Current Literature
CONVERSATIONS •WITH - NAPOLEON III Edited by Sir Victor Wellesley and R. Sencourt. This collection of letters (Benn, 21s.) has a certain interest— particularly for the period between 1854 and 1860—but an interest which does not justify the pretentious language used by the publisher and the editors in introducing the book to the reader. A good many of the letters are mere snippets ; others contain gossip, or information which has been known from printed sources for many years. The most important documents are, indeed translations of letters which have appeared elsewhere. It is absurd to claim that a potpourri of this kind gives " probably the most authentic picture of the inner workings of the mind " of Napoleon III. The editorial work consists of two introductory essays and a few historical notes or connecting paragraphs. The first of the two essays is a superficial sketch of " the old and new diplomacy," and contains more than one elementary historical mistake ; the second essay is hardly less superficial. Of the historical notes it is enough to say that the chapter on the Crimean War begins with the words, " The Crimean War satisfied an old private grudge of Lord Stratford de Red- eliffe." The chapter on the Luxemburg question includes thirty-three pages of letters ; nearly twenty-three of these pages are filled with translations of material which has already been published. References to other books are few and scanty. There is no mention of Thouvenel's books, though the documents which these books contain give an excellent picture of " the inner workings of the mind of Napoleon III." The reader is not referred to the official French collection of diplomatic documents dealing with the origins - of the Franco-Prussian War. Finally, it is remarkable that anyone attempting to edit documents dealing with the period between 1866 and 1870 should put forward the view that " Oncken for obvious reasons &hardly known in France."
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