columns of
THE NEW YORK TIMES that Gladstone had declared the Treaty of 1839 "to be
without force." But, apart from such patent distortions, Gladstone's
real position is apparently not clearly defined in the mind of the
general public, which is merely seeking for the unadulterated truth,
regardless of its effect upon the case of any one of the belligerents.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 the
Prussian Ambassador in London informed Gladstone, then Prime Minister,
that some time prior to the existing war France had asked Prussia to
consent to the former country's absorption of Belgium, and that there
was in the possession of the Prussian Government the draft of a treaty
to this effect in the handwriting of M. Benedetti, then French
Ambassador at Berlin. This communication was obviously made, as Lord
Morley tells us, with the object of prompting Gladstone to be the agent
in making the evil news public and thus of prejudicing France in the
judgment of Europe. Gladstone thought this "no part of his duty," and
very shortly thereafter, at the direct instance of Bismarck, this draft
treaty of 1866-7 was communicated by Baron Krause of the Prussian
Embassy in London to Delane, the editor of The Times. On July 25, 1870,
it was published in the columns of that paper and aroused considerable
anxiety in England.

It immediately became imperative upon the British Government to take
some action. As Gladstone wrote to Bright, the publication of this
treaty

has thrown upon us the necessity of doing something fresh to
secure Belgium, or else of saying that under no circumstances
would we take any step to secure her from absorption. This
publication has wholly altered the feeling of the House of
Commons, and no Government could at this moment venture to
give utterance to such an intention about Belgium. But neither
do we think it would be right, even if it were safe, to
announce that we would in any case stand by with folded arms
and see actions done which would amount to a total extinction
of the public right in Europe.

The Special Identical Treaties.

A simple declaration of Great Britain's intention to defend the
neutrality of Belgium by arms in case it were infringed seemed to
Gladstone not to meet the special requirements of the case as revealed
by the proposed Treaty of 1866-7 between Prussia and France. His main
object was to prevent the act