The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-07-23
THE ADVENT OF VAR.
How prim and Bismarck's Intrigue
was Kept Secret from Napoleon.


was Kept a Secret from Napoleon.
correspondence OF the New York Trlbunel
PARIS. Jnly 8.
7 little thought-almost az little as the gov
ernment-when last wrote you, that, before
the week was out, the political excitement in
Paris would be at such fever heat as it Is to-
day. Mems minds are, or were, yesterday, for
sleep has brought reflection, almost as hot as
their bodies in these days when the dog-star
RACES. Even while am writing, you know
ali that has happened. but .you should be on
the spot to see the effect that has been pro-
duced BY Marshal PRINTS last extraordinary
nrOposition to make Spanish King out of q
Prussian Colonel 1t reminds nae Of "a recipe
In an old cookery book, ITO dress leg of NUT
ton to eat like venison," and the very notion
of the dish has whet all our appetites to that
have have it set on the table. think, II once
the two chefs Of the cuistns, rPrim and
Bismarck, do make up their minds to
serve this new plat, the eating Of it
will 90 far to curing, or killing, the
sick man of st. Cloud. And, just now, all
the signs are that he will have toleat the leek,
and digest IL as he may, 1t Is hsEdly figure
France like a thunder-clap out ol clear sky.
II is only nine days ago that NJ. Olivier, in the
same nj speech In which, with his accustomed
want of tact as we'll as of politeness, he called
the Dlebiscitl.rn "the French Sadowa," J" and the
following words, 30 often thrown into his
teeth during the last two days, and likely to
be thrown aG him for many days to come: ION
the morrow Of the day when the people, rising
ike one man. proclaimed anew their trust In
the name OF Napoleon, do you think the world
did not know great event had taken place p
wish YOU could hear read the dispatches Of
onr ambassadors. I Ish you could have
heard the words Of our diplomasIsts. all Of
them expressed themselves proudly In the
same terms: "Hencelorth all negotiations Will
be easy for the French Government and, fnr-
theron, after he had stopped to throw o few In
solent speeches at some objectors, he said
t,Slnce we came into power we have had to
deal with no disquieting affair; our only i'm.
portant negotiatOn-theo only one with regard
to which it will be necessary TO explain our
conduct to the Chamber, Is thatTelatlye to the
Council!" Three days after this pompous dec
laration, the French people are informed by
telegraphic dispatch published by the Gazette
de France, that Marshal Prim had offered the
Spanish throne to Prince Leopold, Of Hohen-
zolIern-S -Slgmaringen, brother to Prince Charles
of Roumania; and this telegraphic dispatch, at
first read with general incredulity, gave ac-
tually the first inhmatlOn to the French Gov
ernment OF what had been going on between
the Provisional Government OF spain aud the
Prussian Minister. The French Minister at
what Bismarck had been at than you or
/, and the Minister at Madrid, NJ. Mercier,
knew lust as little. Neither OF these Off
cials wa, OF his post. A. Benedelti, who
receives O salary Of 100000 francs and
perquisltes, was at one Taterlng-place,
and n. Nercier de Lostende, who gets 250, 08o,
was at another, both enjoying themselves on
oil fhpu leaving
the bore OF writing dispatches to their agents,
who could not be expected, OF course, to know
more than their masters OF the trick that was
being played. So clever and secret were the
PLAYERS, that the Prussian Minister M. WERNER,
in recounting his sorrows to NJ. de Grammont,
declared that he had been In no way consulted
about the matter, and as for NJ. Olozaga, the
Spanish Minister, he few about, day before
Yesterday, like q psrched pea-now to Olivier,
now to Grammont, declaring that he was as
innocent of knowledge on the subject as q
newborn babe. Yet it would seem that all
parties might have been on their guard, for 1t
is not the drst time that the candidate IN ques-
tion has been brought forward In Prim's fa-
nous speech, made on the llth ofJune, In the
Cortes, describing his search for a King, he
smoke Of one whom, he said, he could not name,
but who united in his person all the requisites
for q monarch, being man OF full age and %
Catholic, married and having children, and
who would have fulfilled all their desires If he
could have been brought to accept the throne;
Now, at the time this speech Was reported
there were several English Journals, and at
least one or two French ones, LIE Temps
among them, which pat their fingers on this
mysterious Prince at one and named hlm-that
Is. called hlm-a Prince OF Hohenzollern,
which was quite enough, II they did get his
first name wrong, and mistook MIN ior nls
Younger brother Frederic. One would nave
thought that diSlomatists would have had zoo
keen a scent to be led away by Marshal Prlm's
maneuyres; but they were, and none Of the
government Journals had any suspicion that 1t
would be worth while to find out who this un-
named candidate might be, and keep an eye
on him. Edmund About has written In Lie
Solr scathing review OF the situation, IN
which, after doing full Justice to the I'm,
hecility Of the dlplonatists, ne iSa turns iIii
upon The Emperor, and charges the whole
bfunder to the account OF personal govern
ment. "They say" he begins, THAT we have
diplomacy. It may possibly be 80. am too
we'll bred to deny 1t, for have many friends
tpho loecr the embroidered coat Of 1dUeyrGnd.
But, when study our foreign policy as dispas-.
sionately as my nature will allow me; when
try 10 range in order, and to reduce to some
one principle the events that have taken place
about us from l849 to 1870, ask myself, with
q sort of impatience, what sort OF diplomacy
we have, and whether 1t would not be better,
on the whole, If we had none at all
Whatever my dislike may be to bring the
Chief of State personally before the bar Of pub
lie opinion, the facts OF the case do not permit
me to allow him to take shelter behind his
ministers. 1t is too plainly demonstrated, too
surely established, that the responsibility Of
our foreign policy for the last twenty-five years
rests solely upon one head. slngle man has
planned everything, conducted everything,
executed everything; our glories, our prosper
tiles. our misfortunes, our dangers. are the
complex work of one WILL" And NJ. About
is right, and we are seeing at this moment
acted before ou" eyes the most scandalous Of
farces, in which, whatever masks the actors
may wear, one face, the Enperor's, peers out
at the empty eye-holes; whatever the name OF
the puppets-Olllvier, Grammont, De Val
drome-one hand, the gouty mans at st. Cloud.
pulls the string that makes them play such fan
tastic tricks before high heaven. Ills not easy
to see how the government could have COM
mitted the blunders that 1t has since the news
first came to light. In the first place, 1t Is only
In the papers to-day that we get hold of any
thing that looks like certainty on the subject
of the candidacy. 1t Is now declared that
Prim sent dispatch to the Spanish Minister,
Olozaga, informing him that the throne had
been offered to Prince Leopold OF HohenZol-
iern, and that he had accepted it in letter
written with his own hand. This, however,
is mere story of the Constltutionnels,
and NAV be true or false; certainly we may
as well believe NJ. Olozasa ii he declares
that he never knew anything ABOUT It, But
we know that the Pruss'an Ambassador,
NJ. Werther, knew nothing, and the Prussian
.,Y ah L~,,