AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR EUROPE. 345 



and by the Treaty of Peace which followed, their independence was 

 secured. 



In 1863, upon the accession of King Christian to the Danish 

 Throne, the question was raised again, and Prussia claimed the 

 recognition of the Uuke of Augustenburg as the Duke of 

 Schleswig-Holstein, but this claim was resented by the King of 

 Denmark, and herein was the cause of the war. 



7. In 1866, consequent upon the annexation of the Danish Pro- 

 vinces to the Prussian Crown, a quarrel arose with Austria, which 

 culminated in the Austro-Prussian War ; wherein, during the decisive 

 campaign in Bohemia, the Austrian Army under Marshal Benedek 

 was defeated by the Prussian forces at the Battle of Sadowa. By the 

 Treaty of Prague, which followed, the political influence of Austria 

 in the North German Bund, and over any portion of the German 

 States, was swept away. These two Wars, waged by Prussia against 

 Denmark and Austria, involved a loss of 48,000 men killed, and 

 an expenditure of ;^73, 000,000 sterling. 



8. In 1870-71, as an inevitable consequence of these two preceding 

 wars, France waged a terrible struggle with Germany, a war> 

 ostensibly arising from the candidature of Prince Leopold Sigmaringen 

 to the Throne of Spain, but, really, to prevent the military ascendancy 

 of Germany in Europe, and to prop up, by a military diversion, the 

 tottering dynasty of the Buonapartes in France. In this fierce 

 struggle, with its succession of overwhelming German victories at 

 Weissenburg, Worth, Sedan, Gravelotte, and many others, and by 

 the sieges of Metz, Strasburg, Belfort, Paris, and many other fortified 

 positions in France, it is estimated that 250,000 men perished, and, 

 that the cost in treasure to France, equalled ;^3 17,000,000. 



An examination into the causes that led to each, and all of those 

 deplorable wars, and many others, that have been waged within the 

 same period of. time, justifies the declaration of Lord Russell, that 

 had there been the least approach to concession and conciliation on 

 either side, or on both sides, they might have been, one and all> 

 prevented. 



A BARBAROUS SYSTEM. 



Such a state of things as we have described, such a system, or 

 rather the absence of any system, is strikingly comparable to the 

 Dark Ages, when private wars, and judicial combats were the 



