344 



GERMAN-FRENCH WAR. 



North-German embassy at Paris ceased their 

 functions ; the French ambassadors at Munich, 

 Stuttgart, Oarlsruhe, and Dresden, received 

 their passports. The protection of the Germans 

 in France was accepted by the ambassador of 

 the United States ; while the English ambas- 

 sador in Prussia charged himself with the pro- 

 tection of the French in Germany. One more 

 effort at-mediation was made by the Pope, who 

 wrote as follows to the King of Prussia, au 

 identical letter being sent to the Emperor 

 of France : 



YOUB MAJESTY : In the present grave circum- 

 stances it may appear an unusual thing to receive a 

 letter from me ; but, as the vicar on earth of God and 

 peace, I cannot dp less than offer my mediation. It 

 is my desire to witness the cessation of warlike prep- 

 arations and to stop the evils, their inevitable con- 

 sequences. My mediation is that of a sovereign 

 whose small dominion excites no jealousyj and who 

 inspires confidence by the moral and religious in- 

 fluence he personifies. May God lend an ear to my 

 wishes, ana listen also to those I form for your Ma- 

 jesty, to whom I would be united in the bonds of 

 charity. PIUS. 



Given at the Vatican, July 22, 1870. 



The King replied as follows : 



MOST AUGUST POOTIFF: 1 am not surprised, but 

 profoundly moved, at the touching words traced by 

 your hand. They cause the voice of God and of 

 peace to be heard. How could my heart refuse to 

 listen to so powerful an appeal ? 



God witnesses that neither I nor my people de- 

 vised or provoked war. Obeying the sacred duties 

 which God imposes on sovereigns and nations, we 

 take up the sword to defend the independence and 

 honor of our country, ready to lay it down the 

 moment those treasures are secure. 



If your Holiness could offer me, from Lim who so 

 unexpectedly declared war, assurances of sincerely 

 pacific dispositions and guarantees against a similar 

 attempt upon the peace and tranquillity of Europe, it 

 certainly will not be I who will refuse to receive 

 them from your venerable hands, united as I am with 

 you in bonds of Christian charity and sincere friend- 

 ship. WILLIAM. 



As the Emperor of France did not offer the 

 assurances demanded by King William, the 

 mediatorial offer of the Pope remained with- 

 out results. 



The speculations as to the attitude of the 

 other powers were soon set at rest by formal 

 declarations of neutrality; Belgium, Holland, 

 and Switzerland, called out a considerable 

 number of troops, to enforce their neutrality. 

 France and Prussia, in turn, assured these 

 states that their neutrality would be respected. 

 . The belligerent Governments continued for a 

 time to issue diplomatic notes explanatory of 

 the cause of war, and charging each other with 

 duplicity and falsehood. None of these diplo- 

 matic documents produced so profound an 

 impression as the publication by Count Bis- 

 marck of a secret treaty which, he stated, the 

 French ambassador in 1866 had submitted to 

 Prussia, and which proposed the concurrence 

 of France in the -unity of all Germany under 

 the leadership of Prussia, in case Prussia should 

 agree to the annexation of Belgium to France. 

 In order to prevent any denial of his declara- 



tion, Count Bismarck caused the photographic 

 publication of the proposed treaty in the very 

 handwriting of Benedetti. The reply of Bene- 

 detti, in the Journal Officiel of Paris, of July 

 29th, that the project of annexing Belgium to 

 France did not proceed from Louis Napoleon, 

 but from the Prussian Government, and that 

 Count Bismarck dictated to him the articles 

 of treaty, was regarded by public opinion 

 as a more subtle than plausible subterfuge. 

 When the war was formally declared, the 

 fear was widely entertained in Germany that 

 the eagerness of France to precipitate so 

 colossal a contest indicated a very forward 

 state of preparation on her part, and made 

 an invasion of German soil by a French 

 army at the commencement of the war prob- 

 .able. A great relief was therefore felt when, 

 at the end of July, the German army was con- 

 centrated on the French frontier without find- 

 ing an invading force to repel. At the begin- 

 ning of August, an immense German force was 

 guarding the border of the Prussian and the 

 Hessian Rhine-provinces, the Bavarian Palat- 

 inate, and the grand-duchy of Baden. The 

 commander-in-chief of the entire army was 

 King William of Prussia, who, on the 81st of 

 July, in company with Count Bismarck, the 

 Minister of War, Von Roon, and General von 

 Moltke, left Berlin to join the advance. Gen- 

 eral von Moltke was chief of the general staff 

 of the entire German force, which was divided 

 into three large armies. The first, or the right 

 wing, consisting of the First, Seventh, Eighth, 

 and Ninth Army Corps of Northern Germany, 

 and the troops of Hesse-Darmstadt, was com- 

 manded by General Charles Frederick von Stein- 

 metz. The second or centre, embracing the 

 Guards, and the Second, Third, Fourth, Tenth, 

 and Twelfth Army Corps of Northern Germany, 

 was under the command of Prince Frederick 

 Charles of Prussia. The Crown Prince of Prus- 

 sia received the command of the left wing, con- 

 sisting of the Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh North- 

 German corps, and the troops of Bavaria, Wur- 

 temberg, and Baden. In addition to these three 

 armies, there was a considerable force retained 

 for the defence of the German coasts under 

 the command of General Vogel von Falken- 

 stein, and a reserve army, called the Army of the 

 North, formed under the command of the 

 Grand-duke of Mecklenburg. 



The French army was under the command of 

 the Emperor. General Leboeuf, Minister of War, 

 was chief of the general staff. The troops ready 

 for the field were divided into the Corps de 

 Garde, commanded by General Bourbaki, and 

 seven army corps, under the command of Mar- 

 shal MacMahon, General Frossard, Marshal Ba- 

 zaine, General de 1'Admirault, General de Fail- 

 ly, Marshal Canrobert, and General Felix Douay. 

 A few days later Marshal Bazaine was made 

 the acting commander-in-chief, with his head- 

 quarters at Metz, and with the Army of the 

 North (including the Fourth, Second, and Third 

 Corps) under his immediate direction, while 



