he weakness of the
French Empire, he despised its leaders, he realized the advance in
military efficiency of his own country, and his aim was unswerving to
establish a Prussianized German Empire at the cost, if possible, of the
downfall of France. As a matter of fact, France, as now, was far from
being permeated with militarism and, a few months before the war in
1870, the military budget was actually reduced.

The occasion for a dispute arrived with the suggested candidacy of
Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a German prince related to the King
of Prussia, to the crown of Spain. As early as 1868, intrigues had begun
to put a Prussian on the Spanish throne, but Napoleon had not as yet
been disturbed. It was not until 1870 that he took the matter seriously.
In July, Prince Leopold accepted the crown, egged on by Bismarck, and
with the fiction of the approval of King William as head of the
Hohenzollerns, as distinguished from his position as King of Prussia.

At that time the French Emperor was in precarious health and scarcely in
full control of his powers. The French people at large were pacifically
inclined and would have asked for nothing better than to remain at home
instead of fighting about a foreigner's candidacy to an alien throne.
But, unfortunately, the Empress Eugenie was for war. The Government,
too, was in the hands of second-rate and hesitating diplomats. Emile
Ollivier, the chief of the Cabinet, was an orator more than a statesman,
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the duc de Gramont, was a conceited
mediocrity more and more involved in his own mistakes. In consequence,
the attitude of the Government was not so much deliberate desire for war
as provocative bluster, of which Bismarck was quick to take advantage.
The Cabinet was egged on by Eugenie's adherents, the militants, who had
been looking for an insult since Sadowa, and by obstreperous journalists
and noisy boulevard mobs, whose manifestations were unfortunately taken,
even by the Corps legislatif, for the voice of France.

In consequence, blunder after blunder was made. The ministers worked at
cross-purposes, without due consultation and without consideration of
the effect of their actions on an inflamed public opinion or on
prospective European alliances. Stated in terms of diplomatic procedure,
the aim of the French Cabinet was to humiliate Prussia by forcing its
Government to acknowledge a retreat. King William was not seeking war
and was