[Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, as Gladstone’s Colonial Secretary.] Confidential unsigned Autograph Letter [to J. T. Delane, editor of ‘The Times’], regarding British involvement in the treaty following the Franco-Prussian war.

See the two men’s entries in the Oxford DNB. 4pp, 4to. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with negligible remains of windowpane mount adhering at edges of reverse of second leaf. Folded for postage. The item - an immediate artifact with the feel of history in the making - is unsigned and headed ‘Confidential’. It is from a collection of papers including a light-hearted poem by Granville addressed to Delane, who is clearly also the recipient of the present item, which contains information that Granville is ‘leaking’ for publication in ‘The Times’, as the letter’s conclusion makes clear: ‘I send you the details of what I know for your guidance as to the general result. Please dont show up the details themselves.’ The subject of the letter is casus belli of the Franco-Prussian War: the failure of France and Prussia to agree on a treaty regarding the candidature of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen for the throne of Spain. (See Granville’s speech in the House of Lords, 26 July 1870.) He begins by stating that his news of the previous night ‘was confirmed by Lyons dispatch & private letter recd. this morning [Lord Lyons (1817-1887) was the British Ambassador to France] - He thought he had made a slight impression on Grammont [the French Foreign Minister the Duc de Grammont (1819-1880)] after a long conversation yesterday afternoon. Was not without hope, but it looked black.’ Granville ‘telegraphed in the night, a message of remonstrance which Lyons was to give this morning before the Commons. Lyons could not manage it, but wrote a letter which went into the Council while sitting.’ Granville has ‘heard nothing from him today, excepting the account of what had passed in the Chamber. The minutes announcing the withdrawal of the canditature, the satisfaction with Spain, and a continuance of Negotiation with Prussia, the result of which would not be communicated till Friday.’ Regarding Count Samuel Welles de Lavalette (1834-1892), American-born French Deputy, he writes: ‘Lavalette to whom they communicate but little; recd a despatch this morning, announcing satisfaction with the form in which the withdrawal had been made[.] He gathered from it that the minutes were in great embarrassment, and much afraid of the popular feeling. / At 8 o clock P. M. he had recd. nothing but the telegram from Lyons which I sent him’. The comment preceding the conclusion given at the start of this entry reads: ‘At Holland House, and at a dinner at Malmesbury, my wife tells me everybody said it was all settled.’