New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-26
THE SECRET TREATY.

THE SECRET TREATY.
A new and very serious consideration is in
troduced into the European quarrel by the
publication of the points of a proposed secret
treaty between France and Prussia. For the
disclosure we are indebted to The London
Times, which vouches for the accuracy of its
statements with an earnestness that would
hardly be assumed without good reason. The
treaty, to be sure, has been rejected by Prus-
sia but it betrays so clearly the purposes of
France that all Europe will be likely to take
alarm, and we may hear at any time OF
alliances which will render necessary general
war Our dispatches do not mention the
date of the proposed instrument, but
it must have been about the close of the war
of 1866, when it is well understood that nego-
tiatiOns whose pmpOrt never was diyulged
took place between the Emperor Napoleon and
King William. BY this treaty France offered
to acknowledge the title of Prussia to the terri
tories she had absorbed in the course OF the
war, and to consent to the union OF North ana
South Germany, provided the German PROV
inces now embraced in Cislcithan Austria were
not included. In return for this Prussia was
to permit France 10 seize luxembourg ana Bet
gi,ml Bismarck rejected the proposal, and the
rejection was accompanied with almost
contemptuous nonchalance for France was
not only refused her demands, but was
Obliged to submit to those move
ments on the part of Prussia for which her de-
mands were made as an offset Bismarck took
the price she offered, and gave her no return
for it. We can imagine how Napoleon must
have wIithed under this humiliation, and his
pain probably was all the greater as he felt
that he had deserved it. But what, after this
disclosure are we to think of the Official de-
claratOn made 10y the Government last week,
that this war was undertaken strictly i'll self
defense against the aggressions of Prussia u!
that there was no purpose OF assaillng any
State except the Kingdom of Prussia proper
that France had no designs against any OF the
neutral powers? Here we have absolute proof
that the possession of the Rhine frontier, in
her understanding of it, includes not only the
transfer of Rhenish Prussia but the ObGtera-
ton of Belgium and naturally the appro-
priaton of all that part of Holland lying south
of the Rhine. 1.-THE Berlin Cabinet" said the
French official mouthpiece the other day,
wished to turn to account the power already
" acquired by displacing definitvely, to the
"advantage of Prussia, the international equi-
ibrium, and has therefore shown pTemed-
itated intention to refuse its guarantees,
(Which were indispensable to our security as
"wen as our honor" The guarantee essential
to the honor and dignity of France is, there
fore, the permission to commit political larceny
of Belgium and Luxembourg; and preserv-
ing the international equilibrium means
that whenever German State joins the
I ga1
be permitted to steal another State to
cOunterbalance it France, in a word, making
war against Prussia on the ground that Prus-
STA is bent on territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, is
convicted of entertaining that same purpose
herself in a vastly aggravated form; for
whereas the most that can be said against
Prussia is that she threatens i'll an honest way
to absorb the German nation, France attempts
to extend her boundaries by sheer robbery,
without other pretext than the possession of
the necessary power. The partition of the
Kingdom of Poland was not a greater crime
than this atrociOus deed to which Napoleon
attempted to win King Williams consent.
We have little doubt that England in this
emergency will come to the rescue of the Bel
gian monarchy whose independence she is
bound, in common with other powers, to guar
antee; and when England has entered the field
it is hard to say what other alliances may fol-
low. We may possibly see the greater part of
Europe arrayed against the Third Napoleon
as it was formerly ar1ayed against the First.
But there will be no such struggle now as
there was in the time of that splendid
military genius whose glory the pres
ent ruler of the Tuileries is trying
to copy. England is capable alone
of dealing France a terrible blow, for England
can cope with the French navy and open the
Prussian ports, can neutralize any French
movement in the direction of the North Sea,
and with the cooperation of Belgium and
Holland can defeat NapOleOns purpose OF
making base of operations in Denmark. The
rumOred evacuation of Rome is equivalent to
a rumOred alliance between France and Italy,
and we presume there is already an alliance
of some kind between France and Spain; but
neither Prim nor Victor Emmanuel is in a con-
dition to give Napoleon much help. AS for
Russia and Austria, it will be strange if, in
the face of this new disclosure, they enter the
quarrel on the French side.