Frederic Reitlinger

A Diplomat's Memoir of 1870 Frederic Reitlinger

Publisher Marketing: TRANSLATOR'S NOTE AT a time when Englishmen and Frenchmen are brothers-in-arms, a translation of this curious and little known narrative may be of interest. It is a record of a somewhat remarkable episode in a stormy and remarkable year. It describes, possibly not without the inevitable bias of one sent on a forlorn hope, the necessary refusals of Gladstone and Lord Granville to intervene in favour of France. But, as the writer quite prophetically declares, the surrender of Alsace-Lorraine and the aggrandisement of Prussia were fated to be the inevitable stumbling-block to peace in Europe, and so "not without moment" to England. This we now know only too well. 1870 was to be the prelude of 1914. * * * * * Frederic Reitlinger was not by profession a diplomatist, though circumstances gave him this role for a brief and not inglorious moment. He achieved some distinction at the Bar in Paris under the Second Empire, and at the request of Napoleon III., made an exhaustive study of the co-operative movements in England, France and Germany. When the Empire fell, after Sedan, he accepted the position of private secretary to the head of the provisional government, M. Jules Favre. It may well have been his striking and remarkable gift of eloquence-attested to by all who heard him plead in the courts-that prompted Favre and the Government in beleaguered Paris to choose him for the desperate task of attempting to win over the rulers of England and Austria. The effort failed, as it was bound to fail, but not discreditably. After the Peace of Frankfort, Frederic Reitlinger devoted himself to his practice at the Cour d'Appel. He died in 1907."