owing it. As a proof of his goodwill, a _souvenir_ of his residence in
London, and the courtesies which, when an exile, he had received there
from the Army and Navy Club, he presented that body with a superb
piece of Gobelins tapestry, and a letter couched at once in the most
respectful and cordial terms. In greater matters, he appeared anxious
to secure the sympathy of Great Britain: difficulties arose in the East,
which engaged the attention of English politicians very much, and the
English Foreignoffice was officially led to consider that reliance
might be placed upon the co-operation of France. Events, in a few years,
brought this feeling more thoroughly and practically to the test.

STATE OF GERMANY.

The condition of Germany much interested the English government and
people. The contests between the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and
Denmark threatened to call for the interference of Germany on the one
hand and Russia on the other, and to involve England in embarrassing
questions. The attempt of the German democracies, triumphant in 1848,
to fuse the powers of Germany into a whole, a new Germanic empire, also
involved questions of great intricacy, and which, however England
might desire to keep aloof, tended to affect treaties in which she was
concerned. The union of all Germany as one authority would introduce a
new element into European relations, disturbing the balance of power.
Russia and France had much to apprehend from such a union; England but
little, so long as the united German power abstained from invading the
territory or independence of the Scandinavian nations. United Germany,
possessing popular liberty, would be a natural ally of England, and
a counterpoise to France, whose ambitions England had had so often to
check, and a counterpoise to Russia also, whose aggrandising policy was
so menacing to England and to Europe.

The disagreements of the German people as to the respective merits of
monarchy and republicanism, but more especially on social questions,
rendered the union of Germany politically impossible. The jealousies of
Austria and Prussia were equally fatal to such a project. The houses
of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern were competitors for the prize of German
empire; and this, rather than the welfare or union of Germany, engaged
their subtlety and energy. An Austrian archduke became vicar of the
German unity, and, unless so far as there appeared any probability of
his securing the supreme