The Prince defended the Bill solely on account of danger
from France, "a great and powerful country, as powerful as we." The victory of 1870 was an accident," and it was mere vanity to think that if war broke out with France the result was guaranteed. He had done everything to conciliate France ; but France fanned the fire of revenge, and he firmly believed that if France thought herself the stronger, she would at once attack Germany. Indeed, she might do it without thinking so, for her Governments changed frequently and suddenly, and one might arise which saw safety for itself, as Napoleon did, in a German war. France might win in that war, and if she did, would break up the Empire, restore Hanover, and "bleed Germany to death ;" while if Germany won, and reached Paris, he himself would do the same to France. The terms of 1870 should be "child's-play " to those he would exact to secure peace for Germany for a generation at least. In a wand speech in reply, Prince Bismarck expressed, his belief that France might yet pass under a military dictatorship, and publicly named General Boulanger as a possible military dictator.
