Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/662

 626 FRANCE [HISTORY. French troops from Rome, 1866-69. say so. Up to the present time, Prussia, true to her ancient tradition of never letting go, has quietly retained the whole of the duchy. A new confederacy of the north of Germany was established under the headship of the king of Prussia, and that kingdom also received considerable additions. It was agreed that the river Main, which runs across that narrowest part of Germany, that hilly and wooded country which has seen so many struggles for mastery, and which for centuries has been, roughly speaking, the dividing-line between Low and High Germany, should now once more separate the northern from the southern confederacy. This arrangement, however, came to naught; Baden at once placed itself under the command of Prussia, and Wiirtem- berg and Bavaria before long did the same. Austria was left alone, and almost excluded from Germany, while Prussia became at once the strongest power in Europe. France, which had welcomed with enthusiasm the restora tion of Venetia to Italy, looked with less glad eyes at this growth of German strength across the Rhine. Thiers, with clear foresight, in 1866 predicted the coming empire of Germany ; M. Magne, addressing Napoleon, did not hesi tate to say that &quot; the national feelings would be profoundly wounded if the final result should be that France has only gained by her intervention the establishment on her two flanks of two neighbours of abnormally increased strength. Greatness is after all a relative affair ; and a country which in itself is no weaker than it was may be diminished by the accumulation of new forces around it.&quot; In 1866, after a convention with Italy, the French troops w jthdrew from Kome, while Victor Emmanuel promised not to molest the pope. There came, however, to Rome a French legion, composed of volunteers, chiefly old Bourbon partisans, commanded by a French general and officers of the French army. The presence of these troops was natu rally regarded by Italy as a violation of the convention ; so that when Garibaldi with his volunteers, in 1867, attempted to raise patriotic feelings in the territory round Rome, and in concert with the citizens to gain entrance into the Eternal City, the Italian Government took no steps to pre vent him. The emperor, however, with unlucky zeal, after much hesitation, despatched General de Failly with a strong force to succour the pope, and thus placed himself openly in antagonism with Italy. The French and papal troops defeated the Garibaldians at Montana (3d November 1867) ; and Italy regarded herself as thenceforward free from all obligation of gratitude towards imperial France. On the other hand, the clerical party loudly complained that the emperor had but half done his work, and grumbled because he had not used his victory to restore to the papacy its lost territory. Thus Napoleon III. lost the favour of both s ^es, and left on men s minds the impression that he was a weak and irresolute ruler. Nor did his efforts to pur chase the duchy of Luxembourg from Holland add to his reputation (1866-1867). For the intervention of Prussia defeated all his plans; and although the fortifications of Luxembourg were demolished, and the Prussian garrison withdrawn, it was felt that the emperor s attempt to strengthen his north-eastern frontier had completely failed, and that the antagonism between France and Prussia must one day lead to troubles. The boldness of the opposition increased ; each slight advantage yielded by the Government in these days gave it fresh strength ; Thiers was listened to with great interest when he demonstrated in 1868 the hollowness of imperial finance, the terrible burden of debt, the growing dimensions of the army expenditure, which was not accompanied by any real increase in the fighting- strength of the nation. The elections of 1869 showed the quick growth of the opposition ; far from the old unanimity, the imperial Government did not obtain quite three-fifths of the votes ; and again the large towns returned republican Discern- France. candidates. In this assembly M. Gambetta made his first :-| public appearance among the &quot;irreconcilables.&quot; In January M. a 1870 a quasi-liberal cabinet, headed byM. Ollivier, who had be been won over by the emperor and empress in a private inter- a * * view, endeavoured to face the growing dissatisfaction; to re concile the &quot;irreconcilables,&quot; without endangering the impe rial position. After many liberal professions, the emperor once more appealed to the country for a vote of confidence in himself, and in the hereditary character of his govern ment. The reply of France seemed to be overwhelming and decisive, 7,358,786 Yes, against 1,571,939 No. This vote was taken on the 8th of May 1870 ; within two months the Hohenzollern question had begun its ominous course. In 1868 the Spanish insurrection of September had dis lodged Queen Isabella. She took refuge in France, with T a crowd of partisans, and became at once the favoured * * guest of the emperor and his Spanish spouse. In the pro- * ! visional Government of Madrid General Prim in 1869 be- q| came president of the council of ministers, and began almost at once to search about Europe for an eligible king. In the course of his inquiries he happened on Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, to whom he offered the crown of Spain without first announcing his intentions to the court of France. The intimacy existing between the empress and the ex-queen of Spain was no doubt a sufficient reason for this reticence. Prince Leopold at once informed the head of his house, the king of Prussia, of the fact, and the king authorized him to accept the offer. So stood affairs when the French cabinet thought it necessary to intervene. The two nations had regarded one another with distrust for years ; in the beginning of the imperial rule the Prussians had stood aloof ; the irritation which France felt at the Danish war passed into alarm after Sadowa. The failure of Benedetti s negotiation in 1870 with Bismarck as to Belgium added to the tension. The French Government was also uneasy at the evident signs of opposition at I home, the decay of its popularity, the penalty of its corruption and extravagance ; finally, there existed two courts, that of the empress and a more patriotic one, which dimly reflected the ancient antagonism between a Span ish party in high place and the true interests of the country. The emperor of the French, worn-out and more irresolute than ever, became the prey and victim of a faction. When Prince Leopold, on learning the objections of France, withdrew his candidature, the Frsnch Govern ment, instead of accepting the act in a conciliatory spirit, seemed to be inspired by the temper of the duke of Grammont s speech in the Assembly at the time. &quot; We cannot allow the actual balance of power in Europe to be deranged, and the interest and honour of France to be im perilled. We firmly hope this may not happen ; against it we count on both the prudence of Germany and the friend ship of Spain. Were it to be otherwise, strong in your support and in that of the nation, we should know how to do our duty, without hesitation and without weakness ; &quot; brave words and menacing, but words which required real strength behind them, the very thing which was lacking. The empress and her friends wanted war; and conse quently the king of Prussia was pressed, as a further step, to give assurances that he never would support Prince Leopold in any future candidature for the Spanish throne. This was equivalent to saying that war was determined on; and the Prussian cabinet made no further effort for peace. Steps were taken in Paris for a fresh coup d etat against the liberals, if they proved too obstructive ; the empress was eager to secure, by a successful war, the throne for her son, and to appear as the champion of Catholic and Ultramontane principles in Europe. While the liberal party in the chamber and the country, headed by Thiers, persistently opposed the war, the Bonapartists