DISCOVERY 



359 



find such a succession of catastrophes as this. The 

 question that we ask ourselves is, " What part was 

 played in them by the affair of the Ems telegram ? " 



Our knowledge of the part played by Bismarck in 

 these great events is largely derived from his Memoirs, 

 and it is from that source almost entirely that our 

 knowledge of the incident of the telegram comes. The 

 Memoirs were written or dictated in his old age, after 

 he had been dismissed from office by the Emperor, 

 and, like most autobiographies, they show a desire 

 to give a certain colour to the past ; they contain 

 a fair crop of inaccuracies ; and at one extremely 

 important point they are guilty of so flagrant a sup- 

 pression of the truth that it amounts clearly to a 

 suggestion of the false. The story there given of the 

 Ems telegram is by no means without its difficulties, 

 and has been severely criticised by some German 

 writers. I shall not e.xamine these criticisms here, 

 but shall accept those famous pages as an accurate 

 statement. It is impossible, within the limits allowed 

 to an article by Discovery, to reproduce them. They 

 can only be summarised. 



The situation was briefly this. France had pro- 

 tested against a Prussian candidate for the Spanish 

 throne, and had clearly stated her readiness to prevent 

 the accession of Leopold of Hohenzollern, even by 

 war. For a moment war had seemed certain. Then 

 Leopold had been induced to resign, and the war cloud 

 seemed lifted from Europe. Then in an evil hour, and 

 without consulting his Chancellor OUivier, Napoleon 

 III had instructed his representative at Ems, where 

 the Pnissian King was taking the cure, to demand 

 guarantees for the future. William I must declare his 

 personal approval of Leopold's renunciation, and must 

 promise never in the future to give the candidature 

 his support. On this condition there would be peace, 

 but, it was implied, on no other. Again war seemed 

 certain, and again the danger passed. For William 

 was conciliatory and good-humoured. He yielded 

 something ; he showed without irritation the impossi- 

 bility of yielding all. The famous interview with 

 Bencdetti, the French Ambassador, passed off on the 

 esplanade at Ems without any approach to violence 

 of language or feeling. Benedctti was relieved. In 

 Paris a cooler mood had come to tlie Imperial Council. 

 There was a disposition to accept what had been won 

 and to be satisfied. The King, too, believed that the 

 crisis was past, and instnicted his secretary to telegraph 

 the result of the interview to Bismarck at Berlin. 

 Tliis telegram has been often reprinted, but it is 

 necessary for the purpose of this article to print it once 

 again (the telegram is from the Kings secretary, 

 Abeken) : 



" His Majesty writes to me : ' Count Bencdetti spoke 

 to me on the promenade in order to demand from me, 



finally in a very importunate manner, that I should 

 authorise him to tilegraph at once that I bound myself 

 for all future time never again to give my consent if 

 the Hohenzollerns should renew their candidature. 

 I refused at last somewhat sternly, as it is neither 

 right nor possible to undertake engagements of this 

 kind a tout jamais. Naturally I told him that I had 

 as yet received no news, and as he was earlier informed 

 about Paris and Madrid than myself, he could clearly 

 see that my Government once more had no hand in 

 the matter.' His Majesty has since received a letter 

 from the Prince. His Majesty, having told Count 

 Benedctti that he was awaiting news from the Prince, 

 has decided with reference to the above demand, upon 

 the representation of Count Eulenburg and myself, 

 not to receive Count Bencdetti again, but only to let 

 him be informed through an aide-de-camp : that His 

 Majesty had now received from the Prince confirmation 

 of the news which Bencdetti had already received from 

 Paris, and had nothing further to say to the Am- 

 bassador. His Majesty leaves it to your E.\cellency 

 whether Benedetti's fresh demand and its rejection 

 should not be at once communicated both to our 

 Ambassador and lo the Press." 



Bismarck was dining with Moltke and Roon (the 

 War Minister) when he received this telegram. He 

 was displeased with the independent way in wliich the 

 King of Prussia had conducted the negotiation, and 

 had determined to resign office as a protest. Wlien 

 the telegram had been deciphered by his clerk he read 

 it out to his guests. They interpreted it to mean that 

 the war crisis was over, and " their dejection was so 

 great that they turned away from food and drink." 

 Then Bismarck asked them as to the condition of the 

 army and received satisfactory answers. He tells us 

 that he was himself convinced of the necessity of 

 inunediate war if Prussia was to avoid a deep humilia- 

 tion. He considered in what form he should com- 

 municate the news to the Press. The King's telegram 

 permitted him to do so, and even suggested that it 

 should be done ; but the language does not justify 

 Bismarck in saying, as he does, that he was " com- 

 manded " to communicate it " immediately." So " in 

 presence of my two guests I reduced the telegram by 

 striking out words, but without adding or altering " 

 (we will consider in a moment whether this is strictly 

 true), to the following form : 



'■ After the news of the renunciation of the hereditary 

 Prince of Hohenzollern had been officially communi- 

 cated to the Imperial Government of France by the 

 Royal Government of Spain, the French .\mbassador 

 at Ems further demanded of His Majesty the King 

 that he would authorise him lo telegraph to Paris 

 that His Majesty the King bound himself for all future 

 time never again to give his consent if the Hohen- 



