The Duel Between France and Germany | Page 5

the French Cabinet took the next step in
the duel. On the 15th of July the Prime-Minister read from the tribune a
manifesto setting forth the griefs of France,--being, first, the refusal of
the Prussian King to promise for the future, and, secondly, his refusal
to receive the French Ambassador, with the communication of this
refusal, as was alleged, "officially to the Cabinets of Europe," which
was a mistaken allegation: [Footnote: Bismarck to Bernstorff, July 18,
and to Gerolt, July 19, 1870: Parliamentary Papers and Executive
Documents, Inclosures, _ubi supra._] and the paper concludes by
announcing that since the preceding day the Government had called in
the reserves, and that they would immediately take the measures
necessary to secure the interests, the safety, and the honor of France.
[Footnote: Journal Officiel du Soir, 17 Juillet 1870.] This was war.
Some there were who saw the fearful calamity, the ghastly crime, then
and there initiated. The scene that ensued belongs to this painful record.
The paper announcing war was followed by prolonged applause. The
Prime-Minister added soon after in debate, that he accepted the
responsibility with "a light heart." [Footnote: "De ce jour commence
pour les ministres mes collegues, et pour moi, une grande responsibilite.
["Oui!" gauche.] Nous l'acceptons, le coeur leger."] Not all were in this
mood. Esquiros, the Republican, cried from his seat, in momentous
words, "You have a light heart, and the blood of nations is about to
flow!" To the apology of the Prime-Minister, "that in the discharge of a
duty the heart is not troubled," Jules Favre, the Republican leader, of
acknowledged moderation and ability, flashed forth, "When the
discharge of this duty involves the slaughter of two nations, one may
well have the heart troubled!" Beyond these declarations, giving
utterance to the natural sentiments of humanity, was the positive
objection, most forcibly presented by Thiers, so famous in the Chamber
and in literature, "that the satisfaction due to France had been accorded
her---that Prussia had expiated by a check the grave fault she had

committed,"--that France had prevailed in substance, and all that
remained was "a question of form," "a question of susceptibility,"
"questions of etiquette." The experienced statesman asked for the
dispatches. Then came a confession. The Prime-Minister replied, that
he had "nothing to communicate,--that, in the true sense of the term,
there had been no dispatches,--that there were only verbal
communications gathered up in reports, which, according to diplomatic
usage, are not communicated." Here Emmanuel Arago interrupted: "It
is on these reports that you make war!" The Prime-Minister proceeded
to read two brief telegrams from Count Benedetti at Ems, when De
Choiseul very justly exclaimed: "We cannot make war on that ground;
it is impossible!" Others cried out from their seats,--Garnier Pages
saying, "These are phrases"; Emmanuel Arago protesting, "On this the
civilized world will pronounce you wrong"; to which Jules Favre added,
"Unhappily, true!" Thiers and Jules Favre, with vigorous eloquence,
charged the war upon the Cabinet: Thiers declaring, "I regret to be
obliged to say that we have war by the fault of the Cabinet"; Jules
Favre alleging, "If we have war, it is thanks to the politics of the
Cabinet;....from the exposition that has been made, so far as the general
interests of the two countries are concerned, there is no avowable
motive for war." Girault exclaimed, in similar spirit: "We would be
among the first to come forward in a war for the country, but we do not
wish to come forward in a dynastic and aggressive war." The Duc de
Gramont, who on the 6th of July flung down the gauntlet, spoke once
more for the Cabinet, stating solemnly, what was not the fact, that the
Prussian Government had communicated to all the Cabinets of Europe
the refusal to receive the French Ambassador, and then on this
misstatement ejaculating: "It is an outrage on the Emperor and on
France; and if, by impossibility, there were found in my country a
Chamber to bear and tolerate it, I would not remain five minutes
Minister of Foreign Affairs." In our country we have seen how the
Southern heart was fired; so also was fired the heart of Franco. The
Duke descended from the tribune amidst prolonged applause, with cries
of "Bravo!"--and at his seat (so says the report) "received numerous
felicitations." Such was the atmosphere of the Chamber at this eventful
moment. The orators of the Opposition, pleading for delay in the
interest of peace, were stifled; and when Gambetta, the young and

fearless Republican, made himself heard in calling for the text of the
dispatch communicating the refusal to receive the Ambassador, to the
end that the Chamber, France, and all Europe might judge of its
character, he was answered by the Prime-Minister with the taunt that
"for the first time