On the evening of the 23rd of November he had another meeting with the Bavarian Ministers. An agreement was at last come to. After they had left him, at ten o’clock in the evening, he said in a satisfied tone: “German unity is a completed act, and the ‘Emperor’ likewise. It is an event!... The agreement has its weak points; but as it is, it is more tenable. I consider it to be the most important thing we have accomplished this year. With regard to the ‘Emperor’ I made him more acceptable during the negotiations, as I represented to the Ministers that it must be easier and more convenient for their Kings to allow the German Emperor certain privileges than to allow them to the neighbouring King of Prussia.”
Ludwig made a last attempt to maintain his position. Prince Adalbert pressed him to put forward a claim that the Kings of Bavaria and of Prussia should alternately wear the Imperial crown; and Prince Luitpold was pushed forward to make this proposal. Bismarck scouted the idea, remarking: “The King of Bavaria lives in a world of dreams. He is hardly more than a boy who does not know his own mind!” The Prussian statesman, it need hardly be said, was careful not to say this directly to Ludwig. He wrote a long and exceedingly deferential letter to him, in which he emphasised how necessary it was that the Imperial crown should be offered to the King of Prussia, and that it was for the King of Bavaria to take the first step. If the last-named would not make the proposal, the Princes of the smaller states would do this, and Ludwig in such a case could not avoid following in their footsteps.
The descendant of the thousand-year-old House of Wittelsbach, which had counted three emperors among its forefathers, bent before the force of circumstances. He telegraphed to his Minister, Count Bray, that the latter was to inform Bismarck that Count Holnstein would arrive at Versailles within three days, to discuss with him the details of the matter. “Not till then”—he expressed himself—“shall I be able to make a final decision.” Holnstein hurried off. Without losing a moment’s time he sought out Bismarck, and made him acquainted with his errand, after which he immediately returned to Hohenschwangau.
Ludwig was in bed with a toothache, and would not be disturbed, but the Count knew how to arouse his curiosity in such a manner that he was received in audience all the same. He brought with him two sealed envelopes; the one contained a renewed demand to Ludwig to offer Wilhelm the Imperial crown; the other was the draft, composed by Bismarck, of a communication from the King of Bavaria in which this was done. The application was favourably received. Ludwig at once decided to follow the Prussian statesman’s instructions. With his own hand he wrote the letter which transformed Germany into an empire. Count Holnstein now rode to Munich, in conformity with the King’s command that he should confer with Secretary Eisenhart, whom he found in the Residenz Theater. He presented the aforesaid letter from Ludwig to the King of Prussia, also one to Eisenhart in which his master inquired whether he considered it desirable that another communication, couched in terms more suited to the circumstances, should be sent: in such a case the King gave Eisenhart a free hand to retain his own letter. The secretary sent it on without alteration. Holnstein swung himself up on his horse again and rode off to Versailles. In accordance with Ludwig’s express command, his communication was handed to the King of Prussia by Prince Luitpold.
“The King of Bavaria has copied Bismarck’s letter word for word,” noted Prince Friedrich in his journal.
The delight was great all over Germany. It was known that it was the young King of Bavaria, who had spoken the word at the right moment. Only the initiated were cognisant that he had done it under pressure and after hesitation. Hardly a dinner was given, and no political meeting was held, but the health of “Ludwig the German” was drunk with enthusiasm. The greatest satisfaction prevailed at headquarters. He was no longer now “the boy who did not know his own mind.” Both Bismarck and the King of Prussia expressed themselves in terms of the warmest recognition of the Bavarian Sovereign.
The proclamation of the Empire was to take place at Versailles on the 18th of January, 1871. Three days before this date the future emperor summoned the court chaplain to him. He spoke of Ludwig II.’s idealism, and added: “Whatever his abilities may be, he must at any rate be very highly considered.” Bismarck at an entertainment rose to his feet, and made the following speech:—“I drink to the health of his Majesty the King of Bavaria, and to the prosperity of his dynasty, which has extended through a thousand years! I can only repeat that as long as I have a voice in matters, a step shall never be taken which might wound Bavaria in its rightful position. His Majesty the King will find in me, as long as I live, a servant as attached as if I were still his vassal.”[5]
After the death of Ludwig II. the Chancellor of the German Empire declared: “In 1870 Ludwig was our only influential friend in Germany.”
[1] Louise von Kobell: “König Ludwig II. und Fürst Bismarck im Jahre 1870.” [↑]