The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-02
STORIES OF BISMARCK.
Now THE WAR WITH FRANCE WAS
BROUGHT ABOUT.

world that Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sig -
maringen, a prince of the Pruesan royal
house and a colonel in the Prussau army,
was TO become her king The swift reply
from Paris was, "Never!' Stroug pro
test from the French government caused
Leopold TO retract his acceptance of the
throne. Not satisfied with this. the French
emperor demanded that King William sign
letter expressing approval of Leopold's
reiraction ana pledging himself never
again 70 allow Leopold TO be candidate
for the Spanish throne. The King re-
fused. just at this critical point Bis
marck stretched out his hand. What its
cunning wrought can be told best in the
masters own words.
when the uproar broke loose in Paris
concerning the candidacy of Prince Leo
pold of Hohenzolleru for the Spanish
throne, the King was in Ems and l was
in Yarzin. The French behaved as reck-
lessly as possible For us the situation
was extremely favorable. We were, in
fact, the injured party, and, as the ne
ceseity of final settlement with France
had long been apparent 10 us all, the mo-
ment seemed TO have come TO strike out.
Therefore left Varzin for Berlin to dis
cuss the important questions Of the Aour
with Moltke and Room. on the way 1 re-
ceived this Dispatch
Prince Anton of Hohcnzolern has, for
the sake of peace, withdrawn the eandl-
dacy of his son, Leopold. Everything Is
now all right
II was dumfounded by this dispatch,
and kept asking myself: When will We
have another opportunity as favorable as
This? In a dispatch to Ems | communl-
Gated 20 his majesty my resignation as
minister president and federal chancellor
In reply I received a dispatch TO the effect
that I should come to Ems. | had already
got clear view Of the situation, ana
said 20 myself: If / go to Ems the whole
game viii be up; at best We will come
90 a rotten compromise and the only non
orable and adequate solution will be I'M
possible. | must do all in my power TO
bring his majesty TO Berlin. where he can
feel the pulse of the German people bet
ter than in Ems; that l leave Berlin at
this time is not to be thought OF.
''As good luck would have 1t, the French
did meantime all possible to push matters
to a crisis. They would have the KING
sign letter-in fact, would humble nm.
The King by telegraph, asked my ad-
vice. and I answered, with clear con-
science Signature is impossible. On
the evening of July a. l had invited
Moltlle and Room 10 dine with me, ana we
discussed az table all the possibilities OF
tha situation. We all hoped that Frances
foolish behavior in making the unprece-
denied request for his signature to the
letter would not be allowed a pass. AS
we were speaking on this point a dis
patch from Ems came 1t begun seth the
words:
After the news of the declination OF
the hereditary Prince of Hohenzoilern had
heen communicated Officially by the royal
gpanish government to the imperial
French government, the French envoy an
Ems made the demand upon his Majesty
Cor authority to telegraph to Paris thal ms
Majesty the King, pledges hinlseH Ior al
the future never again to give his consent
in case the HOhenzOllSfn sHouiu 4StuiH "
this candidacy
''Then came a long explanation the
substance of il was thai the King directed
attention to what he had already toio
Benedetti Count Benedetd accepted TINS
answer thankfully, and stated that ne
would communicate it to his government
Meantime Benedict requested another
meeting with his Majesty. if only again
10 verify orally the statements which his
Majesty had made TO HIM on the prome1
made. Then the dispatch proceeded;
'''TIis Majesty declined 10 receive the
French envoy again. and had nm ihIoi ned
through an adjutant that his Majesty had
nothing more TO communicate TO him.
"'When | had read this dispatch Room
and Moltke let fall knife and fork and
rushed back from the table. There was a
long pause. All of us were deeply discour-
aged. We had the feeling that the whole
affair would come TO nothing. Then
asked Moltke:
"'Is our army really so capable that we
,.,Efl t4aaf a
success?
'".Moltke was firm as a rock In his confi-
dence in the army we have never had
better instrument he said. than at TINS
moment Room confirmed the exactness Of
Moltke's statement.
Then go on with you dinner replied
81 sat down at a little marble-top table,
near the dining table, read the despatch
carefully through, and then look my pencil
and struck out all the intermediate part,
about Benedetti's request for further au-
dience, etc l left only the head and tail.
Now the despatch was something dlferenF,
and In this new edition / read II to Moltke
and Room. Both cried out:
" Splendid That must do the busipess.
I'VE went on eating with improved APP
petite. ] at once gave orders for the teie-
graphing of the dispatch to all newspapers
and foreign missions, and we were sun
together when we learned of the effect
which the dispatch had had in Paris. II
had fallen like a bomb. While In fact an
insulting proposal had been made to our
King, the dispatch worked upon the
French people exactly as if their chief
repre q ntatiVe had been rudely repealed by
our King The whole Boulevard gang
was of the opinion that this could not be
endured. The cry on TO BerlinH was rails
ed by the yelling mob. The proper temper
was there.
"And In Germany the effect was the
same as in France. The King, at my
pressing request, terminated his visit in
Ems and came to Berlin, dumbfounded !
everywhere by the great enthusiasm
shown by the people. The indescribabie |
ton that he received in Berlin |
touched the old gentleman to his hearts |
core His eyes were wet with tears. He |
realized then that 1t was a national war, |
a peoples war, which the people desired, |
which the people needed.
"Already, before his arrival in Berlin, |
we had received the Kings consent to the |
mobilization of part Of the army. AS the |
Crown Prince stepped from the royal train |
A.. Iea.1