[Extract.]
Mr. Wright to Mr.
Seward.
No. 35.]
Legation of the United States,
Berlin,
June 7, 1866.
Sir :* * * * * * *
Baron Von Der Heydt, formerly minister of commerce, succeeds the present
minister of finance, Baron Von Bodelschwingh, who has resigned on
account of ill health.
Enclosed you will find the reply of Baron Thile to the application of
Otto Erk.
[Page 26]
It is difficult to
reconcile this reply with the favorable answer in the cases of Jacob
Carl Brieger and Philip Jacobson. It seems to me that Count Bismarck, in
the present condition of affairs, gives neither his attention nor time
to these questions. The minister of war, Baron Roon, is an austere,
rugged radical, opposed to everything that interferes with or lessens
his army. Count Bismarck, on the other hand, is a statesman of large and
enlightened views, exhibiting at all times the greatest frankness and
friendship in all matters connected with our country. In my last
interview with the count he sought my opinion as to the propriety of
employing Captain Semmes, late of the confederate navy, in the Prussian
navy, (Captain Semmes having written to the Prussian government
tendering his services.) I replied that “Captain Semmes was one of the
most objectionable men in the whole south to the loyal men of the
Union.” The count quietly remarked, “We want the respect and good will
of the United States at all times, and. we will not employ him.”
The primary elections for electors take place on the 25th of this month,
and the election of members to the Prussian chambers by the electors on
the 3d of July. There is no doubt but that the liberal party will
increase their present unprecedented majority. One of my colleagues
called Count Bismarck’s attention yesterday to the great number and
enthusiastic proceedings of the peace meetings held throughout Prussia,
when the, count remarked, “Events change public opinion, and a battle
won, or even a battle lost, strangely alters
men’s minds.” The news of to-day indicates we are to have no peace
conference or congress. Austria is determined to make the German
confederation decide the Schleswig-Holstein question. Prussia has sent
four gunboats to Hamburg to prevent the Austrian troops from crossing
over from Holstein to Hanover, yet I do not believe Prussia will
commence hostilities, or even take forcible possession of Holstein. The
present manœuvres on the part of Prussia and Austria are made with a
view of conciliating the smaller states, and both being unwilling to
give offence, well-knowing the first to commence hostilities will incur
the ill-will of all.
You will find appended to this despatch a short and concise statement
made by the representatives of Prussia and Austria to the German
confederation, embracing a summary of the true position of both
countries in the present contest.
* * * * * * *
I have the honor to be yours, most respectfully,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Baron Thile to Mr. Wright.
Monsieur le Ministre: You were pleased to
forward me the request of a certain Otto Erk, of New York, who left
Prussia when seventeen years old, without having performed his
military service, and who desires permission to visit his parents in
Berlin without risking interference by the authorities. This request
was reported to the ministers of war and the interior, who reply
that they cannot consent to the wish of Mr. Erk.
According to the terms of section 23, No. 2, of the law of the 31st
of December, 1842, no doubt exists that the said Erk is still a
Prussian subject. A passport was issued to him on the 17th of June,
1856, for two years, to go to New York, and therefore he has been in
a foreign country but eight years, viz., being but ten years since
his passport for two years was issued. In the present state of
affairs the said ministers declare that, considering the precise
instructions of December 9, 1858, for recruiting the army, they
cannot permit Mr. Erk to return temporarily to Berlin.
Receive, Mr. Wright, with my regrets, the assurances of my high
consideration.
By authority:
The Minister for Foreign Affairs,
THILE.
His Excellency Mr. Wright,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary, &c.
[Page 27]
the germanic diet.
At the meeting of the federal Diet on Friday last, the
representatives of the two great German powers made formal
representations of the views of their respective governments.
The Austrian representative said:
“Austria is able to look back with a calm conscience upon her
persevering efforts to arrive at an understanding with Prussia upon
the question of the duchies. The Emperor has gone as far in
concessions as the dignity of Austria and the German federal rights
would permit him to go. Prussia has put forward demands not to be
justified, and has manifested a continually increasing disposition
to enforce her demands, without consideration, and even by force.
Thus, after the conclusion of the peace of Vienna, she threatened to
compel the federal troops to evacuate Holstein; and thus, in dealing
with Austria, she has treated the question of the duchies as one of
power, and to support her in that she has relied upon the assistance
of foreign adversaries of the Austrian monarchy. Even at the time
when the treaty of Gastein was concluded, this tendency made itself
manifest. It showed itself again when Austria was unwilling to
govern Holstein in such a manner as should suit the exigencies of an
annexation policy. Threatened on two sides, Austria has placed
herself in a state of defence. It is unnecessary in this place to
refer to any military measures adopted with regard to Italy. But
Austria is ready to withdraw her army from the position taken
against Prussia as soon as she shall cease to have reason to
apprehend attacks upon her own territories or upon those of her
federal allies, and when guarantees shall be given to assure her
against a recurrence of the danger of war. It is the interest of
Germany, and not of Austria alone, that right and the faith of
treaties should prevail in Germany, rather than mere force. It is
their interest, also, that Prussia, although an European power,
should show respect for peace and the federal resolutions; and,
finally, that the Schleswig-Holstein question should receive its
solution, not simply according to exclusive pretensions, but in
accordance with the rights of the Diet and of the duchies
themselves. Referring to the declarations of the 24th of August,
1865, (by which Austria and Prussia undertook to communicate with
each other on the subject of the result of their deliberations,) the
representative of Austria declares that the efforts made to
co-operate with Prussia, in order to bring about a solution of the
question of the duchies in accordance with federal law, have been
fruitless, and that consequently the imperial government must leave
the subject henceforth to the resolutions of the Diet, to which
Austria will conform. The governor general of Holstein is already
authorized to convoke the estates of Holstein, in order that they
may declare the wishes and legal convictions of the country, as an
element proper to be considered in the decision which has to be
made.”
The Prussian representative said :
“The government of the King has declared on different occasions that
the mobilization of his military forces had been solely caused by
the prior armaments of Austria and of Saxony. The prospect of her
frontiers and her capital menaced, and the explanations exchanged
with the federal states, could not but convince Prussia that she
must rely for her defence upon her own forces. She has already made
known the conditions upon which she is willing to return to a peace
footing. The measures which she has adopted, solely for her own
protection, may cease as soon as the cause which provoked them shall
disappear. The royal government has already declared, in its
despatch of the 21st of April, addressed to Vienna, that it was
quite disposed to disarm on that condition, and it so far
entertained the belief that it might rely upon a similar disposition
on the side of Austria, that it suspended its armaments. But in that
hope it was disappointed. The continually increasing armaments of
Austria, and the declarations of the Saxon government on April 29,
have compelled it to extend its own preparations. The defensive
character of these preparations has been to that extent changed. The
royal government declares itself now quite disposed to return to a
peace footing if the Diet can induce the governments of Austria and
Saxony to withdraw their armaments, which are so menacing to the
cause of peace, and if it will give to the Prussian government
guarantees against the recurrence of such attacks upon the federal
unity. If the Diet be not in a condition to do so, and if the
members of the confederation are opposed to reforms which might
prevent the reappearance of such dangers, the royal government must
conclude that the Diet, in its present form, is not equal to its
task, and that it does not accomplish its chief object; and from
that time it will take that legal conviction as the basis of its
ulterior decisions. With respect to the declaration which Austria
has just made, the Prussian government makes earnest and formal
reservations against the statement of the Austro-Prussian
negotiations, not only as to facts, but also as to the hypotheses
which are based upon the facts. The Prussian government has up to
the present time adhered to its original view of the
Schleswig-Holstein question, and it has only sought to obtain the
realization of the legitimate demands and interests of Prussia
within the limits of the rights which it has acquired by treaties.
It has never sought to procure by force the realization of its
projects, and it emphatically repeats that the cause of the present
complications is to be found, not in the Schleswig-Holstein
question, but solely in the armament, so unjustifiable but so
menacing, which Austria and Saxony have directed upon the Prussian
frontiers.”
