Prince Bismarck and his Policy. 



89 



All the actors played as yet behind the scenes and only 

 a few favored ones were initiated. 



Bismarck visited Paris in the spring of 1857, and held 

 long consultations with N^apoleon. The world will never 

 know what transpired between the two, but that Prus- 

 sia's power and German unity may have loomed up before 

 Bismack in the future, may safely be assumed. 



It is fashionable to-day, in France, to represent the 

 Prussian government as having meditated for half a cen- 

 tury a war of revenge and conquest, slow^ly brightening 

 their arms and training a succession of generations for the 

 decisive hour of combat. This is a fallacy. 



The swords of Blucher and Scharnhorst were sheathed 

 in 1815. Even the adoption of the needle gun in 1847 was 

 only an accident, or rather a scientific experiment; and in 

 1848 and 1849 Prussian troops did not shine with marvelous 

 eclat in the war of the Duchies, and were even miserably 

 held in check by the undisciplined bands of the insurrec- 

 tion of Baden and Posen. 



It was only the mobilization attempted during the 

 Italian complications, which opened their eyes to all the 

 grave inconveniences and incoherencies of the organiza- 

 tion till then in force. Two men. Yon Moltke and Von 

 Koon, joined with the prince regent in remodeling the 

 system from the very bottom, and produced, at the end of 

 six years an armed force, entirely new, powerful and 

 invincible. 



In August, 1857, Von Moltke became chief of the great 

 general staff. The next year William I. became king of 

 Prussia, and with the change in the ministry, the 01- 

 miitz policy fell to the ground. 



In the king's address to his ministry one sentence was 

 especially emphasized : I will never allow religion 

 to be the cloak for politics." 



The year 1859 brought the Italian war, and we find 



Trans, ix.'] 12 



