Thursday, November 24th.—Busily engaged all the morning with various articles on the Treaty with Bavaria, written in the sense of the Chief’s utterances of last night. Wollmann told me that a Colonel Krohn had arrested a lawyer at a place in the Ardennes for having treacherously entered into communication with a band of franctireurs, and the court-martial having sentenced the man to death, he had presented a petition for pardon. The Chief had, however, written to the Minister of War to-day that he would advise the King to let justice take its course.
Colonel Tilly, of the General Staff, and Major Hill are the Chief’s guests at dinner to-day. The Minister again complained that the military authorities do not communicate sufficient information to him and too seldom consult him. “It was just the same with the appointment of Vogel von Falkenstein, who has now locked up Jacoby. If I have to speak on that subject in the Reichstag, I shall wash my hands of the matter. They could not possibly have done more to spoil the broth for me.” “I came to the war,” he repeated, “disposed to do everything for the military authorities, but in future I shall go over to the advocates of Parliamentary government, and if they worry me much more, I shall have a chair placed for myself on the extreme Left.”
The Treaty with Bavaria was then mentioned, and it was said that the difficulties which had been encountered arose partly on the National side, on which the Minister observed, “It is really remarkable how many clever people there are who, nevertheless, understand nothing about politics. For instance, the man who always sat on my right here (Delbrück). A very clever man, but no politician.”
Suddenly changing the subject, he said: “The English are beside themselves, and their newspapers demand war on account of a note which is nothing more than a statement of opinion on a point of law—for that is all that Gortschakoff’s Note amounts to.”
Later on the Minister returned once more to the postponement of the bombardment, which he regarded as dangerous from a political standpoint. “Here we have now collected this enormous mass of siege artillery. The whole world is waiting for us to begin, and yet the guns remain idle up to the present. That has certainly damaged us with the neutral Powers. The effect of our success at Sedan is very seriously diminished thereby, and when one thinks on what grounds.” One of the causes of the delay brought him to speak of the Crown Princess, of whom he said: “She is in general a very clever person, and really agreeable in her way, but she should not interfere in politics.” He then again related the anecdote about the glass of water which he told me near Crehanges, only this time it was in French that the Princess spoke.
Friday, November 25th.—In the morning I cut out for the King an article from the Neue Freie Presse, in which Granville’s note is described as timid and colourless; and arrange for the republication by all our papers in France of the telegram of July last, in which Napoleon stated that the whole French people approved of the declaration of war which he had just despatched.
Whilst I was walking with Wollmann in the afternoon, he told me an anecdote of the Chief which is very neat—although I must add that my informant is not quite trustworthy. Wollmann said: “On the night of the 14th to the 15th of June, 1866, Manteuffel telegraphed that he had crossed the Elbe, and asked how he was to treat the Hanoverians. Thereupon the Minister wrote the answer: ‘Treat them as countrymen, if necessary to death.’ He asked me: ‘Do you understand that?’ ‘Yes, Excellency,’ I replied. ‘All right then,’ he added, ‘but, you see, it is for a general.’”
Saturday, November 26th.—Wrote several articles, including one on Trochu’s extraordinary production in the Figaro of the 22nd instant, praising those whom he considered specially deserving of commendation in the defence of the city. The Chief read over to me some of the passages he had marked, saying: “These heroic deeds of the defenders of Paris are mostly of such an ordinary kind that Prussian generals would not think them worth mentioning; while others are mere swagger and obvious impossibilities. Trochu’s braves have made more prisoners when they are all reckoned up than the whole French army during the entire investment of Paris. Then here is this Captain Montbrisson, who is commended for having marched at the head of his column to the attack, and had himself lifted over a wall in order to reconnoitre,—that was merely his duty. Then here this theatrical vanity, where Private Gletty made prisoners of three Prussians, par la fermeté de son attitude. The firmness of his attitude! And our Pomeranians ate humble pie before him! That may do for a Boulevard theatre, or a circus,—but in reality! Then this Hoff, who on several occasions slaughtered in single combat no less than twenty-seven Prussians! He must be a Jew, this triple nine-pounder! Probably a cousin of Malz-Hoff of the Old or New Wilhelmstrasse—at any rate a Miles Gloriosus. And finally this Terreaux, who captured a fanion, together with the porte-fanion. That is a company flag for marking the line—which we do not use at all. And the Commander-in-Chief of an army officially reports such stuff! Really this list of commendations is just like the battle pictures in the gallery of toutes les gloires de la France, where each drummer at Sebastopol and Magenta is preserved for posterity, simply because he beat his drum.”
At dinner the Chief complained: “I was yesterday visited by a whole series of misfortunes, one on top of the other. First of all some one wanted to see me on important business (Odo Russell). I send word requesting him to wait for a few moments, as I am engaged on a pressing matter. On my asking for him a quarter of an hour later, I find he has gone, and possibly the peace of Europe is at stake.
“Then I go to see the King as early as 12 o’clock, and the consequence is that I fall into the hands of the Grand Duke of Weimar, who obliges me, as his Chancellor, to listen to a letter which he has written to an august personage (the Emperor of Russia), and thus wastes a good deal of my time.... I am to tell him what I think of the letter, but I decline to do so. Have I then anything to object to it? he asked in a piqued tone. I cannot say that either, although I would observe that I should have written the letter differently. What do I wish altered? I stick to my point, and say I cannot express an opinion, because if the letter went with my corrections I should be held responsible for its contents. ‘Well, then, I must speak to the King.’ ‘Do so,’ I reply coolly, ‘and take over the office of Chancellor of the Confederation, if you like. But if the letter goes off, I for my part shall immediately telegraph to the place of destination that I have had nothing to do with it.’ I thus lost an hour, so that telegrams of great importance had to wait, and in the meantime, decisions may have been arrived at and resolutions taken which would have very serious consequences for all Europe, and might change the political situation. That all came of its being a Friday. Friday negotiations, Friday measures!”