Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/626

 588 Readings in European History the cultivated class toward unity, the individual states each retains the very real sympathy of its own people on its own soil. Thirdly and lastly, there was liberal public opinion, — in Prussia, in Germany, in Europe. In Prussia, indeed, it seemed that public opinion had been worsted in the un- successful opposition to Bismarck's ministry and had been forced to give up many of its positions. Yet in spite of this, by and large, and in the whole range of European relations, this public opinion has grown stronger and stronger, until not even the strongest of military monarchies can perma- nently resist the attacks of this spiritual power. . . . It was necessary, then, to reckon with these three forces, — (i) with the military demands of the great Prussian state, (2) with the various individual German states, the demands of which were supported by local sentiment, and (3) with the strength of public opinion. The draft of the constitution, as it lies before us, provides for an organ for each of these forces: to Prussia — to the crown of Prussia — is assigned the presidency of the federation ; to the smaller states, the Federal Council (BundesratA) ; to public opinion, the Im- perial Diet (Reichstag)} V. The Franco-Prussian War Bismarck describes in his memoirs the way in which he precipitated what he believed to be an unavoidable war with France. The Prussian king was at Ems, a well-known watering place, when the French ambassa- dor, Benedetti, approached him and demanded that the king should pledge himself never to permit the Hohen- zollern prince to become a candidate again for the Spanish throne. 2 This William refused to do, and as 1 For an account of the peculiarities of the present German federa- tion, especially of the Federal Council, which is a species of corporate monarch, in whom the sovereignty is vested, not in the emperor, see my pamphlet, The German Bundesrath, Philadelphia, 1891. 2 See History of Western Europe, p. 662, note (Vol. II, p. 310, note).