The New York herald., 1871-01-21

i
| Up swells the German wave;
Elbe runs TO battle merrily
Neckar and Weser tarry not
And Main nows eager onl
All old disunion is forgot
The German race is one
| What is the Germans Fatherland
No one need ask to-day.
| What Charlemagne and the Saxon Othos
and the Franconian Caesars and the Hohen-
stauffens and the Hapsburgs vainly attempted
the Hohenzollerns, one of the youngest of the
royal houses of Europe, have, in the person of
King William, been able to accomplish.
The German empire is not 80 much an
old institution revived as a new institution
which has been sprung upon the world. In
one sense it is giant awakened from his
slumbers; for in the person of King William
the simpler minds among the German people
recognize the resurrected Frederick of the
Red Beard. In another sense it is new
giant created afresh and flung upon the world
with powers mightier than any the world has
known before. This power is reflected from
the Hall of Mirrors of the palace of the Kings
Of France.
stood without reference to the past. The
German empire some would date from the year
800, when Charlemagne received at the hands
of Pope Leo the Third the imperial crown-a
| crown which in the estimation of the Holy See
had not been worn since Constantine abandoned
the ancient Rome of the West for the new
Rome of the East. Others again, and, as we
think, with better reason, date it from the year
936, when Ohio the First was crowned by Pope
John the Twelfth. Certain 1t is that the en-
| pire Of Charlemagne crumbled to pieces under
| his feeble descendants. The Bard the Stam-
| merer, the Fat, the Simple We're unequal to
the task imposed upon them, and the mighty
| fabric reared by the great Charles fell, and the
fall was great. The restoration or, rather, the
re-establishment Of the empire-which then
| unquestionably became German as well as
Roman-under Otho proved more enduring !;
for, in spite Of the change Of dynasties and the
social and political revolutions which marked
the interval the empire established under Otho
virtually remained until the year of our Lord
806. During all those years the German
| and Holy Roman empire was grand, living
fact, and mighty Power-the associate
and companion Of the Papacy. The history of
| the world for well nigh ten centuries was the
history of the German or Holy Roman empire.
In the year 1906 the successes of the First
| Napoleon and his ruinous innovations in
| Germany-innovstions which eliminated in
| the act of the Confederation Of the Rhine
| Francis the Second bowed to fate and by a
declaration dated August the 9Th resigned the
imperial dignity and retired to the government
| Of his hereditary dominions as Emperor OF
Austria. The crown then let fall was the
crown of Augustus of Constantine, Of Charles,
| of Otho of Barbarossa, of Macmillan; eight
hundred and seventy years after Pope John
had crowned the first Saxon, one thousand
and six years after Pope Leo had crowned
the Frankish monarch, eighteen hun
dred and ffty-eight years after Caesar
had conquered at Pbarsalia, the Ger
man, or, as we must again call 1t, the Holy
Roman empire, perished. From that day
Germany became less unit than ever
The German people, however, believed in
and loved the same Fatherland, as they spoke
the same language, and their desire of
national unity was strengthened, not weak
ened, by the fall of the empire. Their poll
ticians schemed and worked for this unity !:
their philosophers dreamed Of it their poets
| Korner and Arndt and Ruckert and the rest
sang Of it their historians read and inter-
preted history in favor of it their soldiers
have ever been willing to fight for it.
Hitherto dynastic jealousy has been too strong
for popular sentiment and desire. The year
lS4S seemed for a moment to have brought
about the realization of German dreams but
the year IS43 in Germany, as elsewhere,
proved year Of revolutionary failures. The
year 1866 startled Germany herself. 1t tore
her asunder, but it revealed to her her
strength. The Hapsburgs were found to be
weak, but the Hohenzollerns were found to be
strong The war which still wages has done
more for German unity than all the dreams
and schemes and projects Of all the past The
war is not ended; but the French ravens
have disappeared from the brow Of the hill
underneath which the Great Frederick so long
has slept; the Emperor himself lives again ;
the resurrection is complete, and Germany is
one. 10 this year of our Lord 1871,
and just one hundred and seventy
niue years since the coronation Of the first
! Prnssinn king. the head OF the house o