¶ A curious sidelight on the famous interview at Biarritz is supplied by Bismarck’s writings. “Napoleon said things could not go on as they had been doing, in Prussia,” wrote Bismarck, “otherwise there would soon be an uprising in Berlin and a revolution in the whole country. I told him that the people of our country were not barricade-builders, and that in Prussia revolutions were made only by the kings. If the King could stand the strain on him for three or four years he would certainly win the game. Unless he got tired and left me, I would not fail him. The Emperor at that time said of me, ‘Ce n’est pas un homme serieux,’ (Bismarck is not a serious man), a mot of which I did not think myself at liberty to remind him, in the weaver’s hut, at Donchery.”
¶ Bismarck exercised all his mighty ingenuity to keep Napoleon from urging too far that the King of Prussia be brought forward. Bismarck knew that King William was tender-hearted, and, tempted by the disaster that had come to Napoleon, would in consequence be inclined to deal leniently with the Emperor.
¶ Bismarck, setting his iron jaws hard, determined then and there to keep the Prussian King out of it till the terms of peace had been arranged.
¶ Come, come, are we not justified in our character study of Bismarck? Who now is master, who now servant? Who now is shown to be the real power behind the throne? And if Bismarck did not actually bring on this awful war, then he well knew the art of making other nations declare war. Oh, he has learned a thing or two in his long and eventful life; and he is now about to create his diplomatic masterpiece—in the Belgian weaver’s hut.
¶ Sedan surrendered 40 generals, 2,825 various other officers, 83,000 prisoners of war, 184 pieces of artillery, 350 field guns, 70 Mitrailleuses, 12,000 horses, and enormous quantities of military stores.
¶ The broken-hearted Emperor was sent away to the castle at Wilhelmshoehe, near Cassel.
And the King of Prussia opened the champagne at his royal headquarters at Vendresse, and toasted von Roon, Moltke and Bismarck: “You, General von Roon, whetted our sword; you General von Moltke, wielded it; and you, Count Bismarck, have brought Prussia to its present prominence by the way in which you have directed its policy for several years.”