i6z RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



There would be a real interest and a patriotic duty 

 in making a compilation of all the acts which were 

 accomplished with the common object of raising the 

 prestige of France, of getting together the scattered 

 documents upon which it would be easy to lay hands 

 to-day, but which will be forgotten to-morrow. 



A work of this kind would be not merely the diplo- 

 matic history of the peace with Germany, but the 

 history of the reconstruction of our country. "When 

 fate involves a nation in disaster, such as the war of 

 1870 was, there are two phases through which it 

 passes before resuming its rank in the world : the 

 diplomatic phase of the treaties which regulate peace 

 and its direct and immediate effects ; and the longer 

 phase during which the wounds of the war are closing, 

 order is being restored in the country, the truncated 

 limbs of the amputated territory are being tended, the 

 administration and finances are being reorganised, 

 and, in a word, the political equilibrium of the country 

 is being restored. 



History has related the main outlines of the events 

 of 1870, and has also revealed certain anecdotal and 

 dramatic details of special interest. The publications 

 which have hitherto appeared have done little more 

 than register diplomatic documents, and a few official 

 letters, &c., so that I may say a few words about the 

 results of the conventions of 1871. 



The diplomatic work done in 1815 was so great and 

 so complicated that it has of itself absorbed the atten- 



