December, 1870, had refused an
offer of peace from Thiers, which rested on the condition that Belgium
should be united to France under the rule of King Leopold. After the
battle of Sedan Lord Odo Russell and Disraeli aroused the fears of the
English people over the possibility of a German invasion; but
Bismarck, nevertheless, was thinking of an English-German alliance,
which, on account of the blood relationship of the two dynasties, was
by no means impracticable, and which to Queen Victoria would have
seemed a natural combination. Subsequently, in the years 1873 and
1874, Bismarck negotiated with Lord Odo Russell in Berlin regarding a
German-English alliance, and through Muenster he also took up the
matter with Disraeli, who denied very emphatically that he had French
sympathies. Nothing, he said, was more incorrect. The two peoples, he
alleged further, who alone could proceed hand in hand, and who must
become more and more cognizant of that fact, were Germany and
England. The power of France, he added, was on the wane, a fact
regarding which the demoralization of the empire, the decrease of
population, and the course of recent events left no room for doubt.
Notwithstanding Disraeli's views, however, the alliance with England,
as is well known, was never formed. The most serious obstacle was
created by the fact that party government in England rendered binding
obligations extraordinarily difficult. Then came all sorts of
pinpricks, as, for instance, Derby's advocacy in the year 1875 of
Gortchakoff's famous rescue campaign. But despite all Bismarck held
fast to the idea of bringing about closer relations with England, and
the formation of the alliance with Austria-Hungary confirmed him in
that purpose. "We shall have to adjust our attitude more and more," he
wrote to Schweinitz in March, 1880, "with the object of increasing the
security of our relations with Austria and England." It was this
political desire that prompted him to reject a Russian proposal to
unite the four Eastern powers in a common protest against England's
isolated procedure in connection with the occupation of Egypt. He
wished to prevent England from being humiliated by a prearranged
coalition. A letter from Bismarck to Salisbury (July 8, 1885) has been
preserved, which is very characteristic of this friendly attitude of
German policy. "As to politics," he writes, "I have not the slightest
doubt that the traditional friendly relations between the two