Note 255 — THE DUEL BETWEEN FRANCE AND GERMANY, WITH ITS LESSON TO CIVILIZATION. (continued 2)

See the New York Times of August 11, 1870, where the reputed prophecy is cited in these terms, in a letter of the 27th July from the London correspondent of that journal, with remarks indicating an expectation of its fulfilment in the results of the present war. This famous saying has been variously represented; but the following are its original terms, as recorded at the time by Las Cases, to whom it was addressed in conversation, and as authenticated by the Commission appointed by Louis Napoleon for the collection and publication of the matters now composing the magnificent work entitled “Correspondance de Napoléon Ier”:—

“Dans l’état actuel des choses, avant dix ans, toute l’Europe peut être cosaque, ou toute en république.”—Las Cases, Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, (Réimpression de 1823 et 1824,) Tom. III. p. 111,—Journal, 18 Avril 1816. Correspondance de Napoléon I^er, (Paris, 1858-69,) Tom. XXXII. p. 326.