Count Henckel and Bleichröder dined with us. It seems that in the negotiations with the French financiers, Scheidtmann described them to their faces in language more vigorous than flattering, talking of them as pigs, dogs, rabble, &c., in ignorance of the fact that some of them understood German. The Chief then spoke of the insolence of the Parisian press, which behaved as if the city were not in our power: “If that goes on we must tell them that we will no longer stand it. It must cease, or we shall answer their articles by a few shells from the forts.” Henckel having alluded to the unsatisfactory state of public opinion in Alsace, the Chief said that, properly speaking, no elections ought to have been allowed there at all, and he had not intended to allow them. But inadvertently the same instructions were sent to the German officials there as elsewhere. The melancholy situation of the Prince of Rumania was then referred to, and from the Rumanian Radicals the conversation turned to Rumanian stocks. Bleichröder said that financiers always speculated on the ignorance of the masses, and upon their blind cupidity. This was confirmed by Henckel, who said: “I had a quantity of Rumanian securities, but after I had made about 8 per cent. I got rid of them, as I knew they could not yield 15 per cent, and that alone could have saved them.” The Chief then related that the French were committing all sorts of fraud in the revictualling of Paris. It was not out of pride that they refused our contributions, but merely because they could make no profit out of them. Even members of the Government were involved, and Magnin was understood to have recently made 700,000 francs on the purchase of sheep. “We must let them see that we know that,” said the Chief, glancing at me; “it will be useful in the peace negotiations.” This was done without delay.
After dinner I wrote some paragraphs on the instructions of the Chief. The first was to the effect that we ought no longer to tolerate the insolence of the Parisian journalists. However generous and patient we might be, it was past endurance that the French press should venture to deride and insult to his face the victor who stood before the walls of the capital which he had absolutely in his power. Moreover, such mendacity and violence would prove an obstacle to the conclusion of peace, by producing bitterness on both sides and delaying the advent of a calmer spirit. This could not be foreseen when the armistice Convention was concluded, and in discussing any prolongation of the truce, effective means would have to be found for preventing further provocation of the kind. Undoubtedly the best way would be the occupation of the city itself by our troops. We should thus relieve the French Government of a source of grave anxiety, and avert the evil consequences of inflammatory articles in the press, which they are perhaps not in a position to repress.
Sunday, February 12th.—It is announced in a telegram from Cassel that Napoleon has issued a proclamation to the French. The Minister handed it to me, saying: “Please have this published in our local paper. It is in order to lead them astray, so that they may not know where they stand. But for God’s sake don’t date it from Wilhelmshöhe, or they will think that we are in communication with him. ‘Le bureau Wolff télégraphie.’” The Chief seems to be unwell. He does not come to dinner.
Wednesday, February 15th.—I again draw attention in the Moniteur to the disgraceful tone of the Parisian press. I intimate that this agitation is delaying the conclusion of peace, and that the most certain way of putting an end to it would be the occupation of Paris.
Wednesday, February 22nd.—During the last week I have written a number of articles and paragraphs, and despatched about a dozen telegrams.
The Assembly at Bordeaux shows a proper appreciation of the position. It has declined to support Gambetta, and has elected Thiers as chief of the Executive and spokesman on behalf of France in the negotiations for peace which began here yesterday. At dinner yesterday, at which we were joined by Henckel, the Chief remarked, with reference to these negotiations, “If they were to give us another milliard we might perhaps leave them Metz, and build a fortress a few miles further back, in the neighbourhood of Falkenberg or towards Saarbrücken—there must be some suitable position there. I do not want so many Frenchmen in our house. It is the same with Belfort, which is entirely French. But the soldiers will not hear of giving up Metz, and perhaps they are right.”
Generals von Kameke and von Treskow dined with us to-day. The Chief spoke about his second meeting with Thiers to-day: “On my making that demand” (what the demand was escaped me), “he jumped up, although he is otherwise quite capable of controlling himself, and said, ‘Mais c’est une indignité!’ I did not allow that to put me out, however, but began to speak to him in German. He listened for a while, and evidently did not know what to make of it. He then said in a querulous voice, ‘Mais, Monsieur le Comte, vows savez bien que je ne sais point l’allemand.’ I replied, speaking in French again, ‘When you spoke just now of indignité I found that I did not know enough French, and so preferred to use German, in which I understand what I say and hear.’ He immediately caught my meaning, and wrote down as a concession the demand which he had previously resented as an indignité.”
The Chief continued: “Yesterday he spoke of Europe, which would intervene if we did not moderate our demands. But I replied, ‘If you speak to me of Europe I shall speak to you of Napoleon.’ He would not believe that they had anything to fear from him. I proved the contrary to him, however. He should remember the plebiscite and the peasantry, together with the officers and soldiers. It was only under the Emperor that the Guards could again have the position which they formerly occupied; and with a little cleverness it could not be difficult for Napoleon to win over 100,000 soldiers among the prisoners in Germany. We should then only have to arm them and let them cross the frontier, and France would be his once more. If they would concede good conditions of peace we might even put up with one of the Orleans, though we knew that that would mean another war within two or three years. If not, we should have to interfere, which we had avoided doing up to the present, and they would have to take Napoleon back again. That, after all, must have produced a certain effect upon him, as, to-day, just as he was going to talk about Europe again, he suddenly broke off and said, ‘Excuse me.’ For the rest, I like him very well. He is at least highly intelligent, has good manners, and is an excellent story-teller. Besides, I often pity him, for he is in an extremely awkward position. But all that can’t help him in the least.”
With regard to the war indemnity, the Chief said: “Thiers insisted that fifteen hundred million francs was the maximum, as it was incredible how much the war had cost them. And in addition to that everything supplied to them was of bad quality. If a soldier only slipped and fell down, his trousers went to pieces, the cloth was so wretched. It was the same with the shoes which had pasteboard soles, and also with the rifles, particularly those from America.” I replied: “But just imagine, you are suddenly pounced upon by a man who wants to thrash you, and after defending yourself and getting the better of him, you demand compensation—what would you say if he asked you to bear in mind how much he had had to pay for the stick with which he had intended to beat you, and how worthless the stick had proved to be? However there is a very wide margin between fifteen hundred and six thousand millions.”
The conversation then lost itself—I can no longer remember how—in the depths of the Polish forests and marshes, turning for a while on the large solitary farm houses in those districts and upon colonisation in the “backwoods of the east.” The Chief said: “Formerly when so many things were going wrong—even in private affairs—I often thought that if the worst came to the worst I would take my last thousand thalers and buy one of those farms out there and set up as a farmer. But things turned out differently.”