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Page 34
On the 20th of November, in the evening, M. Forshmann, the Russian charge
d'affaires who had in the course of the day arrived from the Russian
headquarters presented to the editor of the Correspondent the article in
question. The editor, after reading the article, which he thought
exceedingly indecorous, observed to M. Forshmann that his paper was
already made up, which was the fact, for I had seen a proof.
M. Forshmann, however, insisted on the insertion of the article. The
editor then told him that he could not admit it without the approbation
of the Syndic Censor. M. Forshmann immediately waited upon M. Doormann,
and when the latter begged that he would not insist on the insertion of
the article, M. Forshmann produced a letter written in French, which,
among other things, contained the following: "You will get the enclosed
article inserted in the Correspondent without suffering a single word to
be altered. Should the censor refuse, you must apply to the directing
Burgomaster, and, in case of his refusal, to General Tolstoy, who will
devise some means of rendering the Senate more complying, and forcing it
to observe an impartial deference."
M. Doorman, thinking he could not take upon himself to allow the
insertion of the article, went, accompanied by M. Forshmann, to wait upon
M. Von Graffen, the directing Burgomaster. MM. Doorman and Von Graffen
earnestly pointed out the impropriety of inserting the article; but M.
Forshmann referred to his order, and added that the compliance of the
Senate on this point was the only means of avoiding great mischief. The
Burgomaster and the Syndic, finding themselves thus forced to admit the
article, entreated that the following passage at least might be
suppressed: "I know a certain chief, who, in defiance of all laws divine
and human,--in contempt of the hatred he inspires in Europe, as well as
among those whom he has reduced to be his subjects, keeps possession of
a usurped throne by violence and crime. His insatiable ambition would
subject all Europe to his rule. But the time is come for avenging the
rights of nations . . . ." M. Forshmann again referred to his orders,
and with some degree of violence insisted on the insertion of the article
in its complete form. The Burgomaster then authorised the editor of the
Correspondent to print the article that night, and M. Forshmann, having
obtained that authority, carried the article to the office at half-past
eleven o'clock.
Such was the account given me by M. Doormann. I observed that I did not
understand how the imaginary apprehension of any violence on the part of
Russia should have induced him to admit so insolent an attack upon the
most powerful sovereign in Europe, whose arms would soon dictate laws to
Germany. The Syndic did not dissemble his fear of the Emperor's
resentment, while at the same time he expressed a hope that the Emperor
would take into consideration the extreme difficulty of a small power
maintaining neutrality in the extraordinary circumstances in which
Hamburg was placed, and that the articles might be said to have been
presented almost at the point of the Cossacks' spears. M. Doormann added
that a refusal, which world have brought Russian troops to Hamburg, might
have been attended by very unpleasant consequences to me, and might have
committed the Senate in a very different way. I begged of him, once for
all, to set aside in these affairs all consideration of my personal
danger: and the Syndic, after a conversation of more than two hours,
departed more uneasy in his mind than when he arrived, and conjuring me
to give a faithful report of the facts as they had happened.
M. Doormann was a very worthy man, and I gave a favourable representation
of his excuses and of the readiness which he had always evinced to keep
out of the Correspondent articles hostile to France; as, for example, the
commencement of a proclamation of the Emperor of Germany to his subjects,
and a complete proclamation of the King of Sweden. As it happened, the
good Syndic escaped with nothing worse than a fright; I was myself
astonished at the success of my intercession. I learned from the
Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Emperor was furiously indignant on
reading the article, in which the French army was outraged as well as he.
Indeed, he paid but little attention to insults directed against himself
personally. Their eternal repetition had inured him to them; but at the
idea of his army being insulted he was violently enraged, and uttered the
most terrible threats.
It is worthy of remark that the Swedish and English Ministers, as soon as
they read the article, waited upon the editor of the Correspondent, and
expressed their astonishment that such a libel should have been
published. "Victorious armies," said they, "should be answered by
cannonballs and not by insults as gross as they are ridiculous." This
opinion was shared by all the foreigners at that time in Hamburg.
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