“It was then supposed that the conclusion of a definitive peace would take place previous to any payment by France. M. Thiers expressed his intention to commence his financial operations after a lapse of two months at the earliest, and considered that the definitive treaty would be concluded in from four to six weeks. There was no question that the whole present occupation was regarded as a guarantee to us for the conclusion of the definitive peace; and the terms clearly show that all the evacuation yet to take place was subordinated to the final peace, and that the payments only affected the various stages of these evacuations. The sentence following these stipulations, according to which the evacuation is to take place after the conclusion of peace and after the payment of the first half milliard, was not contained in the original text. M. Thiers wished to have it concluded, and M. Favre considered it superfluous. I declared myself in favour of its inclusion, as on the day before I had agreed that a comparatively large and important stage of the evacuation should be made dependent upon this first payment, which might be reckoned on the basis of the proportion between the entire territory occupied and the whole five milliards. M. Thiers kept me to my word, which I acknowledged; but there was never any question of the evacuation of this side of the Seine before the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace. “Should the French entertain any doubt on this point your Excellency will explain to M. Favre that I would rather advise his Majesty to _immediately_ renew hostilities than submit to such a falsification of the spirit in which the Versailles negotiations were conducted.