Dear Punchinello: You may not have heard that BISMARCK has been here,
had an interview with FAVRE, and is off again. I didn't suppose you
would know it, so I hasten to give you and your army of readers a brief
synopsis of what took place, as nearly as I can in the exact language
used by the distinguished diplomats upon the occasion.
The scene of the consultation was one of the Imperial wine-cellars under
that pavilion of the Tuileries palace which overlooks the Seine at the
southwestern extremity of the _Place du Carrousel_. The spot was
selected for two reasons: it was far removed from the noise and hubbub
of the city, and it furnished facilities for "liquoring up" in case of
necessity. I was there and left, as you will see, under circumstances
calculated to give me a lasting impression of the event. We all three of
us sat around a pine table, upon which faintly flickered a tallow candle
in a soda-water bottle, that shed around a sickly glare (that is to say,
the candle did). BISMARCK looked a little the worse for wear, I thought,
and, as he unbuttoned his vest with a grunt of relief, he struck me
likewise as being rather short in his wind.
FAVRE was loose and frisky as a four weeks old kitten, and spoke with a
quick, decided tone that reminded me of HORACE GREELEY. He never once
swore, however, during the whole interview. Your readers will observe
that even if this momentous meeting was not marked by the usual
diplomatic usages, the language is strictly according to the usual
diplomatic idiom. It is important to note this fact, as everything
hinges on the "idiom."
BISMARCK was the first to break silence:
"The difficulties which embarrass the questions under discussion stand
first in the order of elimination."
FAVRE assented, and BISMARCK continued: "We must remove the peritoneum
to get at the viscera of the issues (I was much struck with the force
and originality of this method of putting it), and evict those
impressions which are purely matters of national sensibility."