s: "If the Empire is governed without reference to Prussia, ill-will
towards the Empire will grow in that country. If Prussia is governed
without reference to the Empire, then there is the danger that mistrust and
dislike of the leading State will gain ground in non-Prussian Germany....
The art of governing in our country will always have to be directed chiefly
towards maintaining the harmony between Germany and Prussia, in the spirit
as well as in the letter."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Imperial Germany_, pp. 191-192.]

Why should the government of Germany be such an "art"? And why should there
be any difficulty in maintaining a harmonious spirit between Prussia and
non-Prussian Germany? To answer these questions we must widen the scope of
our inquiry. So far we have considered only the growth and development
of the German State. It is now time to turn from the German State to the
German people.

Sec.2. _The Real Germany_.--The difficulty of establishing German Unity
has lain in the fact that there have really always been two Germanies,
different in history, in temper, in ideals, and in their stages of
development in civilisation. There has been Prussia, or North-Eastern
Germany; and there has been the real Germany, the Germany of the South and
West. It is only since 1870, and especially within the reign of the present
Kaiser, that, through education and common experience; the two have become
fused into one; but even now, beneath the uniform surface of German life
and public opinion, there is a great inner distinction.

Let us take what we have called the real Germany first. This Germany, the
Germany of the Rhine country, of Frankfurt and Heidelberg and Cologne and
Nueremberg, is the Germany which so many Englishmen know and admire. This
Germany is an integral part of the civilisation of Western Europe, and is
closely akin to ourselves. It has grown and developed alongside with France
and the Netherlands and England, sharing in all the great spiritual and
social movements of the West. It has passed, with them, through the Middle
Ages, the Revival of Learning, the Reformation, and the long struggle
against the domination of France. Its famous cities with their Cathedrals
and Town Halls breathe the same proud, free, municipal spirit as those of
their great neighbours in the Netherlands, Ghent, Antwerp, Louvain, Bruges,
Ypres and the rest. Its scholars and teachers, poets, painters, and
musicians, from Luther to Goethe, have m