Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/625

 Unification of Germany and Italy 587 that the German princes and the individual states will not feel that they have been completely subordinated and medi- atized. The central government must also be so far depend- ent upon the parliament that the political sentiments of the nation at large shall not be violated. Surely no task could be more difficult than ours. . . . The plan of a federation now before us, whatever may be Neither a its nature, is in no way a constitutional monarchy, nor is it constltu - r,. ,., ,.. ,, ..... tional mon- a federation according to the traditional theories which have archy feasible been developed in the universities. . . . Indeed, those who nor a feder- have drawn up the plan have unmistakably struck into a atlon as . .. . commonly path diametrically opposed to that which has been hitherto conceived, followed in Germany. They have not taken a treatise upon -- political theory, I care not how good it may be, and copied out the features of a constitutional state as they are described therein ; they have not, after arranging their plan, divided and distorted the real forces in our country in order to fit them into it. On the contrary, they have searched out in the long-standing chaos of German conditions the actually exist- ing forces ; they have endeavored to give them a legal basis and a form adjusted to the strength and importance of each; they have supplied each with its proper organ, and defined its scope and activity. The forces to be considered were, as every one here well knows, the strong, victorious Prussia, whose traditions of a glorious past, whose present might, and, above all, whose future power combine to render her far too big to be fitted into that academic federation of the Gottingen professors. _Laughter.~] In the situation of Europe at the present mo- ment she necessarily enjoys in some respects a dictatorial power. Then, on the other hand, there are the other Ger- man states, who in the war against Prussia certainly won no laurels. Even those who were her allies were thrown sadly into the shade by the gigantic increase of Prussia's power. Yet, in spite of their relation with Prussia, the various Ger- man states have exhibited marked vitality and in some in- stances enjoy a strong support from outside. Moreover, — and that weighed most heavily, — in spite of the efforts of