On Tuesday the Daily Telegraph published the report of an
interesting conversation between Bismarck and Mr. Beatty Kingston which took place in September, 1867. Mr. Kingston sent home two reports, one for publication and one private. It is the latter that is now published. It is instructive to see Bismarck at work disseminating smooth assuranoes. The Daily Telegraph was no doubt in his view an excellent popular instrument for his purpose. He probably hoped to net all the young Lions of that paper, as Matthew Arnold called them, in one haul:—
"I do not believe for a moment that Francs will fight us alone. . . . The attack must come from her; we shall never begin a war, if war there ever be, for we have nothing to gain. Suppose France entirely conquered and a Prussian garrison in Paris, what are we to do with our victory ? We could not even decently take Alsace, for the Alsaciens are become Frenchmen, and wish to remain so. Belgium we do not want ; besides, England guarantees her integrity. Therefore, should this possibility, which is always being dinned into my ears as a probability, ever come to pass, France will undoubtedly attack US, in which case, if she stead alone, she is lost."
France did attack Germany, and was very nearly lost in the process; but we all know now how she was led into the ambush—the guet-aprne, as M. Emile 011ivier called it—by the Ems telegram. To appreciate the truth we have to com- pare the words quoted above with the account of the Ems affair given by the faithful and invaluable Busch.
Previous page
