THE NEW HOPE OF GERMANY. T HAT is probably a sound
instinct which induces most English politicians to respond so warmly to the German cry for unity. It is not that Germany is, as asserted, an "unaggressive" power, a giant intent only on leading a noble but peaceful life, for the case is very much the reverse. The German at heart believes his own civilization to be the only one in which there is hope, and like every other man who earnestly holds a creed develops very easily into a propa- gandist. At this moment, at every corner of his vast empire, he is trying to swallow up races which exhibit the strongest objections to serve as savoury diet. The Pole in German opinion is an "Irishman" who will not improve, who prefers leisure to toil, sluttish plenty to orderly thrift, strife and adventure and conspiracy to a humdrum but profitable career. "Re would be a nomad again if he could," says the German, holding up his hands with much of the decorous horror with which a respectable citizen speaks of his scapegrace brother, so Iamb eats Esau's share of the thin family meal. Prussia is unaggressive just as Anglo-Saxons are, and Posen in thirty years more will be about as much Polish as Louisiana is French. The Hungarian is "an Oriental," so the good Germans of the Hereditary States bid the Magyar sub- mit in silence to the behests of a higher civilization. There are Germans in Schleswig, so Denmark is ordered to surrender one of its richest provinces lest perchance a few thousands of the "superior" race should have to use Danish horn-books. Holland is "amphibious," so Holland is warned that Luxem- bourg must obey the laws of the Federation whether its King likes them or not; and Venice is a fine seaport, so it is "a Teutonic necessity" that Italy should not be united. The German mind even now eagerly craves for a fleet to make its power felt abroad, and, once united, German diplomacy would not be always the most quiescent of forces. Still we admit that the strong sympathy felt in England, for every project of German unity has its own justification. Politicians must deal with comparative as well as absolute facts, and usually take the best they can get in exchange for the arrangement which they would like to have. Germany is not unaggres- sive; but then it is very much less aggressive than either France or Russia. It has no dream at its heart of universal dominion, no passion for costly glory, no desire to expend its energies in avowed undertakings of conquest. It might, and if united very probably would, like to own- 0.10, whole course of the Danube ; but then Russia wants that and stantinople as well. It might, and if united probably would, - make a furious push towards a great Atlantic port ; but then France wants something more dangerous—the best port on the Atlantic plus a huge cantle of German territory. An united Germany would be a guarantee against both Russian and French ambition, and as England has special cause to dislike that impulse in each of these two great Powers, and no special cause to dislike it in Germany, she feels to a German Empire as the householder when burglars are active feels to the street policeman. He may not be exceedingly pleasant himself, may be addicted to kitchen suppers and bullying little boys, may be suspected of exactions his in- spector does not desire to recognize, and may be open to ridicule for a consequentiality only justifiable in a beadle, but still the average householder would much rather see him than not.
National sympathy is, however, sometimes an unsafe guide to national judgment, and we cannot but fear that too much is hoped from the meeting of Princes to be held at Frankfort on Monday. There is, no doubt, something grand in an invitation issued by an Emperor of Austria to five Kings and twenty-nine Princes, to discuss in the ancient "hail of Rome," and with open doors, a scheme for the re-organization of a great European race. No doubt, too, the formal entrance and the opening of the séance will be scenes such as few lovers of pageantry have in this age enjoyed. The old Imperial city, with its narrow streets and tall houses and look of the fourteenth century, will for a week be flashing with life and colour, and that form of animation which often accompanies the movement of the really great in the land. But when the entry has been made and every ceremonial performed that can tend to recall to men's minds that the Hapsburgs were for centuries Emperors of Germany, and the Princes are all assembled, and the pageants have been admired, and the business has been begun, what is then to follow ? The Emperor is to make a proposal, but by the laws of the Federation every proposal for reform must be accepted by every State; and Prussia, by its reluctance to join, has in advance made unanimity hopeless. The proposal stands condemned before it has been fairly made. Its acceptance by the twenty-four Princes who will, it is believed, be present, will not suffice to make it legal, and if referred to the Diet for sanction it will, like every other proposition made since 1815, be rejected by Prussian influence. The dreary old debates among men who are not plenipotentiaries, whose arguments are all cut and dry, their rejoinders arranged before- hand, and their votes dictated by telegraph, will recommence once more, and all that will remain of the meeting of kings is a remembrance which will be long-lived only among heralds and Frankfort commissionaires. The Princes themselves are little likely to agree to any substantial reform, for the request made to them, however softly worded or pleasantly concealed, is in reality only a request to commit suicide with a good grace. It is on their crowns, if at all, that a German throne must be built. The Emperor may, indeed, have some proposal to make so revolutionary in its decision, so entirely in accord- ance with the secret hopes of the nation, that it may be carried by the acclaim of the people, and in the teeth of the Princes. But the proposal ascribed to him and discussed in the Vienna newspapers is scarcely one of that kind. His Majesty wishes, it would seem, to transform the Confederacy of Sovereigns into a Federation something like that of America, with an Upper House of King's nominees, a Lower one of representatives chosen by the Diets of Germany, and a Committee named by Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria for executive power. Suppose the German States, pressed by new menaces on the Rhine, agreed to that proposition, the infinite delays cut short, and the new Diet fairly organized, what progress would have been made towards substantial unity ? So far as appears to outsiders simply none whatever: The lesser States would obey, no doubt, wore Austria and Prussia agreed ; but so they would now, and in the event of their difference there is no compelling authority. No matter how the Diet is composed, its executive force can only consist of the Prus- sian and Austrian armies, and if Berlin and Vienna dis- agree the alternatives are inaction or, what for German pur- poses would be, a civil war. Nor is it open to the Emperor, if so inclined, to exclude his troublesome rival. A Germany without Austria is conceivable, for the centre of Austrian gravity is eastward, and her Germanic possessions are less than half her strength. But Germany without Prussia is not conceivable, for the territories ruled from Berlin sprawl right across theAcay of the Confederation. Nor for the same reason w.eX2at the election of the Emperor of Austria as Kaiser of Ileum tend much to simplify matters. Such an election would, undoubtedly, if universally accepted, give Germany a centre round which the advocates of unity might rally, create a power which by degrees might pulverize that of the Princes ; but Prussia, as Herr von Bismark has repeatedly threatened, would retire from the Federation, and without Prussia the Protestant States would not be very willing to place themselves in the hands of an Ultramontane power. Until the people are willing to follow the example of Italy, and bid their Princes depart in peace that they may group themselves around some German Piedmont, there is, we fear, little hope of a unity other than that which at this moment makes the Germans, in language, literature, tastes, and aspirations, a nation one and undivided. It is vain with events so near to attempt to predict their course, but the Conference of Princes must, we fear, end as confer- ences of the Diets have always ended, in making local and family jealousies more bitter than before. It is not from the consent of the pigeons that the hungry expect a pie.
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