In_ 1886, at th: and of Avgust and beginning September, after the last meeting at Gastein of Emperor William the Great and Prince Bismarck with Emperor Franz Josef,. where I sise was present at the command of my granderfather, I was commissioned to report personally to Tsar Alexander IIT. concerning the decisions made there and to take up with him the questions relating to the Mediterranean and. Turkey. Prince Bismarck gave me his instructions, sanctioned by Emperor William; they dealt most especially with Russia's desire to reach Constantinople, to which the Prince meant to raise no obstacles. On the contrary, I received direct instructions to offer Russia. Constantinople and the Dardanelles—(in other words. San Stefano and the Berlin Treaty had been dropped There was a plan to persuade Turkey in a friendly way that an understanding with Russia was desirable for her also.
The Tsar received me cordially at Brest-Litovsk and I was present there at reviews of troops and fortress and defensive manceuvres, which, even then, unquestionably bore an anti-German look.
To sum wp my conversations with the Tsar, the following remark by him is of importance: "I. T wish to have Constantinople, I shall take it whenever I feel like it, without need_of permission or approval from Prince Bismarck." After this rude refusal of the Bismarck offer of Constantinople, I looked upon my mission as a feilwe and made my report to the Prince accordingly.
When the Prince decided to make his offer to the Tsar, be must, have altered his political conceptions which had led to San Stefano and the Congress of Berlin; or else, on account of the development of the general political situation in Europe, he considered that the moment had come for shuffling the -political cards in another away or, as my grandfather had put it, to "juggle" differently. Only a man of the world importance and dipplomatic ability of Prince Bismarck could embark on such a course. Whether the Prince had planned his big political game with Russia in such a way that he might, first, by means of the Congress of Berlin, prevent a general war and cajole England, and_ then, after having thus hindered Russia's Eastern aspirations, cater to these aspirations later, by a stroke of genius, in an even more. striking manner, it is impossible for me to say—Prince Bismarck never told any, one about his great political projects.
If the above is true, Bismarck, trusting absolutely te his states. manlike skill, must have reckoned upon bringing Germany all the more into Russian favour because Russian aspirations were brought to fulfilment by Germany alone— and that at a moment when the general European political situation was less strained than in 1877-1878. In this case, nobody oxcept Prince Bismarck could have played the tremendous game to a successful end. And therein lies the weakness in the superiority of great men. Had he also informed England of his offer to the Tsar, England must. have been opposed to it, as in 1878.
In any event, the Prince now adopted the policy which I had already noted when I realized the disillusion of the Russians at having stood before the gates of Constantinople without being allowed to enter.
PROPHECY OF RUSSIAN DOWNFALL, At Brest-Litovsk, in the course of the constant military preparations of all kinds, I could easily see that the conduct of the Russian officers toward me was essentially cooler and haughtier than on the occasion of my first visit to St. Petersburg. Only the small group of old Generals, especially those at the Rnssian Court, who dated from the days of Alexander IT., and who knew and esteemed Emperor William the Great, still showed their reverence for him and their friendly feeling toward Germany. In the course of.a talk with one of them concerning the relations between the two Courts, armies and countries, which I had found un-dargoing a change in comparison with former times, the old General said: °"C'est ce villain congress de Bertin. Une grave foute clu Chancellor. Il a détruit Vancienne amitié "entre nous, pranté la méfiance dans les coews de la Cour et clu Gourvernement, furni lo sentiment dun grave tort fait a Varmée russe aprés so campagna sanglante de 1877, pour sequel eile vent so revanche, Et nous voile ensemble avec cette maudite Republique Francaise, plains de haine contre vous et rempli didoes subversives, qui en cas de guerre avec vous, nous cotiteront notre A prophetic foreshadowing of the downfall of the reigning Russian dynasty From Brest I went to Strasburg. where my grandfather was attonding the imperial maneuvres. In spite of the failure of my mission I found calm judgements of the political situation. My grandfather was pleased at the cordial greetings from the Tsar, which, in so far as the personal relationship of the two rulers was conceracd, showed no change of heat. Also, to my surprise, I received a letter from Prince Bismarck wherein he "Tt is that confounded Congress' of Berlin. A serious mistake on the part of the Chancellor. He has destroyed the old friendship between us, sown distrust in the hearts of the Court and the Government, and engendered the idea of a great injustice done the Russian Army after its bloody 1877 cam-Eaign, for which it wishes revenge. And here we are by the side of that damned French Republic, -full of hate "for you and of subversive ideas, which, in case of a war against you, will cost us our dynasty."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.