitate towards North Germany. A union of the four Southern States is an impossibility, but there is nothing to hinder the formation of a Southern League composed of men of national sentiments. The National party in Baden, the German party in Würtemberg, and the Bavarian Progressist party are merely different names for the same thing. These groups have to deal with different Governments, and some persons maintain that they must consequently adopt different tactics. Their aims are nevertheless identical in all important points. With the best will in the world those three parties, while acting singly, produce but a slight impression. If they desire to go ahead and become an important factor in public affairs, they must combine to form a great and homogeneous South German National party which must be reckoned with on both sides of the Main.”

Read over to the Minister, at his request, an article which he ordered yesterday and for which he gave me the leading ideas. It was to be dated from Paris, and published in the Kölnische Zeitung. He said:—“Yes, you have correctly expressed my meaning. The composition is good both as regards its reasoning and the facts which it contains. But no Frenchman thinks in such logical and well-ordered fashion, yet the letter is understood to be written by a Frenchman. It must contain more gossip, and you must pass more lightly from point to point. In doing so you must adopt an altogether French standpoint. A Liberal Parisian writes the letter and gives his opinion as to the position of his party towards the German question, expressing himself in the manner usual in statements of that kind.” (Finally Count Bismarck dictated the greater part of the article, which was forwarded by Metzler in its altered form to the Rhenish newspaper.)

In connection with this task the Minister said to me the day before:—“I look at the matter in this way. A correspondent in Paris must give his opinion of my quarrel with Lasker and the others over the Baden question, and bring forward arguments which I did not think it desirable to use at that time. He must say that no one could deem it advisable in the present state of affairs in Bavaria, when the King seems to be so well disposed, to do anything calculated on the one hand to irritate him, and on the other to disturb the Constitutional movement in France—which movement tended to preserve peace while it would itself be promoted by the maintenance of peace. Those who desire to advance the cause of liberty do not wish to go to war with us, yet they could not swim against the stream if we took any action in South Germany which public opinion would regard as detrimental to the interests and prestige of France. Moreover, for the present the course of the Vatican Council should not be interfered with, as the result for Germany might possibly be a diversion. We must wait for these things,” he added. “I cannot explain that to them. If they were politicians they would see it for themselves. There are reasons for forbearance which every one should be able to recognise; but Members of Parliament who cross-question the Government do not usually regard that as their duty.”

The second portion of the article which the Minister dictated runs as follows:—“Whoever has had an opportunity of observing here in Paris how difficult the birth of the present Constitutional movement has been, what obstacles this latest development of French political life has to overcome if it is to strike deep roots, and how powerful are the influences of which the guiding spirit only awaits some pretext for smothering the infant in its cradle, will understand with what anxiety we watch the horizon abroad and what a profoundly depressing effect every little cloud there produces upon our hopes of a secure and peaceful development of the new régime. It is the ardent wish of every sincere adherent of the Constitutional cause in France that there should now be no diversion abroad, no change on the horizon of foreign politics, which might serve if not as a real motive at least as a pretext for crying down the youthful Constitutionalism of France, while at the same time directing public attention to foreign relations. We believe that the Emperor is in earnest, but his immediate entourage, and the creatures whom he has to employ, are watching anxiously for some event which shall enable them to compel the Sovereign to abandon a course which they resent. These people are very numerous, and have during the eighteen years of the Emperor’s reign grown more powerful than is perhaps believed outside France. Whoever has any regard for the Constitutional development of the country can only hope that no alteration, however slight, shall occur in the foreign relations of France to serve as a motive or pretext for that reaction which every opponent of the Constitution is striving to bring about.”

Between the directions for these articles, which I here bring together as they relate to the same subject, I received others, some of which I may also reproduce.

March 4th.—The Boersen Zeitung contained an article in which it was alleged that in Germany only nobles were considered competent to become Ministers. This the Count sent down to me to be refuted in a short article, expressing surprise at such a statement. “An absurd electioneering move!” the Chancellor said. “Whoever wishes to persuade the world that in Prussia the position of Minister is only open to the aristocracy, and that capable commoners have absolutely no chance of attaining to it, must have no memory and no eyes. Say that under Count Bismarck no less than three commoners have, on his recommendation, been appointed Ministers within a short period, namely Delbrück, Leonhard and Camphausen. Lasker, it is true, has not yet been appointed.”

I wrote this short article immediately; but the Chancellor was not pleased with it. “I told you expressly,” he said, “to mention the names of Delbrück, Leonhard and Camphausen, and that their appointments were due to my personal influence. Go straight to the point, and don’t wander round about it in that way! That is no use! A pointless article! They are just the cleverest of the present Ministers. The attack on Lasker is also out of place. We must not provoke people unnecessarily. They are right when they complain of bullying.” The reference to Lasker consisted merely of his own words as given above.

March 5th.—The Vossische Zeitung contained a bitter attack, which culminated in the following remark: “Exceptional circumstances—and such must be acknowledged to exist when working men are treated to breech-loaders, and Ministers are hanged on street lamps—cannot be taken as a rule for the regular conduct of affairs.” The Count received this article from the Literary Bureau of the Ministry of State (where extracts from the newspapers were made for him), although it might well have been withheld, as not much importance attaches to the scoldings of “Tante Voss.” The Count sent for me, read over the passage in question, and observed: “They speak of times when Ministers were hanged on street lamps. Unworthy language! Reply that such a thing never occurred in Prussia, and that there is no prospect of its occurring. In the meantime it shows towards what condition of affairs the efforts of that newspaper are tending, which (under the auspices of Jacoby and Company) supplies the Progressist middle classes of Berlin with their politics.”

Called in again later to the Count. I am to go to Geheimrath Hahn and call his attention to the question of capital punishment, which in view of the approaching elections should be dealt with in the Provinzial-Correspondenz in accordance with the policy of the Government, who desire its retention. The Minister said: “I am firmly convinced that the majority of the population is opposed to its abolition. Were it otherwise it would of course be possible to do away with it. It is a mere theory—the sentimentality of lawyers in the Reichstag—a party doctrine which has no connection with the life of the people, although its advocates are constantly referring to the people. Tell him that, but be cautious in dealing with him. He is somewhat conceited—bureaucratic. Do it in a diplomatic way. You must let him think that those are his own ideas. Otherwise we shall not get anything useful out of him. Let me know afterwards what he says.”

March 6th.—Have seen Hahn. He is of opinion that it is yet too early to deal with this matter. It will probably end in a compromise, capital punishment being only retained for murder. The attitude of the Liberals in the elections can only be influenced after the decision in the Reichstag. In the meantime he has instructed the Literary Bureau to refute the article in the National Zeitung, and to show how sterile the present Parliament would be if it allowed the long wished for Criminal Code to be wrecked upon this question of capital punishment. Report this to the Minister. He is of opinion that Hahn is mistaken. “It is necessary to act in a diplomatic way in this case,” he observed. “One must present an appearance of determination up to the last moment; and if one wants to secure a suitable compromise, show no disposition to give way; besides, Hahn must have no other policy than mine. I shall speak to Eulenburg, and get him to set Hahn straight. This must be put down at once. We must think in good time about the elections.”

March 7th.—Sent Brass (Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) an article written by Bucher under instructions from the Minister, showing that the majority in the Reichstag does not represent public opinion nor the will of the people, but only the opinions and desires of the Parliamentary party.

Called to the Count in the evening, when he said: “I want you to secure the insertion in the press of an article somewhat to the following effect: For some time past vague rumours of war have been current throughout the world for which no sufficient ground exists in fact, or can be even suggested. The explanation is probably to be sought in Stock Exchange speculation for a fall which has been started in Paris. Confidential whispers are going about with regard to the presence of Archduke Albrecht in the French capital which are calculated to cause uneasiness; and then, naturally enough, these rumours are shouted aloud and multiplied by the windbags of the Guelph press.”

March 11th.—The Count wants an article in the National Zeitung to be answered in this sense: “The Liberals in Parliament always identify themselves with the people. They maintain, like Louis XIV. with his L’état c’est moi, that ‘We are the People.’ There could hardly be a more absurd piece of boasting and exaggeration. As if the other representatives, the Conservatives in the country, and the great numbers who belong to no party, were not also part of the nation, and had no opinions and interests to which regard should be paid!”

Evening.—The Minister, referring to a statement in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, remarked: “There is much ado about the decided attitude taken up by Beust against the Curia. According to the report published by Brass he has expressed himself very emphatically respecting its latest action, in a note which the Ambassador read to the Secretary of State. That must be refuted, weakened. Do it in a letter from Rome to the Kölnische Zeitung. Say: ‘We do not know if the analysis of the despatch in question (which has made the round of the papers, and which was first published by The Times) is correct,[2] but we have reason to doubt it.’ Trautmansdorf (the Austrian Ambassador to the Holy See) has read no note and has received no instructions to make any positive declaration, but is on the contrary acting in accordance with his own convictions—and it is known that he is very clerical and not at all disposed to radical measures. He has communicated to Cardinal Antonelli such parts of the information that reached him from Vienna as he thought proper, and he certainly made that communication in as considerate a form as possible. It cannot therefore have been very emphatic.”

Later.—Attention is to be directed, at first in a paper which has no connection with the Government, to the prolonged sojourn of Archduke Albrecht in Paris as a suspicious symptom. In connection with it rumours have been circulated in London of an understanding between France and Austria. Our papers should afterwards reproduce these hints.

March 12th.—In the afternoon Bucher gave me the chief’s instructions to order the Spanish newspaper, Imparcial. (This is of some importance, as it doubtless indicates that even then we had a hand in the question of electing the new King. On several occasions subsequently I secured the insertion in non-official German papers of translations which Bucher brought me of articles in that newspaper against the candidature of Montpensier.)

March 13th.—The Chancellor wishes to have it said in one of the “remote” journals (that is, not notoriously connected with the Government) that the Pope has paid no regard to the representations of France and Austria respecting the principal points which should be decided by the Council. He would not have done so even if those representations had been expressed in a more emphatic form than they actually were. Neither Banneville nor Trautmansdorf was inclined to heartily defend the cause of the State against the Ultramontanes. This disposes of the news of the Mémorial Diplomatique to the effect that at the suggestion of Count Daru the Curia has already given an affirmative answer. That report is absolutely false, as is nearly all the news published by the paper in question. It is much the same with Count Beust’s note to the Papal Government. (“Quote the word ‘note,’” added the Minister.) It was only a despatch, and, doubtless, a very tame one.

March 16th, evening.—Called up to the Minister, who lay on the sofa in his study. “Here,” he said (pointing to a newspaper). “They complain of the accumulation of labour imposed upon Parliament. Already eight months’ hard work! That must be answered. It is true that members of Parliament have a great deal to do, but Ministers are still worse off. In addition to their work in the two Diets the latter have an immense amount of business to transact for the King and the country both while Parliament is sitting and during the recess. Moreover, members have the remedy in their own hands. If those who do not belong to the Upper Chamber will abstain from standing for election both to the Prussian and the Federal Diet they will lighten their task sufficiently. They are not obliged to sit in both Houses.”

March 21st.—I am to call attention in the semi-official organs to the fact that the Reichstag is discussing the Criminal Code far too minutely and slowly. “The speakers,” observed the Count, “show too great a desire for mere talk, and are too fond of details and hair-splitting. If this continues the Bills will not be disposed of in the present Session, especially as the Budget has still to be discussed. The President might well exercise stricter control. Another unsatisfactory feature is that so many members absent themselves from the sittings. Our newspapers ought to publish regularly lists of such absentees. Please see that is done.”

Called up again later and commissioned to explain in the press the attitude of Prussia towards those Prelates who oppose the Curia in Rome. The Chancellor said: “The newspapers express a desire that the Government should support the German Bishops on the Council. You should ask if those writers have formed a clear idea as to how we should set about that task. Should Prussia perhaps send a Note to the Council, or to Antonelli, the Papal Minister, who does not belong to that body? or is she to secure representation in that assembly of Prelates, and protest (of course in vain) against what she objects to? Prussia will not desert those Bishops who do not submit themselves to the yoke, but it is for the Prelates in the first place to maintain a determined attitude. We cannot take preventive measures, as they would be of no value, but it is open to us to adopt a repressive policy in case a decision is come to in opposition to our wishes. If, after that decision has been arrived at, it should prove to be incompatible with the mission and interests of the State, then existing legislation, if found inadequate, can be easily supplemented and altered. The demand that the Prussian Government should support the more moderate Bishops is a mere empty phrase so long as no practical means of giving effect to it can be discovered. Moreover, the course which I now indicate will in any case be ultimately successful, although success may not at once be completely achieved.”

March 25th.—The Chief wishes Klaczko’s appointment in Vienna to be discussed. He said to me: “Beust intends in that way to revive the Polish question. Point to the journalistic activity of that indefatigable agitator, and to his bitter hatred both of ourselves and Russia. Quote Rechenberg’s confidential despatch of the 2nd of March from Warsaw, where he says that the Polish secret political societies which are engaged at Lemberg in preparing for a revolution, with the object of restoring Polish independence, have sent a deputation to Klaczko congratulating him on his appointment to a position where he is in direct communication with the Chancellor of the Empire. Send the article first to the Kölnische Zeitung, and afterwards arrange for similar articles in the provincial newspapers. We must finally see that this reaches Reuss (the Ambassador in St. Petersburg), in order that he may get it reproduced in the Russian press. It can also appear in the Kreuzzeitung, and it must be brought up again time after time in another form.”

Afternoon.—Geheimrath Abeken desires me, on the instructions of the Minister, to take note of the following document, which is apparently based on a despatch: “It is becoming more and more difficult to understand the attitude of the Austrian Government towards the Council. All the organs of public opinion are on the side of the Austrian Bishops, who are making such a dignified and decisive stand in Rome. The reports which the Government thought well to allow the press to publish respecting the steps which they have taken in Rome were in harmony with this attitude. The news from Rome, however, speaks only of the tameness and indecision with which the Government’s policy is being carried into execution. The most contradictory accounts are now coming in. It is said that the Austrian Ambassador has supported the action of the French Ambassador, which is known not to have been very effective. Expressions have been attributed to Count Beust showing that, in his opinion, the only effectual course would be for all the Powers to take common or collective action. On the other hand, it is asserted that he gave a negative answer, reciting different objections, to the proposal of another Catholic State (Bavaria) to join it in a decisive declaration in Rome. In presence of this indecision on the part of the Catholic Powers the Bishops will doubtless be obliged to follow their own consciences and decide for themselves what their course of action is to be. We are convinced however that if the Prelates themselves resolved to make a determined stand on behalf of their consciences the situation would immediately undergo a change in their favour, and that ultimately no Government would desert its own Bishops even if they were in a minority.

“Bismarck has already explained to the Prussian Ambassador in Paris that he is prepared to support every initiative taken on the Catholic side in the matter of the Council. He at the same time discussed the subject with Benedetti, expressing himself in a similar sense, but in the meantime making no positive proposal. On the other hand, he asked incidentally whether it might not be desirable to consider in a general conference the attitude to be adopted by the various Governments towards the Council. Benedetti replied that such a course would only hasten the Council’s decision. Bismarck urged that a conference might be useful, even were it no longer possible to influence the Council, and were the question to be considered merely how far the injurious effects of its decisions on the peace of Church and State could be minimised.

“Benedetti sent a report of this informal conversation to Paris, representing it as a proposal to hold a conference. Daru replied in a despatch which pointed out the difficulty of carrying that idea into execution. Who should take part in the conference? Russia maintained such an unfriendly attitude towards the Catholic Church, and Italy was so hostile to the Curia that they could hardly join in any common action. Spain wished to confine herself to the repression of any eventual breach of the laws of the country, and England ignored the official declarations of the Roman Church. Many Powers had Concordats, while others occupied a more independent position towards the Curia, therefore, in that respect also, an understanding would be difficult. Finally, Daru feared that Rome, on hearing of an intended conference, would reply with a fait accompli. For these reasons he declined the proposal. He would, however, like to afford the other Powers an opportunity of supporting the measures taken by France on her own initiative. In case he received a negative answer to his demand that France should be represented on the Council he would officially communicate to the other Governments his declaration to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, that the rights and interests of the State would be defended against any encroachment on the part of the Spiritual Power, and urge them to support his action in Rome. Bismarck thanked Daru for this communication, and said that the Government at Berlin (when it had satisfied itself that such a course on the part of France was calculated to promote the interests of Prussian Catholics) would endeavour to strengthen the impression made thereby; and that further communications were awaited with interest.

“The French Government looks forward with anxiety to the consequences of the Council, but hesitates to take any serious and decisive measures, and is not disposed to enter upon any common action with the other Powers. Bray, at Munich, seemed less disinclined to such a course. He thought a declaration might possibly be made that the Government considered the œcumenical and authoritative character of the Council to be affected by the promulgation of the dogma of infallibility notwithstanding the opposition of a minority of the Bishops, as also the legal position assured to the Prelates under the Concordats, and that the dogma in question was to be regarded as null and void. Bray was anxious that Austria should join in this declaration. Beust, however, would not consent, as he believed that such a declaration would merely induce the Council to come to an unanimous decision which would then be binding upon the Governments. An unequivocal attitude of any kind is not to be expected from Vienna.

“If the Catholic Governments will not take the initiative the question remains what course the Bishops themselves will adopt. We hold to the principle of not acting directly and in our own name with the Roman See, while at the same time powerfully and steadfastly supporting every effort made by the Catholics themselves, and particularly by the German Bishops to prevent illegal changes being made in the constitution of the Catholic Church, and to preserve both Church and State from a disturbance of the peace. We do not find ourselves called upon to take up a prominent attitude towards the Council; but our readiness to support energetically every well-meant effort of the Catholic Powers, whose duty it is to intervene in the first place, or of the Bishops within the Council, remains unaltered.”

Evening.—I am to refer to England and the way in which the press is treated there. “The Liberals always appeal to English example when they want to secure some fresh liberty for the press. Such appeals, it is well known, rest largely upon mistaken notions. It would be desirable to examine more closely the Bill which has just been passed for the preservation of order in Ireland. What would public opinion in Germany, and particularly what would the people of Berlin say, if our Government could proceed against any of our democratic journals, even against the most violent, according to the following provisions, and that too without even a state of minor siege? Then quote the provisions, and add that the Bill was carried by a large majority.”[3]

March 28th.—The Chancellor desires that the question of the Council should be again dealt with somewhat to the following effect: “The press has repeatedly expressed a desire to know what position will be taken by Prussia towards the policy of the majority of the Council, and several proposals have been made in this connection. In our opinion the answer to that question is to be found in the character of Prussia as a Protestant Power. In that capacity Prussia must leave the initiative in this matter to the Catholic Governments who are more directly threatened. If these do not take action the question remains what course the Bishops who form the minority in the Council will adopt, a question which will be answered by the immediate future. If the Catholic Governments decide to take steps against the majority of the Council, Prussia ought to join in that action if she considers it to be in the interests of her Catholic subjects. But it is less the duty of Prussia than of any other State to rush into the breach.... If the Bishops defend the constitution of their Church, their episcopal rights, and peace between Church and State in a fearless and determined protest against the encroachments of the Ultramontane party in the Council, it may then be confidently hoped that the Prussian Government will extend to them a powerful support.”

Some of the last sentences repeated almost literally the conclusion of the document brought to me by Abeken.

March 30th.—The Count sent down a report from Rome for use in the press. This report says: “The tourists who visited St. Peter’s on the 22nd instant were several times disturbed by a dull noise which rolled through the aisles like a storm, proceeding from the direction of the Council Chamber. Those who remained a little longer saw individual Bishops, with anxious looks, hurriedly leave the church. There had been a terrible scene amongst the reverend fathers. The theme de erroribus, which was laid before the Council about three weeks ago and then returned to the Commission, was again being discussed in an amended form. This discussion had now lasted five or six (eight) days. Strossmayer criticised one of the paragraphs of the Proemium which characterised Protestantism as the source of all the evils which now infect the world in the forms of pantheism, materialism, and atheism. He declared that this Proemium contained historical untruths, as the errors of our time were much older than Protestantism. The Humanist movement, which had been imprudently protected by the highest authority (Pope Leo X.) was in part responsible for them. The Proemium lacked the charity due to Protestants. (First uproar.) It was, on the contrary, amongst Protestants that Christianity had found its most powerful defenders, such as Leibnitz and Guizot, whose meditations he should wish to see in the hands of every Christian. (Renewed and increased uproar, while closed fists are shown at the speaker, and cries are heard of ‘Hæreticus es! Taceas! Descendas! Omnes te condemnamus!’ and now and then ‘Ego eum non condemno!’) This storm also subsided, and Strossmayer was able to proceed to another point, namely, the question to which the Bishops referred in their protest, that is to say, that a unanimous vote is indispensable for decisions on dogma. Strossmayer’s remarks on this theme caused the indignation of the majority to boil over. Cardinal Capalti interrupted him. The assembly raged like a hurricane. After a wordy war of a quarter of an hour’s duration between the speaker and the Legates, Strossmayer retired, three times repeating the words: ‘Protestor non est concilium.’ It is worthy of note that a Congregation has been held to-day at which the Bishop of Halifax and others are understood to have expressed views similar to those of Strossmayer and that no attempt was made to interrupt them. It would therefore appear as if the storm raised against the Bishop of Bosnia were a party manœuvre with the object of ruining the most important of the Princes of the Church.”

March 31st.—Commissioned by the Chief to tell Zitelmann (an official of the Ministry of State in charge of press matters) that the newspaper extracts which his office prepares for submission to the King (through the Minister) should be better sifted and arranged. Those that are suitable for the King are to be gummed on to separate sheets and detached from those that are not suitable for him. Particularistic lies and stupidities, such as those from Kiel of the 25th and Cassel of the 28th, belong to the latter category and must not be laid before him. If he sees that kind of thing printed in black on white he is apt to believe it. He does not know the character of those papers.

I am to secure the insertion in the press of the following particulars, which have reference to a paragraph in a newspaper which the Minister did not name to me. It is a well-known fact that Howard, the English representative at Munich, although he is married to a Prussian lady (Schulenberg), exercises, in opposition to the views of his own Government, a decidedly anti-Prussian influence, not so much in a pro-Austrian as in a Guelph sense. He was Minister at Hanover up to the events of 1866.

April 1st.—The Minister’s birthday. When I was called to him in the evening his room was perfumed with flowers presented to him. He lay on the sofa, booted and spurred, smoking a cigar, and reading newspaper extracts. After receiving my instructions, I offered my congratulations, for which he thanked me, reaching me his hand. “I hope,” he said, “we shall remain together for a very long time.” I replied that I hoped so too, that I could find no words to say how happy I felt to be near him, and to be able to work for him. “Well,” he answered, smiling, “it is not always so pleasant, but you must not notice every little thing.”

My instructions referred to Lasker and Hoverbeck. They were as follows:—“Just take Lippe and Lasker as your subject for once. Lasker has, it is true, been taken to task for one of his latest utterances by Bennigsen, the chief of his fraction, but it can do no harm to deal with the affair once more in the press—and repeatedly. He, like Lippe, wants the Constitution to be placed above our national requirements. Les extrêmes se touchent. Lippe is the representative of the Particularistic Junkers with the tendency to absolutism, Lasker that of the Parliamentary Junkers with Particularistic leanings. Vincke, who was just such another, succeeded, with his eternal dogmatism, in ruining and nearly destroying a great party in a few months, notwithstanding favourable circumstances. Please send the article to the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung for publication, and let it be afterwards reproduced in another form by the Literary Bureau.” (...)

April 4th.—It was well that I carried out the Minister’s orders at once. On being called to him this morning he received me with the words: “I asked you recently to write an article on the subject of Lippe and Lasker. Have you done so?” I replied “Yes, Excellency, and it has already appeared. I did not submit it to you as I know that you see the Norddeutsche daily.” He then said, “I have had no time as yet, I will look it up immediately.”

In a quarter of an hour I was again sent for, and on appearing before him the Minister said: “I have now read the article—it was amongst the extracts. It is excellent, exactly what I wished. Let it now be circulated and reproduced in the provincial journals. In doing so it may be further remarked that if Count Bismarck were to charge Lasker and his fraction with Particularism—I do not mean all the National Liberals, but principally the Prussians, the Lasker group—the accusation would be well founded. Lippe has also laid down the principle that the Prussian Diet is independent of the Federal Diet.”

The Minister then continued: “Here is the Kölnische Zeitung talking of excitability. It alleges that I have manifested an excitability which recalls the period of ‘conflict.’ That is not true. I have merely repelled passionate attacks in the same tone in which they were delivered, according to the usual practice in Parliament. It was not Bismarck but Lasker and Hoverbeck who took the initiative. They began again with offensive personal attacks, and I begged of them in a friendly way not to return to that style. Ask whether the writer had not read the report of the sitting, as it showed that it was not Count Bismarck who picked this quarrel. Apart from its pleadings on behalf of the claims of Denmark, the Kölnische Zeitung was a sensible newspaper. What had Count Bismarck done to it that it should allow its correspondents to send such a garbled account of the facts? Moreover, Bennigsen had reprimanded Lasker. They now themselves recognised that the tone they adopted was wrong, as Lasker came to me on Saturday to excuse himself.”

April 6th.—Under instructions from the Minister I dictated the following paragraph to Doerr for circulation through the Literary Bureau: “The position of the Bishops who form the opposition in the Council does not appear to be satisfactory, if one may judge from the attitude of the Catholic Governments and particularly of the Vienna Cabinet. Probably Count Beust has not yet made up his mind in this matter. He seems to have sent somewhat energetic remonstrances to the Ambassador in Rome, but it is obvious that Count Trautmansdorf has delivered them in a very diluted form. According to certain newspapers the Austrian Chancellor has also endeavoured to bring about a common action of the Powers, while others report an incident which renders it doubtful whether any such attempt has been made. The French also maintain an attitude of exceptional prudence and reserve, and the Bishops would thus appear to stand well nigh alone.... The initiative must come from the Bishops themselves.”

Between the 6th and the 10th of April I wrote an article on the question of North Schleswig from the Minister’s instructions. This attracted great attention on its publication in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, principally on the ground that there seemed to be no occasion for its appearance at a time when the political horizon was absolutely clear. (It may possibly have arisen through a Russian reminder and approval of the pretended claims of Denmark.) The article was to the following effect: “It is a wilful falsehood to maintain that according to the peace of Prague the population of North Schleswig has to decide the question of the frontier. Prussia alone, and no one else, is authorised to do that. Moreover, the Treaty of Prague does not mention North Schleswig at all, but only refers, quite vaguely, to the northern districts of Schleswig, which is something quite different. The parties to the treaty were not called upon, and, as the wording selected by them proves, never intended to deal with any such conception as ‘North Schleswig,’ and have not even used that term. But the Danes and their friends have so long and so persistently endeavoured to make the world believe that paragraph 5 of the treaty stipulated for the cession of North Schleswig, that they have come to believe it themselves.

“The Prussians alone have to decide as to the extent of those districts. Prussia has no further political interest in negotiating with Denmark if the latter is not content with the concessions which the former is prepared to make. Finally, only Austria has a right to demand that the matter shall be settled in any form.... If Prussia and Austria,” so concluded the Minister’s directions, “now come to an understanding as to cancelling that paragraph of the treaty—probably on the basis of further concessions on the part of Prussia—absolutely no one has any right to object.” Two articles were to be written on this subject, one for the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, in which the reference to Austria was to be omitted, and one for the Spenersche Zeitung, which was to contain it.

April 12th.—The Count desires to have an article written for the Kölnische Zeitung, part of which he dictated to me. It ran as follows: “The Constitutionnel speaks of the way in which French manners are being corrupted by foreign elements, and in this connection it mentions Princess Metternich and Madame Rimsky-Korsakow. It would require more space than we can afford to this subject to show in its true light all the ignorance and prejudice exhibited by the writer of this article, who has probably never left Paris. Princess Metternich would not act in Vienna as she is represented by the Constitutionnel to have acted in Paris; and Madame Rimsky-Korsakow is not a leader of society in St. Petersburg. The contrary must be the case. Paris must be responsible if the two ladies so conduct themselves, and exercise such an influence as the French journal asserts they do. As a matter of fact the idea that Paris is the home and school of good manners is now only to be met with in other countries, in old novels, and amongst elderly people in the most remote parts of the provinces. It has long since been observed, and not in European Courts alone, that the present generation of Frenchmen do not know how to behave themselves. In other circles it has also been remarked that the young Frenchman does not compare favourably with the youth of other nations, or with those few countrymen of his own who have, far from Paris, preserved the traditions of good French society. Travellers who have visited the country at long intervals are agreed in declaring that the forms of polite intercourse, and even the conventional expressions for which the French language so long served as a model, are steadily falling into disuse. It is therefore quite conceivable that the Empress Eugénie, as a sensitive Spaniard, has been painfully affected by the tone and character of Parisian society, but it would show a lack of judgment on her part if, as stated by the Constitutionnel, she sought for the origin of that evil abroad. But we believe we are justified in directly contradicting that statement, as we know that the Empress has repeatedly recommended young Germans as models for the youth of France. The French show themselves to be a decadent nation, and not least in their manners. It will require generations to recover the ground they have lost. Unfortunately, so far as manners are concerned, all Europe has retrograded.”

From the 13th of April to the 28th of May I did not see the Minister. He was unwell, and left for Varzin on Easter Eve. It was said at the Ministry that his illness was of a bilious character, and was due to the mortification he felt at the conduct of the Lasker fraction, together with the fact that he had spoilt his digestion at a dinner at Camphausen’s.

On the 21st of May the Minister returned to Berlin, but it was not until seven days later that I was called to him. He then gave me the following instructions: “Brass (the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) must not plead so strongly for the Austrians nor speak so warmly of the Government of Napoleon. In the case of Austria we have to adopt a benevolently expectant attitude, yet the appointment of Klaczko and his connection with the Ministry is for us a suspicious symptom. The appointment of Grammont to the French Foreign Office is not exactly agreeable to us. The Czechs must be treated with all possible consideration; but, on the other hand, we must deal with the Poles as with enemies.”

I afterwards asked as to his health. He said he still felt weak, and would not have left Varzin if things had not looked so critical in Parliament. As soon as matters were once more in order there, he would be off again, if possible on an early day, in order to undertake a cure with Karlsbad water, going to some seaside resort.

On being called to the Count on Whit Sunday I found him highly indignant at the statement of a correspondent of the Kölnische Zeitung, who reported that there was a scarcity of labour in the Spandau cartridge factory. “Therefore unusual activity in the preparation of war material!” he said. “If I were to have paid two visits to the King at Ems it would not cause so much anxiety abroad as thoughtless reports of this kind. Please go to Wehrmann and let him ascertain at the Ministry of War if they are responsible for that article, and if possible get them to insert a correction in the Kölnische Zeitung or in the Norddeutsche, as it must appear in an influential paper.”

A diary entry on an undated slip of paper, but written in May: “Bohlen yesterday bantered Bucher about his ‘Easter mission,’ which appears to have been to Spain.”

On the 8th of June the Minister again left Berlin for Varzin.

Immediately on the commencement of the difficulties with France respecting the election to the Spanish throne of the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern, letters and telegrams began to arrive which were forwarded by Bucher under instructions from the Chief. These consisted in part of short paragraphs and drafts of articles, as well as some complete articles which only required to be retouched in the matter of style, or to have references inserted with regard to matters of fact. These directions accumulated, but owing to the spirit and energy inspired by the consciousness that we were on the eve of great events, and that it was an honour to co-operate in the work, they were promptly dealt with, almost all being disposed of on the day of their arrival. I here reproduce some of these instructions, the order of the words and expressions in the deciphered telegrams being slightly altered, while the remainder are given exactly as they reached me.

July 7th, evening.—A telegram to me from Varzin: “The semi-official organs should indicate that this does not seem to be the proper time for a discussion of the succession to the Spanish throne, as the Cortes, who are alone entitled to decide the question, have not yet spoken. German Governments have always respected Spanish independence in such matters, and will do so in future, as they have no claim or authority to interfere and lay down regulations for the Spaniards. Then, in the non-official press, great surprise should be expressed at the presumption of the French, who have discussed the question very fully in the Chamber, speaking as if that assembly had a right to dispose of the Spanish throne, and apparently forgetting that such a course was as offensive to Spanish national pride as it was conducive to the encouragement of Republican tendencies. This may be safely construed into a further proof of the false direction which the personal régime is taking. It would appear as if the Emperor, who has instigated this action, wanted to see the outbreak of a new war of succession.”

A letter from Bucher, which was handed to me on the evening of the 8th of July, further developed the idea contained in the last sentence of the foregoing telegram. This letter ran: “Previous to 1868 Eugénie was pleased to play the part of an obedient subject to Isabella, and since the September revolution that of a gracious protectress. She unquestionably arranged the farce of the abdication, and now, in her rage, she incites her consort and the Ministers. As a member of a Spanish party she would sacrifice the peace and welfare of Europe to the intrigues and aspirations of a corrupt dynasty.

“Please see that this theme, a new war of succession in the nineteenth century, is thoroughly threshed out in the press. The subject is inviting, especially in the hands of a correspondent disposed to draw historical parallels, and more particularly parallels ex averso. Have the French not had experience enough of Spain with Louis XIV. and Napoleon, and with the Duc d’Angoulême’s campaign for the execution of the decrees of the Verona Congress? Have they not excited sufficient hatred by all those wars and by the Spanish marriage of 1846?

“Bring personal influence to bear as far as possible on the editors who have been intimidated by the Stock Exchange, representing to them that if the German press takes up a timid and hesitating attitude in presence of the rhodomontades of the French, the latter will become more insolent and put forward intolerable demands in other questions affecting Germany still more closely. A cool and determined attitude, with a touch of contempt for those excited gentlemen who would like to slaughter somebody, but do not exactly know whom, would be the most fitting means for putting an end to this uproar and preventing serious complications.”

Bucher added: “Protestants were still sent to the galleys under the Spanish Government which was overthrown in 1868.”

Another communication of Bucher’s from Varzin of the same date runs: “The precedents furnished by Louis Philippe’s refusal of the Belgian throne on behalf of the Duc de Nemours in 1831, on the ground that it would create uneasiness, and by the protest which England would have entered against the marriage of the Duc de Montpensier to the sister of Queen Isabella, are neither of them very applicable, as the Prince of Hohenzollern is not a son of King William, but only a remote connection, and Spain does not border on Prussia.”

The following was a third subject received from Varzin on the same day: “Is Spain to inquire submissively at the Tuileries whether the King whom she desires to take is considered satisfactory? Is the Spanish throne a French dependency? It has already been stated in the Prussian speech from the throne that our sole desire in connection with the events in Spain was that the Spanish people should arrive at an independent decision for the maintenance of their own prosperity and power. In France, where on other occasions so much is said of national independence, the attempt of the Spanish people to decide for themselves has immediately revived the old diplomatic traditions which led to the Spanish war of succession 160 years ago.”

On the same day, the 8th of July, a telegram was also received from the Chancellor by the Secretary of State, and it was handed to me for my information. It was to the following effect: “I have now before me in the despatch of Count Solms the official text of the Duc de Grammont’s speech, and I find his language more brusque and presumptuous than I had anticipated. I am in doubt whether that is due to stupidity or the result of a decision taken beforehand. The probability of the latter alternative seems to be confirmed by the noisy demonstrations which will most likely render it impossible for them to draw back. I am reluctant to protest officially against Grammont’s speech on international grounds, but our press should attack it very severely, and this should be done in as many newspapers as possible.”

July 9th.—A telegram from Bucher to the Secretary of State, saying that the direction to the press to deal with Grammont’s speech in very strong language is not to apply to the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.

Another telegram of the same date to Thile, which he brought to me: “Any one intending to summon a Congress to deal with a debatable question ought not first to threaten a warlike solution in case the opposite party should not agree to his wishes.”

Further, the Secretary of State handed me a telegram from Berlin to the Chancellor, which was returned by the latter with comments. I was to get these circulated in the non-official journals. The telegram was to the effect that Grammont had stated, in reply to an interpellation by Cochery, that Prim had offered the Spanish throne to the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern, (Remark: “He can do nothing of the kind. Only the Cortes,”) and that the Prince had accepted it. (Remark: “He will only declare himself after he has been elected.”) The Spanish people has not yet, however, expressed its wishes. (Remark: “That is the main point.”) The French Government do not recognise the negotiations in question. (Remark: “There are no negotiations excepting those between Spain and the eventual candidates for the throne.”) Grammont therefore begged that the discussion might be postponed, as it was purposeless for the moment. (Remark: “Very.”) The French Government would maintain the neutral attitude which they had observed up to the present, but would not permit a foreign Power to place a Prince upon the Spanish throne, (“Hardly any power entertains such an intention, except perhaps France,”) and endanger the honour and dignity of France. They trusted to the wisdom of the Germans, (Remark: “Has nothing to do with it,”) and to the friendship of the Spanish people. (Remark: “That is the main point.”) Should they be deceived in their hopes they would do their duty without hesitation or weakness. (Remark: “We also.”)

Bucher sent me a whole packet of sketches for articles:—

1. “If Spain records her decision to establish a government which shall be peaceful, and tolerant in religious matters, and which may be expected to be friendly to Germany, who is also devoted to peace, can it be in our interest to prevent the execution of that resolve, and for that purpose to take measures of doubtful legality? Shall we, because of a threat of war made in pursuit of an arbitrary and dynastic object, take steps to frustrate a reorganisation of Spanish affairs advantageous to Germany? Is it not rather an act of insolent presumption on the part of France to address such a demand to Germany? Obviously France lacks either the courage or the means to enforce her views at Madrid; and it appears from Grammont’s speech of the 4th of July that in her anger at what has happened in Spain she is prepared to throw herself upon Germany in a blind fit of rage. That speech is to a certain extent a declaration of war against the person of the Prince of Hohenzollern, in case he should decide to accept the offer of the Spanish people. France demands that Prussia shall undertake the office of policeman in case a German Prince who has attained his majority shows a disposition to meet the wishes of the Spaniards. For a North German Government to interfere with a citizen who should wish to exercise his right to emigrate and adopt the Spanish nationality would raise a very questionable point of law from a constitutional standpoint. Even if such a power existed, the dignity of Germany would demand that it should only be applied in her own interests. The calm consideration of those interests is not in the least affected by the warlike threats of a neighbouring State, which, instead of arguments, appeals to its 400,000 soldiers. If France lays claim in this manner to the guardianship of adjoining nations, the maintenance of peace can for the latter be only a question of time, which may be decided at any moment. On Grammont’s appointment to the French Foreign Office it was feared in many quarters that the choice by the Emperor Napoleon of a statesman who was only remarkable for his personal impetuosity and his hostility to Germany indicated a desire to secure for himself greater liberty in breaking the peace. Unfortunately the haughty and aggressive tone of the Duke’s speech is not calculated to remove the apprehensions entertained at that time. He is not a minister of peace, but rather the instrument of a personal policy which shrinks from no responsibility. In itself the question as to who is to be the ruler of Spain is not one for which Germany would go to war. But the French demand that the German Government, in opposition to its own interests, should put artificial difficulties in the way of the Spaniards manifests a depth of self-conceit which scarcely any government amongst the independent States of Europe could submit to at the present day. We seek no quarrel, but if any one tries to force one upon us he will find us ready to go through with it to the bitter end.”

2. In another article (there was too much material to be disposed of in one) the following considerations were to be developed. This was not to be communicated to the official organs, but either to the Kölnische Zeitung or the Spenersche Zeitung, while it was to be given in a curtailed form to Hahn’s Literary Bureau. “If the candidature of Alphonso had up to the present any prospect of success in Spain, it would have been most prejudicially affected by the foolish uproar raised in France, which stamped it with a French official character. No worse service could be done to that Prince than to represent him as a French candidate. Montpensier had already suffered under the reproach that he was a Frenchman. The Bourbons had formerly been imposed upon the Spaniards, and had proved themselves no blessing. The manner in which the succession to the throne is now discussed in France would offend a nation even less proud than the Spaniards.”

3. “Between the years 1866 and 1868, and particularly before the fall of Isabella, France schemed a great deal against Germany with Austria, Italy, and also with Spain. Those intrigues were set at nought by the Revolution of September, to which Count Bismarck referred when he said at that time in Parliament that the danger of war, which had been very imminent, had been dispelled by an unforeseen event. So long as France maintains her warlike intentions towards Germany, she will desire to see on the Spanish throne a dynasty favourable to those schemes, possibly an Ultramontane one, as in case of an attack on Germany it would make a difference of about 50,000 men to France whether she had a benevolent, or at least a neutral neighbour on the other side of the Pyrenees or one whose attitude might be suspected. It is true that France has nothing to fear directly from Spain if the French, who for the past eighty years have been unable to make up their own minds, and who cannot govern themselves, would give up the attempt to play the part of tutor to other nations. Let the period 1848–1850 in France be compared with that of 1868–1870 in Spain, and the comparison will not be to the advantage of the nation qui marche à la tête de la civilisation.”

4. “England is accustomed to look upon the Peninsula as a dependency of her own, and doubtless believes that her influence can be more easily made to prevail in a state of insecurity than under the rule of a powerful dynasty. It is not wise of the English to recall certain incidents of Spanish history, a course in which they are followed by the French newspapers. The Spanish version of the history of the wars against the First Napoleon is very different to the English one. In Buen Retiro every traveller is shown the site of a once prosperous porcelain manufactory, which was needlessly burned to the ground by the British allies of Spain.”

5. Still another subject. “Very pleased with the article in the Spenersche Zeitung (this was addressed to me). Please again call attention in a somewhat similar manner to the impetuosity of Grammont therein referred to. What is the real ground for all this alarm? A paragraph in the Agence Havas to the effect that the affair had been settled without the concurrence of the Cortes. It is probable that the French Government itself had this paragraph inserted, and it was, moreover, concocted in complete ignorance of the Spanish Constitution and of the laws governing the election of a King. This, which was the only new feature, was a barefaced invention. It had already been mentioned in all the papers that Prim’s speech of the 11th of June referred to the Prince of Hohenzollern, and that had caused no excitement in France. Is the present agitation then a coup monté? Does the French Government insist upon a ‘row’? Has Louis Napoleon chosen Grammont in order to pick a quarrel with us? At any rate he has been unskilful in his treatment of this question. The general moral to be drawn as often as possible is: the French Government is, after all, not quite so shrewd as people believe. The French have succeeded in many things with the assistance of 300,000 soldiers, and owing to that success they are regarded as immensely clever. Is that really so? Circumstances show that it is not.”

July 10th, evening.—Received further series of sketches and drafts for articles from Bucher, who acts as the mouthpiece of the Chancellor’s views and intentions.

1. For the Spenersche or Kölnische:—“Those foreign Powers that are not concerned in the differences respecting the Spanish throne are as desirous to maintain peace as Germany herself. Their influence will, however, be neutralised by Grammont’s ill-considered threats. Should the German Governments consider the security of our frontier to be seriously threatened, they would scarcely come to a decision without convoking Parliament.”

2. “The French are running amuck like a Malay who has got into a rage and rushes through the streets dagger in hand, foaming at the mouth, stabbing every one who happens to cross his path. If France is mad enough to regard Germany as a fit object for a vicarious whipping, nothing will restrain her, and the result will be that she will herself receive a personal castigation.”

3. “The semi-official journals in Paris pretend that attention has been attracted there by the numerous cipher despatches exchanged between Berlin and Madrid, and that they have been clever enough to decipher them. We do not know whether many despatches have passed between the two capitals mentioned, but we remember a communication which was made to Parliament some time ago by Count Bismarck, according to which the cipher system of our Foreign Office is based on a vocabulary of about 20,000 words, each one of which is represented by a group of figures arbitrarily chosen. It is impossible to ‘decipher’ such a system in the same way as those based on an altered alphabet and other old methods. In order to read such a despatch, it is essential to have the vocabulary. Does the cleverness on which the Parisians pride themselves consist in having stolen the key to our ciphers? This would be in contradiction with the original statement that the Prince of Hohenzollern’s candidature first became known through a communication from Prim. It would, therefore, appear that the official press wants to clear the Government of the reproach of incapacity by a subsequent invention, acting, on the maxim that it is better to be taken for a rogue than a fool.”

4. “According to a private telegram from Paris to the Berliner Boersen Zeitung, our Ambassador there, together with the second Secretary of Embassy, left for Ems on receipt of a Note delivered to him immediately after the Cabinet Council at Saint Cloud. We have made inquiries in the proper quarter as to the accuracy of this report, and have received the following answer: Note delivered. ‘Not a shadow of truth. Werther’s journey was decided upon and announced in Paris long before the agitation began.’”

5. “As was already known, Prim intended this year, as on previous occasions, to visit Vichy. This would have led to a meeting between himself and the Emperor Napoleon and a discussion of the succession to the Spanish throne. It is also reported that the Prince of Hohenzollern was not indisposed to try confidentially to bring about an understanding with the Emperor. All this has been rendered impossible by the abrupt tone of the Duc de Grammont. As Prim’s visit to Vichy has long since been announced in the newspapers, and the near relationship as well as the personal friendship which hitherto existed between the Prince of Hohenzollern and the Emperor rendered both meetings probable, it is hard to avoid the suspicion that the French Government, dreading insurmountable domestic difficulties, desires to inflame French vanity in favour of a war, which would at the same time promote the dynastic views of the Empress Eugénie.”

July 12th.—Received from Secretary Wollmann a note from Bucher in Varzin which is intended for me. It has been sent to the Secretary of State, in order that he should say whether there is any objection to its being used in the press. He has no objection, and so it goes to the newspapers. It runs as follows: “The Imparcial publishes a letter from Paris to the effect that the furious article in the Constitutionnel reproaching Prince Hohenzollern with his relationship to Murat, has been revised by the Emperor himself.”

In the evening the Minister returned. He is dressed in plain clothes and looks very well.

July 13th.—Called early to the Chief. I am to wait until a statement appears in the press to the effect that the renunciation of Prince Hohenzollern was in consequence of pressure from Ems, and then to contradict it. “In the meantime (said the Minister) the Norddeutsche should only say that the Prince’s present decision has not been altogether unexpected. When he accepted the throne which had been offered to him he had obviously not foreseen that his decision would occasion so much excitement in Paris. For more than thirty years past the best relations existed between Napoleon and the Hohenzollern family. Prince Leopold could not, therefore, have apprehended any antipathy to his candidature on the part of the Emperor. As his candidature suddenly became known after the Cortes had been adjourned till November, it may well have been assumed that there would be time enough in the interval to sound the Emperor as to his views. Now that this assumption (here the Chancellor began to speak more slowly as if he were dictating), which, up to the acceptance of the Crown by the Prince, was still quite legitimate, had proved to be partly erroneous, it was scarcely probable that the Prince would, on his own responsibility, be disposed to cope single handed with the storm which his decision had raised, and might yet raise, in view of the apprehensions of war of the whole European world, and the influence brought to bear upon him from London and Brussels. Even a portion of the responsibility of involving the great European nations, not only in one war, but possibly in a series of wars, would weigh very heavily upon a man who could not claim to have assumed it as part of the duty of the Royal office which he had already accepted. That was more than could well be expected of a Prince who only occupied a private position. It was the offensive tone of Grammont that alone prevented Prussia from exercising her influence with the Prince.”

The following is to be published in other papers: “It cannot be denied that a Spanish Government disposed to promote the cause of peace and to abstain from conspiring with France would be of considerable value to us. But if, some fourteen days ago, the Emperor Napoleon had addressed himself confidentially to Berlin, or indicated that the affair was attracting attention, Prussia, instead of adopting an indifferent attitude, would have co-operated in pacifying public opinion in Paris. The situation has been entirely altered through the aggressive tone of Grammont’s speech, and the direct demands addressed to the King, who is staying in privacy at Ems for the benefit of his health, unaccompanied by a single Minister. His Majesty rightly declined to accede to these demands. That incident has created so much indignation in Germany, that many people feel disappointed at Prince Leopold’s renunciation. At any rate, the confidence in the peaceful intentions of France has been so thoroughly shaken that it will take a considerable time to restore it. If commerce and trade have been injured by the evidence which has shown us what a den of brigands we have to deal with in France, the people of that country must fasten the responsibility on the personal régime under which they at present live.”

The Minister also desires it to be incidentally remarked in the non-official press that of the South German Courts those of Munich and Carlsruhe had given the most satisfactory declarations in this affair, while on the other hand that of Stuttgart had expressed itself evasively.

Finally, I am to communicate to one of the local papers that Count Bismarck has been sent for to Ems to consult with the King as to summoning Parliament. Breaking off a cure which he was undergoing, the Chancellor has remained in Berlin in order to await there the further instructions of his Majesty, or ultimately to return to Varzin. The Count then added: “Later on I will call for you several times, as there is something more to be prepared for the Norddeutsche. We shall now be shortly interrupted.” The Crown Prince arrived five minutes afterwards and had a long interview with the Minister.

July 14th.—Our newspapers to call attention to the loyal attitude of Würtemberg, “which in consequence of a misunderstanding has been represented in some journals as evasive.”

July 15th.—I am to send the following démenti to Wolf’s Telegraphic Agency for circulation: “The news published by the Spenersche Zeitung respecting the opening of Parliament is not quite accurate. It was proposed a week ago by the Chancellor while in Varzin that it should be convoked as soon as the Government Bills were ready for submission to it. His Majesty shares this view, and the Federal Council has accordingly been summoned for to-morrow, Saturday, morning to consider those measures.”

In the evening the Chancellor dictated an article for the Kreuzzeitung on the confusion by the public between personal and private proceedings of the King and his official acts. It ran as follows: “It appears from the Mazaredo pamphlet that the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern informed the King at Ems of his acceptance of the offer of the Spanish throne, probably towards the end of June. His Majesty was then at Ems for the purpose of taking the waters, and certainly not with the intention of carrying on business of State, as none of his Ministers had been summoned thither. As a matter of fact, only so much has become public respecting the King’s reply to the communication of the Hereditary Prince (it was in the form of a letter written in his Majesty’s own hand) that the Sovereign was not pleased at the news, although he did not feel called upon to offer any opposition. In the whole affair no State action of any kind has been taken. This constitutional aspect of the situation does not appear to have been properly appreciated up to the present in public discussions of the question. The position of the King in his private correspondence was confounded with his position as head of the State, and it was forgotten that in the latter capacity, according to the Constitution, the co-operation of the Ministry is necessary to constitute a State action. It is only the French Cabinet that appears to have thoroughly realised this distinction, inasmuch as it brought the whole force of its diplomacy to bear upon the person of the Sovereign, who was staying at a watering-place for the sake of his health, and whose private life was not protected by the usual etiquette, in order to force him under official pressure into private negotiations which might afterwards be represented as arrangements with the Government.”

July 19th.—About an hour after the opening of Parliament in the Royal Palace (1.45 P.M.) Le Sourd, the French Chargé d’Affaires, delivered Napoleon’s declaration of war at the Foreign Office.

Towards 5 o’clock in the evening I was called to the Minister, who was in his garden. After searching for him for some time I saw him coming through one of the long shady alleys to the left which led to the entrance in the Königgrätzer Strasse. He was brandishing a big stick. His figure stood out against the yellow evening sunshine like a picture painted on a gold ground. He stopped in his walk as I came up to him, and said: “I wish you to write something in the Kreuzzeitung against the Hanoverian nobles. It must come from the provinces, from a nobleman living in the country, an Old Prussian—very blunt, somewhat in this style: It is reported that certain Hanoverian nobles have endeavoured to find pilots and spies in the North Sea for French men-of-war. The arrests made within the last few days with the assistance of the military authorities are understood to be connected with this affair. The conduct of those Hanoverians is infamous, and I certainly express the sentiments of all my neighbours when I put the following questions to the Hanoverian nobles who sympathise with those traitors. Have they any doubt, I would ask them, that a man of honour could not now regard such men as entitled to demand honourable satisfaction by arms whether their unpatriotic action was or was not undertaken at the bidding of King George? Do they not, as a matter of course, consider that an affair of honour with them is altogether out of the question, and should one of them be impudent enough to propose such a thing, would they not have him turned out of the house by the servants or eject him propriæ manu after having, of course, put on a pair of gloves to handle him with? Are they not convinced that such miscreants can only be properly described by the good old Prussian word Hundsvott (scurvy, infamous rogues), and that their treason has branded their posterity to the third and fourth generations with indelible disgrace? I beg them to answer these questions.”

Evening.—In an article in the Liberté of the 18th instant, that paper reminds Italy that she owes her liberation to France, and that in 1866 it was France who brought about the Italian alliance with the Berlin Cabinet. It then maintains that, in view of the seriousness of approaching events, Victor Emmanuel, with truly chivalrous sentiment, has not for a moment hesitated to assure the French of his unconditional support. With reference to this article our papers should observe: “Up to the present the French have played the part of masters to the whole world, and Belgium, Spain, and the King of Prussia have in turn experienced their arrogance. Their behaviour was somewhat like that of the Sultan towards his Khedive, it was a kind of megalomania based upon the bayonet. Their presumption is now beginning to waver, so they court the assistance of those good friends whom they pretend to have placed under obligations to them.”

The Minister subsequently dictated the following, to be worked up for the German newspapers outside Berlin, such as the Kölnische Zeitung, and for the English and Belgium journals: “According to confidential communications from loyal Hanoverian circles, amongst other decisive factors which led the French to the declaration of war, were the reports sent to Paris by Colonel Stoffel, the Military Plenipotentiary in Berlin. Stoffel’s information was, it appears, less accurate than abundant, as none of those who supplied him with it being prepared to forego the payments they received from him merely because they had nothing to say, they occasionally invented the news of which they warranted the correctness. The Plenipotentiary had, it is said, been informed that the arming of the Prussian infantry, both as regards rifles and ammunition, was at present undergoing a thorough transformation, and that consequently a moment so favourable as the present for attacking Prussia would hardly occur again, inasmuch as on the completion of this change the Prussian armaments would have been unassailable.”[4]

2. “It now appears to be beyond all doubt that the French Government was aware of the candidature of the Prince of Hohenzollern for months past, that they carefully promoted it and foolishly imagined it would serve as a means of isolating Prussia and creating a division in Germany. No trustworthy information has been received as yet as to whether and how far Marshal Prim had prepared the way for this intrigue, in agreement with the Emperor Napoleon. But doubtless that point will ultimately be cleared up by history. The sudden disappearance of Spain from the political field as soon as the differences between France and Prussia broke out gives matter for reflection and suspicion. It cannot but be regarded as strange that after the zeal shown by the Spanish Government in the matter of the Hohenzollern candidature had been raised to boiling point it should have suddenly fallen below zero, and that the relations of Marshal Prim to the French Cabinet should now appear to be of the most friendly character, while the Spaniards seem no longer to feel any irritation at the interference of France in their internal affairs.”

3. “Rumours were circulated this afternoon to the effect that the former French Military Plenipotentiary, Baron Stoffel, had been insulted in the street. On closer inquiry it was ascertained that some individuals who knew Stoffel followed him in the street, and on his reaching his house struck the door with their sticks. The police intervened energetically on the first report of this matter and have taken measures to prevent a repetition of such conduct and to provide that Baron Stoffel shall not be interfered with on his departure this evening. Excesses of this description are, however, highly reprehensible, even when they are confined to words. The former representatives of France are under the protection of international law and of the honour of Germany until they have crossed the frontier.”

July 21st.—Keudell asked me this morning if I knew Rasch, the journalist, and if I could say where he was now to be found, in Berlin or elsewhere. I replied that I had seen him in Schleswig in 1864, afterwards at a table d’hôte at the Hotel Weissberg, in the Dessauer Strasse, where he lodged at the end of February. I knew nothing more about him, but had heard that he was extremely conceited, almost to the point of madness—a political visionary who desired to convert the whole world to republicanism. I was not aware of his whereabouts in Berlin, but would make inquiries at Weissberg’s. Keudell told me to hunt him up and ask him whether he would go to Garibaldi and urge him to undertake an expedition against Rome, at the same time carrying him money from us. I pointed out that Rasch was perhaps too vain to keep his own counsel. Keudell consoled himself with the idea that he would doubtless prove a good patriot. I declined to treat with Rasch in the matter, as I could not speak to him in my own name but in that of the Foreign Office, and that could be better done by some official of higher rank, who would make a greater impression upon Rasch. Keudell seemed to recognise the justice of this view. I made inquiries and was able to report on the same evening that Rasch was staying at Weissberg’s.

Called to the Minister in the evening. He showed me an extract from the National Zeitung, and observed: “They say here that the English would not allow the French to attack Belgium. Well and good, but how does that help the Belgians if the protection comes too late? If Germany were once defeated (which God forbid!) the English would not be able to assist the Belgians in the least, but might, on the contrary, be thankful if they themselves remained safe in London.”

I am further to call attention to the “manner in which France is begging for help on all sides—that great warlike nation which makes so much parade of its victories, representing them as having always been won solely by the force of its own arms. They go begging (use that expression) to Italy, to Denmark, to Sweden, and above all to the German States, to whom they promise the same brilliant destiny which they have already prepared for Italy—political independence and financial ruin.”

Called up to the Minister again later. I am to secure the insertion of the following in the non-official German papers and in the Belgian and English press: “The English Government observe their neutrality in connection with the war that has now broken out in a liberal and conscientious spirit. They impartially permit both sides to purchase horses and munitions of war in England. It is unfortunate, however, that France alone can avail herself of this liberality, as will appear from a glance at the geographical position of the two countries and from the superiority of the French at sea. Then quote what Heffter (the book must be in the library) has to say on this kind of neutrality, and observe that the English jurists describe it more tersely as ‘fraudulent neutrality.’”

July 23rd.—Called to the Minister five times to-day. The press should urge the prosecution and seizure of Rothan, an Alsacian who speaks German, hitherto French Chargé d’Affaires at Hamburg, who has been a zealous spy and instrument of French intrigue in North Germany, and who is now understood to be wandering along the coast between the Elbe and Ems, as also that of the ex-Hanoverian officer, Adolf von Kielmansegg, respecting whom further particulars are to be obtained from the Ministry of the Interior. The Count further wants the press to give a list of the names of the Bavarian members of Parliament who voted for the neutrality of that State in the national war, mentioning their professions but without any further remarks. “Give it first in Brass,” (i.e., Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung,) he added. “You will find such a list amongst the documents. The complaints as to the manner in which England understands neutrality must be continually renewed. The English Government does not forbid the export of horses, though only France can avail herself of that facility. Colliers are allowed to load at Newcastle and to supply fuel for the French men-of-war cruising in the North Sea. English cartridge factories are working for the French army under the eyes of the Government. In Germany the painful feeling has become more and more widespread that, under Lord Granville, England, while nominally maintaining neutrality, favours France in the manner in which it is really observed.”

About 11 P.M. I was again called to the Minister. The reports respecting the English coal ships to be at once sent by a Chancery attendant to Wolf’s Telegraphic Agency for circulation to the newspapers.

In this connection may be mentioned an Embassy report from London, dated the 30th of July, to the following effect: Lord Granville had asked the Ambassador if he had not stirred up the authorities in Berlin against the English Government. The reply was in the negative. The Ambassador had only carried out his instructions. Public opinion in Germany influenced the Government, just as the German press influenced public opinion. The manner in which neutrality was observed on the part of England had excited the greatest indignation in Germany. The action of the English Government, which indeed recognised that France was in the wrong, but failed to give expression to that conviction, was also bitterly resented there. Granville replied that once it had been decided to remain neutral that neutrality must be maintained in every respect. If the export of contraband of war were forbidden, the French would regard it as an act of one-sided hostility, while at the same time it would ruin English trade in the branches affected by such prohibition, and favour American manufacturers. For the present, every one in England approved of the maintenance of neutrality, and therefore in a general way no change was possible in these matters. At the same time, the English Government was ready, in case of complaints reaching them in an official way respecting any acts of illegality, to institute an inquiry into the facts and secure the punishment of the guilty parties. It did not seem impossible to prevent the supply of English coal to French men-of-war. Next Monday a Bill was to be submitted to Parliament for the amendment of the laws regulating neutrality. The report concluded as follows: “England is in many respects well disposed towards us, but will for the present remain neutral. If we make further attacks upon English public opinion through our official press in connection with these grievances, it will serve no purpose but to conjure up future difficulties. Granville is not what we might desire, but he is not prejudiced against us. He may become so, however, if he is further provoked by us. We can hardly succeed in overthrowing him, and if we did his probable successor would in all likelihood be much worse than himself.”

July 24th.—I am instructed by the Count to send an article to the Kölnische Zeitung respecting the Dutch coal question. He gave me the following information on this subject: “Holland asked us to again permit the passage of Prussian coal down the Rhine, and requested that a large transport of Rhenish coal intended for Holland should be allowed to pass the frontier. It was only to be used in factories, and the Government of the Netherlands would prohibit its re-exportation. Prussia willingly agreed to this, but shortly afterwards it was ascertained that foreign vessels were being loaded with coal in Dutch ports, and the Government of the Netherlands subsequently informed us that in promising to prevent the re-exportation they had overlooked the circumstance that their treaty with France did not permit this. Thereupon as a matter of course the export of Prussian coal to Holland was prohibited. In the interval, however, they seem to have secured a sufficient supply in Holland to provide the French fleet for a considerable time. That is a very suspicious method of observing the neutrality promised by the gentlemen at the Hague.”

Bucher brings me the following paragraph from the Chief, which is to be inserted in the Spenersche Zeitung, or some other non-official organ, and afterwards in the North German Correspondence: “In 1851 a literary gamin in Paris was commissioned to conjure up the Red Terror in a pamphlet, which proved very useful to the President Louis Napoleon, enabling him to escape from a debtors’ prison and ascend the Imperial throne. The Duc de Grammont now tries to raise the Spanish Terror in order to save the Emperor from the necessity of accounting for the hundred millions which he diverted from the State Treasury into his private purse. The literary gentleman in question was made a Prefect. What reward can Grammont have had in view?”

Evening.—The Minister wishes an article to be prepared for circulation in the German press describing the French and French policy under the Emperor Napoleon. This is to be first sent to the Spenersche Zeitung, while the Literary Bureau is to secure the insertion of the principal points in a condensed form in the Magdeburg papers and a number of the smaller journals to-morrow. The Count said (literally): “The French are not so astute as people generally think. As a nation they resemble certain individuals amongst our lower classes. They are narrow-minded and brutal,—great physical force, boastful and insolent, winning the admiration of men of their own stamp through their audacity and violence. Here in Germany the French are also considered clever by persons who do not think deeply, and their Ministers are regarded as great statesmen because of their insolent interference in the affairs of the whole world, and their desire to rule everywhere. Audacity is always impressive. People think their success is due to shrewd political calculation, but it is actually due to nothing else than the fact that they always keep 300,000 soldiers ready to back up their policy. That alone, and not their political intelligence, has enabled them to carry things with such a high hand. We must get rid of this fiction.... In political affairs the French are in the fullest sense of the word a narrow-minded nation. They have no idea how things look outside of France, and learn nothing about it in their schools. The French educational establishments, for the greater glory of France, leave their pupils in the crassest ignorance as to everything beyond her frontiers, and so they have not the slightest knowledge of their neighbours; that is the case with the Emperor, or at least he is not much better, to say nothing of Grammont, who is an ass (Rindvieh). Napoleon is ignorant at bottom, although he has been educated in German schools. His ‘Cæsar’ was intended to conceal that fact. He has forgotten everything. His policy was always stupid. The Crimean War was against the interests of France, which demanded an alliance or at least a good understanding with Russia. It was the same with the war in Italy. There he created a rival in the Mediterranean, North Africa, Tunis, &c., who may one day prove dangerous. The Italian people are much more gifted than the French, only less numerous. The war in Mexico and the attitude adopted in 1866 were blunders, and doubtless in storming about as they do at present the French feel conscious that they have committed another blunder.”

July 25th.—At 11 o’clock this morning Count Bismarck and his family took the Holy Communion at their residence. He asked whether any one in our bureau desired to join them, but no one offered to do so. I was for a moment tempted, but reconsidered the matter. It might look as if I wished to recommend myself.

Copies of the Benedetti draft treaty are sent to Auber (the French Press Agency) and Heide.

July 27th.—It is to be stated either in the Norddeutsche or the Spenersche Zeitung that secrecy respecting confidential communications between great States is, as a rule, more carefully observed and maintained than the public imagines. Nevertheless, the French misrepresentation of Prussia’s attitude in the affair of the candidature for the Spanish throne (in Grammont’s despatch of the 21st of July) obliged the authorities here to disregard these considerations of discretion. Benedetti’s proposal has therefore been published and it may be followed by other documents of the same description. The Count concluded his directions as follows: “We are at least entitled to tell the truth with discretion in presence of such indiscreet lies.”

Bucher brings me from the Minister the following sketch of a paragraph for the press: “The despatch of the Duc de Grammont, the full text of which now lies before us, is a desperate attempt to prove that the origin of the situation which they have themselves created was the Hohenzollern candidature, and to conceal the motive which they confessed on many other occasions—namely, the conquest by France of the left bank of the Rhine and of Belgium. The inconsistency of the whole assertion is made clear by the circumstance that the offer of the Spanish throne to the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern was first made in a letter dated the 14th of February of the present year. Therefore, there can be no connection between this offer and the conversations in March, 1869, between Benedetti and Von Thile, which were the outcome of aspirations or proposals frequently ventilated in the press (also with reference to Prince Frederick Charles). In 1851 the President Louis Napoleon succeeded in obtaining credence both at home and abroad for certain fictions, so long as that was necessary for the attainment of his object. The fiction which is now circulated, at a somewhat late hour, to the effect that the Prince of Hohenzollern was the candidate of Prussia is refuted in advance by the fact, which has been well known for a long time, that the Prussian Government as well as the officials of the Confederation, had absolutely no knowledge of, or connection with, the Spanish proposal. It was resolutely opposed by his Majesty the King, as the head of the Hohenzollern family, until last June, when at Ems he reluctantly withdrew his opposition when it was represented to him that otherwise Spain would fall into the hands of the Republicans. We find it difficult to understand what interest the French Government can have in circulating such lies now that war has actually broken out. The attempt of the Duc de Grammont to conjure up the spectre of a restoration of Charles V.’s monarchy can only be explained by the complete isolation of the French mind. That apparition had no sooner manifested itself than it vanished before the angry contempt of public opinion, which resented being supposed capable of such credulity.”

The Chancellor desires to see the following considerations reproduced in the evening papers: “The Benedetti document is by no means the only one dealing with the matter in question. Negotiations were also carried on by others, as, for instance, by Prince Napoleon during his stay in Berlin. Since French diplomacy was ignorant enough to believe that a German Minister who followed a national policy could for a moment think of entertaining such proposals, it had only itself to thank if it was befooled with its own schemes so long as such fooling appeared calculated to promote the maintenance of peace. Even those who pursue the most ignorant and narrow-minded policy must ultimately come to recognise that they have hoped for and demanded impossibilities. The bellicose temper which now prevails in Paris dates from such recognition. The hopes of German statesmen that they would be able to befool the French until a peaceful régime was established in France by some transformation of her despotic constitution have unfortunately not been realised. Providence willed it otherwise. Since we can no longer maintain peace it is not necessary now to preserve silence. For we preserved silence solely in order to promote the continuance, and, if possible, the permanency, of peaceful relations.”... The Minister concluded: “You can add, too, that the question of French Switzerland was also mentioned in the negotiations, and that it was hinted that in Piedmont they knew quite well where the French districts begin and the Italian districts leave off.”

July 28th.—I see the original of Benedetti’s draft treaty, and I am to receive a photographic copy of it similar to that which has been prepared for distribution amongst foreign Governments.

Bucher handed me the following sketch of an article, received by him from the Minister, which is to be inserted in some organ not apparently connected with the Government: “Those who now hold power in Spain declare that they do not wish to interfere in the conflict between Germany and France, because the latter might create internal difficulties for them. They allow Bonaparte to prohibit their election of the King of their own choice. They look on calmly with folded arms while other nations go to war over a difference that has arisen out of a question of Spanish domestic interest. We had formed quite another opinion of the Castilian gentilhomme. The Spanish temper seems to resemble that of Gil Blas, who wanted to fight a duel with the army surgeon but observed that the latter had an unusually long rapier.”

July 30th, 10 p.m.—The Minister desires that attention should be again called to the manner in which the French are looking about for foreign assistance, and he once more gives a few points: “France is begging in all directions, and wants in particular to take Italy into her pay. Here, as everywhere, she speculates upon the worst elements, while the better elements will have nothing to do with her. How does that harmonise with the greatness of the nation which ‘stands at the head of civilisation,’ and whose historians always point out that it was only defeated at Leipzig because its opponents were four to one? At that time they had half Germany, Italy, Holland, and the present Belgium on their side. To-day, when they stand alone, they go round hat in hand to every door, and seek mercenaries to reinforce their own army, in which they can therefore have but very little confidence.”

July 31st.—This morning received from Roland one of the photographic copies of the Benedetti draft.

CHAPTER II

DEPARTURE OF THE CHANCELLOR FOR THE SEAT OF WAR—I FOLLOW HIM, AT FIRST TO SAARBRÜCKEN—JOURNEY FROM THERE TO THE FRENCH FRONTIER—THE FOREIGN OFFICE FLYING COLUMN

On the 31st of July, 1870, at 5.30 P.M., the Chancellor, accompanied by his wife and his daughter, the Countess Marie, left his residence in the Wilhelmstrasse to take the train for Mainz, on his way to join King William at the seat of war. He was to be followed by some Councillors of the Foreign Office, a Secretary of the Central Bureau, two deciphering clerks and three or four Chancery attendants. The remainder of us only accompanied him with our good wishes, as, with his helmet on his head, he passed out between the two sphinxes that guard the door steps, and entered his carriage. I also had resigned myself to the idea of following the course of the army on the map and in the newspapers. A few days after the declaration of war, on my begging the Minister to take me with him in case I could be of use, he replied that that depended on the arrangements at headquarters. At the moment there was no room for me. My luck, however, soon improved.

On the evening of the 6th of August a telegram was received at the Ministry giving news of the victory at Wörth. Half an hour later I took the good tidings still fresh and warm to a group of acquaintances who waited in a restaurant to hear how things were going. Everybody knows how willingly Germans celebrate the receipt of good news. My tidings were very good indeed, and many (perhaps most) of my friends celebrated them too long. The result was that next morning I was still in bed when the Foreign Office messenger Lorenz brought me a copy of a telegraphic despatch, according to which I was to start for headquarters immediately. Privy Councillor Hepke wrote: “Dear Doctor,—Get ready to leave for headquarters in the course of the day.” The telegram ran as follows: “Mainz, 6th of August, 7.36 P.M. Let Dr. Busch come here and bring with him a Correspondent for the National Zeitung and one for the Kreuzzeitung. Bismarck.” Hepke allowed me to select these correspondents.

I had therefore after all attained to the very height of good fortune. In a short time I had provided for all essentials, and by midday I had received my pass legitimation, and free ticket for all military trains. That evening a little after 8 o’clock I left Berlin together with the two correspondents whom the Minister wished to accompany me, namely, Herr von Ungarn-Sternberg, for the Kreuzzeitung, and Professor Constantine Roeszler for the National Zeitung. In the beginning we travelled first class, afterwards third, and finally in a freight car. There were numerous long halts, which in our impatience seemed still longer. It was only at 6 o’clock on the morning of the 9th of August that we reached Frankfurt. As we had to wait here for some hours we had time to inquire where the headquarters were now established. The local Commandant was unable to inform us, nor could the Telegraph Director say anything positive on the subject. He thought they might be still in Homburg, but more probably they had moved on to Saarbrücken.

It was midday before we again started, in a goods train, by way of Darmstadt, past the Odenwald, whose peaks were covered with heavy white fog, by Mannheim and towards Neustadt. As we proceeded our pace became gradually slower, and the stoppages, which were occasioned by seemingly endless lines of carriages transporting troops, became more and more frequent. Wherever a pause occurred in the rush of this onward wave of modern national migration, crowds hurried to the train, cheering and flourishing their hats and handkerchiefs. Food and drink were brought to the soldiers by people of all sorts and conditions, including poor old women—needy but good-hearted creatures whose poverty only allowed them to offer coffee and dry black bread.

We crossed the Rhine during the night. As day began to break we noticed a well-dressed gentleman lying near us on the floor who was speaking English to a man whom we took to be his servant. We discovered that he was a London banker named Deichmann. He also was anxious to get to headquarters in order to beg Roon’s permission to serve as a volunteer in a cavalry regiment, for which purpose he had brought his horses with him. The line being blocked near Hosbach, on Deichmann’s advice we took a country cart to Neustadt, a little town which was swarming with soldiers—Bavarian riflemen, Prussian Red Hussars, Saxon and other troops.

It was here that we took our first warm meal since our departure from Berlin. Hitherto we had had to content ourselves with cold meat, while at night our attempts to sleep on the bare wooden benches with a portmanteau for a pillow were not particularly successful. However, we were proceeding to the seat of war, and I had experienced still greater discomforts on a tour of far less importance.

After a halt of one hour at Neustadt, the train crossed the Hardt through narrow valleys and a number of tunnels, passing the defile in which Kaiserslautern lies. From this point until we reached Homburg it poured in torrents almost without cessation, so that when we arrived at that station at 10 o’clock the little place seemed to be merely a picture of night and water. As we stepped out of the train and waded through swamp and pool with our luggage on our shoulders, we stumbled over the rails and rather felt than saw our way to the inn “Zur Post.” There we found every bed occupied and not a mouthful left to eat. We ascertained however, that had even the conditions been more favourable we could not have availed ourselves of them, as we were informed that the Count had gone on with the King, and was at that moment probably in Saarbrücken. There was no time to be lost if we were to overtake him before he left Germany.

It was far from pleasant to have to turn out once more into the deluge, but we were encouraged to take our fate philosophically by considering the still worse fate of others. In the tap-room of the “Post” the guests slept on chairs enveloped in a thick steam redolent of tobacco, beer, and smoking lamps and the still more pungent odour of damp clothes and leather. In a hollow near the station we saw the watchfire of a large camp half quenched by the rain—Saxon countrymen of ours, if we were rightly informed. While wading our way back to the train we caught the gleam of the helmets and arms of a Prussian battalion which stood in the pouring rain opposite the railway hotel. Thoroughly drenched and not a little tired, we at length found shelter in a waggon, where Deichmann cleared a corner of the floor on which we too could lie, and found a few handfuls of straw to serve us as a pillow. My other two companions were not so fortunate. They had to manage as best they could on the top of boxes and packages with the postmen and transport soldiers. It was evident that the poor Professor, who had grown very quiet, was considerably affected by these hardships.

About 1 o’clock the train set itself slowly in motion. By daybreak, after several stoppages, we reached the outskirts of a small town with a beautiful old church. A mill lay in the valley through which we could also see the windings of the road that led to Saarbrücken. We were told that this town was only two or three miles off, so that we were near our journey’s end. Our locomotive, however, seemed to be quite out of breath, and as the headquarters might at any moment leave Saarbrücken and cross the frontier, where we could get no railway transport and in all probability no other means of conveyance, our impatience and anxiety increased, and our tempers were not improved by a clouded sky and drizzling rain. Having waited in vain nearly two hours for the train to start, Deichmann again came to our rescue. After a short disappearance he returned with a miller who had arranged to carry us to the town in his own trap. The prudent fellow, however, made Deichmann promise that the soldiers should not take his horses from him.

During the drive the miller told us that the Prussians were understood to have already pushed on their outposts as far as the neighbourhood of Metz. Between 9 and 10 o’clock we reached Sanct Johann, a suburb of Saarbrücken, where we noticed very few signs of the French cannonade a few days ago, although it otherwise presented a lively and varied picture of war times. A huddled and confused mass of canteen carts, baggage waggons, soldiers on horse and foot, and ambulance attendants with their red crosses, &c., filled the streets. Some Hessian dragoon and artillery regiments marched through, the cavalrymen singing, “Morgenroth leuchtest mir zum fruehen Tod!” (Dawn, thou lightest me to an early grave).

At the hotel where we put up I heard that the Chancellor was still in the town, and lodged at the house of a merchant and manufacturer named Haldy. I had therefore missed nothing by all our delays, and had fortunately at length reached harbour. Not a minute too soon, however, as on going to report my arrival I was informed by Count Bismarck-Bohlen, the Minister’s cousin, that they intended to move on shortly after midday. I bade good-bye to my companions from Berlin, as there was no room for them in the Chancellor’s suite, and also to our London friend, whose patriotic offer General Roon was regretfully obliged to decline. After providing for the safety of my luggage, I presented myself to the Count, who was just leaving to call upon the King. I then went to the Bureau to ascertain if I could be of any assistance. There was plenty to do. Every one had his hands full, and I was immediately told off to make a translation for the King of Queen Victoria’s Speech from the Throne, which had just arrived. I was highly interested by a declaration contained in a despatch to St. Petersburg, which I had to dictate to one of our deciphering clerks, although at the time I could not quite understand it. It was to the effect that we should not be satisfied with the mere fall of Napoleon.

That looked like a foreshadowing of some miracle.

Strassburg! and perhaps the Vosges as our frontier! Who could have dreamed of it three weeks before?

In the meantime the weather had cleared up. Shortly before one o’clock, under a broiling sun, three four-horse carriages drew up before our door, with soldiers riding as postilions. One was for the Chancellor, another for the Councillors and Count Bismarck-Bohlen, and the third for the Secretaries and Decipherers. The two Councillors and the Count having decided to ride, I took a place in their carriage, as I also did subsequently whenever they went on horseback. Five minutes later we crossed the stream and entered the Saarbrücken high road, which led past the battle-field of the 6th of August. Within half an hour of our departure from Sanct Johann we were on French soil. There were still many traces of the sanguinary struggle that had raged there five days ago—branches torn from the trees by artillery fire, fragments of accoutrements and uniforms, the crops trampled into the earth, broken wheels, pits dug in the ground by exploding shells, and small wooden crosses roughly tied together, probably marking the graves of officers and others. So far as one could observe all the dead had been already buried.

Here at the commencement of our journey through France I will break off my narrative for a while in order to say a few words about the Foreign Office Field Bureau and the way in which the Chancellor and his people travelled, lodged, worked and lived. The Minister had selected to accompany him Herr Abeken and Herr von Keudell, Count Hatzfeldt, who had previously spent several years at the Embassy in Paris, and Count Bismarck-Bohlen, all four Privy Councillors of Legation. After these came the Geheim-Sekretär, Bölsing, of the Centralbureau, the two deciphering clerks, Willisch and St. Blanquart, and finally myself. At Ferrières our list of Councillors was completed by Lothar Bucher, and a new deciphering clerk, Herr Wiehr, also joined us. At Versailles the number was further increased by Herr von Holstein, subsequently Councillor of Embassy, the young Count Wartensleben, and Privy Councillor Wagner, the latter, however, not being employed on Foreign Office work. Herr Bölsing who had fallen ill, was replaced by Geheim-Sekretär Wollmann, and the accumulation of work afterwards required a fourth deciphering clerk. Our “Chief,” as the Chancellor was usually called by the staff, had kindly arranged that all his fellow-workers, Secretaries as well as Councillors, should in a certain sense be members of his household. When circumstances permitted we lodged in the same house, and had the honour of dining at his table.

Throughout the whole war the Chancellor wore uniform. It was generally the well-known undress of the yellow regiment of heavy Landwehr cavalry. During the early months of the campaign he as a rule only wore the Commander’s Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle, to which he afterwards added the Iron Cross. I only saw him a couple of times in a dressing gown. That was at Versailles, when he was unwell, the only time, as far as I know, that anything ailed him throughout the whole war. When travelling he was usually accompanied in the carriage by Herr Abeken, but on some occasions he took me with him for several days in succession. He was very easy to please in the matter of his quarters, and was willing to put up with the most modest shelter when better was not to be had. Indeed, it once happened that there was no bedstead and that his bed had to be made upon the floor.

Our carriages usually followed immediately after those of the King’s suite. We started generally about 10 o’clock in the morning, and sometimes covered as much as sixty kilometres in the day. On reaching our quarters for the night our first duty was to set about preparing an office, in which there was seldom any lack of work, especially when we had the Field Telegraph at our disposal. When communications were thus established, the Chancellor again became what, with short intervals, he had been throughout this entire period, namely, the central figure of the whole civilised European world. Even in those places where we only stayed for one night he, incessantly active himself, kept his assistants almost continuously engaged until a late hour. Messengers were constantly going and coming with telegrams and letters. Councillors were drawing up notes, orders and directions under instructions from their chief, and these were being copied, registered, ciphered and deciphered in the Chancellerie. Reports, questions, newspaper articles, &c., streamed in from every direction, most of them requiring instant attention.

Never, perhaps, was the well nigh superhuman power of work shown by the Chancellor, his creative, receptive and critical activity, his ability to deal with the most difficult problems, always finding the right and the only solution, more strikingly evident than during this period. The inexhaustible nature of his powers was all the more astounding, as he took but little sleep. Except when a battle was expected and he rose at daybreak to join the King and the army, the Chancellor rose rather late, as had been his custom at home, usually about 10 o’clock. On the other hand, he spent the night at work, and only fell asleep as daylight began to appear. He was often hardly out of bed and dressed before he commenced work again, reading despatches and making notes upon them, looking through newspapers, giving instructions to his Councillors and others, and setting them their various tasks, or even writing or dictating. Later on there were visits to be received, audiences to be granted, explanations to be given to the King. Then followed a further study of despatches and maps, the correction of articles, drafts hurriedly prepared with his well-known big pencil, letters to be written, information to be telegraphed, or published in the newspapers, and in the midst of it all the reception of visitors who could not be refused a hearing yet must occasionally have been unwelcome. It was only after 2, or even 3 o’clock, in places where we made a longer stay, that the Chancellor allowed himself a little recreation by taking a ride in the neighbourhood. On his return he set to work again, continuing until dinner time, between 5.30 and 6 P.M. In an hour and a half at latest, he went back to his writing-desk, where he frequently remained till midnight.

In his manner of taking his meals, as in his sleep, the Count differed from the general run of mankind. Early in the day he took a cup of tea and one or two eggs, and from that time until evening he, as a rule, tasted nothing more. He seldom took any luncheon and rarely came to tea, which was usually served between 10 and 11 at night. With some exceptions, he therefore had practically but one meal in the twenty-four hours, but, like Frederick the Great, he then ate with appetite. Diplomats are proverbially fond of a good table, being scarcely surpassed in this respect by the clergy. It is part of their business, as they often have important guests who, for one reason or another, must be put in good humour, and it is universally recognised that nothing is better calculated to that end than a well-filled cellar and a dinner which shows the skill of a highly trained chef. Count Bismarck also kept a good table, which, when circumstances permitted, became quite excellent. That was the case for instance at Reims, Meaux, Ferrières and Versailles, where the genius of our cook in the Commissariat uniform created breakfasts and dinners that made any one accustomed to a homely fare feel, as he did justice to them, that he was at length resting in Abraham’s bosom, particularly when some specially fine brand of champagne was added to the other gracious gifts of Providence. During the last five months our table was also enriched by presents from home where, as was only right and proper, our people showed how fondly they remembered the Chancellor, by sending him plentiful supplies of good things, both fluid and solid, geese, venison, fish, pheasants, monumental pastry, excellent beer, rare wines, and other acceptable delicacies.

At first only the Councillors wore uniform, Herr von Keudell that of the Cuirassiers, and Count Bismarck-Bohlen that of the Dragoon Guards, while Count Hatzfeldt and Herr Abeken wore the undress uniform of the Foreign Office. It was afterwards suggested that the whole of the Minister’s personnel, with the exception of the two gentlemen first mentioned, who were also officers, should be allowed the same privilege. The Chief gave his consent, so the people of Versailles had an opportunity of seeing our Chancery attendants in a dark blue tunic with two rows of buttons, black collar trimmed with velvet, and a cap of the same colour, while our Councillors, Secretaries and Decipherers carried swords with a gold sword-knot. The elderly Privy Councillor Abeken, who could make his horse prance as proudly as any cavalry officer, looked wonderfully warlike in this costume, in which, I fancy, he delighted not a little. It was to him just as great a pleasure to show off in all this military bravery as it had been to travel through the Holy Land dressed up as an Oriental, although he did not understand a word of Turkish or Arabic.

CHAPTER III

FROM THE FRONTIER TO GRAVELOTTE

In the preceding chapter I broke off my narrative at the French frontier. We recognised that we had crossed it by the notices posted in the villages, “Département de la Moselle.” The white roads were thronged with conveyances, and in every hamlet troops were billeted. In these hilly and partially wooded districts we saw small camps being pitched here and there. After about two hours’ drive we reached Forbach, which we passed through without stopping. In the streets through which we drove the signboards were almost entirely French, although the names were chiefly German. Some of the inhabitants who were standing at their doors greeted us in passing. Most of them, however, looked sulky, which, although it did not add to their beauty, was natural enough, as they had evidently plenty of soldiers to provide quarters for. The windows were all full of Prussians in blue uniforms. We thus jogged on, up hill and down dale, reaching Saint Avold about half-past four. Here we took up lodgings, Chancellor and all, with a M. Laity, at No. 301 Rue des Charrons. It was a one-storey house, but rather roomy, with a well-kept fruit and vegetable garden at the back. The proprietor, who was said to be a retired officer, and appeared to be well to do, had gone away with his wife the day before, leaving only a maid and an old woman, who spoke nothing but French. In half an hour we had fixed up our office and chosen our sleeping quarters. Work began without delay. As there was nothing to be done in my department, I tried to assist in deciphering the despatches, an operation which offers no particular difficulties.

At seven o’clock we dined with the Chancellor in a little room looking out on a small courtyard with some flower beds. The conversation at table was very lively, the Minister having most to say. He did not consider a surprise impossible, as he had satisfied himself during his walk that our outposts were only three-quarters of an hour from the town and very wide apart. He had asked at one post where the next was stationed, but the men did not know. He said: “While I was out I saw a man with an axe on his shoulder following close at my heels. I kept my hand on my sword, as one cannot tell in certain circumstances what may happen; but in any case I should have been ready first.” He remarked later on that our landlord had left all his cupboards full of underclothing, adding: “If this house should be turned into an ambulance hospital, his wife’s fine underlinen will be torn up for lint and bandages, and quite properly. But then they will say that Count Bismarck took the things away with him.”

We came to speak of the disposal of the troops in action. The Minister said that General Steinmetz had shown himself on that occasion to be self-willed and disobedient. “Like Vogel von Falkenstein, his habit of taking the law into his own hands will do him harm in spite of the laurels he won at Skalitz.”

There was cognac, red wine, and a sparkling Mainz wine on the table. Somebody mentioned beer, saying that probably we should be unable to obtain it. The Minister replied: “That is no loss! The excessive consumption of beer is deplorable. It makes men stupid, lazy and useless. It is responsible for the democratic nonsense spouted over the tavern tables. A good rye whiskey is very much better.”

I cannot now remember how or in what connection we came to speak about the Mormons. The Minister was surprised at their polygamy, “as the German race is not equal to so much—Orientals seem to be more potent.” He wondered how the United States could tolerate the existence of such a polygamous sect. The Count took this opportunity of speaking of religious liberty in general, declaring himself very strongly in favour of it. But, he added, it must be exercised in an impartial spirit. “Every one must be allowed to seek salvation in his own way. I shall propose that one day, and Parliament will certainly approve. As a matter of course, however, the property of the Church must remain with the old churches that acquired it. Whoever retires must make a sacrifice for his conviction, or rather his unbelief.” “People think little the worse of Catholics for being orthodox, and have no objection whatever to Jews being so. It is altogether different with Lutherans, however, and that church is constantly charged with a spirit of persecution, if it rejects unorthodox members. But it is considered quite in order that the orthodox should be persecuted and scoffed at in the press and in daily life.”

After dinner the Chancellor and Councillors took a walk in the garden from which a large building distinguished by a flag with the Geneva Cross was visible at a little distance to the right. We could see a number of nuns at the windows who were watching us through opera glasses. It was evidently a convent that had been turned into a hospital. In the evening one of the deciphering clerks expressed great anxiety as to the possibility of a surprise, and we discussed what should be done with the portfolios containing State papers and ciphers in such circumstances. I tried to reassure them, promising to do my utmost either to save or destroy the papers, should necessity arise.

There was no occasion for anxiety. The night passed quietly. Next morning as we were at lunch a green Feldjäger, or Royal Courier, arrived with dispatches from Berlin. Although such messengers usually make rapid progress, this one had not travelled any quicker than I had done in my fear to arrive too late. He left on Monday, the 8th of August, and had several times taken a special conveyance, yet he had spent nearly four days on the way, as it was now the 12th. I again assisted the Decipherers. Afterwards, while the Minister was with the King, I visited the large and beautiful town church with the Councillors, the chaplain showing us round. In the afternoon, while the Minister was out for a ride, we inspected the Prussian artillery park on a neighbouring height.

We dined at four, on the Chancellor’s return. He had ridden a long way in order to see his two sons, who were serving as privates in a regiment of dragoon guards, but found that the German cavalry had already pushed forward towards the upper reaches of the Moselle. He was in excellent spirits, evidently owing to the good fortune which continued to favour our cause. In the course of the conversation, which turned on mythology, the Chief said he could never endure Apollo, who flayed Marsyas out of conceit and envy, and slew the children of Niobe for similar reasons. “He is the genuine type of a Frenchman, one who cannot bear that another should play the flute better than, or as well as, himself.” Nor was Apollo’s manner of dealing with the Trojans to the Count’s taste. The straightforward Vulcan would have been his man, or, better still, Neptune—perhaps because of the Quos ego!—but he did not say.

After rising from table we had good news to telegraph to Berlin for circulation throughout the whole country, namely, that there were ten thousand prisoners in our hands on the 7th of August, and that a great effect had been produced on the enemy by the victory at Saarbrücken. Somewhat later we had further satisfactory particulars to send home. The Minister of Finance in Paris, evidently in consequence of the rapid advance of the German forces, had invited the French people to deposit their gold in the Bank of France instead of keeping it in their houses.

There was also some talk of a proposed proclamation forbidding and finally abolishing the conscription in the districts occupied by the German troops. We also heard from Madrid that the Montpensier party, some politicians belonging to the Liberal Union such as Rios Rosas and Topete, as well as various other party leaders, were exerting every effort to bring about the immediate convocation of the representative assembly in order that the Provisional Government should be put an end to by the election of a King. The Duc de Montpensier, whom they had in view as a candidate, was already in the Spanish capital. The Government, however, obstinately opposed this plan.

Early next morning we broke up our quarters and started for the small town of Falquemont, which we now call Falkenberg. The road was thronged with long lines of carts, artillery, ambulances, military police, and couriers. While some detachments of infantry marched along the highway, others crossed the stubble fields to the right, being guided by wisps of straw tied to poles stuck in the ground. Now and then we saw men fall out of the ranks and others lying in the furrows, fagged out, while a pitiless August sun glared down from a cloudless sky. Thick yellow clouds of dust raised by the marching of the troops followed us into Falkenberg, a place of about two thousand inhabitants, where I put up at the house of the baker, Schmidt. We lost sight of the Minister in the crowd and dust, and I only afterwards ascertained that he had gone on to see the King at the village of Herny. The march of the troops through the town continued almost uninterruptedly the whole day. A Saxon regiment, which was stationed quite near us, frequently sent their caterers to our baker for bread, but the supply was soon exhausted owing to the enormous demand.

In the afternoon some Prussian hussars brought in a number of prisoners in a cart, including a Turco who had exchanged his fez for a civilian’s hat. In another part of the town we witnessed a brawl between a shopman and one of the female camp-followers who had stolen some of his goods, which she was obliged to restore. So far as I could see, our people always paid for what they asked, sometimes doing even more.

The people where I lodged were very polite and good humoured. Both husband and wife spoke a German dialect, which was occasionally helped out with French words. From the sacred pictures which were hung on the walls they appeared to be Catholics. I had an opportunity later on of doing them a small service, when some of our soldiers insisted willy nilly upon a supply of bread, which the baker was unable to give them, as there were only two or three loaves in the shop. But I must do my countrymen the justice to say that they wanted the food badly, and were willing to pay for it. I proposed a compromise, which was accepted; each soldier was at once to get a good slice and as much as ever he required next morning.

On Sunday, the 14th of August, after luncheon, we followed the Minister to Herny. He had taken up his quarters in a whitewashed peasant’s house, a little off the High Street, where his window opened upon a dung-hill. As the house was pretty large we all joined him there. Count Hatzfeldt’s room also served as our office. The King had his quarters at the parish priest’s, opposite the venerable old church. The village consisted of one long wide street, with some good municipal buildings. At the railway station we found everything in the wildest confusion, the whole place littered with torn books, papers, &c. Some soldiers kept watch over two French prisoners. For several hours after 4 P.M. we heard the heavy thunder of cannon in the direction of Metz. At tea the Minister said: “I little thought a month ago that I should be taking tea with you, gentlemen, to-day in a farmhouse at Herny.” Coming to speak of the Duc de Grammont, the Count wondered that, on seeing the failure of his stupid policy against us, he had not joined the army in order to expiate his blunders. He was quite big and strong enough to serve as a soldier. “I should have acted differently in 1866 if things had not gone so well. I should have at once enlisted. Otherwise I could never have shown myself to the world again.”

I was frequently called to the Minister’s room to receive instructions. Our illustrated papers were to publish pictures of the charge at Spichernberg, and also to deny the statement of the Constitutionnel that the Prussians had burnt down everything on their march, leaving nothing but ruins behind them. We could say with a clear conscience that we had not observed the least sign of this. It was also thought well to reply to the Neue Freie Presse, which had hitherto been well disposed towards us, but had now adopted another policy, possibly because it had lost some subscribers who objected to its Prussophile tone, or perhaps there was something in the rumour that the Franco-Hungarian party intended to purchase it. The Chancellor, in giving instructions respecting another article of the Constitutionnel, concluded as follows: “Say that there never was any question in the Cabinet Council of a cession of Saarbrücken to France. The matter never went beyond the stage of confidential inquiries, and it is self-evident that a national Minister, inspired by the national spirit, could never have dreamt of such a course. There might, however, have been some slight basis for the rumour. A misunderstanding or a distortion of the fact that previous to 1864 the question was raised whether it would not be desirable to sell the coal mines at Saarbrücken, which are State property, to a company. I wanted to meet the expenses of the Schleswig-Holstein war in this way. But the proposal came to nothing, owing to the King’s objections to the transaction.”

On Monday, August 15th, about 6 A.M., the Minister drove off in his carriage, accompanied by Count Bismarck-Bohlen, and followed on horseback by Herr Abeken, Herr von Keudell, and Count Hatzfeldt. The rest of us remained behind, where we had plenty of work on hand, and could make ourselves useful in other ways. Several detachments of infantry passed through the village during the day, amongst them being three Prussian regiments and a number of Pomeranians, for the most part tall, handsome men. The bands played “Heil dir im Siegerkranz,” and “Ich bin ein Preusse.” One could see in the men’s eyes the fearful thirst from which they were suffering. We speedily organised a fire brigade with pails and jugs and gave as many as possible a drink of water as they marched by. They could not stop. Some took a mouthful in the palms of their hands, whilst others filled the tin cans which they carried with them, so that at least a few had some momentary relief.

Our landlord, Matthiote, knew a little German, but his wife only spoke the somewhat unintelligible French dialect of this part of Lorraine. They were thought not to be too friendly towards us, but the Minister had not observed it. He had only seen the husband, and said he was not a bad fellow. “He asked me as he brought in the dinner if I would try his wine. I found it very tolerable, but on my offering to pay for it he declined, and would only accept payment for the food. He inquired as to the future frontier, and expected that they would be better off in the matter of taxation.”

We saw little of the other inhabitants of the village. Those we met were polite and communicative. An old peasant woman whom I asked for a light for my cigar led me into her room and showed me a photograph of her son in a French uniform. Bursting into tears she reproached the Emperor with the war. Her pauvre garçon was certainly dead, and she was inconsolable.

The Councillors returned after 3 o’clock, the Minister himself coming in a little later. In the meantime we were joined by Count Henckel, a portly gentleman with a dark beard, Herr Bamberger, a member of the Reichstag whom Count Bohlen was accustomed to call the “Red Jew,” and a Herr von Olberg, who was to be appointed to an administrative position of some kind. We began to feel ourselves masters of the conquered country and to make our arrangements accordingly. As to the portion which we at that time proposed to retain permanently a telegram to St. Petersburg which I helped to cipher said that if it were the will of Providence we intended to annex Alsace.

We heard at dinner that the King and the Chancellor, accompanied by General Steinmetz, had made a reconnaissance which took them within about three English miles of Metz. The French troops outside the fortress had been driven into the city and forts on the previous day by Steinmetz’s impetuous attack at Courcelles.

In the evening, as we sat on a bench outside the door, the Minister joined us for a moment. He asked me for a cigar, but Councillor Taglioni, the King’s decipherer, was quicker than I, which was a pity, as mine were much better. At tea the Chancellor mentioned in the course of conversation that on two occasions he had been in danger of being shot by a sentry, once at San Sebastian and another time at Schluesselburg. From this we learned that he also understood a little Spanish. Passing from the Schluesselburg story, he came to relate the following anecdote, which, however, I was unable to hear quite clearly, and so cannot vouch whether it occurred to the Minister himself or to some one else. One day the Count was walking in the Summer Garden at St. Petersburg, and met the Emperor, with whom, as a Minister in high favour, his relations were somewhat unreserved. The two, after strolling on together for awhile, saw a sentry posted in the middle of a grass plot. Bismarck took the liberty to ask what he was doing there. The Emperor did not know, and questioned the aide-de-camp, who was also unable to explain. The aide-de-camp was then sent to ask the sentry. His answer was, “It has been ordered,” a reply which was repeated by every one of whom the aide-de-camp inquired. The archives were searched in vain—a sentry had always been posted there. At last an old footman remembered that his father had told him that the Empress Catherine had once seen an early snowdrop on that spot, and had given instructions that it should not be plucked. They could find no better way of preserving it than by placing a sentry to guard it, who was afterwards kept on as a matter of habit. The anti-German feeling in Holland and its causes was then referred to. It was thought to be partly due to the circumstance that Van Zuylen, when he was Dutch Minister at Berlin, had made himself unpleasant, and consequently did not receive as much consideration as he desired, so that he possibly left us in ill-humour.

On the 16th of August, at 9.30 A.M., we started for Pont à Mousson. On the excellent high road to that town we passed through several villages with fine buildings, containing the public offices and schools. The whole way was brightened by detachments of soldiers, horse and foot, and a great variety of vehicles. Here and there we also saw small encampments. A little after 3 o’clock we reached our destination, a town of about eight thousand inhabitants. Passing the market-place, where a regiment of Saxon infantry were bivouacked, some of them lying on the ground on bundles of straw, we turned into the Rue St. Laurent. Here the Chancellor, with three of the Councillors, took up their residence at the corner of Rue Raugraf in a little château overgrown with red creepers. The rest of the party lived a few doors off. I slept with Saint Blanquart in a room which was a veritable museum of natural history and ethnology, being filled with the most varied trophies from all parts of the world.

After a hasty toilette we returned to the office. On our way we observed a number of notices posted on the walls, one announcing our victory of the fourteenth, another respecting the abolition of the conscription, and a third by the Mayor, apparently in connection with some attacks by civilians on our troops, warning the inhabitants to maintain a prudent attitude. There was also an order issued by our people strictly enjoining the population to keep lights in their windows at night, and to leave the doors of houses and shops open, and to deliver up all arms at the Town Hall.

During the greater part of the afternoon we again heard the distant roar of cannon, and ascertained at dinner that there had been renewed fighting near Metz. Some one remarked that perhaps it would not be possible to prevent the French retiring to Verdun. The Minister replied, smiling, “That hardened reprobate Molk (Moltke) says it would be no misfortune, as they would then be delivered all the more surely into our hands”—which must mean that we could surround and annihilate them while they were retreating. Of the other remarks made by the Chancellor on this occasion I may mention his reference to the “small black Saxons, who looked so intelligent” and who pleased him so much on his paying them a visit the day before. These were either the dark green Chasseurs or the 108th Regiment which wore the same coloured uniform. “They seem to be sharp, ready fellows,” he added, “and the fact ought to be mentioned in the newspapers.”

On the following night we were awakened several times by the steady tramp of infantry and the rumbling of heavy wheels as they rolled over the rough pavement. We heard next morning that they were Hessians. The Minister started shortly after 4 A.M., intending to proceed towards Metz, where an important battle was expected either that day or the next. As it appeared probable that I should have little to do I availed myself of the opportunity to take a walk in the environs with Willisch. Going up stream we came upon a pontoon bridge erected by the Saxons, who had collected there a large number of conveyances, amongst others some carts from villages near Dresden. We swam across the clear deep river and back again.

On returning to the bureau in the Rue Raugraf we found that the Chancellor had not yet arrived. We had news, however, of the battle which had been fought the day before to the west of Metz. There were heavy losses on our side, and it was only with great difficulty that Bazaine was prevented from breaking through our lines. It was understood that the village of Mars la Tour was the point at which the conflict had raged most violently. The leaden rain of the chassepots was literally like a hailstorm. One of the cuirassier regiments, we were told, with the exaggeration which is not unusual in such cases, was almost utterly destroyed and the dragoon guards had also suffered severely. Not a single division escaped without heavy losses. To-day, however, we had superior numbers as the French had had yesterday, and if the latter attempted another sortie we might expect to be victorious.

It did not, however, appear certain, and we were accordingly somewhat uneasy. We could not sit still or think steadily, and, as in fever, we were oppressed by the same ideas, which returned again and again. We walked to the market and then to the bridge, where we saw the wounded, who were now gradually coming in, those with light injuries on foot and the others in ambulance cars. On the road towards Metz we met a batch of over 120 prisoners. They were for the most part small, poor-looking specimens; but there were also amongst them some tall, broad-shouldered fellows from the guards, who could be recognised by the white facings of their tunics. Then once more to the market-place and around the garden behind the house, where a dog lies buried under a tombstone with the following touching inscription:—

Girard Aubert épitaphe à sa chienne.

Ici tu gis, ma vieille amie,

Tu n’es donc plus pour mes vieux jours.

O toi, ma Diane chérie,

Je te pleurerai toujours.

At length, about 6 o’clock, the Chancellor returned. No great battle had taken place that day, but it was highly probable that an engagement would occur on the morrow. The Chief told us at dinner that he had visited his eldest son, Count Herbert, in the field ambulance at Mariaville, where he was lying in consequence of a bullet wound in the thigh, which he had received during the general cavalry charge at Mars la Tour. After riding about for some time the Minister at length found his son in a farmhouse with a considerable number of other wounded soldiers. They were in charge of a surgeon, who was unable to obtain a supply of water, and who scrupled to take the turkeys and chickens that were running about the yard for the use of his patients. “He said he could not,” added the Minister, “and all our arguments were in vain. I then threatened to shoot the poultry with my revolver and afterwards gave him twenty francs to pay for fifteen. At last I remembered that I was a Prussian General, and ordered him to do as I told him, whereupon he obeyed me. I had, however, to look for the water myself and to have it fetched in barrels.”

In the meantime the American General Sheridan had arrived in the town and asked for an interview with the Chancellor. He had come from Chicago, and lodged at the Croix Blanc in the market-place. At the desire of the Minister I called upon General Sheridan and informed him that Count Bismarck would be pleased to see him in the course of the evening. The general was a small, corpulent gentleman of about forty-five, with dark moustache and chin tuft, and spoke the purest Yankee dialect. He was accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Forsythe, and a journalist named MacLean, who served as an interpreter, acting at the same time as war correspondent for the New York World.

During the night further strong contingents of troops marched through the town—Saxons, as we ascertained next day. In the morning we heard that the King and Chancellor had gone off at 3 A.M. A battle was being fought on about the same ground as that of the 16th, and it appears as if this engagement were to prove decisive. It will be easily understood that we were still more excited than we had been during the last few days. Uneasy, and impatient for particulars of what was passing, we started in the direction of Metz, going some four kilometres from Pont à Mousson, suffering both mentally and physically, from our anxiety and suspense as well as from the sweltering heat of a windless day and a blazing sky. We met numbers of the less severely wounded coming towards the town, singly, in couples, and in large companies. Some still carried their rifles, while others leant upon sticks. One had the red cape of a French cavalryman thrown over his shoulders. They had fought two days before at Mars la Tour and Gorze. They had only heard rumours of this day’s battle, and these, good and bad as they happened to be, were soon circulated in an exaggerated form throughout the town. The good news at length seemed to get the upper hand, although late in the evening we had still heard nothing definite. We dined without our Chief, for whom we waited in vain until midnight. Later on we heard that he, accompanied by Sheridan and Count Bismarck-Bohlen, was with the King at Rezonville.

On Friday, August the 19th, when we ascertained for certain that the Germans had been victorious, Abeken, Keudell, Hatzfeldt and I drove to the battle-field. At Gorze the Councillors got out, intending to proceed further on horseback. The narrow road was blocked with all sorts of conveyances, so that it was impossible for our carriage to pass. From the same direction as ourselves came carts with hay, straw, wood, and baggage, while ammunition waggons and vehicles conveying the wounded were coming the other way. The latter were being moved into the houses, nearly all of which were turned into hospitals and were distinguished by the Geneva cross. At almost every window we could see men with their heads or arms in bandages.

After about an hour’s delay we were able to move slowly forward. The road to the right not far from Gorze would have taken us in little over half an hour to Rezonville, where I was to meet the Minister and our horsemen. My map, however, failed to give me any guidance, and I was afraid of going too near Metz. I therefore followed the high road further, and passing a farm where the house, barn and stables were full of wounded, we came to the village of Mars la Tour.

Immediately behind Gorze we had already met traces of the battle,—pits dug in the earth by shells, branches torn off by shot and some dead horses. As we went on we came upon the latter more frequently, occasionally two or three together, and at one place a group of eight carcases. Most of them were fearfully swollen, with their legs in the air, while their heads lay slack on the ground. There was an encampment of Saxon troops in Mars la Tour. The village seemed to have suffered little from the engagement of the 16th. Only one house was burned down. I asked a lieutenant of Uhlans where Rezonville was. He did not know. Where was the King? “At a place about two hours from here,” he said, “in that direction,”—pointing towards the east. A peasant woman having directed us the same way, we took that road, which brought us after a time to the village of Vionville. Shortly before reaching this place I saw for the first time one of the soldiers who had fallen in the late battle, a Prussian musketeer. His features were as dark as those of a Turco, and were fearfully bloated. All the houses in the village were full of men who were severely wounded. German and French assistant-surgeons and hospital attendants, all wearing the Geneva cross, were busy moving from place to place.

I decided to wait there for the Minister and the Councillors, as I believed they must certainly pass that way soon. As I went towards the battle-field through a side street I saw a human leg lying in a ditch, half covered with a bundle of blood-stained rags. Some four hundred paces from the village were two parallel pits about three hundred feet in length, and neither wide nor deep, at which the grave diggers were still working. Near by had been collected a great mass of German and French dead. Some of the bodies were half naked, but most of them were still in uniform. All were of a dark grey colour and were fearfully swollen from the heat. There might have been one hundred and fifty corpses in all, and others were being constantly unloaded from the carts. Doubtless, many had already been buried. Further on in the direction of Metz the ground rose slightly, and there in particular great numbers appeared to have fallen. The ground was everywhere covered with French caps, Prussian helmets, knapsacks, arms, uniforms, underclothing, shoes, and paper. Here and there in the furrows of a potato field lay single bodies, one with a whole leg torn away, another with half the head blown off, while some had the right hand stretched out stiffly pointing towards the sky. There were also a few single graves, marked with a chassepot stuck in the ground or with a cross made from the wood of a cigar box roughly tied together. The effluvium was very noticeable, and at times, when the wind came from the direction of a heap of dead horses, it became unendurable.

It was time to return to the carriage, and besides I had seen quite enough of the battle-field. I took another way back, but I was again obliged to pass further masses of the dead, this time all French. Near some of the bodies lay packets of letters that had been carried in their knapsacks. I brought some of these with me as a memento, amongst them being two letters in German from one Anastasia Stampf, of Scherrweiler, near Schlettstadt. These I found lying by a French soldier who had been stationed at Caen shortly before the outbreak of the war. One of them, in indifferent spelling, was dated “The 25th of the Hay Month, 1870,” and concluded with the words, “We constantly commend thee to the protection of the Blessed Virgin!”

It was 4 o’clock when I got back, and as the Minister had not arrived, we returned to Gorze. Here we met Keudell, who, with Abeken and Count Hatzfeldt had called upon the Chief at Rezonville. During the battle of the 18th instant, which was decided at Gravelotte, the Minister had, together with the King, ventured a considerable distance towards the front, so that for a time both of them were in some danger. Bismarck had afterwards with his own hands taken water to the wounded. At 9 P.M. I saw him again safe and sound at Pont à Mousson, where we all took supper with him. Naturally, the conversation turned for the most part on the last two battles and the resulting gains and losses. The French had fallen in huge masses. The Minister had seen our artillery mow down whole lines of their guards near Gravelotte. We had also suffered severely. Only the losses of the 16th of August were known up to the present. “A great many noble Prussian families will go into mourning,” the Chief said. “Wesdehlen and Reuss lie in their graves, Wedell and Finkenstein are dead, Rahden (Lucca’s husband) is shot through both cheeks, and a crowd of officers commanding regiments or battalions have either fallen or are severely wounded. The whole field near Mars la Tour was yesterday still white and blue with the bodies of cuirassiers and dragoons.” In explanation of this statement, we were informed that near the village referred to there had been a great cavalry charge upon the French, who were pressing forward in the direction of Verdun. This charge was repelled by the enemy’s infantry in Balaclava fashion, but had so far served its purpose that the French were kept in check until reinforcements arrived. The Chancellor’s two sons had also gallantly ridden into that leaden hailstorm, the elder receiving no less than three bullets, one passing through the breast of his tunic, another hitting his watch, and the third lodging in his thigh. The younger appears to have escaped unhurt. The Chief related, evidently with some pride, how Count Bill rescued two comrades who had lost their horses, dragging them out of the mêlée in his powerful grasp and riding off with them. Still more German blood was shed on the 18th, but we secured the victory, and obtained the object of our sacrifices. That evening Bazaine’s army had finally retired to Metz, and even French officers whom we had captured admitted that they now believed their cause was lost. The Saxons, who had made long marches on the two previous days, were able to take an important part in the battle near the village of Saint Privat. They now occupied the road to Thionville, so that Metz was entirely surrounded by our troops.

It appeared that the Chancellor did not quite approve of the course taken by the military authorities in both battles. Among other things he said that Steinmetz had abused the really astounding gallantry of our men—“he was a spendthrift of blood.” The Minister spoke with violent indignation of the barbarous manner in which the French conducted the war; they were said to have fired upon the Geneva cross and even upon a flag of truce.

Sheridan seemed to have speedily got on a friendly footing with the Minister, as I was instructed to invite him and his two companions to dinner on the following evening.

At 11 o’clock on the 20th of August the Chancellor received a visit from the Crown Prince, who was stationed with his troops about twenty-five English miles from Pont à Mousson on the road from Nancy to Châlons. In the afternoon some twelve hundred prisoners, including two carts conveying officers, passed through the Rue Notre Dame in charge of a detachment of Prussian cuirassiers. Sheridan, Forsythe and MacLean dined that evening with the Minister, who kept up a lively conversation in good English with the American general. The Chief and his American guests had champagne and porter. The latter was drunk out of pewter mugs, one of which the Minister filled for me. I mention this because no one else at table had porter, and the gift was particularly welcome, as since we left Saarbrücken we had had no beer. Sheridan, who was known as a successful soldier on the Federal side in the last year of the American Civil War, spoke a good deal. He told us of the hardships he and his companions had undergone during the ride from the Rocky Mountains to Chicago, of the fearful swarms of mosquitoes, of a great heap of bones in California or thereabouts in which fossils were found, and of buffalo and bear hunting, &c. The Chancellor also told some hunting stories. One day in Finland he found himself in dangerous proximity to a big bear. It was white with snow, and he had barely been able to see it. “At last I fired, however, and the bear fell some six paces from me. But it was not killed, and might get up again. I knew what I had to expect, and so without stirring I quietly reloaded, and as soon as it stirred I shot it dead.”

We were very busy on the forenoon of the 21st of August, preparing reports and leading articles to be forwarded to Germany. We heard that the bearer of a flag of truce who was fired upon by the French was Captain or Major Verdy, of Moltke’s general staff, and that the trumpeter who accompanied him was wounded. Trustworthy information was received from Florence to the effect that Victor Emmanuel and his Ministers had, in consequence of our victories, decided to observe neutrality, which up to that time was anything but certain. Now it was at last possible to estimate, at least approximately, the losses of the French at Courcelles, Mars la Tour, and Gravelotte. The Minister put them at about 50,000 men during the three days, of whom about 12,000 were killed. He added: “The ambition and mutual jealousy of some of our generals was to blame for the severity of our losses. That the guards charged too soon was entirely due to their jealousy of the Saxons who were coming up behind them.”

That afternoon I had some talk with one of the dragoon guards who had been in the charge on the French battery on the 16th. He maintained that besides Finkenstein and Reuss, the two Treskows were also dead and buried; and that after the battle one squadron had been formed out of the three squadrons of his regiment that had been in action, and one regiment out of the two dragoon regiments that had been engaged. He spoke very modestly about that gallant deed. “We had to charge,” he said, “in order to prevent our artillery being taken by the enemy.” While I was talking to him some Saxon infantry passed by with a batch of about 150 prisoners. I ascertained from the escort that after their long march the Saxons had fought in the battle near Roncourt and Saint Privat. Once they had charged with the bayonet and the butt ends of their rifles. They had lost a good many officers, including General Krausshaar.

As I entered the room that evening at tea time the Chief said: “How are you, doctor?”

“I thank your Excellency, quite well.”

“Have you seen something of what has been going on?”

“Yes, your Excellency, the battle-field near Vionville.”

“It is a pity you were not with us to share our adventures on the 18th.”

The Chancellor then went on to give us a full account of his experiences during the last hours of the battle and the following night. I shall give these and other particulars later on, as I heard them from the Minister. Here I will only mention that the King had ventured too far to the front, which Bismarck thought was not right. Referring to our men, the American General Sheridan said: “Your infantry is the best in the world; but it was wrong of your generals to advance their cavalry as they did.” I may further mention that Bohlen in the course of the conversation said to the Chancellor: “Did you hear how the Bavarian muttered when the result seemed doubtful—‘Things look bad! It’s a bad case!’—and was obviously delighted to think we were going to be beaten?” The Bavarian referred to was Prince Luitpold. The name of General Steinmetz then came up. The Chancellor said that he was brave, but self-willed and excessively vain. Small and slight of figure, when he came into the Diet he always stood near the President’s chair so as to be noticed. He used to attract attention by pretending to be very busy taking notes of what went on, as if he were following the debate with great care. “He evidently thought the newspapers would mention it, and praise his zeal. If I am not mistaken his calculation proved correct.”

On Monday, the 22nd of August, I wrote in my diary: “Called to the Chief at 10.30 A.M. He asked first after my health and whether I also had been attacked by dysentery. He had had a bad time of it the night before. The Count down with dysentery! God save him from it! It would be worse than the loss of a battle. Without him our whole cause would be reduced to uncertainty and vacillation.”

On the instructions of the Chief I sent the Kölnische Zeitung the translation of part of a confidential report according to which the Emperor Alexander was favourably disposed towards the French. I also wired to Berlin respecting the closing of some small telegraph offices the officials of which were required for the field service.

There is no longer any doubt that we shall retain Alsace and Metz, with its environs, in case of a final victory over France. The considerations that have led the Chancellor to this conclusion, and which have already been discussed in an academic way in the English press, are somewhat as follows:

A war indemnity, however great it may be, would not compensate us for the enormous sacrifices we have made. We must protect South Germany with its exposed position against French attacks, and thus put an end to the pressure exercised upon it by France during two centuries, especially as this pressure has during the whole time greatly contributed to German disorganisation and confusion. Baden, Würtemberg, and the other south-western districts must not in future be threatened by Strassburg and subject to attack from that point. This also applies to Bavaria. Within 150 years the French have made war upon South-west Germany more than a dozen times. Efforts were made in 1814 and 1815 in a forbearing spirit to secure guarantees against a renewal of such attacks. That forbearance, however, was without effect, and it would now also remain fruitless. The danger lies in the incurable arrogance and lust of power which is part of the French character, qualities that might be abused by every ruler—not by any means by the Bonapartes alone—for the purpose of attacking peaceful neighbours. Our protection against this evil does not lie in vain attempts periodically to soothe French susceptibilities, but rather in securing a well-defended frontier. France, by repeatedly annexing German territory and all the natural defences on our western frontier, has put herself in a position to force her way into South Germany with a comparatively small force before assistance can be brought from the north. Such invasions have repeatedly occurred under Louis XIV. and his successor, as well as under the Republic and the First Empire, and the sense of insecurity obliges the German States to reckon constantly with France. That the annexation of a piece of territory will produce bitter feelings amongst the French is a matter of no consequence. Such feelings would exist in any case, even without any cession of territory. Austria did not lose an acre of soil in 1866, and yet what thanks have we had? Our victory at Sadowa had already filled the French with hatred and vexation. How much stronger must that sentiment be after our victories at Wörth and Metz! Revenge for those defeats will continue to be the war cry in Paris even without any annexation, and will spread to influential circles in the provinces, just as the idea of revenge for Waterloo was kept alive there for decades. An enemy who cannot be turned into a friend by considerate treatment must be rendered thoroughly and permanently harmless. Not the demolition, but the surrender, of the eastern fortresses of France can alone serve our purpose. Whoever desires disarmament must wish to see France’s neighbours adopt this course, as France is the sole disturber of European peace, and will remain so as long as she can.

It is astonishing how freely this idea of the Chief’s now flows from one’s pen. What looked like a miracle ten days ago seems now quite natural and a matter of course. Perhaps the suggestion as to a German Empire which is understood to have been mentioned during the visit of the Crown Prince is also an idea of the same kind. Blessings follow closely upon each other’s heels. We may now regard everything as probable.

At dinner the Minister complained of the excessive frugality with which the principal officials of the Royal Household catered for the King’s table. “There is seldom any champagne, and in the matter of food also short commons is the rule. When I glance at the number of cutlets I only take one, as I am afraid that otherwise somebody else would have to go without.” These remarks, like similar hints given recently, were intended for one or other of the gentlemen from the Court, with a view to their being repeated in the proper quarter. The conversation then turned on the improper, not to say disgraceful, manner in which the French soldiers carried on the war. The Minister said they had killed one of our officers near Mars la Tour (Finkenstein, I believe it was) while he was sitting wounded by the roadside. One of the company maintained that he had been shot, but another said that an examination of the body by a doctor showed that the officer had been stabbed. The Chief remarked that if he had to choose, he should prefer being stabbed to being shot.

Count Herbert has been brought in from the Field Hospital, and a bed has been prepared for him on the floor in his father’s room. I was talking to him to-day. His wound is painful, but up to the present it does not appear to be dangerous. He is to return to Germany one of these days, where he will remain until he has recovered.

CHAPTER IV

COMMERCY—BAR LE DUC—CLERMONT EN ARGONNE

On Tuesday, August 23rd, we were to continue our journey westwards. Sheridan and his companions were to accompany us or to follow without delay. Regierungspräsident von Kühlwetter remained behind as Prefect; Count Henckel went to Saargemund, and Count Renard, a huge figure with a beard of corresponding amplitude, went to Nancy in a similar capacity. Bamberger, the member of Parliament, visited us again. I also noticed Herr Stieber on one occasion in the neighbourhood of the house at the corner of the Rue Raugraf, and as I was walking about the town to take a last look at the place before leaving, I saw the fine-drawn, wrinkled, clean shaven face of Moltke, whom I had last seen as he entered the Foreign Office in company with the Minister of War five or six days before the declaration of hostilities. It seemed to me that his features wore to-day an expression of perfect content and satisfaction.

On my return to the office I was much interested by a report of the views recently expressed by Thiers as to the immediate future of France. He regarded it as certain that in case of victory we should retain Alsace. The defeat of Napoleon would be followed by the loss of his throne. He would be succeeded for a few months by a Republic, and then probably by one of the Orleans family, or perhaps by Leopold of Belgium, who, according to the source from which our informant obtained his news (one of Rothschild’s confidants), was known on the best authority to be extremely ambitious.

We left Pont à Mousson at 10 o’clock. In the villages along the road the houses stood side by side as in a town. Most of them possessed handsome municipal buildings and schools, and some had seemingly ancient Gothic churches. On the other side of Gironville the road passes a steep hill, with a wide prospect of the plain beneath. Here we left the carriages in order to ease the load for the horses. The Chancellor who drove at the head of our party with Abeken also got out and walked for a quarter of an hour, his big boots reminding one of pictures of the thirty years’ war. Moltke walked beside him; the greatest strategist of our days striding along towards Paris on a country road near the French frontier in company with the greatest statesman of our time!

After we had returned to the carriages we saw a number of soldiers to the right putting up a telegraph line. Shortly after 2 o’clock we came to Commercy, a bright little town with about 6,000 inhabitants. The white blinds in the better class houses were for the most part drawn down, as if the occupants did not wish to see the hated Prussians. The people in blouses were more curious and less hostile.

The Chief, together with Abeken and Keudell, took up their quarters in the château of Count Macore de Gaucourt in the Rue des Fontaines, where a Prince von Schwarzburg had lodged, and which was now occupied by the lady of the house. Her husband was in the French army and was accordingly with his regiment in the field. He was a very distinguished gentleman, being descended from the old Dukes of Lorraine. There was a pretty flower garden near the house, and behind it was a large wooded park. I put up not far from the Minister’s quarters at No. 1 Rue Heurtebise, where I had a friendly and obliging landlord and an excellent fourpost bed. I called afterwards on the Chancellor, whom I found in the garden, and asked if there was anything for me to do. After thinking for a moment, he said there was, and an hour later I provided work both for the Field Post and the new telegraph line.

Amongst other things I wrote the following paragraph: “It is now quite clear that the Princes of the Orleans family consider that their time has come, as they expect to see the star of the Napoleons sink lower and lower. In order to emphasise the fact that they are Frenchmen, they have placed their swords in the present crisis at the service of their country. The Orleans lost their throne in great part through their own sluggishness and their indifference to the development of neighbouring States. They would now appear determined to regain it by energy, and to maintain their position by flattering French chauvinism, and love of glory and universal dominion. Our work is not yet done. A decisive victory is probable, but is not yet certain. The fall of Napoleon seems near at hand, but it is not yet accomplished. Even should it occur, could we, in view of the considerations already mentioned, rest content with it and accept it as the sole result of our exertions, could we feel confident of having attained our principal object, namely, to secure peace with France for many years to come? No one can answer that question in the affirmative. A peace with the Orleans on the French throne would be still more a mockery than one with Napoleon, who must already have had enough of ‘la gloire.’ Sooner or later we should be again challenged by France, who probably would be then better prepared and would have secured more powerful allies.”

Three reserve army corps are to be formed in Germany. One, and the strongest, near Berlin; one on the Rhine; and a third at Glogau in Silesia, in consequence of the equivocal attitude of Austria. That would be a purely defensive measure. The troops on the Rhine are to be commanded by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, those near Berlin by General von Canstein, and those at Glogau by General von Löwenfeld.

Towards evening the military band played before the residence of the King, the street urchins holding their notes for the musicians in the friendliest possible manner. The King had also stopped at Commercy during the war against the First Napoleon.

Counts Waldersee and Lehndorff, and Lieutenant-General von Alvensleben (from Magdeburg) were amongst the Chief’s guests at dinner. Alvensleben told us the story of a so-called “Marl-Major” who was accustomed to attribute all sorts of occurrences to geognostic causes. He reasoned somewhat in this style: “It follows from the character and conduct of the Maid of Orleans that she could only have been born on a fertile marly soil, that she was fated to gain a victory in a limestone country, and to die in a sandstone district.”

Speaking of the barbarous way in which the French conducted the war, Alvensleben said that they had also fired upon a flag of truce at Toul. On the other hand, an officer who for a joke rode along the glacis had a friendly chat with the gentlemen on the walls. The question whether it would be possible to take Paris by storm in spite of its fortifications was answered in the affirmative by the military guests. General Alvensleben said: “A great city of that kind cannot be successfully defended if it is attacked by a sufficiently numerous force.” Count Waldersee wished to “see Babel utterly destroyed,” and brought forward arguments in favour of that measure with which I was immensely pleased. The Minister, however, replied: “Yes, that would be a very good thing, but it is impossible for many reasons. One of these is that numbers of Germans in Cologne and Frankfurt have considerable sums invested there.”

The conversation then turned upon our conquests in France and those still to be made. Alvensleben was in favour of keeping the country up to the Marne. Bismarck had another idea, which, however, he seemed to think it impossible to realise. “My ideal would be,” he said, “a kind of German colony, a neutral State of eight or ten million inhabitants, free from the conscription and whose taxes should flow to Germany so far as they were not required for domestic purposes. France would thus lose a district from which she draws her best soldiers, and would be rendered harmless. In the rest of France no Bourbon, no Orleans, and probably no Bonaparte, neither Lulu (the Prince Imperial) nor the fat Jerome, nor the old one. I did not wish for war in connection with the Luxemburg affair, as I knew that it would lead to six others. But we must now put an end to all this. However, we must not sell the bear’s skin before we have killed it. I confess I am superstitious in that respect.” “Never mind,” said Count Waldersee, “our bear is already badly hit.”

The Chief then again referred to the royal table and to the frugal manner in which food was doled out to the guests, his remarks being probably intended for Count Lehndorff, who was expected to repeat them. “We had cutlets there recently, and I could not take two, as there was only one apiece for us. Rabbit followed, and I debated with myself whether I should take a second portion, although I could easily have managed four. At length hunger overcame my politeness, and I seized a second piece, though I am sure I was robbing somebody else.”

The Chancellor then went on to speak of his sons. “I hope,” he said, “I shall be able to keep at least one of my youngsters—I mean Herbert, who is on his way to Germany. He got to feel himself quite at home in camp. Formerly he was apt to be haughty, but as he lay wounded at Pont à Mousson he was almost more friendly with the common troopers who visited him than with the officers.”

At tea we were told that in 1814 the King had his quarters in the same street where he now lives, next door to the house he occupies at present. The Chief seems to have spoken to him to-day about decorating Bavarian soldiers with the Iron Cross. The Minister said: “My further plan of campaign for his Majesty is that part of his escort should be sent on ahead. The country must be scoured by a company to the right and left of the road, and the Royal party must remain together. Pickets must be posted at stated intervals. The King approved when I told him that this had been done also in 1814. The Sovereigns did not drive on that occasion, but went on horseback, and Russian soldiers, twenty paces apart, lined the whole route.” Somebody suggested the possibility that peasants or franctireurs might fire at the King. “Certainly,” added the Chief, “and what makes it so important a point is that the personage in question, if he is ill or wounded or otherwise out of sorts, has only to say ‘Go back!’ and we must all of us go back.”

We left Commercy next day at noon, passing several military detachments and a number of encampments on our way. The measures of precaution mentioned by the Chief had been adopted. We were preceded by a squadron of uhlans and escorted by the Stabswache, which formed a bright picture of many colours, being recruited from the various cavalry regiments, such as green, red, and blue hussars, Saxon and Prussian dragoons, &c. The carriages of the Chancellor’s party followed close behind those of the King’s. For a long time we did not come across any villages. Then we passed through St. Aubin, and soon after came to a milestone by the roadside with the words “Paris 241 kilometres,” so that we were only a distance of some thirty-two German miles from Babel. We afterwards passed a long line of transport carts belonging to the regiments of King John of Saxony, the Grand Duke of Hesse, &c., which showed that we were now in the district occupied by the Crown Prince’s army.

Shortly afterwards we entered the small town of Ligny, which was thronged with Bavarian and other soldiers. We waited for about three-quarters of an hour in the market-place, which was crowded with all sorts of conveyances, while the Chief paid a visit to the Crown Prince. On our starting once more we met further masses of blue Bavarian infantry, some light horse collected round their camp fires, then a second squadron with a herd of cattle guarded by soldiers, and finally a third larger encampment within a circle of baggage waggons.

Bar le Duc, the largest town in which we have stayed up to the present, may have a population of some 15,000. The streets and squares presented a lively picture as we drove through, and we caught glimpses of curious female faces watching us through the blinds. On the arrival of the King the Bavarian band played “Heil dir im Siegerkranz.” He took up his quarters in the house occupied by the local branch of the Bank of France, in the Rue de la Banque. The Chancellor and his party lodged on the other side of the street, in the house of a M. Pernay, who had gone off leaving an old woman in charge.

Dr. Lauer, the King’s physician, dined with the Minister that evening. The Chief was very communicative as usual, and appeared to be in particularly good humour. He renewed his complaints as to the “short commons” at the royal table, evidently intending the doctor to repeat them to Count Puckler or Perponcher. During his visit at Ligny he had to take breakfast, which he said was excellent, with the Crown Prince and the Princes and chief officers of his suite. He had a seat near the fire, however, which was not quite to his taste, and otherwise it was in many ways less comfortable than in his own quarters. “There were too many Princes there for an ordinary mortal to be able to find a place. Amongst them was Frederick the Gentle (Friedrich der Sachte—Frederick VIII. of Schleswig-Holstein). He wore a Bavarian uniform, so that I hardly knew him at first. He looked somewhat embarrassed when he recognised me.” We also gathered from what the Chief said that Count Hatzfeldt was to act as a kind of Prefect while we remained here, a position for which probably his thorough knowledge of French and of the habits of the country had recommended him. We also heard that the headquarters might remain here for several days,—“as at Capua,” added the Count, laughing.

Before tea some articles were despatched to Germany, including one on the part played by the Saxons at Gravelotte, which the Chancellor praised repeatedly.

By way of change I will here again quote from my diary:—

Thursday, August 25th.—Took a walk early this morning in the upper, and evidently the older, part of the town. The shops are almost all open. The people answer politely when we ask to be shown the way. Not far from our quarters there is an old stone bridge over the river which was unquestionably built before Lorraine and the Duchy of Bar belonged to France. Towards 9 o’clock the Bavarians began their march through the town, passing in front of the King’s quarters. More French spectators had collected on both sides of the street than was quite comfortable for us. For hours together light horse with green uniforms and red facings, dark blue cuirassiers, lancers, artillery and infantry, regiment after regiment marched before the Commander-in-Chief of the German forces. As they passed the King the troops cheered lustily, the cavalry swinging their sabres, and the foot soldiers lifting up their right hands. The colours were lowered before the Sovereign, the cavalry trumpets blew an ear-splitting fanfare, while the infantry bands played stirring airs, one of them giving the beautiful Hohenfriedberg march. First came General von Hartmann’s Army Corps, followed by that of Von der Tann, who afterwards took breakfast with us. Who could have thought, immediately after the war of 1866, or even three months ago, of the possibility of such a scene?

Wrote several articles for post and others for the wire. Our people are pressing forward rapidly. The vanguards of the German columns are already between Châlons and Epernay. The formation of three reserve armies in Germany, which has been already mentioned, began a few days ago. The neutral Powers raise some objections to our intended annexation of French territory for the purpose of securing an advantageous western frontier, especially England, who up to the present has shown a disposition to tie our hands. The reports from St. Petersburg appear to be more favourable, the Tsar being well disposed to us, although he by no means unreservedly accepts the proposed measures, while we are assured of the active sympathy of the Grand Duchess Hélène. We hold fast to our intention to enforce the cession of territory, that intention being based upon the necessity of at length securing South Germany from French attack and thus rendering it independent of French policy. When our intentions are made public they will certainly be energetically endorsed by the national sentiment, which it will be difficult to oppose.

It is reported that a variety of revolting acts have been committed by the bands of franctireurs that are now being formed. Their uniform is such that they can hardly be recognised as soldiers, and the badges by which they are distinguished can be easily laid aside. One of these young fellows lies in a ditch near a wood, apparently sunning himself, while a troop of cavalry rides by. When they have passed he takes a rifle which has been concealed in a bush, fires at them and runs into the wood. Knowing the way he again appears a little further on as a harmless peasant. I am inclined to think that these are not defenders of their country but rather assassins who should be strung up without ceremony whenever they are caught.

Count Seckendorf, of the Crown Prince’s staff, was the Chief’s guest at dinner. The Augustenburger (Frederick VIII. of Schleswig-Holstein), who has joined the Bavarians, was spoken of, and not to his advantage.... (The opinions expressed were practically identical with those given in a letter which I received a few months later from a patriotic friend, Herr Noeldeke, who lived in Kiel at that time as a professor. He wrote: “We all know that he was not born for heroic deeds. He cannot help that. If he waits persistently for his inheritance to be restored to him by some miraculous means, that is a family trait. But he might at least have made an effort to appear heroic. Instead of loafing around with the army he might have led a company or a battalion of the soldiers whom at one time he was nearly calling his own,—or for my part he might have led Bavarians. In all probability the result would not have been very remarkable, but at any rate he would have shown his good will.”)

Reference was made to the rumour that the Bavarian battalions did not appear particularly anxious to advance at the battle of Wörth (or was it Weissenburg?), and that Major von Freiberg called upon them to show themselves equal to “those gallant Prussians.” Seckendorf, if I am not mistaken, confirmed this report. On the other hand, he denied that the Crown Prince had ordered treacherous French peasants to be shot. He had, on the contrary, acted with great leniency and forbearance, especially towards unmannerly French officers.

Count Bohlen, who is always ready with amusing anecdotes and flashes of fun, said: “On the 18th von Breintz’s battery was subjected to such a heavy fire that in a short time nearly all his horses and most of his men lay dead or wounded. As he was mustering the survivors, the captain remarked, ‘A very fine fight, is it not?’”

The Chief said: “Last night I asked the sentry at the door how he was off for food, and I found that the man had had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours. I went to the kitchen and brought him a good chunk of bread, at which he seemed highly pleased.”

Hatzfeldt’s appointment as Prefect led to the mention of other Prefects and Commissaries in spe. Doubt having been expressed as to the capacity of some of them, the Minister remarked: “Our officials in France may commit a few blunders, but they will be soon forgotten if the administration in general is conducted energetically.”

The conversation having turned on the telegraph lines which were being so rapidly erected in our rear, somebody told the following story. The workmen who found that their poles were stolen and their wires cut, asked the peasants to keep guard over them during the night. The latter, however, refused to do this, although they were offered payment for it. At length they were promised that the name of each watchman should be painted upon every pole. This speculation on French vanity succeeded. After that the fellows in the long nightcaps kept faithful watch, and no further damage was done.

Friday, August 26th.—We are to move forward to Saint Ménehould, where our troops have captured 800 mobile guards. Early in the day I wrote an article about the franctireurs, dealing in detail with the false view which they take of what is permissible in war.

We moved forward on the 26th, not to Saint Ménehould, however, which was still unsafe, being infested by franctireurs and mobile guards, but to Clermont en Argonne, where we arrived at 7 o’clock in the evening. On our way we passed through several rather large villages with handsome old churches. For the last couple of hours military policemen were stationed along the road at intervals of about 200 paces. The houses, which were built of grey sandstone and not whitewashed, stood close together. The whole population shuffled about in clumsy wooden shoes, and the features of the men and women, of whom we saw great numbers standing before the doors, were, so far as I could observe in a passing glance, almost invariably ugly. Probably the people thought it necessary to remove the prettier girls to a place of safety out of the way of the German birds of prey.

We met some Bavarian troops with a line of transport waggons. The troops loudly cheered the King, and afterwards the Chancellor. Later on we overtook three regiments of infantry, some hussars, uhlans, and a Saxon commissariat detachment. Near a village, which was called Triaucourt if I am not mistaken, we met a cartful of franctireurs who had been captured by our people. Most of these young fellows hung their heads, and one of them was weeping. The Chief stopped and spoke to them. What he said did not appear to please them particularly. An officer of higher rank who came over to the carriage of the Councillors and was treated to a friendly glass of cognac told us that these fellows or comrades of theirs had on the previous day treacherously shot a captain or major of the uhlans, named Von Fries or Friesen. On being taken prisoners they had not behaved themselves like soldiers, but had run away from their escort. The cavalry and rifles, however, arranged a kind of battue in the vineyards, so that some of them were again seized, while others were shot or cut down. It was evident that the war was becoming barbarous and inhuman, owing to these guerilla bands. Our soldiers were prejudiced against them from the beginning, even apart from the possibility of their lying treacherously in ambush, as they looked upon them as busybodies who were interfering in what was not their business, and as bunglers who did not understand their work.

We took up our residence at Clermont in the town schoolhouse in the main street, the King’s quarters being over the way. On our arrival, the Grande Rue was full of carts and carriages, and one saw here and there a few Saxon rifles. While Abeken and I were visiting the church we could hear in the stillness the steady tramp of the troops and their hurrahs as they marched past the King’s quarters.

On our return we were told that the Minister had left word that we were to dine with him in the Hôtel des Voyageurs. We found a place at the Chief’s table in a back room of the hotel, which was full of noise and tobacco smoke. Amongst the guests was an officer with a long black beard, who wore the Geneva cross on his arm. This was Prince Pless. He said that the captured French officers at Pont à Mousson had behaved in an insolent manner, and had spent the whole night drinking and playing cards. A general had insisted that he was entitled to have a separate carriage, and been very obstreperous when his demand was naturally rejected. We then went on to speak of the franctireurs and their odious modes of warfare. The Minister confirmed what I had already heard from Abeken, namely, that he had spoken very sharply to the prisoners we had met in the afternoon. “I told them, ‘Vous serez tous pendus,—vous n’êtes pas des soldats, vous êtes des assassins!’ On my saying this one of them began to howl.” We have already seen that the Chancellor is anything but unfeeling, and further proof of this will be given later on.

In our quarters the Chief’s chamber was on the first floor, Abeken, I believe, having a back room on the same landing. The remainder of us were lodged on the second floor in a dormitory or kind of hall which at first only contained two chairs and two bedsteads with mattresses but without quilts. The night was bitterly cold, and I only with my waterproof to cover me. Still it was quite endurable, especially when one fell asleep thinking of the poor soldiers who have to lie outside in the muddy fields.

In the morning we were busy rearranging our apartment to suit our needs. Without depriving it of its original character we turned it into an office and dining-room. Theiss’s cleverness conjured up a magnificent table out of a sawing bench and a baker’s trough, a barrel, a small box and a door which we took off its hinges. This work of art served as breakfast and dining table for the Chancellor of the Confederation and ourselves, and in the intervals between those meals was used as a desk by the Councillors and Secretaries, who neatly committed to paper and reproduced in the form of despatches, instructions, telegrams, and newspaper articles the pregnant ideas which the Count thought out in our midst. The scarcity of chairs was to a certain extent overcome by requisitioning a bench from the kitchen, while some of the party contented themselves with boxes as seats. Wine bottles that had been emptied by the Minister served as candlesticks—experience proved that champagne bottles were the fittest for this purpose and as a matter of fact good wax candles burned as brightly in these as in a silver chandelier. It was more difficult to secure the necessary supply of water for washing, and sometimes it was hard even to get enough for drinking purposes, the soldiers having during the last two days almost drained the wells for themselves and their horses. Only one of our party lamented his lot and grumbled at these and other slight discomforts. The rest of us, including the far-travelled Abeken, accepted them all with good humour, as welcome and characteristic features of our expedition.

The office of the Minister of War, or rather of the general staff, was on the ground floor, where Fouriere and a number of soldiers sat at the desks and rostrums in the two schoolrooms. The walls were covered with maps, &c., and with mottoes, one of which was particularly applicable to the present bad times: “Faites-vous une étude de la patience, et sachez céder par raison.”

The Chief came in while we were taking our coffee. He was in a bad temper, and asked why the proclamation threatening to punish with death a number of offences by the population against the laws of war had not been posted up. On his instructions I inquired of Stieber, who told me that Abeken had handed over the proclamation to the general staff, and that he (Stieber), as director of the military police, could only put up such notices when they came from his Majesty.

On going to the Chancellor’s room to inform him of the result of my inquiries, I found that he was little better off than myself in the way of sleeping accommodation. He had passed the night on a mattress on the floor with his revolver by his side, and he was working at a little table which was hardly large enough to rest his two elbows on. The apartment was almost bare of furniture and there was not a sofa or armchair, &c. He, who for years past had so largely influenced the history of the world, and in whose mind all the great movements of our time were concentrated and being shaped anew, had hardly a place on which to lay his head; while stupid Court parasites rested from their busy idleness in luxurious beds, and even Monsieur Stieber managed to provide for himself a more comfortable resting-place than our Master.

On this occasion I saw a letter that had fallen into our hands. It came from Paris, and was addressed to a French officer of high rank. From this communication it appeared that little hope was entertained of further successful resistance, and just as little of the maintenance of the dynasty. The writer did not know what to expect or desire for the immediate future. The choice seemed to lie between a Republic without republicans, and a Monarchy without monarchists. The republicans were a feeble set and the monarchists were too selfish. There was great enthusiasm about the army, but nobody was in a hurry to join it and assist in repelling the enemy.

The Chief again said that attention should be called to the services of the Saxons at Gravelotte. “The small black fellows should in particular be praised. Their own newspapers have expressed themselves very modestly, and yet the Saxons were exceptionally gallant. Try to get some details of the excellent work they did on the 18th.”

They were very busy in the office in the meantime. Councillors and Secretaries were writing and deciphering at full pressure, sealing despatches at the lights stuck into the champagne-bottle-candlesticks, and all around portfolios and documents, waterproofs and shoe-brushes, torn papers and empty envelopes, were strewn about in picturesque confusion. Orderlies, couriers and attendants came and went. Every one was talking at the same time, and was too occupied to pay the least attention to his neighbours. Abeken was particularly active in rushing about between the improvised table and the messengers, and his voice was louder than ever. I believe that this morning his ready hand turned out a fresh document every half hour; at least, one heard him constantly pushing back his chair and calling a messenger. In addition to all this noise came the incessant tramp, tramp, tramp of the soldiers, the rolling of the drums and the rattle of the carts over the pavement. In this confusion it was no light task to collect one’s thoughts and to carry out properly the instructions received, but with plenty of good will it could be done.

After dinner, at which the Chancellor and some of the Councillors were not present, as they dined with the King, I took a walk with Willisch to the chapel of St. Anne on the top of the hill. There we found a number of our countrymen, soldiers belonging to the Freiberg Rifle Battalion, at supper under a tree. They have been engaged in the battle of the 18th. I tried to obtain some particulars of the fight, but could not get much more out of them than that they had given it with a will to the Frenchmen.

By the side of the chapel a pathway led between a row of trees to a delightful prospect, whence we could see at our feet the little town, and beyond it to the north and east an extensive plain, with stubble fields, villages, steeples, groups of trees and stretches of wood, and to the south and west a forest that spread out to the horizon, changing from dark green to the misty blue of the far distance. This plain is intersected by three roads, one of which goes direct to Varennes. On this road not far from the town a Bavarian regiment was stationed, whose camp fires added a picturesque note to the scene. In the distance to the right was a wooded hill with the village of Faucoix, while the small town of Montfaucon was visible further off. The second road, more towards the east, leads to Verdun. Still further to the right, not far from a camp of Saxon troops, was the road to Bar le Duc, on which we noticed a detachment of soldiers. We caught the glint of their bayonets in the evening sunshine and heard the sound of their drums softened by the distance.

Here we remained a good while gazing at this pleasing picture, which in the west was glowing with the light of the setting sun, and watching the shadows of the mountain spread slowly over the fields until all was dark. On our way back we again looked in at the church of St. Didier, in which some Hessians were now quartered. They lay on straw in the choir and before the altar, and lit their pipes at the lamps which burned before the sanctuary—without, however, intending any disrespect, as they were decent, harmless fellows.

On Sunday, August 28th, we were greeted with a dull grey sky and a soft steady rain that reminded one of the weather experienced by Goethe not far from here in September, 1792, during the days preceding and following the artillery engagement at Valmy. At the Chief’s request I took General Sheridan a copy of the Pall Mall Gazette, and afterwards tried to hunt up some Saxons who could give me particulars of the battle of the 18th. At length I found an officer of the Landwehr, a landed proprietor named Fuchs-Nordhof, from Moeckern, near Leipzig. He was not able to add much to what I knew. The Saxons had fought principally at Sainte Marie aux Chênes and Saint Privat, and protected the retreat of the guards, who had fallen into some disorder. The Freiberg Rifles took the position held by the French at the point of the bayonet without firing a shot. The Leipzig Regiment (the 107th) in particular had lost a great many men and nearly all its officers. That was all he could tell me, except that he confirmed the news as to Krausshaar’s death.

When the Minister got up we were again provided with plenty of work. Our cause was making excellent progress. I was in a position to telegraph that the Saxon cavalry had routed the 12th Chasseurs at Voussières and Beaumont. I was informed (and was at liberty to state) that we held to our determination to compel France to a cession of territory, and that we should conclude peace on no other conditions.

The arguments in support of this decision were given in the following article which was sanctioned by the Chief:—

“Since the victories of Mars la Tour and Gravelotte the German forces have been constantly pressing forward. The time would, therefore, appear to have come for considering the conditions on which Germany can conclude peace with France. In this matter we must be guided neither by a passion for glory or conquest, nor by that generosity which is frequently recommended to us by the foreign press. Our sole object must be to guarantee the security of South Germany from fresh attacks on the part of France such as have been renewed more than a dozen times from the reign of Louis XIV. to our own days, and which will be repeated as often as France feels strong enough. The enormous sacrifices, in blood and treasure which the German people have made in this war, together with all our present victories, would be in vain if the power of the French were not weakened for attack and the defensive strength of Germany were not increased. Our people have a right to demand that this shall be done. Were we to content ourselves with a change of dynasty and an indemnity the position of affairs would not be improved, and there would be nothing to prevent this war leading to a number of others, especially as the present defeat would spur on the French to revenge. France with her comparatively great wealth would soon forget the indemnity, and any new dynasty would, in order to fortify its own position, endeavour to secure a victory over us and thus compensate for the present misfortunes of the country. Generosity is a highly respectable virtue, but as a rule in politics it secures no gratitude. In 1866 we did not take a single inch of ground from the Austrians, but have we received any thanks in Vienna for this self-restraint? Do they not feel a bitter longing for revenge simply because they have been defeated? Besides the French already bore us a grudge for our victory at Sadowa, though it was not won over them but over another foreign Power. Whether we now generously forego a cession of territory or not, how will they feel towards us after the victories of Wörth and Metz, and how will they seek revenge for their own defeat?

“The consequences of the other course adopted in 1814 and 1815, when France was treated with great consideration, prove it to have been bad policy. If at that time the French had been weakened to the extent which the interests of general peace required, the present war would not have been necessary.

“The danger does not lie in Bonapartism, although the latter must rely chiefly upon Chauvinist sentiment. It consists in the incurable arrogance of that portion of the French people which gives the tone to the whole country. This trait in the French national character, which will guide the policy of every dynasty, whatever name it may bear, and even of a Republic, will constantly lead to encroachments upon peaceful neighbours. Our victories, to bear fruit, must lead to an actual improvement of our frontier defences against this restless neighbour. Whoever wishes to see the diminution of military burdens in Europe, or desires such a peace as would permit thereof, must look not to moral but to material guarantees as a solid and permanent barrier against the French lust of conquest; in other words, it should in future be made as difficult as possible for France to invade South Germany with a comparatively small force, and even in peace to compel the South Germans, through the apprehension of such attack, to be always reckoning with the French Government. Our present task is to secure South Germany by providing it with a defensible frontier. To fulfil that task is to liberate Germany, that is to complete the work of the War of Liberation in 1813 and 1814.

“The least, therefore, that we can demand and that the German people, and particularly our comrades across the Main, can accept is, the cession of the French gateways into Germany, namely Strassburg and Metz. It would be just as short-sighted to expect any permanent peace from the mere demolition of these fortresses as to trust in the possibility of winning over the French by considerate treatment. Besides, it must not be forgotten that this territory which we now demand was originally German and in great part still remains German, and that its inhabitants will perhaps in time learn to feel that they belong to one race with ourselves.

“We may regard a change of dynasty with indifference. An indemnity will only temporarily weaken France financially. What we require is increased security for our frontiers. This is only attainable, however, by changing the two fortresses that threaten us into bulwarks for our protection. Strassburg and Metz must cease to be points of support for French attacks and be transformed into German defences.

“Whoever sincerely desires a general European peace and disarmament, and wants to see the ploughshare replace the sword, must first wish to see the eastern neighbours of France secure peace for themselves, as France is the sole disturber of public tranquillity and will so remain as long as she has the power.”

CHAPTER V

WE TURN TOWARDS THE NORTH—THE CHANCELLOR OF THE CONFEDERATION AT REZONVILLE—THE BATTLE AND BATTLEFIELD OF BEAUMONT

Sunday, August 28th.—At tea we receive an important piece of news. We ourselves and the whole army (with the exception of that portion which remains behind for the investment of Metz) are to alter our line of march, and instead of going westwards in the direction of Châlons, we are to turn northwards, following the edge of the Argonne forest towards the Ardennes and the Meuse district. Our next halt will, it is believed, be at Grand Pré. This move is made for the purpose of intercepting Marshal MacMahon, who has collected a large force and is marching towards Metz for the relief of Bazaine.

We start at 10 o’clock on the 29th, passing through several villages and occasionally by handsome châteaux and parks, a camp of Bavarian soldiers, some line regiments, rifles, light horse and cuirassiers. In driving through the small town of Varennes we notice the house where Louis XVI. was arrested by the postman of Saint Ménehould. It is now occupied by a firm of scythe manufacturers. The whole place is full of soldiers, horse and foot, with waggons and artillery. After extricating ourselves from this crowd of vehicles and men, we push rapidly forward through villages and past other camps, until we reach Grand Pré. Here the Chancellor takes up his quarters in the Grande Rue, a little way from the market, the King lodging at an apothecary’s not far off. The second section of the King’s suite, including Prince Charles, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, and the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was quartered in the neighbouring village of Juvin. I am billeted at a milliner’s opposite the Chief’s quarters. I have a nice clean room, but my landlady is invisible. We saw a number of French prisoners in the market-place on our arrival. I am informed that an encounter with MacMahon’s army is expected to-morrow morning.