Paris,
March 22, 1868.
My dear Stoffel,
... What you told me in your last letter is quite just, as far as Germany is concerned, but I do not, like you, expect to see the Emperor reconcile himself easily to events which might happen, as he has done, or been forced to do, up to now. The conditions have changed, and if we have submitted to events against which it was impossible to oppose any obstacles, to-day we are ready to face, with calmness and confidence, those [events] which may be produced, and we have only to act in regard to our interests.... We must be in a state of constant observation, and work indefatigably to make ourselves the strongest.
It is necessary, in this connection, to render justice to Marshal Niel. Since he has been at the [War] Ministry he has accomplished veritable tours de force, and from this time, by the admissions of the most difficult, of the most prudent, and even of the timorous [or “scrupulous”], we can say that we are ready for all events.
... I have read to the —— [? Emperor] several extracts from your letters.
VII.
Paris,
May 28, 1868.
My dear Stoffel,
I have read, and caused to be read—and that with the greatest interest on my part and also on the part of the persons to whom I communicated them—the letters which you have sent me for some time past, and which I have not yet answered.... You appear to be highly thought of at the Ministry of War, where your Reports are appreciated in a manner very flattering to you.... I have seen one or two of these reports when with the Emperor, who always follows with the greatest attention the questions treated in your Reports.... All the details which you give upon the [Prussian] army, and everything connected with it—armaments, fortifications, etc.—are a very useful thermometer to consult, indicating very clearly the degree of temperature in which we find ourselves.
Your private letters are of an equally appreciable interest. Your relations with the B—— family[167] place you in a magnificent position, and you have a hundred times more advantages than the most wary diplomatist to observe and seize, in the family life, a crowd of tints which should enable you to judge soundly of the hopes which they form for the future, and of the degree of confidence or of fear which they have of the success of their plans. In my opinion, they [the Prussians] have taken a step in advance by the meeting of the Custom-house Parliament [Parlement douanier]. M. de B—— [168] has tried to restore the prestige of Prussia, which had begun to weaken, by remounting his war-horse, in order to repel the foreigner who wished to mix himself up in their affairs, and by appealing to German patriotism....