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WIL and decisive victory of Königgrätz followed on the next day. The treaty of Prague, of August 23, placed Prussia at the head of Germany, and established the North German confederation. King Wilhelm had at once triumphed over his enemies at home and abroad, and on his return to Berlin was hailed with enthusiastic loyalty by men of all parties, excepting, perhaps, some extreme partizans, who would sacrifice to a faction the existence of a nation. On the 8th of July, 1867, a treaty was concluded between the North German confederation and the South German states; and further measures, tending to a complete fusion of particular interests with the national life, were thereby promoted. But the grand result might still have been long delayed if foreign interference had not completed the work. It was soon manifest that France would never forgive the victory of Prussia at Königgrätz. Though the strife had been strictly confined within Germany; though it had been waged for the internal organization of the German confederation, and not for any extension of its domain, the power thus acquired by Prussia was regarded as liable to all the objections that might have been urged against an aggressive use of that power. Though she had, in fact, lost nothing by the transference of power from Austria to Prussia, France began now to speak of demanding "compensation." Thus it became inevitable that the strife of 1866 must, some day, be followed by that which, unexpectedly, took place in 1870. The pretext for war then chosen by Napoleon III. was the acceptance by a prince of the Hohenzollern house of the proffered crown of Spain. As soon as it was stated that this would be viewed as offensive to France, Prince Leopold withdrew his acceptance; but this was soon followed by a demand that the king of Prussia should pledge himself never again to allow any such candidature on the part of any member of the Hohenzollern family. This demand was urged in the most offensive manner, and the result was that William declined any further conference on the business with the French ambassador, Count Benedetti. The French declaration of war followed on the 19th of July, and the true motives of that declaration, were published by Prince Bismarck on the 29th. Though none could have predicted that a war between two such great powers would be ended in the course of a year, the final issue of the conflict was sure from the commencement. For Napoleon III. had, in gross error, counted on the neutrality, at least, of the southern states. Their adhesion to the North German confederation left France without any reasonable hope of success. A great initiatory advantage might have been gained by a rapid movement on the offensive against the weak parts of the German frontier. When a fortnight had passed away, and no such movement had taken place, there could be only one way of accounting for such delay on the part of the French generals. Their armies were not ready. Meanwhile the German forces had been marshalled for defensive operations, and it became clear that a French army must cross the Rhine before the end of the month or never. The German plan of defence was now changed for one of carrying the war into the enemy's country and marching on Paris. The battles of Weissenburg and Woerth opened for the crown prince his way to join the forces under Prince Friedrich Karl, and the three German armies were soon placed on French soil, in good communication with each other, and under one supreme command. The next stage of the war—Bazaine's attempt to form a junction with MacMahon—was frustrated at the battle of Gravelotte on the 18th of August, which had for its result the investment of Metz. In a military point of view the most interesting of all the movements of the campaign was the flunk march of MacMahon from Rheims to Rethel, and the plan for thwarting its object, devised by Moltke and carried into effect by the crown prince, was a masterpiece of strategy. MacMahon was too slow, and the result of his less of time was the catastrophe of Sedan. On the 2nd of September King Wilhelm had a brief interview with Napoleon III. at Bellevue, near Frenois. The latter, who had surrendered himself as a prisoner, refused to take any part in the treaty of capitulation, and left the war to be continued under a provisional republican government. The next stage of the war consisted mainly in the investment of Paris and the capitulation of Metz. For details the reader may consult the articles , and. The last-named general, about the close of February, 1871, declared the further prosecution of the war to be hopeless, and articles of peace, arranged on the 26th of February, were ratified by the French Assembly at Versailles on the 28th.

After the completion of the investment of Paris, King William had fixed his headquarters at Versailles, and here, in the residence of Louis XIV., in the brilliant Hall of Mirrors, full of memories of the splendour of the French monarchy, the revival of the German empire took place, after a sleep of centuries. On the proposal of the king of Bavaria, it was resolved that the unity of the several German states should be represented in the person of the king of Prussia, who should also bear the title of emperor of Germany. This proposal was declared to be unanimously accepted by all the states on the 16th of December, 1870. Accordingly, on the 18th, King William, surrounded by the princes and other representatives of the states, and by delegates from all their armies, assembled in the grand Hall of Mirrors in the palace of Versailles, was proclaimed emperor of Germany. By his marriage with the Princess Augusta he has a son and a daughter. The son, Friedrich Wilhelm (Nikolaus Karl), crown prince, was born October, 1831, and in 1858 married Victoria, princess royal of Great Britain. The daughter, Louise (Marie Elizabeth) born December 3, 1838, was married in 1856 to Friedrich, grand-duke of Baden.—R. H.  WILLIAM, King of Scotland, was the second son of Prince Henry, and grandson of David I. He was born about 1142, and ascended the throne on the death of his elder brother, Malcolm, in 1165. William began his reign by courting the friendship of Henry II., king of England; but finding that that monarch was not disposed to restore to him the county of Northumberland, he sent ambassadors to France in 1168, to negotiate an alliance with the French king—the first negotiation between Scotland and France of which we have any authentic information. In 1170, when a quarrel broke out between Henry II. and his son, William joined in confederacy with the latter, and invaded England. In 1174 he made another incursion into the northern counties, but while lying in careless security near Alnwick, he was surprised and made prisoner by a party of Yorkshire barons. He was carried to Northampton to meet Henry, and treated with wanton and indecent barbarity, and was shortly after confined in the strong fortress of Falaise in Normandy. In order to regain his liberty, William, with the consent of the Scottish barons and clergy (8th December, 1174), agreed to become the liegeman of Henry for Scotland, and all his other territories, and also promised to deliver up to the English king the principal fortresses of his kingdom, and a number of his nobles, as securities for the performance of the treaty. He returned to his own country in the beginning of 1176, and died 4th December, 1214.—J. T.  WILLIAM, known also as , was the first distinguished painter among the Germans, and is the head of the Lower Rhine school. He was a native of Herle, a village near Cologne; hence he is called Wilhelmus de Herle. He was married, and settled in Cologne as early as 1358, and his death must have occurred about 1378.—R. N. W.  WILLIAM, one of the best of our early historians, was born in the latter half of the eleventh century, when or where precisely is unknown, but he speaks of William Rufus and Henry I. as sovereigns of his own time. There is a list of his numerous writings in Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria. The chief of them are two contributions to English history, the "Gesta Regum Anglorum" and the "Historia Novella." The "Gesta" brings the history down to the year 1120, and among its episodes is an interesting account of the first crusade. The "Historia Novella" begins with a retrospect of the reign of Henry I., and terminates abruptly at the year 1142. William of Malmesbury is supposed to have died not very long afterwards.—F. E.  WILLIAM, more properly of Newburgh, the historian of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I., was born at Bridlington in 1136. His diligence in theological and historical study attracted the notice of the abbots of the monasteries of Byland and Rivaulx, who urged him to composition. He wrote a "Commentary on the Song of Solomon," now lost. His chief work is the "Historia Rerum Anglicarum." He is supposed to have died in 1208.—F. E.  WILLIAM. See.  WILLIAMS,, the author of miscellanies in prose and verse, published in 1766, is celebrated not so much for her talents as for her misfortunes, and the interest which they 