The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-07
NAPOLEoNs CORRESPONDENCE.
TIE NOTE on BELGIUM.

IHE NOIE On BELGIUM,
M. Cont has addressed the following letter
to the journal de BruGelyeS:-
My name having been mixed up ia the
publication of two documents found at the
Tuileries, l beg you to receive the following
explanations on the subject: The note re-
lating to Belgium, which is said to have been
dictated to me by the Emperor cannot be in
my handwriting. Never has his Majesty die
tated similar note. The parer without date
or signature which has been so much spoken
of is most probably one of the many docu-
ments which reached the Cabinet every day,
and from all sides, on questions of internal,
external, financial and commercial policy, etc.
With little good faith it would nave been
easy to convince any one of this.
have but one word to say on the letter of
M. Jecler This gentleman brought it him.
self to me, and, having read it in his pre-
sence, seeing that it contained a demand for
money, with threats, in case of refusal, to
divulge delamatory documents, | threatened
to deliver him up to justice as guilty of the
crime of calumniation, and 1 requested him
to leave my Office. Since then l have not
seen him again.
AS 1 have begun to address rectifcations to
you, allow me to add that am authorized to
declare apocryphal the manifesto signed
Napoleon, which has been copied from the
English journals by the Belgian press.
DruXellt =, OCt. u, 1917. OONTI
Among the letters and projects dictated by
Napoleon TO his Chef du Cabinet the follow
ing letter figures. 1t throws light on the
designs and the proceedings of the imperial
policy (without date):-
If France is to boldly adopt the doctrines
of natonalities it is necessary to maintain
henceforth that there is no Belgian nation
ality with the French nationality, and to
establish this essential point with the French
nation. On the other hand, the Cabinet of
Berlin, being disposed to enter into such
arrangements as it may suit France to enter
tain with it, there will be occasion to nego-
tiate a secret treaty which will bind both
parties. Without relying on this treaty being
perfectly sure guarantee, it would have the
double advantage of compromising Prussia,
asj. being for her q proof of the sin
cerity of the policy and intention of the
Emperor. 1t is recommended not to hide
from ourselves, so long as one knows the
character Of the King of Prussia and of his
Prime Minister, the fact that the late diplo-
matte incidents, as we'll as the actual tenden-
cies of public opinion in France, must have
opened their eyes to the circumstance that we
have not ceased to claim the frontier of the
Rhine. To make sure of meeting with the
confidence which is necessary for the main
tenance of intimate entente, we must employ
ourselves in dissipating those ap-
prehensions which have always been
fostered by the expectation of this
eventuality, and the apprehensions
which have also been awakened by our late
communications. These results cannot be
attained by words; there must be ali act (and
one which would consist in determining the
ultimate fate of Belgium) ia concert with
Prussia; by proving at Berlin that the Empe-
ror is really looking elsewhere than on the
Rhine for that extension necessary to France.
After the events which have recently tran
spired in Germany that will gain for us at
least relative certainty that the Prussian
Government will not place any obstacle in
the way of our aggrandizement in the north.