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North-German embassy at Paris ceased their functions; the French ambassadors at Munich, Stuttgart, Carlsruhe, and Dresden, received their passports. The protection of the Germans in France was accepted by the ambassador of the United States; while the English ambassador in Prussia charged himself with the protection of the French in Germany. One more effort at mediation was made by the Pope, who wrote as follows to the King of Prussia, an identical letter being sent to the Emperor of France:

YOUR MAJESTY: In the present grave circumstances it may appear an unusual thing to receive a letter from me; but, as the vicar on earth of God and peace, I cannot do less than offer my mediation. It is my desire to witness the cessation of warlike preparations and to stop the evils, their inevitable consequences. My mediation is that of a sovereign whose small dominion excites no jealousy, and who inspires confidence by the moral and religious influence he personifies. May God lend an ear to my wishes, and listen also to those I form for your Majesty, to whom I would be united in the bonds of charity.

Given at the Vatican, July 22, 1870.

The King replied as follows:

PIUS.

MOST AUGUST PONTIFF: I am not surprised, but profoundly moved, at the touching words traced by your hand. They cause the voice of God and of peace to be heard. How could my heart refuse to listen to so powerful an appeal?

God witnesses that neither I nor my people devised or provoked war. Obeying the sacred duties which God imposes on sovereigns and nations, we take up the sword to defend the independence and honor of our country, ready to lay it down the moment those treasures are secure.

If your Holiness could offer me, from him who so unexpectedly declared war, assurances of sincerely pacific dispositions and guarantees against a similar attempt upon the peace and tranquillity of Europe, it certainly will not be I who will refuse to receive them from your venerable hands, united as I am with you in bonds of Christian charity and sincere friendship. WILLIAM.

As the Emperor of France did not offer the assurances demanded by King William, the mediatorial offer of the Pope remained without results.

The speculations as to the attitude of the other powers were soon set at rest by formal declarations of neutrality; Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, called out a considerable number of troops, to enforce their neutrality. France and Prussia, in turn, assured these states that their neutrality would be respected. The belligerent Governments continued for a time to issue diplomatic notes explanatory of the cause of war, and charging each other with duplicity and falsehood. None of these diplomatic documents produced so profound an impression as the publication by Count Bismarck of a secret treaty which, he stated, the French ambassador in 1866 had submitted to Prussia, and which proposed the concurrence of France in the unity of all Germany under the leadership of Prussia, in case Prussia should agree to the annexation of Belgium to France. In order to prevent any denial of his declara

tion, Count Bismarck caused the photographic publication of the proposed treaty in the very handwriting of Benedetti. The reply of Benedetti, in the Journal Officiel of Paris, of July 29th, that the project of annexing Belgium to France did not proceed from Louis Napoleon, but from the Prussian Government, and that Count Bismarck dictated to him the articles of treaty, was regarded by public opinion as a more subtle than plausible subterfuge. When the war was formally declared, the fear was widely entertained in Germany that the eagerness of France to precipitate so colossal a contest indicated a very forward state of preparation on her part, and made an invasion of German soil by a French army at the commencement of the war probable. A great relief was therefore felt when, at the end of July, the German army was concentrated on the French frontier without finding an invading force to repel. At the beginning of August, an immense German force was guarding the border of the Prussian and the Hessian Rhine-provinces, the Bavarian Palatinate, and the grand-duchy of Baden. The commander-in-chief of the entire army was King William of Prussia, who, on the 31st of July, in company with Count Bismarck, the Minister of War, Von Roon, and General von Moltke, left Berlin to join the advance. General von Moltke was chief of the general staff of the entire German force, which was divided into three large armies. The first, or the right wing, consisting of the First, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Army Corps of Northern Germany, and the troops of Hesse-Darmstadt, was commanded by General Charles Frederick von Steinmetz. The second or centre, embracing the Guards, and the Second, Third, Fourth, Tenth, and Twelfth Army Corps of Northern Germany, was under the command of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. The Crown Prince of Prussia received the command of the left wing, consisting of the Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh NorthGerman corps, and the troops of Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Baden. In addition to these three armies, there was a considerable force retained for the defence of the German coasts under the command of General Vogel von Falkenstein, and a reserve army, called the Army of the North, formed under the command of the Grand-duke of Mecklenburg.

The French army was under the command of the Emperor. General Leboeuf, Minister of War, was chief of the general staff. The troops ready for the field were divided into the Corps de Garde, commanded by General Bourbaki, and seven army corps, under the command of Marshal MacMahon, General Frossard, Marshal Bazaine, General de l'Admirault, General de Failly, Marshal Canrobert, and General Felix Douay. A few days later Marshal Bazaine was made the acting commander-in-chief, with his headquarters at Metz, and with the Army of the North (including the Fourth, Second, and Third Corps) under his immediate direction, while

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