DIPLOMATIC REVELATIONS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 725, 18 October 1870, Page 2

DIPLOMATIC REVELATIONS.

"The Times" of August 11th has some strange revelations in a letter from its Vienna correspondent. They are contained in an open letter addressed by General Turr to Count Bismarck, and published in the " JSleu "Wiener Tagblatt." The letter gives a resume of the pourparlers the General had in 1866 and 1867 with Count Bismarck.

It begins by recalling to the Prussian State Chancellor' the details of those interviews which may serve to refresh his memory, and thus continues :

"On the 10th of June, 1566,1 had the honor of speaking to your Excellency in your study ; in the evening, on the 11th June, I passed with you an hour under the large tree in your garden. Your Excellency was very anxious about the issue of the war which was just on the point of beginning, and you said to me,' If only the Emperor Napoleon wished it the war would be easy enough for us; the Emperor might easily take Belgium and even Luxemburg and regulate the frontier of France. I have proposed all this to the Emperor Napoleon, but he would not consent to it. If you <*et to Paris I beg of you to tell all this to his Highness Prince Napoleon.' Your Excellency thus spoke to me in the days of the 10th and 11th of June, 18G6. "When, after the war, returning from a mission in the East, I saw you again in February, 1867, I expressed the opinion that Germany could only bo united if Prussia decided to follow the example of Charles Albert, who in 181S, unfolded not the banner of Savoy, but that of Italy, and who gave liberal institutions to his country, while Prussia unfurls everywhere only the Prussian banner, and gives a constitution to the Bund which is less liberal than any other constitution in Germany. Your Excellency replied that this was all true, and the Prussianizing tendencies which distinguished the Government of King William were indeed to be regretted, but that it was not in the power of your Excellency to make good what the King and the great Prussian party had done. Talking of Austria I said that Power might, after all, make such concessions to Hungary' as might satisfy the country. Your Excellency replied that this was very doubtful indeed, and added, ' Austria works always for Prussia. Look at the Treaties of Gastein and Nikolsburg. Austria left her allies in the lurch, and gave me an opportunity to conclude an alliance with them. You may be sure that if tho Austrian concessions should not satisfy Hungary I will do everything to help your country, that it may re" gain its full independence—indeed I shall ever favor an extension of Huugary towards tho east.'

I took the liberty of reminding your Excellency that Hungary had no desire of conquests, but that she wanted for her security tlio restoration of Poland. To this your Excellency replied that Prussia was ready to do much for Hungary and for the countries on the Lower Danube, but that there could

be no question of Poland, as Prussia could not do without the friendship of Bussia.

Complaining of the vehemence of French papers your Excellency said : ' I want friendship with Prance, and don't want war with the Prench. We owe our success in 1866 mainly to the Emperor Napoleon. By his loyal attitude and by his neutrality, for which he asked no compensation, he has facilitated our military operations, and therefore I am ready to support France in everything. But here in Berlin we must be cautious in order not to make the King restive. But if the Emperor Napoleon were to express a wish in writing, I take it upon myaelf to realize it within a few months. If he wished, for instance, to annex Luxemburg, he would only have to get together a Prench party in Luxemburg which would work union with Prance. I shall not even inquire whether it be really the majority of the population which desires the union, with Prance. I shall accept the fait accompli as regards Belgium. I have often said it, and repeat it again—let the Emperor Napoleon take it, and if any Government objects to it we shall fix our bayonets against it.' Tour Excellency knows that I have repeated these words to the Emperor Napoleon, as I have informed your Excellency of the fact by writing under the address which your Exceiency had yourself written down in my notebook, which I still preserve. In my letter I pointed out that if Prussia wanted friends in Prance it should prove by its policy that the aim of its policy is a free Germany, and not Prussian militarism.

The concessions which Austria has mads to Huugary were considerable, and the great majority accepted them with joy; and when, after an absence of 20 years, I returned to my country in September, ISB7, I convinced myself that the great majority of the Hungarians were reconciled to their Sovereign.

Soon after I went to Constantinople, and thence to Belgrade. In this latter town I found, at the Italian Consul's, Chevalier Scovasso, the Prussian Consul, Dr Laubereau, and the President of the Servian Senate, M. Marinovic. We talked politics, and the Prussian Consul, turning to Marinovic, said that Servia should arm vigorously in order to pass at the first occasion the Danube and the Saar, to take Croatia, the Banat, and the Bacska, and to help the Prussians, who would march on Vienna through Bohemia, while from the other side Bussians would advance likewise.

Ireplied to the Consul that ft seemed as if the programme in Berlin was radically altered since ISG6. The Prussian Consul then tried, indeed, to explain away his words, but I blessed the happy accident which had revealed to me a portion of the Prussian plans, and which cured me of all my Prussian sympathies.

I had no iutention to speak of all this to the public, but as I see that your Excellency, by like revelations, and especially by the publication of the Benedetti Project of Treaty, endeavors to place yourself before the world as quite innocent, I think it tbe truest warfare if I recalled to your Excellency these little recollections by the same means of publicity to which your Excellency has appealed. Hungary wishes ardently to see G-ermany free and great, but she will not allow herself to be misled by Prussia, the intimate friend of Bussia. At the first threat the Hungarians will, as in the days of danger under Maria Theresa, rally round their monarch to defend their country.

Stephaj* Tube.