[Extract.]
Mr. Wright to Mr.
Seward.
No. 34.]
Legation of the United States,
Berlin,
May 31, 1866.
Sir: * * * * *
It is settled we are to have a peace conference at Paris next week. If
this conference can agree upon the subjects to be considered, discussed,
and deliberated upon, then we shall have a congress composed of
ministers of foreign affairs of the different powers represented in the
congress. Strange as it may seem, many are of opinion that Napoleon
contemplates urging a meeting of the sovereigns of Europe in order to
adjust and settle the many conflicting questions now agitating Europe,
should the peace conference prove a failure. The King of Prussia is
doing all he can to preserve peace. His response to the Breslau
authorities (herewith enclosed) breathes a different spirit from that
manifested three months since.
I have the honor to be yours, most respectfully,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
speech of the king of prussia.
I have been gratified in receiving the address the town council and
municipal authorities of Breslau have forwarded to me. In the
language of this address I recognize the spirit which in 1813
animated the fathers of the present citizens of Breslau, and I beg
you to accept my thanks for your earnest and ardent expression of
the same. No one can feel more painfully than I do the many and
heavy sacrifices the war would entail on the country; and no one can
more anxiously desire that our sufferings may be rendered more easy
of endurance by the restoration of perfect harmony between the
sovereigns and the people. I pledge my word to the city of Breslau,
that no ambitious designs, not even such as in the interest of our
common German fatherland might be considered as legitimate, but the
duty to defend Prussia and all that is dear to her have alone caused
me to summon my people to take up arms. The inhabitants of the city
of Breslau may rest assured that to establish a better understanding
between my government and the Parliament on the questions in dispute
is the object of my wishes and most zealous endeavors. In the hope
of attaining this end, in the hope, also, that now, when dangers
menace Prussia, our common devotion to the country will mediate
between antagonistic tendencies, and reconcile the various opinions
entertained upon the purport of the constitutional law, I shall
convene the Landtag of the monarchy. By the dissolution of the House
of Deputies, the constituencies, as well as the representatives they
will elect, have been furnished with an opportunity to dissever
themselves from the recollections of the past, and to give
expression to those feelings which animate my people in the present
threatened conditions of the country. I trust that the
representatives of my loyal city of Breslau will, in the impending
session, co-operate in bringing about so desirable a result.
