  War of 1870-71.—What may be expected from the process of rewriting our school histories of American events by the friends of England is patent from the manner in which some of the most vital historical data of the world’s history was distorted during the war. For example, it has been persistently dinned into the minds of Americans that France was trapped into war with Prussia in1870 by the subtle diplomatic strategy of Bismarck, who is represented as having forged a dispatch. The facts are easily accessible in “Bismarck, the Man and the Statesman,” published by Harper Brothers in1899, in which the episodes and events, including the manner of the alleged dispatch, are treated with a degree of candor that can leave no doubt as to the responsibility for the war. It can be found in ChapterXXVII, entitled “The Ems Dispatch.” The facts in the case are that France desired war with Prussia, but was taken by surprise when it found the South German states allied with Prussia, instead of rushing to the aid of France, as NapoleonIII had confidently expected. If a nation can be inflamed to go to war by a dispatch which simply recorded that King William of Prussia had refused to intermeddle with the succession to the Crown of Spain and declined to continue the discussion of the subject with the French minister, Benedetti, it is hardly probable that the war could have been prevented under any circumstances. Accordingly, France declared war, not Prussia. NapoleonIII at the time was regulating affairs throughout the universe, in Italy as well as in Mexico, where he set up a throne supported by French arms, which violated the Monroe Doctrine and almost brought us to grips with France. The popular description of France as a peace-loving nation is not borne out by many centuries of her history, as even Frenchmen admit. The Cock of Gaul is a fighting cock, declares Deputy Pierre Brizon in a recent (1919) issue of the French periodical, “La Vague:” They fired cannon to announce Peace! What would you have done? They are used to blood! They are the sons of the “Cock ofGaul.” And the “Cock of Gaul” through the centuries has carried war over the whole world—into Italy, into Germany, into Spain, into England, into Switzerland, into Austria, into Ireland, into the Scandinavian countries, into Russia, into Syria, to the Indies, to Mexico, into Algeria, into Tunis, to the Antilles, to Senegal, into the Congo, to Madagascar, into China, to Morocco, to the Ends of the Earth. No people for a thousand years have been more warlike than the French. No one has had to an equal degree with them the silly vanity of “glory” and of “victory.” No one has caused more blood to run over the earth. Of course, this does not furnish an excuse for the Vandals, the Mongols, the Turks, the Russians, the English or the Prussians. No, but—they fired cannon in Paris to announce Peace! The absurdity that Prussia lured France into a war in1870 is repudiated by no less an authority than Premier Georges Clemenceau. In an article which he contributed to the “Saturday Evening Post,” of October24, 1914, under the title, “The Cause of France,” (p.1, col.2), he states: In 1870 NapoleonIII in a moment of folly declared war on Germany [should be Prussia] without even having the excuse of being in a state of military preparedness. No true Frenchman has ever hesitated to admit that the wrongs of that day were committed by our side. Dearly we have paid forthem. |
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