by that splendid
triumph of the Prussian arms and thought that so great and so
successful an effort should have a greater reward. Sound statesmanship
required that the Austrian Empire, the existence of which was
necessary for Europe, should not be reduced to a mere wreck; that it
should be made a friend and, as a friend, not too powerless; that what
Prussia had gone to war for was the leadership of Germany, and that
this leadership in Germany would not have been fortified, but rather
weakened, by the acquisition from Austria of populations which would
not have fitted into the Prussian scheme.

Besides, the Chancellor thought that, the success of the Prussians
having been so decisive, it was wise to avoid further sacrifices and
risks. The cholera had made its appearance among the troops, and so
long as the war lasted there would have been danger of French
intervention. He had successfully fought off that French intervention,
he said, by all sorts of diplomatic manoeuvres, some of which he
narrated to me in detail. But Louis Napoleon had become very restless
at the growth of Prussian power and prestige, and he would, probably,
not have hesitated to put in his hand, had not the French army been so
weakened by his foolish Mexican adventure. But now, when the main
Prussian army was marching farther and farther away from the Rhine and
had suffered serious losses, and was threatened by malignant disease,
he might have felt encouraged by these circumstances to do what he
would have liked to do all the time.

"That would have created a new situation," said Bismarck. "But to meet
that situation, I should have had a shot in my locker which, perhaps,
will surprise you when I mention it."

I was indeed curious. "What would have been the effect," said
Bismarck, "if under those circumstances I had appealed to the national
feeling of the whole people by proclaiming the constitution of the
German Empire made at Frankfort in 1848 and 1849?"

"I think it would have electrified the whole country and created a
German nation," I replied. "But would you really have adopted that
great orphan left by the revolution of 1848?"

"Why not?" said the Chancellor. "True, that constitution contained
some features very objectionable to me. But, after all, it was not so
very far from what I am aiming at now. But whether the old gentleman
would have adopted it is doubtful. Still, with Napoleon at the gates,
he might have taken that jump too. But,"