The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-05


without the power of arresting any vessel which
is being built for the use of a belligerent,
with the intention of being armed and
equipped for such service elsewhere, we should
still be exposed to a repetition of the difficult
ties which occurred during the American war.
Az to the powers to be given to the Secretary
of State, they are no doubt very large and
arbitrary. and capable of being turned to
mischievous account, but it might, perhaps,
be possible to modify them, or, at least, to
surround them with certain checks in adj
dition to the greatest check of all-the vigi-
lance of public opinion and the jealous scru-
tiny of political opponents.
GERMANY.
From the London Saturday Reciep.
The King of Prussia is at the head of the
troops of United Germany. That Germany
should be united, and that the King of
Prussia should without the slightest, struggle
or jealousy be able to lead into the field all
the troops of every German power, is a truly
wonderful event. For the moment at least
the Germans are one people, and nothing
like this, or even approaching to this, has
ever before been seen in modern Europe.
The German people have got rid of Austria,
they have got rid of their princes; they are
united, and they have a leader. For this
they are mainly indebted to themselves. 1t
was the people who got up the War
of Liberation; it is the peo-
pie who have chung to the idea of
unity amid the jealousies of courts and the
i~ntrigues of ministers. 1t is the people who
have formed themselves into W lat they are
by the educational and military system of
North Germany. Count Bismarck has done
as much as any one man could do to make a
nation, but nations are not to be made by
one man. The secret of the new strength of
Germany lies in the consciousness of worth
and strength which possesses the Germans.
They feel hat they and their country have a
right to exist. The intrigues of ministers
or the successes of generals cannot create a
spirit like that which now breathes through
the whole German nation. 1t was the
people of Bavaria and the people of Wurtem-
berg who determined in an instant that South
Germany should work with North Germany
in defense of the Fatherland. 1t is the pea
SAINTS of the Rhineland who know that ruin
stares them in the face, and who court ruin
that even at that price the Fatherland may be
their country. No greater conquest of ideas
has been seen in modern Europe. France
may succeed in rending Germany asunder.
She may tear away from Germany provinces
that long - be German. But for the moment
at least Germany exists as a great, COM
pact, concordant whole. And France
has been one of the chiefest
means of bringing about the unity of Ger
many. The first Napoleon taught Germans
what are the terrible calamities to which they
must be subjected if they are divided. The
second Napoleon has taught Germans that
the danger to which want of division exposes
Germany is perpetual. France is going, if it
can, to crush or destroy them because they
venture to unite, and under the threat of
France they have become altogether united.
Even in the provinces that until lately
hated prussia as EAnaeInnl
and ~insolent aggressor there is
now only one feeling, the desire to
let France know, once for all, that Germany
is determined to exist. Hanover is no more
represented by the loaing adventurous who
slope along the Bouvelards under the name
of the Hanoverian Legion, than England
was represented by the exiles of st. Ger
mains. If patriotism ever showed itself in a
noble and striking manner, it is showing
itself now in such a manner at this moment
in Germany; and it may surely be said that
it would be a terrible loss to humanity, and
to Europe, if a patriotism of SO high a degree
were to show itself in vain, and if brute force
and the mitrailleuse were to scatter it into
dust.
The French, too, are intensely patriotic,
and it is not to be questioned but that in
some strange way they have convinced them
selves hat right is on their side, and that
they are entitled to say that German patriot
ism is an injury and an insult to them which
they cannot endure. But when we Judge
between the combatants, we observe that the
Germans are quite willing that French pa
triotism should endure and have free play so
long as it keeps itself to itself and allows its
~neighbors to live in peace. And then German
patriotism is something so new; and it is re-
freshing to find that a new great patriotic
nation has sprung into existence. OF
all men the Emperor of the French was tina
most interested in ascertaining whether its
existence was a reality or not; and he evil
IDENTIFY calculated wrongly. He had no notion
that South Germany, which must bear the
first brunt of the war, would at once pro-
claim itself identified with Prussia and the
North. He thought he could make his quar-
rel one with Prussia only, and that Prussia
was undermined by the disaffection of her in
voluntary subjects. That within a week
after the declaration of war, the Kings of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg would be receiving
the thanks of their subjects for letting them
fight against the French, would have seemed
10 him as improbable as anything could
be. If history could be trusted as a guide, il
might have been confidently expected that
South Germany would ar first have hesitated,