New-York tribune., 1903-04-06
THEIRS IND BISMARCK.
Their Diplomatic Duel az Described
by ". dc BI01citz
Paris. March "a

NJ Gabriel Hanotaux formerly Minister q.
Foreign Affairs and member or the French
Academy has just published study OF ths
peace negotiations that took place between Bis
marck and Thiers in 1871. and which resulted
in the Treaty of Frankfort. which ceded TO Ger
many Metz. Strasburg and the territory still re-
garded here as "the lost provinces" The ques-
tion is still a burning one. and continues to
supply the keynote Of the political situation os
continental Europe. AS may readily be I'm
agined the discussion somewhat inopportunely
raised by NJ Hanotaux who intmates that is
Theirs had shown greater frmness and per
sistency Metz at least might have been retained
bv France has brought 20 light several new
facts bearing upon one OF the great historical
problems Of our time N de Blowitz, the jour
naIist who recently died. was believed TO have
possessed a vast store of information regarding
the negotiations between Thiers and Bismarck.
which led to the preliminary treaty signed BY
Thiers Jules Favre and fifteen delegates from
the National Assembly which was accepted By
the assembly March i. 1S11. and which
formed the basis Of the Treaty OF Frankfort,
concluded on May 10 and ratified BY the Ma
tionaI Assembly on May Is
VI Stkphane LauZanne. the adopted son ana
heir of NJ de Biowitz. and now Editor OF the
Paris republican newspaper lie Matin," has
reconstructed" as it were. a picturesque sketch
OF the diplomatic duel between the Iron Chan
ceIor flushed with victory. and the subtle IN
teilectuaIity OF the French statesman. saddened
| by defeat The historic scenes presented oy ~
Iauzanne show pretty clearly that liners Sc
cured the best possible terms that the German
Erperor and Bismarck were willing 10 accord
n Hanotaux refers to the statement recorded
in r,isu,arck's diary: II France would only
give rs an additional thousand millions OF francs
perhaps we might have renounced taking Metz
and with the money constructed another IoT'-
ress of equal strategic value several kilometres
"a the east of Metz in the direction or FaIKes1-
| berg or Sarrebruck- myselI oo ii'' mss
| on having such number OF Frenchinen "I.H'
! our frontier NJ Hanotaux also re1ers % MAJ
| shall Won BIunenthaI. who during the nego1la-
! tfons EXPRESSED in his journal the fear thar "s
| NAV after all allow France to keep Metz
| Tbssa statements have called forth from NJ
\ anzanne refutations based upon actual dosu-
n7e,ts. 1t appears that on January -. 1S'l'
! bismarck then at Versailles. received IeIO7T
| from, c.ortschakoff. In which the Russian Chan~
| caIIor urged Bismarck to leave Metz and LOT
| raine to France and as compensation 20 anneN
| luxembourg 70 Germany Bismarck Iorlh"lCh'
| urfthout consulting King William or Moltke'
| a,sn,ared as follows: We do not recognize the
| rtsb+ or taking possession OF the property be-
| 1onetnS TO those who have never done US an
| injury Consequently shall carry out slrlclis
| the programmes that We communicated 10 81
/ Petersburg FIVE months ago The execution 0r
! this programme IS absolutely necessary 10 our
/ security and Germany will not for an inSOdn~
| tolerate the change OF single letter OF q
| comma We must have Metz and Lorraine
| MI Lauzanne moreover. relates conversation
that tool pIace fr 1873 at the Congress OF Berlin
| bs+vas, Bismarck and Ignatief- The Iron
| Chancellor reproached his Russian coneasie
| with mot being a true statesman, because nav
ing your foot on the neck OF a nation, you IN
| sist In taking everything you can IsnaueN
| renlied: why, we are merely following your
| own example in 1S71.'' NO. indeed! was BIS
| r,arct.s answer. ''at that time took Metz and
| Lorraine because I was obliged 70 hs1en %
| Moltke. who said to me. Metz in our hands or
! ., the hands of the French makes difference
| for mr. against US OF an army Of hundred
| thousand men, 1 could not, therefore. impose
| upon nv country the burden Of putting an addi-
tionaI hundred thousand men IN the neId AZ any
| given moment But had I done as you no"
| propose to do should have demanded not only
Metz and Lorraine, but Verdun and the whole
| Cbampagne country. France was IN cur hands.
Paris had fallen; the commune was maAins
| ready: everything was disorganized- I certainly
| could have done itr
In short. all the documentary evidence no"
brought to light proves conclusively that Theirs
acted with tenacity and patriotism, and thar i
would have been utterly hopeless to have Sc
| cured more favorable terms OF peace than tnoss
| accorded by the Troaty OF Frankfort
NJ Lauzanne also recounts the last episode OF
the famous conversation between Bismarck and
| Theirs when the latter still persisted In resist
| ing Bfsparcks demand for Metz. Bismarck be-
| came greatly excited and irritated- He had
| been discussing for hours with the willy little
French1nan and finally gave vent TO his III
| hurnor by bursting forth IN a torrent OF German
| invective You know very well DO not speak
| or understand German" quietly said IhierS-
| Perfectly So" retorted Bismarck. when dis
cuss with persons with whom think I can
arrive at an understanding I am accustomed
to speak their language. but when discover
that it is useless to argue further with them
| speak my own language Theirs. seeing that
conversation was hopeless. walked 70 a table
and penned his adherence to the abandonment
| of Metz. Bismarck afterward related this Incl
dent and said Of Theirs: 1T IS true Theirs
sometimes gave me the impression OF an aged
child but when I pushed him TO the wall in
variably found that he had courage well as
wit After all. he a real nom de Disui
(''JJnd dass er doch I'm grunde genomr1en ein
wahrer nom de Dieu' warfD From historical
point of view the discussion raised by NJ. Hano-
taux has elected new and interesting episodes
bearing upon the problem Z 1871" and has
proved that the accusations tending 10 impair
the patriotism and statesmanIike ability and
patriotism OF Theirs are unfounded-
c. I 3.