her in perpetual conflict with Russia in the Balkan Peninsula, and to found on that irreconcilable rivalry the hegemony of Germany.”
For more than two years there was an outward appearance of extreme cordiality between the three powers. They acted together diplomatically, and on all suitable occasions the three allied monarchs exchanged visits and sent each other congratulations and good wishes. There was, however, from the beginning very little genuine confidence between them. Before the breaking up of the conferences at Berlin, Alexander II. and his chancellor had conversations with the French ambassador, in which they not only showed that they had suspicions of future aggressive designs on the part of Germany, but also gave an assurance that so long as France fulfilled her engagements to Germany she had nothing to fear. A few months later, when the emperor William paid his return visit to the tsar in St Petersburg, a defensive convention was concluded by the two monarchs behind the back of their Austrian ally. Without knowing anything about the existence of this convention, the Austrian ally did not feel comfortable in his new position. In Vienna the old anti-Prussian feeling was still strong. The so-called party of the archdukes and the military resisted the policy of Andrássy, and sought to establish closer relations with Russia, so that German support might be unnecessary, but as Bismarck has himself testified, “Russia did not yet respond. The wound caused by the conduct of Austria during the Crimean War was not yet healed. Andrássy made himself very popular in the court society of St Petersburg during his visit there with his imperial master, but the traditional suspicion of Austrian policy remained.” Altogether, the new league was not a happy family. So long as all the members of it were content to accept the status quo, the latent germs of dissension remained hidden from the outside world, but as soon as the temporary state of political quietude was replaced by a certain amount of activity and initiative, they forced their way to the surface. No one of the three powers regarded the status quo as a satisfactory permanent arrangement. In Berlin much anxiety was caused by the rapid financial and military recovery of France, and voices were heard suggesting that a new campaign and a bigger war indemnity might be necessary before the recuperation was complete. In St Petersburg there was a determination to take advantage of any good opportunity for recovering the portion of Bessarabia ceded by the treaty of Paris, and thereby removing the last tangible results of the Crimean War. In Vienna there was a desire to obtain in the Balkan Peninsula, in accordance with the suggestion of Bismarck, compensation for the losses in Italy and Germany. Thus each of the members of the league was hatching secretly a little aggressive scheme for its own benefit, and the danger for the rest of Europe lay in the possibility of their reconciling their schemes so far as to admit of an agreement for action in common. Fortunately for the onlookers there were important conflicting interests, and the task of reconciling them was extremely difficult, as the subsequent course of events proved.
The first of the three powers to move was Germany. In
February 1875 M. de Radowitz was despatched to St Petersburg
on a secret mission in order to discover whether, in
the event of hostilities between Germany and France,
Russia would undertake to maintain a neutral attitude
The storm-cloud
of 1875.
as she had done in 1870–1871; in that case Germany
might be relied on to co-operate with her in her great designs
in the East. Prince Gorchakov did not take the bait with the
alacrity that was expected. Having overcome in some measure
his hatred of Austria, which had distorted for so many years his
political vision, he had come to understand that it was not for
the interests of his own country to have as neighbour a powerful
united Germany instead of a weak confederation of small states,
and he now perceived that it would be a grave error of policy
to allow Germany to destroy still more to her own advantage the
balance of power in Europe by permanently weakening France.
No doubt he desired to recover the lost portion of Bessarabia and
to raise Russian prestige in the East, but he did not wish to run the
risk of exciting a great European war, and he believed that what
he desired might be effected without war by the diplomatic skill
which had warded off European intervention during the Polish
troubles of 1863, and had recovered for Russia her freedom of
action in the Black Sea during the Franco-Prussian War of
1870–71. In reply, therefore, to M. de Radowitz’s inquiries and
suggestions, he declared that the Russian court fostered no
ambitious designs in the East or in the West, and desired only
peace and the maintenance of the status quo, with possibly an
amelioration in the miserable condition of the Christian subjects
of the sultan. This rebuff did not suffice to dispel the gathering
storm. The warlike agitation in the German inspired press
continued, and the French government became thoroughly
alarmed. General Leflô, the French ambassador in St Petersburg,
was instructed to sound the Russian government on the
subject. Prince Gorchakov willingly assured him that Russia
would do all in her power to incline the Berlin cabinet to moderation
and peace, and that the emperor would take advantage of his
forthcoming visit to Berlin to influence the emperor William
in this sense. A few days later General Leflô received similar
assurances from the emperor himself, and about the same time
the British government volunteered to work likewise in the
cause of peace. Representations were accordingly made by both
governments during the tsar’s visit to Berlin, and both the
emperor William and his chancellor declared that there was no
Russia and Germany divided.
intention of attacking France. The danger of war,
which the well-informed German press believed to be
“in sight,” was thus averted, but the incident sowed
the seeds of future troubles, by awakening in Bismarck
a bitter personal resentment against his Russian colleague.
By certain incautious remarks to those around him, and still
more by a circular to the representatives of Russia abroad, dated
Berlin and beginning with the words maintenant la paix est
assurée, Gorchakov seemed to take to himself the credit of
having checkmated Bismarck and saved Europe from a great
war. Bismarck resented bitterly this conduct on the part of his
old friend, and told him frankly that he would have reason to
regret it. In the Russian official world it is generally believed
that he took his revenge in the Russo-Turkish War and the
congress of Berlin. However this may be, he has himself
explained that “the first cause of coldness” was the above
incident, “when Gorchakov, aided by Decazes, wanted to play
at my expense the part of a saviour of France, to represent me
as the enemy of European peace, and to procure for himself a
triumphant quos ego to arrest by a word and shatter my dark
designs!” In any case the incident marks the beginning of a
new phase in the relations of the three powers; henceforth
Bismarck can no longer count on the unqualified support of
Russia, and in controlling the Russo-Austrian rivalry in south-eastern
Europe, while professing to be impartial, he will lean to
the side of Count Andrássy rather than to that of Prince Gorchakov.
He is careful, however, not to carry this tendency so far
as to produce a rapprochement between Russia and France.
The danger of a Franco-Russian alliance hostile to Germany
is already appearing on the political horizon, but it is only a little
cloud no bigger than a man’s hand.
The next move in the aggressive game was made by Austria, with the connivance of Russia. During the summer of 1875 an insurrection of the Christian Slavs in Herzegovina, which received support from the neighbouring principalities of Montenegro and Servia, was fostered by the Austrian authorities and encouraged by the Russian consuls on the Adriatic coast. A European concert was formed for the purpose of settling the disturbance by means of local administrative reforms, but the efforts of the powers failed, because the insurgents hoped to obtain complete liberation from Turkish rule; and in the beginning of July, with a view to promoting this solution, Servia and Montenegro declared war against the Porte. Thereupon Russia began to show her hand more openly. The government allowed volunteers to be recruited in Moscow and St Petersburg, and the Russian general Chernayev, who had distinguished himself in Central Asia, was appointed to the
