New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-04
FRANCO-GERMAN DIPLOMACY.
SOME ESSAYS BY COUNT BENEDETTI

STUDIES IN DIPLOMACY From the saa aren nt III.
Count Benedict. French Amnassaaaor, a. saa
Court Of Berlin with forrai'. ~ ' WV
Macmillan Co.
What would have happened II Prince Leopold
the Hohenzoern had quietly been allowed by
France to become King Of Spain? This question
Is sure to occur to one in reading such doom
as the Due de Gramont's France and Prussia
Before the War" the present work OF Count
Benedetti. The latter turns almost whoiy upon
the candidacy Of Leopold, the means by "hc"
II was defeated, and the way In which frussi"
turned 1t into a cause Of war The essays mere
collected into a volume oil go to make up count
Benedettrs defence against the popular preIuo'ce
which attacked him for his share In the events
that preceded the outbreak OF the Franco-frus-
alan war He makes out good case. BY quota
ton, reference and comment he SHOWS that us
Ambassador of Napoleon III in Berlin he gave
almost daily information TO his superiors. not OF
routine affairs, but of the purposes Of the Prus-
sian Government Long before war was seen to
be inevitable he had made the French Ministry
aware of the intensity Of public feeling in Ger
MANY which urged Prussia forward on the pain
iowa I'd national unor. He OWNED that france
was hated because she stood In the way, or. at all
events. seemed to stand in the way. or TINS popu-
lar German movement. 1t was quite clear 10
him soon after the humiliation OF Austria that
German union would shortly be an accomplished
fact and he warned his Government that II wouid
have to be accepted kindly or that immediate anu
continuous preparations must be made for war;
He foresaw also that Russia would look on I'M
moved In case of war. and his own experience
when ne sought after Sadowa to extract some
thing tangible from the vague suggestions win
which France had been kept neutral. helped MIN.
perhaps to see how Russia would be deceived
In any case he gave il as his opinion pe1ore the
war Of 1870 that Prussian complacency toward
Russia would never be OF such nature as 10
limit Its own liberty of action
He shows that he was aware IN March, 1862
OF the negotiations for making Leopold King of
Spain that he informed his Government or the
matter before the close Of the month, and that
he was himself discussing 1t with Bismarck
early in May. When the business became
known. he was as prompt in taking II up as the
Cabinet in Paris were in directing his move
ments Yet he dates all his woes as diplo-
matist from the day when the French public
became aware Of Prince Leopolds candidacy
for the Spanish throne. He was personally held
I'D to the Indignation Of his country, not by
a press in opposition, but by a semi-offciai
newspaper and all his appeals to his Govern
ment for public redress were disregarded on
the ground that he could afford to walt for
his justification until more favorable times
Since that day he like most Of the prominent
men on the defeated side, has had to speak and
write In his own behalf.
There is only one point on which he Is less
explicit than on others. and that is the famous
tentative convention In which the privilege was
offered to France Of taking Belgium. In mat
instance, however he awaits confession from
Prince Bismarck. and his own disclosures take
no m 10
German statesman to be as frank he has
been with reference to a certain fatal dispatch
from Ems The question of Belgium arose from
the vain effort of Napoleon III to obtain some
return for his neutrality in the war between
Prussia and Austria. What he desired was In
the cautious language Of Count Benedict, IAN
important rectifcation OF the Rhensh frontier
OF course those wto have read biographies or
Prince Bismarck are aware how Napoleon Is
represented In them as coveting all the terri
tory on the left bank Of the Rhine. 1t Is Count
Benedettis contention that Napoleon had no
such desire, but that Bismarck persstentiy
sought to attribute II to him. Prince Bismarck
alone advocated the annexation Of Belgium TO
France, and Count Benedict would like to nave
him confess that the Emperor never insisted
on taking anything except Luxembourg. Mean
while occurred the conferences about the Rhen-
ish frontier. in which all accounts. including
Count Benedettfs, agree that Bismarck amused
the Count with various propositions, utterly
refused the French suggestions. and at last
entrapped his victim.
Count Bonedetti wished to obtain an exact
statement of what Bismarck would agree TO-
Would he act as secretary for moment? Ger
tainly. ut was thus that we came to draw out
in your study" adds Count Benedict as If ad-
dreeeipp Princa bismarck ''the draft of con-
vention for which purpose held the pen, and
which disposed contingenty Of Belgium" That
was the paper over which there has been end
less controversy since. Nothing appeared upon
II to show that 1t was not Count Benedettls
own work in every respect. 1t placed France
in the light Of claiming all that Bismarck said
she had demanded. Count Benedict wished to
see France at least as powerful as Prussia. lie
confesses that his apprehensions led him beyond
his Instructions but he thinks that his country
men have absolved him.
He was more fortunate in the affair OF Prince
Leopold, because the error in that case, as he
represents it. was made by others The candi-
dature Of Prince Leopold was from the first
represented something which concerned only
the Hohenzollerns and not the Government OF
Prussia With that understanding Count Bene-
detti conferred solely with King William. He
may have understood the King better than he
did Bismarck Certainly in the study that he
makes Of the two men he anticipates for the
first German Emperor future of renown which
others would deny him. William was to his
mind not at all the passive beneficiary of events,
but the guide and ruler of the tempest that
united Germany. His intellect is exalted by
Count Benedetti at the expense Of his sincerity.
This estimate reacts to enhance the Counts
skill. He took the King in his own hurnor. en-
tered alphabetically into the little subterfugc
which restricted the affair Of Prince Leopold to
the Hohenzollern family. and seemingly
within reach OF complete success when Paris