On the whole, the affair is not one which shews his strongest points as a diplomatist; it was too subtle and too hazardous.

The news aroused the sleeping jealousy of Prussia among the French people; the suspicion and irritation of the Government was extreme, and this feeling was not ill-founded.  They assumed that the whole matter was an intrigue of Bismarck’s, though, owing to the caution with which the negotiations had been conducted, they had no proofs.  They might argue that a Prussian prince could not accept such an offer without the permission of his sovereign, and they had a great cause of complaint that this permission had been given without any communication with Napoleon, whom the matter so nearly concerned.  The arrangement itself was not alone the cause of alarm.  The secrecy with which it had been surrounded was interpreted as a sign of malevolence.

Of course they must interfere to prevent the election being completed.  Where, however, were they to address themselves?  With a just instinct they directed their remonstrance, not to Madrid, but to Berlin; they would thereby appear not to be interfering with the independence of the Spaniards, but to be acting in self-defence against the insidious advance of German power.

They could not, however, approach Bismarck; he had retired to Varzin, to recruit his health; the other Ministers also were absent; the King was at Ems.  It was convenient that at this sudden crisis they should be away, for it was imperative that the Prussian Government should deny all complicity.  Bismarck must not let it appear that he had any interest in, or knowledge of, the matter; he therefore remained in the seclusion of Pomerania.

Benedetti also was absent in the Black Forest.  On the 4th of July, therefore, the French Charge d’Affaires, M. de Sourds, called at the Foreign Office and saw Herr von Thiele.  “Visibly embarrassed,” he writes, “he told me that the Prussian Government was absolutely ignorant of the matter and that it did not exist for them.”  This was the only answer to be got; in a despatch sent on the 11th to the Prussian agents in Germany, Bismarck repeated the assertion.  “The matter has nothing to do with Prussia.  The Prussian Government has always considered and treated this affair as one in which Spain and the selected candidate are alone concerned.”  This was literally true, for it had never been brought before the Prussian Ministry, and no doubt the records of the office would contain no allusion to it; the majority of the Ministers were absolutely ignorant of it.