These simple facts, insufficient for the slightest quarrel,
intolerable in the pettiness of the issue disclosed, and monstrous
as reason for war between two civilized nations, became the
welcome pretext. Swiftly, and with ill-disguised alacrity, the
French Cabinet took the next step in the duel. On the 15th of July
the Prime-Minister read from the tribune a manifesto setting forth
the griefs of France,--being, first, the refusal of the Prussian
King to promise for the future, and, secondly, his refusal to
receive the French Ambassador, with the communication of this
refusal, as was alleged, "officially to the Cabinets of Europe,"
which was a mistaken allegation: [Footnote: Bismarck to
Bernstorff, July 18, and to Gerolt, July 19, 1870: Parliamentary
Papers and Executive Documents, Inclosures, _ubi supra._] and
the paper concludes by announcing that since the preceding day the
Government had called in the reserves, and that they would
immediately take the measures necessary to secure the interests,
the safety, and the honor of France. [Footnote: Journal Officiel
du Soir, 17 Juillet 1870.] This was war.
Some there were who saw the fearful calamity, the ghastly crime,
then and there initiated. The scene that ensued belongs to this
painful record. The paper announcing war was followed by prolonged
applause. The Prime-Minister added soon after in debate, that he
accepted the responsibility with "a light heart." [Footnote: "De
ce jour commence pour les ministres mes collegues, et pour moi,
une grande responsibilite. ["Oui!" _gauche_.] Nous l'acceptons,
le coeur leger."] Not all were in this mood. Esquiros, the
Republican, cried from his seat, in momentous words, "You
have a light heart, and the blood of nations is about to
flow!" To the apology of the Prime-Minister, "that in the
discharge of a duty the heart is not troubled," Jules Favre, the
Republican leader, of acknowledged moderation and ability, flashed
forth, "When the discharge of this duty involves the slaughter of
two nations, one may well have the heart troubled!" Beyond these
declarations, giving utterance to the natural sentiments of
humanity, was the positive objection, most forcibly presented by
Thiers, so famous in the Chamber and in literature, "that the
satisfaction due to France had been accorded her---that Prussia
had expiated by a check the grave fault she had committed,"--that
France had prevailed in substance, and all that remained was "a
question of form," "a question of susceptibility," "questions of
etiquette." The experienced statesman asked for the dispatches.
Then came a confession. The Prime-Minister replied, that he had
"nothing to communicate,--that, in the true sense of the term,
there had been no dispatches,--that there were only verbal
communications gathered up in reports, which, according to
diplomatic usage, are not communicated." Here Emmanuel Arago
interrupted: "It is on these reports that you make war!" The
Prime-Minister proceeded to read two brief telegrams from Count
Benedetti at Ems, when De Choiseul very justly exclaimed: "We
cannot make war on that ground; it is impossible!" Others cried
out from their seats,--Garnier Pages saying, "These are phrases";
Emmanuel Arago protesting, "On this the civilized world will
pronounce you wrong"; to which Jules Favre added, "Unhappily,
true!" Thiers and Jules Favre, with vigorous eloquence, charged
the war upon the Cabinet: Thiers declaring, "I regret to be
obliged to say that we have war by the fault of the Cabinet";
Jules Favre alleging, "If we have war, it is thanks to the
politics of the Cabinet;....from the exposition that has been
made, so far as the general interests of the two countries are
concerned, there is no avowable motive for war." Girault
exclaimed, in similar spirit: "We would be among the first to come
forward in a war for the country, but we do not wish to come
forward in a dynastic and aggressive war." The Duc de Gramont, who
on the 6th of July flung down the gauntlet, spoke once more for
the Cabinet, stating solemnly, what was not the fact, that the
Prussian Government had communicated to all the Cabinets of Europe
the refusal to receive the French Ambassador, and then on this
misstatement ejaculating: "It is an outrage on the Emperor and on
France; and if, by impossibility, there were found in my country a
Chamber to bear and tolerate it, I would not remain five minutes
Minister of Foreign Affairs." In our country we have seen how the
Southern heart was fired; so also was fired the heart of Franco.
The Duke descended from the tribune amidst prolonged applause,
with cries of "Bravo!"--and at his seat (so says the report)
"received numerous felicitations." Such was the atmosphere of the
Chamber at this eventful moment. The orators of the Opposition,
pleading for delay in the interest of peace, were stifled; and
when Gambetta, the young and fearless Republican, made himself
heard in calling for the text of the dispatch communicating the
refusal to receive the Ambassador, to the end that the Chamber,
France, and all Europe might judge of its character, he was
answered by the Prime-Minister with the taunt that "for the first
time in a French Assembly there were such difficulties on a
certain side in explaining _a question of honor_." Such was
the case as presented by the Prime-Minister, and on this question
of honor he accepted war "with a light heart." Better say, with no
heart at all;--for who so could find in this condition of things
sufficient reason for war was without heart. [Footnote: For the
full debate, see the _Journal Officid du Soir_, 17 Juillet
1870, and Supplement.]
During these brief days of solicitude, from the 6th to the 15th of
July, England made an unavailing effort for peace. Lord Lyons was
indefatigable; and he was sustained at home by Lord Granville, who
as a last resort reminded the two parties of the stipulation at
the Congress of Paris, which they had accepted, in favor of
Arbitration as a substitute for War, and asked them to accept the
good offices of some friendly power. [Footnote: Earl Granville to
Lords Lyons and Loftus, July 15, 1870,--Correspondence respecting
the Negotiations preliminary to the War between France and
Prussia, p. 35: Parliamentary Papers, 1870, Vol. LXX.] This most
reasonable proposition was rejected by the French Minister, who
gave new point to the French case by charging that Prussia "had
chosen to declare that France had been affronted in the person of
her Ambassador," and then positively insisting that "it was this
boast which was the _gravamen_ of the offence." Capping the
climax of barbarous absurdity, the French Minister did not
hesitate to announce that this "constituted an insult which no
nation of any spirit could brook, and rendered it, much to the
regret of the French Government, impossible to take into
consideration the mode of settling the original matter in dispute
which was recommended by her Majesty's Government." [Footnote:
Lord Lyons to Earl Granville, July 15, 1870,--Correspondence
respecting the Negotiations preliminary to the War between France
and Prussia, pp. 39, 40: Parliamentary Papers, 1870, Vol. LXX.]
Thus was peaceful Arbitration repelled. All honor to the English
Government for proposing it!
The famous telegram put forward by France as the _gravamen_,
or chief offence, was not communicated to the Chamber. The Prime-
Minister, though hard-pressed, held it back. Was it from
conviction of its too trivial character? But it is not lost to the
history of the duel. This telegram, with something of the brevity
peculiar to telegraphic dispatches, merely reports the refusal to
see the French Ambassador, without one word of affront or boast.
It reports the fact, and nothing else; and it is understood that
the refusal was only when this functionary presented himself a
second time in one day on the same business. Considering the
interests involved, it would have been better, had the King seen
him as many times as he chose to call; yet the refusal was not
unnatural. The perfect courtesy of his Majesty on this occasion
furnished no cause of complaint. All that remained for pretext was
the telegram. [Footnote: See references, _ante_, p. 19, Note
1. For this telegram in the original, see Aegidi und Klauhold,
_Staatsarchiv_, (Hamburg, 1870,) 19 Band, S. 44, No. 1033.]