No. 166.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.
Sir: On the 24th of this month I sent you the following telegram:
Fish, Secretary, Washington, District of Columbia:
Bismarck offered Favre truce conditions. Convention to be called. Germany to hold Strashurg, Verdun, Toul. Yesterday Favre rejected offer.
BANCROFT.
The account conveyed in the telegram is authentic. In the opinion of Europe the terms offered were moderate. The statement that the Germans demanded Mont Valerien is a misrepresentation. Now, the fall of Toul has been followed by the momentous event of the surrender of Strasburg, just one hundred and eighty-nine years after the day in which it was seized by Louis XIV. Seventy thousand troops are thus set free to invade southwestern France, the left wing to touch Lyons.
It seems very hard to understand the hopes and expectations of the present French government. The constituent convention has been postponed, and most men think, had a convention been held at this time it would not have confirmed the revolutionary ministers in power. The Orleanists see with pleasure the postponement of the convention, for they have as yet had no opportunity to organize their party in the nation, and under existing circumstances could be represented only by a small minority. Indeed, France is distracted, by parties, and as yet manifests no unity of aspiration or action in the reconstruction of its civil government. * * * * * * *
P. S.—It is now said that the present government, feeling the want of the confirmation of the people and the chance of ending anarchical tendencies through a convention, has decided to hold elections for a convention on the 16th of the next month. The Orleanists, during their eighteen years’ reign, were opposed to the extension of suffrage, which was confined to about 18,000 voters in all France.
Mr. Guizot even invented a term to distinguish the governing class of France, calling it the “pays legal.” As a consequence, the Orleans dynasty was supported only by surface roots, and not having any hold on the people was overthrown by the first storm. It has now no popularity, but a large part of the industrial class and a large part of the cultivated class in France are in favor of restoring that family.