<;I:I:MAXY. 



375 



hu liail >t.iy,-(l during tho progress of the ne- 



.tions, lor Berlin, and was received with 



i-ntlni-i.-'>tio demonstrations all along the route. 



< >n tho 18th he made a speech to a great crowd 



of tho proplo of Berlin who came to congratu- 



iiim. Ho said "he was not responsible 



lor the war which had just broken out. Hr 



Mii^ht personally bo passive under outrage, but 



(irnuuny, even from beyond tho seas, had 



spoken. Sacrifices were sure. Prussia had 



spoiled by her rapid victories in two 



and perhaps a worse fate awaited her 



now. Ho, however, knew what to hope from 



(iod, the army, and the people." On tho 19th 



the North-German Parliament was opened by 



tin- Kini,' with tho following speech from the 



throne: 



HONORED GENTLEMEN OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE 

 NORTH-GERMAN CONFEDERATION : When, at your first 

 nii'i-timr, 1 bade you welcome from this place in tho 

 name ot'the allied governments, it was with joy and 

 gratitude that I was able to bear witness to the fact 

 that, by the help of God, success had rewarded my 

 sincere efforts to meet tho wishes of the people and 

 the requirements of civilization by avoiding any dis- 

 turbance of tho peace of Europe. If, notwithstand- 

 ing this assurance, the menace and imminence of 

 war have now laid upon the confederate govern- 

 ments the duty of calling you together for an ex- 

 traordinary session, you as well as ourselves will bo 

 animated with the conviction that the North-German 

 Confederation has labored to improve the national 

 forces, not to imperil, but to protect more efficiently 

 universal peace; and that, when we call upon this 

 national army to defend our independence, we only 

 obey tho mandates of honor and duty. Tho can- 

 didature of a German prince for the Spanish throne, 

 with the bringing forward and withdrawal of which 

 the confederate governments had nothing to do, 

 and which interested the North-German Confed- 

 eration only in so far as the government of a 

 friendly country appeared to base upon its success 

 the hope of acquiring for a sorely-tried people a 



has long 



been unknown in the annals of diplomatic inter- 

 course, and adhered to after the removal of the very 

 pretext itself, with that disregard for the people's 

 ri;:ht for the blessings of peace, of which the history 

 or a former ruler of France affords so many analogous 

 examples. If Germany in former centuries bore in 

 silence such violations of her right and her honor, it 

 was only because in her then divided state she knew 

 not her own strength. To-day, when the links of 

 all intellectual and rightful communion, which began 

 to bo formed at the time of the wars of liberation, 

 slowly joined the different German races, the Ger- 

 man nation contains within itself the will and the 

 power to repel tho renewed aggression of France. It 

 is not arrogance that puts these words into my mouth. 

 Tbo confederate governments and myself are acting 

 with full consciousness that victory and defeat are in 

 the hands of Him who decides tne fate of battles. 

 With a clear eye we have measured the responsibility 

 which, before the judgment-seat of God and of man- 

 kind, must fall upon him who drags into war two 

 great and peace-loving nations, both equally enjoy- 

 ing and desiring^ the blessings of a Christian civiliza- 

 tion and of an increasing prosperity, both called to 

 a more wholesome rivalry than the sanguinary con- 

 flict of arms. Yet those who hold power in France 

 li:ivi-, by preconcerted miestatemonts, found means 

 to work upon tho legitimate but excitable national 

 Kcntiments of our great neighboring people, for the 

 furtherance of personal interests and the gratifica- 



tion of puilona. The more tho confederate govern- 

 ment* are conscious of having done all our 

 and dlgnitT permitted to prcerve to Europe tho 

 blcsftingft of peace, and tho rnoro certain it ahull uj>- 

 pcar to all minds that tho sword has been thrunt into 

 our hands tho more confidently ball we rely upon 

 tho united will of the German government*, both of 

 the North and South, and upon your love of country ; 

 uinl the more confidently ahull wo fight for our right 

 against the violence of foreign invaders, inasmuch 

 as we pursue no other object than the lasting cutab- 

 lishmont of peace in Europe. God wiU be with us, 

 &6 Ho was with our forefathers. 



. The demands by the Government of an ex- 

 traordinary war-credit, and of the prolonga- 

 tion of tho legislative period in order to avoid 

 tho necessity of new elections, were granted 

 by an almost unanimous vote, and the extraor- 

 dinary session of the Keichstag closed on tho 

 21st July, the ceremony of a formal dismis- 

 sal of the deputies being dispensed with in 

 view of tho grave aspect of political affairs, 

 and the enormous pressure of business in tho 

 chancery of the Bund. 



On November 24th, the Reichstag again as- 

 sembled in regular session. Tho Minister 

 Delbriick, who by order of the King opened 

 the Parliament, said it would have given his 

 Majesty great satisfaction, if he could have 

 been present to thank God, in the midst of tho 

 representatives of the nation, for the successes 

 with which the German arms had been favored, 

 and to acknowledge with profound gratitude 

 how much the national attitude and the una- 

 nimity of Parliament, in affording the means 

 necessary for carrying on the war, had aided 

 those successes. After alluding to the glorious 

 victories gained by the German armies, he ex- 

 pressed his regret that those who held power 

 in France chose to sacrifice the strength of a 

 noble nation in a hopeless struggle, instead of 

 ordering the election of a National Assembly, 

 which could deliberate on tho present and fu- 

 ture state of the country. He was of opinion 

 that peace would be imperilled in future by 

 the remembrances which this war would leave 

 in France, when, by the recovery of her own 

 strength, or by the alliances with other pow- 

 ers, she might feel herself strong enough to 

 renew the struggle. It was, above all things, 

 necessary that a strong frontier should be es- 

 tablished for Germany, as a bar against tho 

 aggressions of future rulers of France. The 

 Government felt sure that the patriotism of 

 the North-German Parliament would not re- 

 fuse the means still required for the attain- 

 ment of those objects. The sentiments of 

 unity had been strengthened in the German 

 hearts, and peoples and princes were now con- 

 vinced that stronger links of union than those 

 aftbrded by international treaties were needed 

 between the North and South. A Constitu- 

 tion for the German Confederation, which had 

 been agreed upon by the North-German Con- 

 federation and the grand-duchies of Baden and 

 Hesse-Darmstadt, and unanimously adopted by 

 the Federal Council, would be laid before them 

 for approval. An understanding had been 



