New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-09-16
4 COTILLON COURT.
rag money.

Mr. H0ussaye's letters are always lively and
readable but the one which we publish to-day
contains valuable bit of history. 1t has long
been surmised that the declaration of war
against Prussia proceeded directly from the
personal influence of the Empress upon the
members of the Cabinet and upon the EN-
peror. She was, Of course, ignorant of the
condition of the military armament of the
two nations, and ignorant of the political at
titude of the different German States. She
was scarcely to be blamed for this, however,
as there was the most astonishing lack of i'll
formation upon these subjects prevailing all
round the council board. The habit of the
Imperial service was to report nothing dis
agreeable, nothing which could shock the
nerves of the ailing Emperor. LebGuf
knew nothing about the state of the army,
but when asked if he was ready, said in his
ridiculous way, READY l am Arch-ready,
"down to the last gaiter button" GramOnt
Minister of Foreign Affairs, imagined he could
count upon Austria and Bavaria, because he
had lived in South Germany and had been in
innate with the aristOcracy of Vienna. If q
French Envoy related how Bismarck was con-
solidating Germany, he was snubbed and
transferred. If O military attach6 compared
the French organization unfavOrably with the
German, like Baron Stoeffel, for instance, his
dispatches were cOntemptuously pigeOn-holed.
The Tmleries was kept sacredly guarded in
dense ignorance Of the world outside. This
might have been well enough, If the spirit of
lawless ambition had also been excluded. But
il is highly injudicOus to think of rObbing
your neighbOr without learning anything about
his strength and his habits. The Empress was
too keenly bent upon giving good "send-
"offn to her son, and firmly establishing his
claim upon the throne, to think of any pos
sible difficulties in the case. She was the
strongest person in the cOurt-strOngest in her
ignorance, her supersttious faith, her passion
ate prejudices, and her maternal affection and
ambition. The men about her, being destitute
of principles or convictions, and little better
informed than she was, as to the practical
aspects of the question of war, let themselves
be carried away by her headlong zeal and her
womanly eloquence and charm.
We do not. as a general thing, look to MIR.
Houssaye for history or for politics, but no one
will question his devotion to the BOnapartist
cause. nor his intimate relations with the lead
ing Imperialists. We do not presume, there
fore, that any one will deny the authenticity
OF the story he tells, in regard to the influences
which effected the declaration of war, nor the
mole extraordinary account he gives of the
tone of morals prevalent at the Imperial
Court, as illustrated by the questions proposed
for consideration by Prosper Merim6e's Court
of Love. 1t seems hard to realize, in reading
these friendly revelations, that we are not
perusing some story of Marguerite of ValOis,
or a stray page from tho lOoser recreatiOns of
BOccaciO.
OF course, these lively stories have a moral
which the friends Of the Empire would be the
last to draw Indeed, our genial and loyal
correspondent looks back with admiration to
these days of gayety and gallantry and signs
for their return, saying that when sOvcreigns
are happy the people cannot BIO sad. A CHEEKY