Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-03-02

perial crown to the King Of Prussia,
who, however, declined It. In 1850,
Austria aud Prussia united and re-
established the Germanic Diet, whose
history for many years was that
Of rival intrigues by these powers
for the supreme control. The rapid
gTswth and controlling influence of
Prussia was resisted by Austria, and,
after the SchlesWig- -Holstein affair,
the national jealOusies found express
sion, in 1866, in open war. The result
Of that war was the fOrCible annexa.
ton Of various States to Prussia, and
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of the COnfedera-
ton. Upon its ruins was organized
the I" North German Confederation" ;"
Of which Prussia is, and has been, the
central and commanding power.
Since then the various States Of Ger
many have been tending toward this
Confederation, and, during the year
Just closed, SaxOny, Bavaria, Baden,
Wurtemburg and Hesse have, by
treaties, fOrmally,declared themselves
part of this Confederation. By the
unanimous consent Of all the States,
the King Of Prussia has been desig-
mated as the political head Of the Con-
federation, and on Friday, January
20, 1871, he formally accepted the i'm
perial crown, at Versailles. The new
German Empire, of which William is
the first Emperor, is to-day the strong
est power in Europe.
A GERMAN VIEW.
If France has a right to attempt to
Wrest from Germany the Rhenish
provinces, Germany has equally a
right, now that France is in her DOW
er, to protect those provinces by tax
ing contiguous territory from France.
It is TO no purpose to say that Ger
many is F" grasDing in making this
annexation, when France undertook
the war with an equally grasping
purpose. When q nation deliberately
goes TO war for purely ambitious OBJ
jects, il has few just claims upon a
victor. II reSOrting to arms il aban-
dOns justice for the arbitrament Of
force; and all that it gets from the
COnQuerOr is, strictly speaking, the
gift Of mercy or the allowance Of eX-
pedienCy. Germany being aware that
the sense Of humiliation is likely TO
gOad France into another war against
her, would simply be inviting a retail /
atOry struggle at some future day were
she not to hold the naturally defen-
sive country comprised in Alsace and
Lorraine. Besides, Germans are not
likely to overlook the fact that large
portion Of the territory originally be-
lODged to heI and is held by France
only by the rights of conquest: and
what reason, COnsOn8nt with the logic
Of war, can France offer why She
should not lose the provinces by the
same rights?
France is to be pitied; but she can
not be justified. She is now reapfng
the natural reward Of her long history
of ambitious aggression. She has
Overrun Germany in times past, and
having in her OverWeening pride
again struck her former victim, she in /
turn is utterly trampled under foot, I
and is paid back by the Germans in
her own coin. The course Of Justice
in dealing with a nations sins may
seem slow, but the last eight months
history Of France shows that it is ter
rlbly sure. By WantOuly attempting
to humiliate Germany, France has
utterly humiliated herself; and fOrtu- |
nate il is for the quiet of europe that
such has been the result. Whether
she may ever recover her former ma
tiOnal prestige must depend on her
capacity for self government, and
upon her abandoning her ambitious
precedents for a policy of internal de-
velOpment and external amity. All
that can be said of her to-day is that
she stands before the world a sorrow
fUl exemplar Of the folly Of aggressive
ambition,