Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1871
Circular of Mr. Von Thile.
I herewith most respectfully transmit to your excellency copies of—
1. The circular note which I addressed, in relation to the safety of communication with, from, and in Paris, on the 26th of last month, to the representatives of neutral states accredited to that court.
2. A joint note from members of the diplomatic corps at Paris, to the chancellor of the union, dated the 6th instant, in which it is requested that a weekly mail may be sent from Paris.
3. The reply to the same, addressed to the papal nuncio in Paris, together with the correspondence therein mentioned between Mr. Jules Favre and Count Bismarck.
4. The note by which the aforesaid documents are communicated to those governments whose representatives took part in the step mentioned, (sub. 2,) either directly or through the mediation of our diplomatic agents.
I take the liberty, most respectfully, to request your excellency to be pleased to present all these documents, as confidential information, to the government to which you have the honor to be accredited.
The inclosed duplicates of the annexes are intended for the archives of the legation.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish
Sir: The new year opens a new era; North Germany disappears and Germany rises into being. To the December address of the North German [Page 366] Diet, inviting the King of Prussia to accept the title of Emperor of Germany, offered him by the princes and free cities, the King wisely answered that he would wait for the decision of the people of South Germany, through their respective legislatures. The concurrence of all the legislatures, except Bavaria, has been given. The constitution of the United States of Germany went into effect on New Year’s day. There was no ringing of bells, no salvo of artillery, no military parade, no proclamation, and the revolution which makes of United Germany the strongest power on the continent of Europe came in as still and noiselessly as the falling of dew on a summers afternoon. The German Union has at this moment but four and twenty members, but no one doubts that Bavaria will join within a few days. The young commonwealth comes into being with every wish to maintain the most friendly relations with the United States of America. I am sorry to see that this disposition troubles British statesmen. As signs of the times, I inclose a letter from Earl Russell, of December 19, to the Times, in which he cavils at the Prussians for treating us “as blameless friends,” and also an extract from the Times, of December 31, 1870. * * *
The relations between the new empire and Austro-Hungary involve questions of the highest political importance. On the 14th of last month Count Bismarck, through the North German minister at Vienna, announced to Count Beust the impending change in the most conciliatory manner, deduced its rightfulness from the peace of Prague, and opened the way for establishing the most friendly relations between the two powers. I annex Count Bismarck’s dispatch to the German minister in Vienna, in German and in English. The answer of Count Beust was awaited with the greatest interest. Now, that it is published, it excites universal satisfaction that the Austrian chancellor, in his dispatch of December 26, to the Austrian minister at Berlin, putting aside all consideration of the peace of Prague, treats the union of Germany, under Prussian lead, as a fact of the first importance in the modem development of Europe.
He gives assurances of the sincerest wish of all influential circles in Austro-Hungary to cultivate the best and most friendly relations with the mighty state whose establishment approaches its completion. He joins the German government in the wish that Germany and Austro-Hungary may extend to one another the hand for the advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both countries. In this he sees a pledge for permanent harmony between the two empires, and for Europea guarantee of permanent peace. The emperor, he adds, recalling the ennobling recollections which united his dynasty for centuries with the destinies of the German people, promises to cherish the warmest sympathies for the further development of that people, and expresses his unreserved wishes that its new form as a body-politic may give genuine securities for its own happiness and the welfare of the ancient imperial state with which it is in so many ways connected by tradition, language, manners, and laws.
The Pontus question is still talked about, but no one apprehends immediate war, which Russia and Turkey are both desirous to avoid. The Black Sea is the great interior sea of Europe, draining a far larger and more fertile part of its soil, and receiving larger European rivers than the Mediterranean. The only good issue to the present strife must be the declaration that that sea is one in which all the commercial powers of the world have an interest, and which, therefore, must be unreservedly free and open to all. Russia shows no sign whatever of yielding any longer its natural right to fortify its coast, and to maintain ships of [Page 367] war in the Black Sea. The insinuation of a connivance between Prince Gortchakoff and Count Bismarck is to be rejected; no such connivance existed.
I remain. &c.
Our military resources.
To the editor of the Times:
Sir: I share in your anxiety respecting our armed forces, and it seems to me that during the five or six weeks before Parliament meets the public mind could not be more usefully employed than in considering our deficiencies, and, when a conclusion is reached, in asking government to supply our wants by armaments neither superfluous nor inadequate.
We are, unfortunately, a mark for national animosity on many sides. During the South American revolution the United States checked the building and sailing of cruisers to intercept and plunder the trade of Spain and Portugal, according to their own views of their obligations. When remonstrated with for not doing more, they answered that they would allow no interference with their domestic measures. When one notorious cruiser escaped from Birkenhead, during the American civil war, and our government copied the answer of Mr. Secretary Adams, we were immediately told that our repression was designedly and willfully inadequate.
In the same spirit, when arms are, during the present war, imported into France from England, but in much larger quantities from the United States, in conformity in both instances with the law of nations, the Prussian ministers, embassadors, officers, and soldiers, through whose country supplies of arms were carried to Russia during the Crimean war, and used by Russian soldiers to kill British troops engaged in a European cause—these same Prussians inveigh against us as enemies, and treat the Americans as blameless friends.
From these two instances I infer that the envy and hostility which have pursued every wealthy commercial nation in ancient and modern times are now dogging our steps, and will one of these days burst out into open aggression.
The facility with which Prince Gortchakoff and Count Bismarck threw off the trammels of treaties in their own cause, and upon their own testimony, shows but too clearly how easy it will be to find a pretext for attacking, first, an ally of England, such as Holland or Austria, and then England herself.
We have been subject since 1815 to occasional panics, often causeless and generally excessive. But if we have been affected in former days with unreasonable fear, that is no reason why we should now be buoyed up by extravagant hope—
“Fear’s elder brother, not so sad;
“The merrier fool of the two, but quite as mad.”
Why should we suppose the British Channel impassable to the ships and boats of an enemy? Is it impossible that a fleet may be required to relieve from danger our fellow-subjects in Jamaica while an expedition is preparing in the Texel for the invasion of England? Could we send a part of our army to assist an ally while we have so small a force of regular troops and so few thousands of embodied militia? Why not raise, by ballot if necessary, and embody one hundred thousand militia? In six months they would be admirable troops. Captain Sherard Osborn holds that a fleet equipped in the Scheldt against us ought to inspire no apprehensions, and at the same time advises us to line our east and north coasts with ships of war. His practical advice proves that he does not feel the security he affects. Lord Derby warns us against “an essentially retrograde step,” and at the same time assumes that we might possibly be called upon to repel an invasion of one hundred thousand men.
Even were I not an Englishman I should feel what many Germans, many Frenchmen, many citizens of the United States feel—admiration and reverence for a nation which, since 1641, has given her best blood in the cause of liberty; and since 1688 has furnished a model, often improved and purified, of a state in the enjoyment of civil and religious freedom.
Being a member of that state I feel responsible, as one of the public, to Europe and to the world for its preservation. I compare it with the great overwhelming autocracy, or rather stratocracy, of Russia, where, as I read in your telegram of to-day, “the Moscow town council having, in their congratulatory address on the Black Sea question, petitioned the Czar to add liberty of the press, tolerance of all religions, and other reforms to the blessings be has conferred upon his subjects, their address has been returned with a reprimand.” I see here what sort of government is prepared for the Turkish provinces now striving to obtain freedom from their own Sultan. I compare our condition [Page 368] again with the efforts which, since 1789, France has made in vain to combine liberty and order. I compare it with the state of Germany, and I ardently wish success to her new institutions, while I have some fear that her liberty may be stifled by a surplus of kings, princes, lords, and squires.
In the midst of these examples I Wish to see England made impregnable, with the motto of our volunteers, defense, not defiance.
Your obedient servant,
[Untitled]
The collateral evils and dangers arising from the war must have convinced the most obstinate believers in a policy of isolation how universally the security of Europe is affected by a conflict between two of its greatest powers. The general sympathy of England with a just cause failed to conciliate the good will of the Prussian government or of the German army and nation. During the Crimean war arms and munitions of war had been freely exported from Prussia to Russia; and recently rifled cannon and ammunition have been furnished to the French in enormous quantities, not only by private American traders, but by the War Department at Washington. The North German government has expressly forbidden its consul at New York to interfere with the traffic in arms, and the relations of the confederation with the United States are friendly and even intimate; yet a comparatively insignificant exportation of arms from England to France has served as a pretext for repeated protests. In his first complaint on the subject Count Bernstorff, conscious of the legal weakness of his case, invented a new doctrine of benevolent neutrality which ought, as he contended, to have been observed by England. Lord Granville, in a dispatch equally courteous and conclusive, showed, with little difficulty, that as benevolence to one belligerent could only be exercised at the expense of the other, Count Bernstorft’s proposed rule for the conduct of neutrals involved a contradiction in terms; yet the complaint was repeated in stronger language, although the new paradox was retracted; and it was difficult to avoid a suspicion that Count Bismarck had some political reason for displaying coldness to England. The conjecture seemed to be confirmed when, in the middle of November, the Russian government suddenly issued a circular audaciously repudiating a principal clause in the Paris treaty of 1856.
Count Bismarck to Herr von Schweinitz, the North German minister at Vienna.
The treaties between the North German Confederacy and the South German states, concluded at Versailles with Bavaria and Hesse, and at Berlin with Würtemberg, have been so far matured by recent transactions at Berlin as to admit of their being laid before the South German parliaments. Not only a regard for the Prague treaty of peace, in which Prussia and Austro-Hungary embodied their notions respecting the then anticipated development of German affairs, but also the wish to cultivate such relations with a friendly and powerful neighbor as shall be in harmony with our common past as well as with the sentiments and necessities of both peoples, causes me to acquaint the imperial and royal Austro-Hungarian government with the point of view from which the government of His Majesty the King looks upon the reorganization of Germany. In the Prague treaty of August 23, 1866, the supposition is expressed that the German governments south of the Main will form a confederacy which, independent in itself, would be connected by close national ties with the confederacy of the North German states. None of the contracting parties being by this treaty entitled or obliged to prescribe to the sovereign states of Southern Germany how to order their mutual relations, it rested exclusively with these states to fulfill the above supposition. The South German states have omitted realizing the ideas underlying the Prague treaty of peace. They have confined themselves to forming national relations with Northern Germany, and as a first introductory step renewed the Zollverein and the treaties providing for a mutual territorial guarantee. It was beyond human power to foresee that, under the mighty impetus given to German patriotism by an unexpected attack of the French, these arrangements would be completed by the constitutional treaties recently concluded, and by the establishment of a new German confederacy. Northern Germany had no call to hinder or foil a consummation which it had not indeed brought about, but which had its origin in the history and spirit of the nation. Nor does the Austro-Hungarian government, according to your reports, expect or demand that the stipulations of the Prague treaty of peace shall throw difficulties in the way of the prosperous development of the German states. The Austro-Hungarian government regards the pending reorganization of German affairs with the confident [Page 369] hope that all members of the new confederacy, and especially the King, our most gracious master, are animated by the desire to preserve and promote those friendly relations with the neighboring empire of Austro-Hungary which are equally recommended to both by their common interests and an active literary and commercial intercourse. The allied governments, on their part, confidently expect that their wishes in this respect are shared by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The imminent fulfillment of the German national aspirations and requirements will impart a steadiness and safety to the future development of Germany which all Europe, and more particularly our immediate neighbors will, I trust, see not only without apprehension, but also with satisfaction. The unfettered growth of material interests, which bind countries and nations together with so many ties, cannot fail to react beneficially upon our political relations. Germany and Austro-Hungary will, we are convinced, look upon each other with feelings of mutual good-will, and unite for the friendly promotion of each other’s welfare and prosperity. As soon as the fundamental treaties of the new confederacy have been ratified by all parties, I shall enable you to communicate them officially to the chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I request you to read this communication to the chancellor, and to leave a copy of it with him.
I am, &c.,
[Translation.]
austrian dispatch.
The much talked-of dispatch of the chancellor of the empire, Count Beust to Count Wimpffen, the Austrian ambassador at Berlin, (Vienna, December 26, 1870,) is as follows.
The royal Ambassador of Prussia has sent me the repeatedly promised communication of his government in relation to the unification of Germany. Inclosed your excellency will find a copy of the dispatch in question. I was able to inform your excellency in my dispatch of the 5th instant, immediately after the first indications of General von Schweinitz, regarding the expected declaration of the royal Prussian government, what general points we should consider as the leading ones, and as those by which our view was to be governed. Being now in possession of the document, I am able fully to confirm all that I said at that time. This is moreover the case with regard to a point in respect to which, apparently at least, our views do not perfectly coincide with those of the royal Prussian government. In my dispatch of the 5th instant, I could not avoid adverting to the desirableness, according to our view of the case, of avoiding as far as possible any discussion of the peace of Prague, in view of the present interchange of opinion with Prussia and with a view to the object which both parties are equally desirous of accomplishing.
The royal Prussian government thought proper in its communication of the 14th instant to touch upon this question, and although we willingly acknowledge the friendly disposition with which reference was made to the peace of Prague, we consider it better not to make use of the material which is thereby offered for a diffuse explanation, and to adhere to our opinion that it is to the interest of both parties to avoid a discussion of this kind. Indeed, we do not at this moment, consider it desirable for formal interpretations of material legitimate demands to be made a subject of the discussion. We would rather see in the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia, an act of historical significance, a fact of the highest importance in the modern development of Europe, and in accordance therewith, form our opinions concerning the relations, which are to be founded and strengthened between the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the new political creation on our borders. From this stand-point it can only afford me high satisfaction, while awaiting the further communications from the royal Prussian government which have been promised, now to state that the sincere wish prevails in all leading circles of Austro-Hungary to maintain the best and most friendly relations with the powerful state whose establishment is now to be completed. This wish is based upon the conviction that an impartial consideration and appreciation of present requirements will have the best and most salutary effect upon both countries, and will unite them in peace and in earnest co-operation for the tasks of the present and future.
In regard to this, the royal Prussian government has only anticipated the expression of our own sentiments, in alluding to our common past, and in expressing the hope that Germany and Austro-Hungary will regard each other with feelings of mutual good will, and that they will aid each other in the promotion of their common welfare and prosperity.
We think that we have every reason to feel confident that a wide field is to be opened at once for the realization of these pleasing expectations, a field in which a community of wishes and of action may become a pledge of permanent harmony for both countries, [Page 370] and a guarantee of lasting peace for Europe. The fact must fill us with great satisfaction, however, that these feeling of the people of Austro-Hungary find a sovereign protector and promoter in the person of His Majesty the Emperor and King, our most gracious master. His Majesty will view the sublime memories which connect his dynasty, in the glorious history of centuries, with the destinies of the German people, with the warmest sympathy for the further development of that nation, and with the sincere wish that it may find, in the new form of its political existence, the true guaranties of a happy future, both as regards it own welfare and that of the empire, which is so closely related to it by historical tradition, language, customs, and laws.
Your excellency will bring these remarks to the notice of the royal Prussian secretary of state, and will furnish him with a copy of the same, if he desires it.
Receive, &c.