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24 - Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Headlam-Morley · Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty four of Pismack and the Foundation of the
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  Speaker 1: German Empire by James Headlam. This livery box recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain recording by Esses Chem Soul, South Korea,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen The War with France and Foundation of the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Empire from eighteen seventy to eighteen seventy one, Part two.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: The negotiations with the provisional government were more than once
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: renewed soon after the Investor of Paris had begun. General
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Bonside and another American past as unofficial messengers between the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: French and German governments, and at the beginning of November
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Thierre came as the official agent of the government in Tour.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: These attempts were, however, always without result. The French would
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: not accept on aarmnstice on the early conditions which Bismarck
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: was authorized by the King and the military authorities to offer.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: During the rest of the year there was little direft
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: communication with the French authorities. Bismarck, however, was not idle
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: in his quarters at Versailles. He had with him many
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of the Foreign Office staff. He had not only to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: conduct important diplomatic negotiations, but also to maintain control over
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the nation, to keep in touch with the press, to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: communicate to the newspapers both events and comments on them.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: At this crisis, he could not leave public opinions without
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: proper direction. He had to combat the misstatements of the French,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: who had long had the Europe Europe and was still
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: carrying the grievances to the courts of the neutual powers,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and found often ego advocates in the press of the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: neutral countries. He had to check the proposal of the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: neutral powers to interfere between the two combatants, to inform
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  Speaker 1: the German public of the demands that were to be
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: made on France and the proposals for the unity of
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  Speaker 1: the country, and to justify the policy of the government.
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  Speaker 1: All this was done not only by official notes, but
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  Speaker 1: by articles written at his dictation or under his instruction,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and by information or suggestions conveyed by his secretaries to
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  Speaker 1: his newspapers. In old days, the Prussian government had been inarticulate.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: It had never been able to defend itself against the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: attacks of foreign critics. It had suffered much by misrepresentation.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: It had lost popularity, accom and prestige of broad in
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the former struggles with France, the voice of Germany had
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: scarcely been heard. Europe, which was accustomed to listen to
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  Speaker 1: every whisper from Paris, ignore the feelings and the just
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: grievances of Germany. Bismud changed all this. Now he saw
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to it that the policy of the government should be
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: explained and defended in Germany itself. For though he despised
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: public opinion, when it claimed to be the canon by
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: which the government should be directed, he never neglected this,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: as he never neglected any means by which the government
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: might be strengthened. Speaking now from Versailles, he could be
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: confident that Europe would listen to what Germany said, and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: it was no small benefit to his nation that it
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: had as its spokesman, a man whose character and abilities
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: ensured that no word that he authored would be neglected.
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  Speaker 1: The neutral powers really gave him little concern. There was
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  Speaker 1: no intention of supporting France, either in England, Russia or Austria.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: He showed great activity, however, in defending the Germans from
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  Speaker 1: the charges so freely made against them by the French
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  Speaker 1: press of conducting the war in cruel manner, charges which
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  Speaker 1: were untrue. For, according to the unanimous testimony of foreign
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: observers who accompanied the army. The moderation of the German
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: soldiers was as remarkable as their successes. Pismack was not
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: content with rebutting unjust accusations he carried on the war
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: into the enemy's camp. He was especially indignant at the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: musuus made by the French of irregular troops. Maintained that
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the German soldiers ought never to imprison the fronc Tirol,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: but shoot them at once. He feared that if civilians
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: were encouraged to take part in the war, it would
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: necessarily assume a very cruel character. At More, he came
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  Speaker 1: upon a number of Fronctrow who had been taken prisoners.
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  Speaker 1: You are assassins, gentlemen, he said to them, you will
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  Speaker 1: all be hung. And indeed, these men, who fired secretly
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  Speaker 1: on the German troops from behind hatches and in forests,
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  Speaker 1: and had no kind of uniform, could not claim to
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  Speaker 1: be treated as prisoners of war. When the bombardment of
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  Speaker 1: Paris began, he took great pains to defend the measure,
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  Speaker 1: which was much attacked in other countries. He had used
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  Speaker 1: all his influence that the bombardment should not be delayed
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  Speaker 1: and open spoke with great annoyance of the reluctance of
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  Speaker 1: the military authorities to begin. He wished every measure to
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  Speaker 1: be taken which would bring the war to an end
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  Speaker 1: as soon as possible. The long delay before Paris seems
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  Speaker 1: to have affected his nervous and spirits. There were many
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  Speaker 1: anxious hours, and it was always difficult for him to
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  Speaker 1: wait patiently the result of what others were doing. The
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  Speaker 1: military authorities were as always very jealous of all attempts
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  Speaker 1: by him to interfere in their department, and he was
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: not always satisfied with the decisions. Like all the Germans,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: he was surprised and angry at the unexpected resistance of
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  Speaker 1: Paris and the success of Cambetta's appealed to the nation.
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  Speaker 1: He was especially indignant at the health which Garibaldi gave. This,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: he said, is the gratitude of the Italians. He declared
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: that he would have the general taken prisoner and pread
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: it through the streets of Berlin. During the long weeks
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: at Versailles, Pismarck was much occupied with German affairs. The
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: victory of Sedan was the foundation of German unity. Pismarck's
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: moderation and reserve now earned its reward. He had always
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: refused to press the southern states into the Federation. Now
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the offer to join Kim from them. Baden asked, as
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  Speaker 1: she already done at the beginning of the year, to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: be received into the Union. The settlement with Urtemburg and
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: above war with Bavaria was less simple. At the request
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of the Bavarian government, Delbrick was sent to Munich for
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: an interchange of opinion, and the negotiations which were begun
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  Speaker 1: there were afterwards continued at Versailles and Berlin. There were
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: many difficulties to be overcome. The Bavarians were very jealous
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  Speaker 1: of their independence and were not prepared to put themselves
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: into the position which, for instance, Saxony occupied. But the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: difficulties on the Prussian side were equally great. The Liberal
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Party wished that the Constitution should be revised and those
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: points in it which they had always disliked altered. They
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: would have made the government of the federal authorities more direct,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: have created a federal ministry and the Federal Opera House,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: and so really changed the Federation into a simple state,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: thereby taking away all the independence of the dynasties. It
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: was quite certain that Bavaria would not accept this, and
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: there was some considerable danger that their exaggerated demands might
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: lead to a reaction in South Germany. Probably, under any circumstances,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the unification of Germany would have been completed, but it
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: required all Pismack's tact to prevent outbreak of a regular
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: party struggle. The most extreme line was taken by the
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  Speaker 1: Crown Prince of Prussia. He desired the immediate creation of
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  Speaker 1: an emperor who should have sovereign authority over the whole
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: of the over the whole of over the whole of Germany,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and he even went so far as to suggest that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: if the Bavarians would not accept this voluntarily, they might
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  Speaker 1: be compelled to do so. He had repeated conversation with
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Pismack on this, and on one occasion at least it
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: ended in an angry scene. The Crown Prince wished to
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  Speaker 1: threaten the South Germans. There is no danger, he said,
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  Speaker 1: let us take a form and commanding attitude. You will
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  Speaker 1: see I was right in maintaining that you are not
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: nearly sufficiently conscious of your own power. It is almost
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  Speaker 1: incredible that he should have used such language, but the
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  Speaker 1: evidence is conclusive. He was at this time commanding the
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  Speaker 1: Bavarian troops against the French. Bavaria had with great loyalty
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  Speaker 1: supported Prussia through the war and performed very valuable services,
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  Speaker 1: and now he proposed to evote their friendship by compelling
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  Speaker 1: them to accept terms by which the independence of the
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  Speaker 1: king and the very existence of the state would be endangered.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: The last request which the King of Bavaria had sent
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to the Complins as he left Munich to take commands
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  Speaker 1: of the Bavarian army was that nothing might be done
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  Speaker 1: to interfere with Bavarian independence. Of course, Bismarck refused to
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: listen to these suggestions. Had he done so, the probable
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  Speaker 1: result would have been that the Bavarian Army would have
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  Speaker 1: been withdrawn from France, and then all the result of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the victories would have been lost. What Bismarck did was
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with his usual practice to make no great
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  Speaker 1: alteration and existing institution than was absolutely necessary. He did
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  Speaker 1: not therefore, undertake any reform of the federal constitution, but
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: simply proposed treaties by which the southern states each separately
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  Speaker 1: entered into the existing alliance. Certain special conditions were allowed.
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  Speaker 1: The King of Bavaria was to maintain document over his
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  Speaker 1: troops in time of peace. A voice was given to
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  Speaker 1: Bavaria in the management of foreign affairs. She retained her
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  Speaker 1: own post and telegraph, and there were certain special privileges
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  Speaker 1: with regard to finance to meet the system of taxation
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  Speaker 1: on beer. And then the Prussian military court was not
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  Speaker 1: to apply to Bavaria, and Bavaria was to retain her
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  Speaker 1: own special laws with regard to marriage and citizenship. These
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: concessions were undoubtedly very considerable, but Bismarck granted them, for
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: as he said to the Bavarian envoys, we do not
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  Speaker 1: want to discontented Bavaria. We want one which will join
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  Speaker 1: us freely. The liberal publicists in Germany, with characteristic intolerance,
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  Speaker 1: complained that when they hoped to see the constitution made
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  Speaker 1: simpler and the central government strongle, it had really become
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  Speaker 1: more federal. They did not see that this federalism was
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: merely the expression of existing facts which could not be ignored.
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  Speaker 1: They propsied all kinds of difficulties which have not been fulfilled.
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  Speaker 1: For they forgot that harmonious working in an alliance voluntarily
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  Speaker 1: made would be a formal bond of union than the
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  Speaker 1: most stringent articles of treatise, which your looked on as
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  Speaker 1: an unjust burden. Bismarck's own words, spoken the evening after
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  Speaker 1: the agreement was signed, give the true account of the matter.
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  Speaker 1: The newspapers will not be satisfied. The historian may very
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: likely condemn our conventions. He may say, the stupid fellow
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: might easily have asked for more. He would have got it.
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  Speaker 1: They would have had to give it him. His might
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  Speaker 1: was his right. I was more anxious that these people
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  Speaker 1: should go away heartily satisfied. What is the use of
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: treaties when men are forced to sign. I know that
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  Speaker 1: they went away satisfied. I do not wish to press them,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: or to take full advantage of the situation. The convention
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: has its defects, but it is all the stronger on
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: account of them. He could afford now to be generous,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: because in eighteen sixty six he had been so stern
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  Speaker 1: he had refused to take in Bavaria when it would
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: have weakened the Association of the North. Now that the
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: nucleus had been formed, he could allow the Catholic South
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  Speaker 1: greater freedom. He was right. The concession granted to Bavaria
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: have not been in any way or danger to the Empire.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: As soon as he had signed the convention, he looked
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: into the room where his secretaries were and said, the
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  Speaker 1: work is done. The unity of Germany is completed, and
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: with it Kaiser and Reich. Up to this time he
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: had taken no open steps towards the proclamation of the Empire,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: but it was unanimously demented by almost the whole nation,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and especially by the South Germans. But here he kept
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: himself in the background. He refused to make it appear
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  Speaker 1: as though he were to make the emperor or found
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  Speaker 1: the Empire. He allowed the natural wish of the people
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to work itself out spontaneously. There was indeed some reluctance
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: to assume the title at the Prussian court. The king
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: himself was not anxious for new dignity which would obscure
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the title which he and his ancestors had made so honorable.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: This feeling was shared by many of the nobility, and
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the office. We find it strongest in Rone, who in
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: this represents the genuine feeling of the old Prussian nobility.
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  Speaker 1: They disliked the change, which must mean that the Prussia
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  Speaker 1: to which they were so devotedly attached was to become
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  Speaker 1: merged in a greater Germany. There was also some apprehension
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: that with the new title, the old traditions of the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Prussian court, traditions of economy, almost of parsimony, might be forgotten,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and that a new career might begin in each they
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: would attempt to imitate the extravagance and pomp of less
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: prudent sovereigns. With these perhaps Bismarck himself had some sympathy.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: The King would, of course, only assume the new title
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  Speaker 1: if it was offered to him by his fellow princes.
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  Speaker 1: There was some danger lest the chistag which had been
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: summoned to ratify the treaties, might ask him to assume
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it before the princess did. Had they done so, he
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: would probably have refused. The Crown Prince, who was very
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: eager for the new title, and the Grand Duke of Baden,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: used all their influence with their fellow princes. The initiative
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: must come from the King of Bavaria. He was in
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: difficulty as to the form in which the offer should
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: be made. Bismarck, who throughout the whole negotiations worked behind
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the scenes smoothing away difficulties. Thereupon drafted a letter, which
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: he sent by special messenger to the King of Bavaria.
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  Speaker 1: The King at once adopted it, copied it out, and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: signed it, and at the same time wrote another letter
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: to the other princess asking them to join in the
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: request which he had made to the King of Prussia
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: to assume the title of Emperor, which had been in
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: obeyance for over sixty years. So it came about that
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the letter by which the offer to the king was
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: made had really emanated from his own chancellor. It shows
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: to what good purpose Bismarck used the confidence which, by
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: his conduct in the previous negotiations, the King of Bavaria
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: had been led to place in him. On the eighteenth
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: of January eighteen seventy one, in the Palace of Versaies,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the King publicly assumed the new title. A few days later,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Bismarck was raised to the rank of prince. A few
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: days later Paris fell. The prolonged siege was over and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the power of resistance exhausted. Then again, as three months before,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: father asked for an audience, this time to negotiate the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: capitulation of the city. We did not hear dwell on
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the terms of the capitulation. We need only quote what
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Favre himself says of Pismarck's attitude. I should be unfaithful
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: to truth if I did not recognize that. In these
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: mournful discussions I always found the Chancellor eager to soten
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: inform the cruelty of his requirements. He applied himself as
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: much as was possible to tempo the military harshness of
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the general's death, and on many points he consented to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: make himself the advocates of our demands. A few weeks
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: were allowed for elections to be held and an assembly
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: to meet at Bordeaux, and then once more Monsieur Tyr
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: appeared to negotiate the terms of peace. He knew that
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the demands would be very heavy. He anticipated that they
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: would be as to send the answers, including Bellefort and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: of Lorraine at least the department of the Moselle with Metz.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: He expected a large war indemnity five thousand million francs.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: The tombs Bismarck had offo were almost identical with this,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: except that the indemnity was placed at six thousand million francs.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: The part there had to play was a very difficult one.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: He knew that if Germany insisted on her full demands,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: he must accept. He was too experienced of politician to
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: be misled by any of the illusions under which Favre
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: had labored. He, as all other Frenchmen, had dreamed the
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: last three months, learned a bitter lesson. Had we made peace,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: he said, before the fall of Metz, we might at
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: least have saved Lorraine. He hoped, against hope that he
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: might still be able to do so. With all the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: resources of his intellect and his eloquence, he tried to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: break down the opposition of the count. When Matts was
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: refused to him, then he pleaded for Belford. Let us
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: hear wad Favre, who was present at the decisive interview,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: tells us we may use his authority with more confidence
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: than he was a silent and passive auditor. One must
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: have been present at this pathetic scene to have an
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: idea of the superhuman resources which the illusious statesment displayed.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I still see him, pale, agitated, now, sitting now, springing
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: to his feet. I hear his voice broken by grief,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: his words cut short, his tones in turn suppliant and proud.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I know nothing grander than the sublime passion of this
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: noble heart, bursting out in petitions, menaces, prayers, now cressing,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: now terrible, growing by degrees more angry. In face of
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: this cruel refusal, ready for the last extremities impervious to
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the counsel of reason. So violent and sacred were the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: sentiments by which he was governed, Bismarck remained obdurate. He
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: would surrender neither Mets nor Belfort. Then THEO cried out, well,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: let it be as you will. These negotiations are of pretense.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: We appear to deliberate. We have only to pass under
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: yo yoke. We ask for the city, absolutely French. You
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: refuse it to us. It is to avow that you
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: have resolved to wage against us a war of extremity.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Do it Ravish our provinces, burn our houses, cut the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: throats of the unoffending inhabitants. In a word, complete your work.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: We will fight the last breath, We will succome at last,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: but will not be dishonored. It was a burst of passion,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: all the more admirable that Tears knew his threats were vain,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: but it was not ineffective. Bismarck was troubled. He said
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: he understood what they suffered. He would be glad to
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: make a concession, but he added, I can promise nothing.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: The King has commanded me to maintain the conditions. He
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: alone has the right to modify them. I'll take his orders.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I must concert with Monsieur de Mortguert. It was nearly
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: an hour before he could find Mortguer. Then he returned
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: to give the answer to the Frenchman. You had refused
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: that we should enter Paris. If you will agree that
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the German troops occupy Paris, then belfore shall be restored
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to you. There could be no doubt as to the answer,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and some hours later the ascent of the king was
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: given to this alteration in the conditions. Before this, the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: indemnity had been reduced to five thousand million francs, below
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: that all the efforts of the French were not able
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: to bring it. There were many other exciting scenes during
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: the progress of the negotiations. On one occasion, Tier threatened
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Pismarck with interposition of the neutral powers. If you speak
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to me of Europe, I'll speak of the Emperor, was
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Pismarck's answer. He threatened to open negotiations with him and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to send him back to France at the head of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Bazena's army. On another occasion, it was during the discussion
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: of finance. Another scene took place, which Favre describes. As
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the discussion continued, he grew animated. He interrupted, tears at
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: every word, accused him of wishing to spoil everything. He
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: said that he was ill, at the end of his powers.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: He was incapable of going further in a work that
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: we were pleased to make of no use, then allowing
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: his feelings to break out, walking up and down the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: little room in each we are deliberating with great strikes,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: he cried, it is very kind of me to take
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the trouble to which you condemn me. Our conditions are ultimatums.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: You must accept to reject them, I will not take
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: part in it any longer. Bring an interpreter to morrow. Henceforward,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I will not speak French any longer. And he began
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: forthwith to talk German at a great rate, a language which,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: of course neither of the Frenchmen understood. It is interesting
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to compare with this Bismuth's own account of the same scene.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: When I addressed a definite demanded to tear, although he
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: generally could command himself. His friend of them cried, mase ondinitare.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I took no notice, but began to talk German. For
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: a time he listened, but obviously did not know what
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: to think of it. Then, in a plentive voice, he said,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: but count you know that I do not understand German.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I answered him now in French, when just now you
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: spoke of ondinitee. I found that I did not understand
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: French enough, and prepared to speak German. Here I know
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: what I say and hear. He understood what I meant,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and at once agreed to that which he had just
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: refused as an adinitee. Bismuth's part, indeed, negotiations were not
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: altogether an easy one, for it is probable that in
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: part at least, he secretly sympathized with the arguments and
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: protests of the French. He was far too loyal to
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: his master and his country not to defend an adopt
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: the policy which had been accepted. But there is much
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: reason to believe that had he been completely mastered, Germany
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: would not have insisted on having mets, but would have
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: made the demand only to withdraw it. The arguments for
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the annexation of arsas were indeed unanswerable, And again and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: again Pismack had pointed out that Germany could never be
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: saved so long as France held Strasbourg, and the French army,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: supported on the strong basis of the Vulge, could use
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Strasbourg as a gate. Whence to sell the fourth into Germany.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: No one, indeed, who has ever stood on the slopes
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of the Black Forest and looked across the magnificent valley
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: sheltered by the hills on either side through which the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Ran flows can doubt that this is all one country,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: and that the frontier must be sought not in the river,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: which is not a separation but a cheap means of communication,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: but on the top of the hills on the further side.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Every argument, however, which is used to support German claims
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: to Strasbourg, may be used with equal force to support
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: French claims to Metz. If Strasbourg in French hands is
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: the gate of Germany, Mets in German hands is and
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: always will remain, a military post on the soil of France.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: No one who reads Bismarck's argument on this point can
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: fail to notice how they are all nearly conclusive as
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to Strassbourg, but that he scarcely takes the trouble to
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: make it even appear as though they apply to Mets,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: even in the speech before the Righty Staff. In it
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: he explains and justifies the terms of peace. He speaks
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: again and again of Strasburg, but hardly a word of Mets.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: He told how fourteen years before, the old King of
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Bueltenburg had said to him, at the time of the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: crimean trouble, that Prussia might count on his voice in
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: the diet as against the Western powers, but only till
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: war broke out. Then the matter takes another form. I
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: am determined as well as any adult to maintain the
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: engagement I have entered into. But do not judge me unjustly.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Give us strauss Book, and we shall be ready for
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: all eventualities. But so long as book is a celeport
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: for a power which is always armed, I must fear
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: that my country will be overwhelmed by foreign troops before
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: my confederates can come to my help. The King was right,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Germany would never be secure so long as Strasbourg was French.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: But can France ever be secure so long as Metz
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: is German. The demand for Mets was based purely on
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: military considerations. It was supported on the theory which we
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: have already learned, that Germany could never take the offensive
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: in a war with France, and that the possession of
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Metz would make it impossible, as indeed is the case
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: for France to attack Germany. It was not, however, Pizmak's practice,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: to subordinate political considerations to military It may be said
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: that France would never occurs in the loss of Ido province.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: But while we can imagine our generation of Frenchmen arising,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: who would learn to recognize the water shares of the
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Vauge as a prominent boundary between the two nations, it
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: is difficult to believe that the time will ever come
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: when a single Frenchman will regard with contentment the presence
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: of the Germans on the Uppermosel. Even after the preliminaries
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of peace was settled, fresh difficulties rows the outbreak of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the Commune in Paris made it impossible for the French
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: to fulfill the arrangements. Pismarck, who did not trust the French,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: treated them with much civility, and more than once he
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: threatened again to begin hostilities. At last, Favre asked for
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a fresh interview. The two statesmen met at Frankfurt, and
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: then the final treaty of peace was signed. End of
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Section twenty four