Count Bismarck is perfectly reasonable about the English col- liers
sunk in the Seine, as we always anticipated that he would be. The following is the most important part of a message sent by him to Lord Granville on the subject :—" You are authorized to say to Lord Granville that we sincerely regret that our troops, in order to avert immediate danger, were obliged to seize ships belonging to British subjects. We admit their claim to indemnification, and shall pay to the owners the value of the ships according to equit- able estimation, without keeping them waiting for the decision of the question who is finally to indemnify them. Should it be proved that excesses have been committed which were not justified by the necessity of defence, we should regret it still more, and call the guilty persons to account." • Too much has been made of the matter by our English journals. No English journal is more entirely French in sympathy than we are, but it is a very poor sort of thing to try to hang a great policy on a petty incident of this kind, unless, indeed, there be any weighty reason to regard it as the mere index of a warlike purpose, which in this case there never was.
Previous page
