WHAT GENERAL WIMPFFEN THINKS OF EMPEROR WILLIAM, BISMARCK, AND MOLTKE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 52, 20 January 1872, Page 3

WHAT GENERAL WIMPFFEN THINKS OF EMPEROR WILLIAM, BISMARCK, AND MOLTKE.

[Translated for the “ Alta” from the “ Naehrichten aus Deutschland und der Schweiz ] General de Wimpffen, upon whom, in the ever memorable days of September, 1870, when APMahon had been put hors du combat , devolved the responsibility of the surrender of the French army at Sedan, has taken advantage of the involuntary leisure which, as prisouer of war, he enjoyed in Germany, to compile an exhaustive report upon the events in which he was so prominent a participant. This report, in contradistinction to the pamphlets of Chanzy, Faidherbe, and other French generals, is conspicuous for its modesty and the appreciation of the enemy expressed in it. An interesting feature of the docu ment is the mention of the characteristics of many of the prominent personages, a few of which, omitting those of Napoleon 111., Prince Napoleon, Marshal Leboeuf, et al., may here not prove out of place. Referring to Emperor William, Wimpffen says : “ This gifted monarch is imbued with such an energy that, in spite of his advanced age, he scorns all dangers, and overcomes all hardships. Besides, he possesses that one great trait which distinguishes great sovereigns, and which was also tlie attribute of Louis XIY. He is fortunate in his selection of men calculated to aid him in his mission He promotes them, jealously watches that no obstacle may obstruct the path of their activity, encourages them, concedes the praise due them, and leaves to them, perfectly intact, the fame and honor which they have so hardly earned. In this direction, as well as in all other essential matters, he is vastly superior to the monarch in whose hands reposed our fates.”

Of Bismarck, he says : —“ This diplomat, without a rival, expresses himself, even in foreign languages, most elegantly. Evidently, each word which he utters is chosen with great care, as tlie one best calculated to bring about, without much exertion, the end in view. The Prince, whom I saw twice, under most critical circumstances, in my estimation, is the most seductive, crafty, and dangerous man to be met with. Quite as inflexible as Moltke, he understands at pleasure to be obliging or reserved, to seem encouraging or unpropitious ; to cause a sudden descent from the very acme of hope to the lowest depth of despair, and to divine from the alternatives arising thence the extent to which his demands may be urged upon his opponents. Coupled with all these faculties he combines a daring spirit which nothing can intimidate, and which often prompts him to promulgate without reserve the object which he seeks to attain, and for whose realization his powerful intellect succeeds in finding adequate means.” The greatest and most dangerous enemy of France, in the author’s opinion, seems to be Count Moltke. His dread of him conjures up the following portrait: “ From the exterior of this man, with a frame of steel and a will of iron, no other passion can be conjectured than that of the part which he performs, His rigid glance is like unto that of a bird of prey—of an eagle or a hawk; not a superfluous word issues from his narrow, finely chiseled lips. Such is the man who commands and deliberates.

t Where the ruin and annihilation of the foes of Prussia are concerned, I consider him inexorable. This man holds ns in his talons, and if he caunot rob our country of its political autonomy in order to make of it a vassal of the new German empire, he nevertheless hopes, as dees Bismarck, to leave it maimed and crushed to such an extent that, for a long time to come, it will not be available as a point of concentration to those nations which, urged by Prussia’s ambition, should have recourse to arms.”