Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/166

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146
DRAMATIC MOMENTS

to write a powerful denunciation of it to be signed by himself. This was placed in Bigelow's hands to be given to the press. But here a second obstacle was presented. An editor of liberal notions and national enthusiasm was readily found who gladly promised to print it. But in monarchies all grist that goes to the mill is not ground. The Minister of Interior got wind of the affair, and dispatched a peremptory order that the article be suppressed.

Publicity, not its form of presentation, was the gist of this silent battle. And it is well known that some things can be made more startling by concealment than by display. Bigelow did not hesitate to start the report which soon spread over Paris that an opinion of international moment, written by the great authority Antoine Pierre Berryer, had been suppressed.

The eager and pressing curiosity and growing comment carried the first rampart. Arman was ordered to cover his tracks by a sale of the vessels to Sweden, for account of Den-