EMS DISPATCH. The historical designa tion of the communication which precipitated the Franco-German War of 1870-71. The his tory of the famous Ems telegram, with the texts of the original dispatch, is as follows: Isabella, Queen of Spain, deposed in 1868, formally abdicated 25 June 1870, and the Span ish throne was thus left vacant. On 5 July the foreign governments were notified, and the fact was generally made known that Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, evidently with the approval of the King of Prussia, had consented to be come a candidate for the vacant throne. The announcement created intense excitement in France. Seven days later the withdrawal of Prince Leopold's- candidacy was made public.
The next day, 13 July, the French ambassa dor, Count Benedetti, forced himself upon the presence of the King of Prussia at Ems and insisted that the king make a formal and spe cific declaration that no Hohenzollern Prince would be permitted to accept the throne of Spain. The king declined to listen to such de mands and broke off the interview. When the account of what happened was sent to Bis marck, it was with permission to "use it. Bis marck used it by giving to the press abridged features of the French demand with the result that the Germans were inflamed against France, France declared the nation insulted, and war was declared. The details are shown in the texts, which follow: This is Abeken's telegram of 13 July 1870 to Bismarck: "His Majesty the King writes to me: (Count Benedetti caught me on the Promenade and importunately requested me to authorize him to send a telegram at once saying I bound myself not to consent to the Hohenzollern can didature should they recur to it at any future time; this I declined, and rather sternly at last. One cannot enter a tout /minus into such an en gagement. I, of course, told him that I had
no news, but as he got his from Paris and Madrid sooner than I did, he must understand that my government was taking no part in the matter.' (Since then his Majesty has received a letter from Prince Karl Anton. His Majesty had in formed Count Benedetti that he was expecting news from the Prince, but, having regard to the above reasonable demand, his Majesty resolved, on the advice of Count Eulenburg and myself, not to receive Count Benedetti again, but merely to send him a message by an adjutant to the effect that his Majesty had now received from the Prince the confirmation of the news which Benedetti had already received from Paris, and that his Majesty had nothing further to say to the ambassador. His Majesty leaves it to the decision of your excellency whether this new demand of Benedetti and our refusal to comply therewith should not be forthwith com municated to our ambassadors and to the press.° As issued by Bismarck, the telegram read as follows: ((After the news of the renunciation of the Prince of Hohenzollern had been officially com municated by the Spanish government to the French government, the French ambassador in Ems nevertheless demanded that his Majesty should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that his Majesty pledged himself for all future time never again to give his consent to the Hohen zollems resuming their candidature. His Majesty has thereupon declined to receive the ambassador again and has informed him through the adjutant that he has nothing further to conununicate to the ambassador.° Consult Barrett-Lennard (Mrs.) and Hoper (M. M.), Bismarck's Pen: (The Life of Hein rich Abeken' (London 1911).