The Chief afterwards gave Abeken instructions respecting communications to be made to the King. The Chancellor looked through a number of despatches and reports with him. Pointing to one document he said: “Do not give him that without an explanation. Tell him how the matter arose, otherwise he will misunderstand it. That long despatch from Bernstorff—well, you can show him that also. But the newspaper article enclosed—the gentlemen of the Embassy take things very easy—I have already said frequently that such articles must be translated, or, better still, that they should be accompanied by a précis. And tell his Majesty also,” said the Minister in conclusion, “that, properly speaking, we ought not to allow the Frenchman to join the Conference in London” (the approaching Conference on the revision of the Paris Treaty of 1856), “as he would represent a Government which is not recognised by the Powers, and which will have no legal existence for a long time to come. We can do it to please Russia in this question. At any rate, if he begins to speak of other matters he must at once be sent about his business.”
The Chief then related the following incident: “To-day, after calling upon Roon, I made a round which may prove to have been useful. I inspected Marie Antoinette’s apartment in the palace, and then I thought I would see how the wounded were getting on. The servant who acted as my guide had a pass-key, so I decided not to go in by the main entrance, but by the back way. I asked one of the hospital attendants what food the people had. Not very much. A little soup, which was supposed to be bouillon, with broken bread and some grains of rice, which were not even boiled soft. There was hardly any meat fat in it. ‘And how about wine? and do they get any beer?’ I asked. They got about half a glass of wine during the day, he said. I inquired of another, who had had none, and then of a third who had had some three days ago and none since then. I then went on to question several of the men, in all about a dozen, down to the Poles, who could not understand me, but showed their pleasure at somebody taking an interest in them by smiling. So that our poor wounded soldiers do not get what they ought to, and suffer from cold besides, because the rooms must not be warmed for fear of injuring the pictures. As if the life of one of our soldiers was not worth more than all the trashy pictures in the palace! The servant told me also that the oil lamps only remained alight until 11 o’clock, and that after that the men have to lie in the dark until morning. I had previously spoken to a non-commissioned officer, who was wounded in the foot. He said he did not want to complain, although things could be much better. Some consideration was paid to him, but as to the others! A member of the Bavarian Ambulance Corps now plucked up courage, and said that wine and beer had been provided, but that half of it had probably been intercepted somewhere; it was the same with hot food and other presents. I then made my way to the chief surgeon. ‘How about provisions for the wounded?’ I asked. ‘Do they get enough to eat?’ ‘Here is the bill of fare,’ he replied. ‘That is no good to me,’ I said; ‘the people cannot eat paper. Do they get wine?’ ‘Half a litre daily.’ ‘Excuse me, but that is not true. I have questioned the men, and I cannot believe they were lying when they told me that they had not received any.’ ‘I call God to witness that everything here is done properly and according to instructions. Please come with me and I will question the men in your presence.’ ‘I will do nothing of the kind,’ I answered; ‘but measures shall be taken to have them questioned by the auditor as to whether they have received what has been ordered for them by the inspector.’ He turned deadly pale—I see him now—an old wound showed up on his face. ‘That would be a great reflection upon me,’ he said. ‘Certainly,’ I replied, ‘and it ought to be. I shall take care that the affair is inquired into—and speedily.’”[15]... “What I should like best would be to induce the King to visit the wounded with me.” He afterwards added: “We have two classes in particular amongst whom frauds occur: the weevils that have to do with the commissariat and the officials in the public works department, especially in the water works. Then the doctors. I remember not long ago—it must be about a year and a half ago—there was a great inquiry into frauds connected with the passing of recruits for the army, in which, to my amazement, some thirty doctors were involved.”
About 10.30 P.M. the Chief joined us at tea. After a while he remarked: “The newspapers are dissatisfied with the Bavarian Treaty. I expected as much from the beginning. They are displeased that certain officials are called Bavarian, although they will have to conform entirely to our laws. And the same with regard to the army. The beer tax is also not to their liking, as if we had not had it for years past in the Zollverein. And so on with a crowd of other objections, although after all the important point has been attained and properly secured.”... “They talk as if we had been waging war against Bavaria as we did in 1866 against Saxony, although this time we have Bavaria as an ally on our side.”... “Before approving the treaty they want to wait and see whether the unity of Germany will be secured in the form they prefer. They can wait a long time for that. The course they are taking leads only to fresh delays, while speedy action is necessary. If we hesitate the devil will find time to sow dissensions. The treaty gives us a great deal. Whoever wants to have everything runs the risk of getting nothing. They are not content with what has been achieved. They require more uniformity. If they would only remember the position of affairs five years ago, and what they would then have been satisfied with!”... “A Constituent Assembly! But what if the King of Bavaria should not permit representatives to be elected to it? The Bavarian people would not compel him, nor would I. It is easy to find fault, when one has no proper idea of the conditions which govern the situation.”
The Minister then came to speak on another subject: “I have just read a report on the surprise of the Unna battalion. Some of the inhabitants of Chatillon took part in it—others, it is true, hid our people. It is a wonder that they did not burn down the town in their first outburst of anger. Afterwards, of course, in cold blood that would not do.”
After a short pause, the Chief took some coins out of his pocket and played with them for a moment, remarking at the same time: “It is surprising how many respectably dressed beggars one meets with here. There were some at Reims, but it is much worse here.”... “How seldom one now sees a gold piece with the head of Louis Philippe or Charles X.! When I was young, between twenty and thirty, coins of Louis XVI. and of the fat Louis XVIII. were still to be seen. Even the expression ‘louis d’or’ is no longer usual with us. In polite circles one speaks of a friedrich d’or.” The Chancellor then balanced a napoleon on the tip of his middle finger, as if he were weighing it, and continued: “A hundred million double napoleons d’or would represent about the amount of the war indemnity up to the present—later on it will be more, four thousand million francs. Forty thousand thalers in gold would make a hundredweight, thirty hundredweight would make a load for a heavy two-horse waggon—(I know that because I once had to convey fourteen thousand thalers in gold from Berlin to my own house. What a weight it was!)—that would be about 800 waggon loads.” “It would not take so long to collect the carts for that purpose as it does for the ammunition for the bombardment,” observed some one, who, like most of us, was losing patience at the slow progress of the preparations. “Yes,” said the Chief; “Roon, however, told me the other day, he had several hundred carts at Nanteuil, which could be used for the transport of ammunition. Moreover some of the waggons that are now drawn by six horses could do with four for a time, and the two spare horses thus could be used for bringing up ammunition. We have already 318 guns here, but they want forty more, and Roon says he could have them also brought up. The others however won’t hear of it.”
Hatzfeldt afterwards said: “It is only six or seven weeks since they altered their minds. At Ferrières, while we were still on good terms with them, Bronsart and Verdy said we could level the forts of Issy and Vanvres to the ground in thirty-six hours, and then attack Paris itself. Later on it was suddenly found to be impossible.” “Because of the letters received from London,” exclaimed Bismarck-Bohlen. I asked what Moltke thought of the matter. “He does not trouble himself about it!” answered Hatzfeldt. But Bucher declared that Moltke wanted the bombardment to take place.
Friday, December 2nd.—I see Neininger in the morning and learn that he succeeded in obtaining an audience from the Chief by playing the informer. He hinted to a Dr. Schuster of Geneva that “there might possibly be collusion between the foreign settlement collected round headquarters, and the personnel of the Government of National Defence,” and also that there were “fresh symptoms of intimate relations being maintained across the German investing lines with the Oriental colony at Versailles.” Schuster managed to convey these hints to the Minister. The “Oriental colony,” however, (a title which is intended to apply chiefly to Löwinsohn, and after him to Bamberg) appears to be innocent, and the intrigue to have been contrived merely for the purpose of providing a better position for Neininger on the Moniteur by securing the dismissal of the other two journalists.
Subsequently wrote some letters and articles again setting forth the Chief’s views in the matter of the Bavarian Treaty, and translated for the King the leading article in The Times on Gortschakoff’s reply to Granville’s despatch.
Alten, Lehndorff and a dragoon officer Herr von Thadden, were the Chief’s guests at dinner.
The Chief said that he had taken measures for providing our sentries with more comfortable quarters. “Up to the present they occupied Madame Jesse’s coach-house, which has no fireplace. That would not do any longer, so I ordered the gardener to clear out half of the greenhouse for them. ‘But Madame’s plants will be frozen,’ said the gardener’s wife. ‘A great pity,’ said I. ‘I suppose it would be better if the soldiers froze.’”