Germany Under Three Emperors

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917. Excerpt: ... The Crimean War 29 again, he used the time he had at his disposal to make several journeys abroad, and during a visit which he paid to Paris at the time of the Great Exhibition, while he was the guest of his colleague, Count Maximilian Hatzfeldt, at the Prussian Legation, he had the opportunity of being presented to Queen Victoria and to the Prince Consort. The Crimean War was raging at the time referred to, and Bismarck had done his best to prevent Prussia taking part in it, as he did not think it opportune for his country to enter into a quarrel with which it had nothing to do. Moreover, a conflict with Russia would have interfered for the time being with his dream of revenge against Austria for the Olmiitz humiliation. His decision to abstain was further accentuated by the fact that during the Congress of Paris, which he had attended as Prussian Plenipotentiary, his Austrian colleague had treated him with a disdain he was the last man in the world to forgive. About this time he wrote to his friend, General von Gerlach, a letter in which he expressed his conviction that the time had come when Prussia ought no longer to submit to be considered as a negligible quantity by her neighbours. Owing to an indiscretion the contents of this epistle were divulged. It came to the knowledge of the Austrian Foreign Office, and thereafter the relations between the two countries became even more strained than ever. Perhaps it had been written with that intention. With Bismarck one never knows. Concerning this visit to Paris, it is interesting to read in the Memoirs of the Chancellor his appreciation of Napoleon III., whom he then met for the first time, and with whom he had opportunity to converse on more than one occasion. Among other things he says: "The Emperor gave...