In the evening the Count sent for me once more. It was merely to show me a telegram, which he handed to me with a smile. It was a message from the Grand Duke of Weimar to the Grand Duchess, couched in the style of the King’s despatches to the Queen, in which the Duke reported, “My army has fought very bravely.” Greatness, like murder, will out. But still there are cases in which imitation had better be avoided. On the 14th of September, shortly before 10 o’clock, we started for Château Thierry, and reached Meaux on the next day. Before dinner we heard that a _parlementaire_ has arrived from Paris, a slight dark-haired young gentleman, who is now standing in the courtyard before the Chief’s house. From his language he would appear to be an Englishman. In the evening he has a long conversation with the Chief over a bottle of kirschwasser, and turns out to be Mr. Edward Malet, an _attaché_ of the British Embassy in Paris. As I had to pass through the antechamber I noticed the attendant, Engel, with his ear to the keyhole, curious to know what they were talking about. He had brought a letter from Lord Lyons asking whether the Count would enter into negotiations with Favre as to the conditions of an armistice. The Chancellor is understood to have replied: “As to conditions of peace, yes; but not for an armistice.”[8] I see from the letters of some Berlin friends that many well-meaning and patriotic persons cannot bring themselves to accept the idea that the conquered territory is not to be annexed to Prussia. According to a communication from Heinrich von Treitschke, of Freiburg, it is feared that Alsace and Lorraine may be handed over to Bavaria, and that a new dual system may thus arise. In a letter to the Chief he says: “It is obvious that Prussia alone is capable of once more Germanising the Teutonic provinces of France.” He refers to a “circumstance to which too little attention is paid in the North--namely, that all sensible men in South Germany desire to see Alsace handed over to Prussia;” and declares that “it is a great mistake if it is thought in the North that the South must be rewarded by an increase of territory and population.” I cannot imagine where Treitschke can have heard such erroneous views. So far as I am aware they are held by none of our people. I fancy it is thought here that the South will be sufficiently rewarded in being at length secured against French lust of conquest. Other ideas of the writer can only be regarded as sound in certain circumstances. Our Chief’s plan, to which I have previously referred, is unquestionably more just and better adapted to the existing situation--namely, to make those provinces the common property of all Germany. By taking that course the conquered territory would not become an object of envy and a cause of dissatisfaction to Prussia’s allies; but, on the contrary, would serve as a bond of union between North and South.