ume on Bonapartism was a study of the
chief political opponent of Prussian supremacy. Briefly, all his
volumes of essays have been preparatory to his life-work, the history
of Germany, and the history of Germany itself is always kept
subordinate to the history of the Prussian State.

VI.--TREITSCHKE'S TREATISE ON POLITICS.

It is much to be regretted that the British public should have been
first introduced to Treitschke's "History of Germany." The "History of
Germany" is, no doubt, the most important and the most monumental,
but it is by no means the most interesting nor the most significant of
Treitschke's writings. German history could never be as arresting to a
Continental student as British or French history. It is not mixed up
with universal events. It is too parochial. It does not evoke human
sympathy. With all the magic of Treitschke's art, we feel that we are
following, not the great highway, but one of the by-ways of history.
We cannot get absorbed in the petty quarrels of the princelings of the
German Federation. Of the five volumes of Treitschke's "German
History," the only part which is of general interest is the first
volume, dealing with the rise of Prussia, the reign of Frederick the
Great and his successors, the Napoleonic wars, and the Congress of
Vienna.

As often happens, it is mainly through his minor writings that
Treitschke will live--through his "Cavour," his "United Netherlands,"
his "Bonapartism," and his Biographical Essays. But to the
philosophical student by far the most important of Treitschke's
writings are his two volumes on the Science of Politics, which are,
without exception, the most fascinating and the most suggestive
political treatise published in this generation. Political treatises
are proverbially dull and out of touch with reality. Treitschke's
treatise is a solitary exception. To him politics are not, like
mathematics, an abstract or a deductive science. We cannot build an
ideal political structure in the air. The political thinker must be
more modest in his ambitions. He cannot adduce first principles. All
politics must be _Realpolitik_. All politics must be based on
concrete historical facts--_i.e._, circumscribed in time and space.
Indeed, strictly considered, political philosophy is only applied
history. That is why political treatises are so disappointing. The
philosopher is content to generalize, and does not know the facts. On
the other hand, the historian who kno