The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-07-30
THE CAUSE OF TINE WAR.
Benedict assss AImg WaRlEnRn.
TErprp tho Nov Work World !

BeMeeseEeE ANA AENg WaElssaM,
From the New York World
The direct cause of the final rapture
between France and Prussia seems to
have been, as the direct causes of such
ruptures are too often apt to be person
al collision Of an unpleasant character
betN cen two eminent personages.
These were the King William of PIus-
sia and Count Benedetti. the french
ambassador at the Prussian court.
King William was at Ems, near Wies-
baden, place where neither his maj"s-
ty nor the Prussians are particularly ad-
mired, but the waters Of which are found
to be beneficial to the venerable and
rather morhidly bilious constitution of
the monarch. Where the king is there
is thcfcourt, and the French ambassador
consequently was at Ems, also, conduct
ing the Negotiations set on foot by the
sudden explosion of the Prim-Bismarck
contrivance for getting Prussan prince
upon the throne of Spain. These ne
gotiations were rather delicate, since
they were intended by France to
bring the Prussian sovereign to a fat
disavowal of any hostile intentions in
permitting the prince, his kinsman to ac-
cept the Spanish crown. The personal
temper of the king was, therefore, an
element of peculiar Importance in the
conduct of the affair for King William
well knew both that the intert"n Of
Bismarck in organizing with Prim the
candidacy of Prince Lespo,d !. ally had
been hostile to France, and that he him
self had for years, desired nothing so
much as an opportunity of relieving his
soul of profound hereditary hatred of
Frenchmen in general and of the Bona
parties in particular Yet, at the same
time, he was we'll aware that he could
not possibly afford, in his capacity as
an European sovereign, to confess that
he had connived at the aggrandizement
of member of his own family with the
express object of insulting and crcum
venting friendly power. Had Count
Bismarck been intrusted by the king
with the management of the affair, even
out of this disagreeable complication
peace with honor might have been per-
haps evolved. For Count Bismarck,
with all his contempt Tor abstract right,
and his love for brusque and perempto-
~ solutions of diplomatic imbroglios,
understands and appreciates the i'm
portance of the public opinion of Eu-
rope, and of polite forms very much
better than King William, who, indeed,
neither understands norI Iappreciatesthem
at all. But Count Bismarck has been
growing out of favor with his master
for some time, exactly in proportion as
the King has become reconciled with
Count Bismarck's bitter personal enemy,
the Grown Prince. So King William
insisted upon managing his intercourse
with Count Benedict himself. A sketch
of the the two men will satisfy the read
er how inevitable was the result of this
royal willfulness. King William Of
Prussia is one of the oldest of reigning
sovereigns. He was born in the midst
of the first French revolution. AS a
child he Witnessed the humiliation OF
Prussia, Of his father, and of his family
by the first Napoleon, and as a youth
he took part in the avenging campaigns
of 1913 and 1916. These events gave
decisive color to his opinions and his
character for life. A younger, son he
gave himself up to military career,
felt and professed openly the utmost
contempt for democracy and constitutional
ism, and made himself o'obnoxious to all
the Liberals of Prussia that in 184s he
was forced 70 fly the kingdom after
doing his utmost to induces the govern.
ment to allow him to drown the revolu.
ton in the blood of the Berlinese
Camphausen coptrived to get him back
after an exile of nine months in England
and 1849 he signalized himsel by
his victorious and merciless campaign
against the people Of Baden, In 1854
he was made Governor General o.
Rhenish Prussia and during his residence
at Mayence he contributed greatly to in
tensify the hatred with which Prussis
had long been regarded in this city
! doomed by the military strength Of it
position to see all its splendid CONNER
cial advantages reduced to nought. H'
bitterly opposed the neutrality of Prus
sia in the Crimean war longing then tt
: lead an army against France. He be
came regent in 1857 by. the declare,
g lunacy, and King in 1861, by the deatl
: Of his childless brother, Frederic Will
liam ". With his reign began tn
new military career and policy Of Prus
!, sia. In October, 1861, he had himsel
crowned with great pomp, and declares
that he had held his throne. not from
the people or the constitution, but from
/" God alone" This brought OH an opel
, conflict between the Grown and the Par
> lament, during which the King neve
for moment bated his naughty absolut
: ism ssWhenathe Liberal lIparty carried th
! elections, in 1856, the King refused t
open the session, Of Parliament, an
when.the Parliament rejected the enor
: nous appropriation asked for the army
: the King sent for Bismarck, then Am
: bassador at Paris, to help him conque
these contemners of divine right. Th
House Of Peers backed the King. Th
3 Commons persisted. The Peers vote,
: the money refused by the Common
J: The Commons declared the vote illega
r The King thereupon closed the ses
9 sion, and cody proclaimed that the az
! preparations had been made. This wa
!; the first instance of successful roy;
a revolution against the rights Of the pei
4 pie in the history of Europe since tb
/; DAYS of 1889. It was followed by PEE
f secutions of the press, by an alliance wit
n Russia to suppress the Polish insured
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