Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Benedetti, Vincent
BENEDETTI, Vincent, a French diplomatist, of Italian extraction, born in Corsica, about 1815, was educated for the consular and diplomatic service. After having been appointed Consul at Palermo in 1848, he became First Secretary to the Embassy at Constantinople, until May, 1859, when he was appointed to replace M. Bourée as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister at Teheran. M. Benedetti, who declined to accept the office, was some months afterwards named Director of Political Affairs to the Foreign Minister; a position associated with the successful career of MM. de Rayneval and d'Hauterive, and with the names of Desages, Armand, Lefebre, and Thouvenel. It fell to the lot of M. Benedetti to act as secretary and editor of the protocols in the Congress of Paris in 1856, and he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in June, 1845, Officer in 1853, Commander in 1856, Grand Officer in June, 1860, and Grand Cross in 1866. Having been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of France at Turin in 1861, on the recognition of the Italian kingdom by the French Government, he resigned when M. Thouvenel retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was appointed Ambassador at Berlin, Nov. 27, 1864. M. Benedetti obtained great notoriety in connection with the remarkable draft of a secret treaty between France and Prussia, which was published in the Times on the 25th of July, 1870, at the very commencement of the war between those two Powers. The document stated that the Emperor Napoleon III. would allow and recognise the Prussian acquisitions consequent upon the war against Austria; that the King of Prussia would promise to assist France in acquiring Luxemburg; that the Emperor would not oppose a Federal re-union of North and South Germany; that if the Emperor should occupy or conquer Belgium, the King should afford armed assistance to France against any other Power that might declare war against her in such case; and that the two Powers should conclude an offensive and defensive alliance. The publication of this extraordinary document caused great consternation and excitement throughout Europe. Its authenticity was not denied, but France declared that although M. Benedetti had written the document, he had done so at the dictation of Count Bismarck; whereas the latter statesman declared that through one channel or another France had incessantly demanded some compensation for not interfering with Prussia in her projects. Both statesmen agreed in saying that their respective sovereigns declined to sanction the treaty. On the outbreak of the war, M. Benedetti was of course recalled from Berlin; and since the fall of the Empire he has disappeared from public notice. In Oct., 1871, however, he published a pamphlet, in which he threw upon Count Bismarck the whole responsibility of the draft treaty. In 1872 he was elected a member of the Conseil General of Corsica, and since then he has been an advocate at the bar of Ajaccio.