The morning call., 1892-11-24
HOSTILE TORRANCE
Won Caprivi Goes Over an
Old Story.
BISrIARCK WAS NOT A FORGER
The French Love Glory, and Louis
Napoleon Was the Aggressor in
the War of 1870.
Special TO THE MORNING CALL

BERLIN, Nov. 23-The long-looked- fol
| great event Of the present session of the
Reichstag occurred to-day when the army bill
! was introduced by Chancellor Won Capriyi.
! de said that be did not intend to justify the
bill by saying that war was in sight, or by
indulging in gloomy forebodings. He added
Il will disclose the whole truth. We are al
peace with all nations and we encounter no
difficulty IN any quarter in maintaining the
dignity of the nation. His Majesty, the
Emperor, has justly remarked that HeIigo-
land was the last piece of the globe he de-
| sired to acquire. Germany will not provoke
war. for there is no prize to gain by victory,
| but neither will she undertake to prevent
war any more than she did in 1870"
The Chancellor then referred to the al
legged forgery by Prince Bismarck of the IA
nous Ems dispatch. which precipiIated the
Franco-German war, and read the genuine
| dispatch. The Chancellor also read the
draft which Prince Bismarck prepared,
which appeared in she North German Ga
zette of July 13. 1870 and which read as
follows: Telegram addressed by the Rus
sian Government to all foreign govern
ments:
After the news OF the renuneiation of
the hereditary Prince of Hohenzolern was
French Government by the royal Spanish
Government. the French ambassador at
Ems further demanded of his Majesty. the
King of Prussia, to authorize him to tele-
graph to Paris that his Majesty, the King,
engages for all future time never again to
return TO his candidature. His Majesty, the
King, thereupon declined to receive the
French Embassador again, and had him
told by the adjntant In attendance that his
Majesty had nothing further to communicate
to the Embassador"
The last sentence OF the above dispatch Is
what Prince Bismarck is alleged to have
forged with the intention of so wouHding
the amour prOpre of France that she would
declare war against Germany and thus al
low him, in the event of Russian victory, to
bring about the formation Of the German
empire.
Capriyi declared emphaticaily that Prince
Bismarck had not falsifed the dispatch and
that it was untrue that King William was
too concillatory or had not struck the proper
note in dealing with France.
king William" he said, ''even as late
as July 13 1870. had a dispatch sent to the
German Minister at Paris intimsting his in
dignati0n at the Due de GrammOnt's de-
mand addressed to him through NJ. Bene-
detti, and reserved any further steps. The
whole OF Europe was Of the same opinion
as Germany, at that time. as was shown by
Gladstone's declaration and by Prince
Gortschakoff's dispatch to the Russian Am
bassador. 1 refer to these matters" con-
tinued Chancellor Won Caprivi, "in order
to show you that Germany did not play the
provocative part. The French love wars
and glory, and the more complete their ar
maments the stronger grows their self-eon-
sciousness and their desire to conclude an
alliance which is naturally not for defen-
sive purposes, but with view to the re-
vision of the map of Europe"
Referring to the Russo-German relations
the Chancellor said that the present Gar
was one of the noblest minded and most
peaceful of monarchs, and he appreciates
fully the peaceful and loyal policy of Ger
many. "In Russia. however," said Won
Caprivi, there are hostile currents work
ing against Us. But it must not be con-
cluded that because Russia is developing
her army that war Is imminent. From her
preparations we must assume that Russia's
next war VIII be TO the westward. Un-
deniably there is rapprochement be-
tween Russia and France. in the face OF
which we cannot yield Alsace-Lorraine nor
break off our relations with Austria. The
strengthening OF our armamentS cOnsti-
tutes no threat TO Russia. We only want
to repel possible attack. We must think
of war with the possibility OF having TO pre-
sent two fronts, and we are not prepared
for such an exigency. We would have also
to defend ourselves against superior num-
Ders. We have the highest opinion of our
lives. and the Dreibund is nowhere so popu-
lar as in Germany, but even the DreibGnd
is weaker in troops than France and Russia"
The Chancellor then proceeded to ex-
plain the proposed reforms in the military
service and. referring to the measures by
which he proposed to meet the increased
expenditures. he stated that the beer tax
would scarcely be felt. as it amounted to
only two-ffths Of pfennig per liter
I'VE DESIRE" he said. "to enforce univer-
sal service effectually, but CONSIDERABLY.
This bill is, perhaps, unwelcome. but war,
with perhaps defeat, would be much worse.
After such a reverse a political and
economic struggle would arise involving
our very existence. / appeal to the House
to enable the nation to say in the time of
future wars: 'Liebes Vaterland Magst du
Ruhig Sein.'"
The Chancelior's speech was followed by
prolonged applause.
After the applause had subsidized Herr
Richter made u short speech, and the House
adiournad