, 1866-06-08

49, Nb'JNC(S lRfOuL L IuSSluS liz
Minister who has taken a strongly anti
Prusslan line, and her vain appeals 10 the
Diet, must find by experience that
lis dangerous when the baser nature comes
Between the pass and fell incensed points
mighty opposites.
And though SaXony is doomed to more
imminent danger than the other States,
the position of the ininitesimaI Duchies
bordering on Prussia is quite as fatal TO
them. Like Victor Hugo's pienrre, Prus-
Sla throws out arms in all directions, en-
cloSInS1BrunsWick, shutting up Hanover
between Itself and lis Rhenish provinces,
and grasping without an effort a herd of
Saxon Duchies. Russia's apocryphal
threat of interference for the p%Iinccly re-
Iations of the House of Rnmanoff might,
even If really uttered, be made light Of
in these days, when all rulers are related
by marriage without bringing Europe
any nearer to the state of a happy family.
Nor must we forget that Prussia has q
further hold on some of the adjoining
States by means Of military conventions.
The NORTH German Gazefte says that a
treaty Of alliance has been concluded be-
tween Prussia and Hanover, which would
give Prussia the absolute command of
the western part Of North Germany. For
with the help Of Hanover Prussia e|ncloses
Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, Hesse C~assel,
Nassau, and the greater part of Darn
stadt, without counting the Waldecks
and Lippe DetmoIds, which might be SO
painlessIy absorbed or extinguished.
The accession Of force to Prussia is
not so considerable as that to Austria by
the adhesion of the Southern States.
But Prussia's task is much simpler than
Austria,s. and her aai4S will. be mn"h
more decided. Let Count Bismarck
once get these adjacent States into his
grasp, and he will never let 90 of them,
while the Southern States are almost
large enough to form a group, giving
Austria a qualified aid, but no accession
Of territory. If all the minor States lay
together, there might be some thought
of their combining under one head, and
influencing the fate Of Germany. The
armies of the German States, deducting
Austria and Prussia, amount on a war
footing TO 435, 1920 men, and this number
could be increased without serious inconve-
nience. For while the Prussian army
includes more than 3 per cent. of the
population, and the Austrian and Bava-
rian armies respectively a little under
and a little over 2 per cent, the Federal
contingent is calculated at l 10th per
cent. Of the population of each State, and
many of the smaller States scarcely keep
up their Federal contingent. If Germa-
ny were fighting for life, such a State as
Hesse CasseI, which put almost $4,000
men in the field during the final war
against Napoleon, would not be content
ed with Is, 900 men on her war footing. But
besides being divided geographically
and far from unanimous in spirit, Ger
many does not look OrwaId u suUil d
desperate struggle. 1t shows that it is
not in earnest by resting still on that
broken reed, the Federal Diet, in spite
of the experience of 1864. The strength
of the Diet and it's supporters was sure
" sh~ownywhen a question in which
Austria aid Prussia were only backed by
the votes by Lichtenstein, Reuss, the two
Lippes, Waldeck, and Hesse Homburg,
was carried by force against the majority,
and when the Federal Constitution was
formally and finally set aside. Yet NM:
Beust and Won der Pfordten are still
wasting time in consulting the diet, in