Friday, January 6th.—Up to yesterday the cold was very severe. The Chief has been unwell nearly the whole week. Yesterday for the first time he went out for a short drive, and again this afternoon. The Bureau has been reinforced by two officials, namely Oberregierungsrath Wagener and Baron von Holstein, a secretary of embassy. Amongst the articles which I have written within the last few days was one concerning the withdrawal of a number of railway waggons from home traffic, and consequently from the use of German industry, solely for the purpose of collecting provisions here in anticipation of the time when famine shall at length compel Paris to surrender. I described this as humane, but unpractical and impolitic, as the Parisians, when they hear that we have made preparations for that event, will continue their resistance to the last crust of bread and the last joint of horseflesh. We shall, therefore, ourselves be contributing through such acts of humanity to a prolongation of the siege. It is not for us to provide against the threatened danger of famine by establishing storehouses or collecting the means of transport for reprovisioning the city, but rather for the Parisians themselves by means of a timely capitulation. I yesterday translated for the use of the King two English documents respecting the sinking of English coal ships near Rouen by our troops, who considered the measure necessary.
After dinner I read despatches and drafts. A demand has been addressed to the German railways to supply a number of waggons (“2,800 axles”) for the purpose of transporting provisions to Paris. The Chief entered an energetic protest against this measure, which would be prejudicial to us from a political standpoint, as the knowledge of those provisions would enable the holders of power in Paris to exhaust all their supplies before finally yielding, without any fear of famine at the last moment. A telegram was sent to Itzenplitz on the 3rd of January suggesting that he should not deliver a single waggon for this purpose, and asking him to reply by wire whether he would decline such requisitions. If not, the Chief “would request his Majesty to relieve him from all responsibility.” Itzenplitz telegraphed back that he agreed with the views of the Chancellor of the Confederation, and would act accordingly. A letter from the King of Sweden, addressed to a Commandant Verrier in Erfurt, is to be returned through the Dead Letter Office. His Swedish Majesty, whom we know not to be particularly well disposed towards us, says in this epistle, which, by the way, is written in bad French with many orthographical errors, that he regrets to have to watch the struggle with “folded arms,” and to be obliged to “eat his bread in peace.” “Nous nous armons tardivement, hélas! mais avec vigueur, et j’espère que le jour de vengeance arrivera!” Vengeance? What have the Swedes to avenge upon us? It would seem as if Prince Charles of Rumania were no longer able to manage the local extremists, and were thinking of abdicating and leaving the country. “We have no political interests in Rumania.” The Chief has made representations to the King suggesting a limitation of the seat of war for political reasons, namely on the ground that only thus shall we be able to maintain our position in the occupied portions of France and take full advantage of our occupation; and he has further proposed that we should give notice to withdraw from the Geneva Convention, which is unpractical. Bonnechose has, at the instance of the Pope, addressed a letter to King William in favour of peace, but of an “honourable” peace, that is to say, one that would not involve a cession of territory. That we could have had twelve weeks ago from Monsieur Favre, if the Chief had not preferred a useful peace. For this reason the Minister recommended that the letter should be left unanswered. According to an intimation from Persigny, Prince Napoleon wishes to come to Versailles in order to act as intermediary. He is a highly intelligent and amiable gentleman, but enjoys little consideration in France, and therefore the Chancellor declined to negotiate with him. In the London Conference on the Black Sea question we are to give every possible support to Russia’s demands. The Dowager Queen at Dresden has suggested to Eichmann (the Prussian Minister) that it would be an indication of confidence in Saxony if we were to allow them to garrison Königstein with Saxon troops alone.
Saturday, January 7th.—Haber suggested that possibly some political documents of importance for us might be found in Odillon Barrot’s house at Bougival. I asked the Minister’s permission to go over there with Bucher. He replied: “That is all very well, but is it a private library? I must preserve the things for M. Odillon Barrot. But you can see if there is anything political amongst them.” It proved on examination to be a well-chosen library, containing historical and political works, as well as polite literature. It included also a number of English books, but contained nothing of the character suspected by Haber.
This evening the Minister dines with us again.
We hear at tea that the bombardment of the forts on the north side of Paris has also begun, and shows good results. Fires have broken out in Vaugirard and Grenelles—whence probably the smoke arose which we saw yesterday from the hills between Ville d’Avray and Sèvres.
Keudell thinks I ought to tell the Chief. I go up to him at a quarter to 11. He thanks me, and then asks, “What time is it?” I answer “Nearly 11, Excellency.” “Well, then, tell Keudell to prepare the communication for the King.” I ascertain down stairs that this is a complaint that by 11 o’clock at night the military authorities have not communicated to the Minister matters of which civilians were informed at 2 P.M.
Sunday, January 8th.—At dinner the Chief gave some further reminiscences of his youth. He spent the time from his sixth to his twelfth year at the Plahmann Institute in Berlin, an educational establishment worked on the principles of Pestalozzi and Jahn. It was a period he could not think of with pleasure. The régime was artificially Spartan. While there he never fully satisfied his hunger, except when he was invited out. “The meat was like india-rubber, not exactly hard, but too much for one’s teeth. And carrots—I liked them raw,—but cooked, and with hard potatoes, square junks!”
This led up to the pleasures of the table, the Chief giving his views chiefly of certain varieties of fish. He had a pleasant recollection of fresh-river lampreys, of which he could eat eight or ten; he then praised schnäpel, a kind of whiting, and the Elbe salmon, the latter being “a happy mean between the Baltic salmon and that of the Rhine, which is too rich for me.” With regard to bankers’ dinners, “nothing is considered good unless it is dear,—no carp because it is comparatively cheap in Berlin, but zander (a kind of perch-pike) because it is difficult to carry. As a matter of fact I do not care for these, and just as little for lampreys, of which the flesh is too soft for me. But I could eat marena every day of the week. I almost prefer them to trout, of which I only like those of a medium size, weighing about half-a-pound. The large ones that are usually served at dinners in Frankfurt, and which mostly come from the Wolfsbrünnen near Heidelberg, are not worth much. They are expensive, and so one must have them. That’s also the way at Court with oysters. They don’t eat any in England when the Queen is present, as they are too cheap there.”
The conversation then turned on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which was compared with the Brandenburg Gate. The Chief said of the latter: “It is really beautiful in its way—particularly without the two pillared porticos. I have advised the King to let it stand free, and have the guard houses removed. It would be much more effective, as it would no longer be squeezed in and partly concealed as it is now.”
Wagener having mentioned his former journalistic work, the Minister said: “I know my first newspaper article was about shooting. At that time I was still a wild junker. Some one had written a spiteful article on sport, which set my blood boiling, so that I sat down and wrote a reply, which I handed to Altvater, the editor, but without success. He answered very politely, but said it would not do, he could not accept it. I was beside myself with indignation that any one should be at liberty to attack sportsmen without being obliged to listen to their reply; but so it was at that time.”