Hotel du Louvre March 21st 1856

[D’une autre main : Reçue le 22 à 10 heures]
My dear Walewski,
I have read the memorandum you sent me with much regret as I cannot concur either in the opinions or the statement of facts which it contains.
The distinct understanding has been thro'out, & the engagement was taken before the conferences began, that Prussia having been a party to the Treaty of 1841 should also be a party to the revision of that treaty, & that in the capacity of a great European power she should be invited to accede to the general treaty which might be concluded by the other powers, but that no invitation for eiher purpose should be sent to her until all the conditions upon which the conclusion of peace would depend had been negotiated & finally settled.
The invitation which you addressed to Prussia with the assent to the congress was expressly to take part in the arrangements which had reference to the Treaty of 1841 & to no others. I required that this should be distinctly understood & it was so, & when I afterwards expressed to you privately that the invitation was premature & that great embarrassment might arise from it you said, as I am sure you will remember, that the Prussians P.P° (plenipotentiaries) could not arrive in less than a week & that before that time every question then under discussion must be definitively settled. In fact you contemplated no other function for Prussia than the one which you now say she cannot accept, moreover in order to prevent the Prussian P.P°. from taking part in questions not yet settled they were summoned to the first conference at which they appeared at 4 o'clock while the other PP.s were summoned at 2 o'clock.
I cannot therefore admit that Prussia has been invited to join in the discussion of the questions that still remain to be resolved nor would I have been a consenting party to any such invitation as I should have the thought it an insult to Prussia to ask her to take part in the fragment of a negotiation & then by a form of words to make it appear to the world that she had been a party to all the negotation. I should have rejected any such invitation made to England & I certainly therfore would not have addressed it to any other power.
Nor can I consider that the principal clauses of the treaty are settled, as upon one of the most important of them a very serious difference of opinion exists & yet it is with respect to this clause, a clause upon which the question of peace or war may still turn that the Prussian P.P°. are now to take part & to throw their weight into the scale of negotiation. But in your memorandum it is said that the object of the congress is to settle the principal clauses of the treaty without the participation of Prussia, the congress reserving to itself to admit her to the negotiation when she can no longer exercise a direct influence upon the arrangements which constitute the essential conditions of peace.
That is the function marked out for Prussia by the congress, & it is for Prussia alone to determine whether she will accept or decline it, but until that point is settled it is impossible that the congress with any consistency or regard for its our decisions should permit the Prussian P.P°. to exercise a direct influence upon an arrangement which will constitute an essential condition of peace, the question at issue being actually the one which gave rise to the war.
The memorandum states that no power without abdicating all sense of dignity would consent to assist in silence at the final decisions to be taken in her presence, but if this refers to the clauses not yet finally settled, & not alone to ythe Treaty of 1841, it will be contrary to the conditions on which Prussia is admitted, yet if she is not to have her full share in these decisions the memorandum declares that is a position which Prussia cannot without degradation accept.
The memorandum says that if Prussia signs the treaty it is because she is a contracting party, but this is not a necessary consequence. Prussia may, if she is so disposed, sign the treaty without being a contracting party, & in no case can she be considered a contracting party on the same footing as the other powers as ten meetings of the congress took place from which she was altogether excluded, & your memorendum states correctly that the congress did not intend to admit Prussia until all the principal clauses of the treaty had been settled.
It is true that the real facts of the case & the proceeding of the congress will be recorded in the protocols, & these protocols may possibly be made public, but whether they are so or not the treaty alone is looked to by the world for a faithful recital of the intentions & acts of the conr'acting parties. The preamble adopted by the congress may require some grammatical amendments & to those Lord Cowley & I will readily agree, but we cannot concur in the preamble where it is proposed to substitute for it because it is calculated to mislead opinion as to what has actually taken place, and all we desire is that facts should be correctly narrated.
Lord Cowley and I are placed, & not for the first ime, in a painful & invidious position by a departure from agreements previously taken, for we are either compelled to assent to arrangements of which we disapprove or if we adhere to points upon which it is our duty not to yield we are said to be raising unnecesseray difficulties. Nothing can be further from our wish than to be the cause of mortification to the Prussian P.P°. On the contrary we desire to smoothe their position in any way that is consistent with the decisions of the congress & with existing facts, but the position should be settled before the congress meets tomorrow in order to avoid a painful discussion in their presence.
I am grieved to learn that the opinions which I have reluctantly been compelled to state in this letter are not in harmony with those of the Emperor upon the course which you propose to adopt, but if his Majesty will deign to honor me with an audience I shall be happy to afford any explanation that His Majesty may desire upon the views of Lord Cowley & my own with regard to the question which has now unfortunately arisen.
Ever yours.