France found out about the offer, and demanded for Prussia to reject it since France did not want to be surrounded by Hohenzollerns. The prince refused, but the French wanted Prussia to do the same. Prussian King Wilhelm I sent a telegram from Ems that assuring French Emperor Napoleon III that the prince would not become king of Spain. Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck publicly released a version that he had edited or doctored to make it seem that his king had insulted the emperor's ambassador. That was part of his plan to unify the German states. Both sides exchanged angry words, and France declared war. On July 19 1870 the war started, and Prussia was fully supported by the South German states.