who
are in authority, and perhaps in a condition to judge least ill.
We cannot divide praise and blame as between parties. I hope you
do not think it unkind that I should write thus. Forgive the
_rashness_ of a friend. One of the purposes in life dear to my
heart has been to knit together in true amity the people of my own
country with those of your great nation. That web of concord is
too tender yet, not to suffer under the rude strain of conflicts
and concussions even such as we have no material share in. I think
that even if I err, I cannot be without a portion of your
sympathy: now when the knell of the brave begins to toll. As for
us, we have endeavoured to cherish with both the relations of
peace and mutual respect. May nothing happen to impair them!

Though good feeling prevented Mr. Gladstone from dividing praise and blame
between the two governments, his own judgment was clear. The initial
declaration of July 6, followed by the invention of a second demand by
France upon Prussia after the first had been conceded, looked to him, as
it did to England generally, like a fixed resolution to force a quarrel.
In September he wrote of the proceedings of the French government:--

Wonder rises to its climax when we remember that this feverish
determination to force a quarrel was associated with a firm belief
in the high preparation and military superiority of the French
forces, the comparative inferiority of the Germans, the
indisposition of the smaller states to give aid to Prussia, and
even the readiness of Austria, with which from his long residence
at Vienna the Duc de Gramont supposed himself to be thoroughly
acquainted, to appear in arms as the ally of France. It too soon
appeared that, as the advisers of the Emperor knew nothing of
public rights and nothing of the sense of Europe, so they knew
nothing about Austria and the mind of the German states, and less
than nothing about not only the Prussian army, but even their
own.(217)

Chapter V. Neutrality And Annexation. (1870)

The immediate purpose with which Italians and Germans effected the
great change in the European constitution was unity, not liberty.
They constructed not securities but forces. Machiavelli's time had
come.--ACTON.

I

(M108) "The war is a grievous affair," Mr. Gladstone said to Brand, "and
adds much to o