o all men else, he was
unwaveringly true to Prussia, which to Bismarck meant being true to
himself, true to God. He could not bequeath his secret to those who
came after him any more than Leonardo could bequeath his secret to
Luini. But the Empire he built up has the elements of endurance. It
possesses in the Middle Age common traditions, deep and penetrating, a
common language, and the recent memory of a marvellous triumph.
Protestantism and the Prussian temper ensure religious freedom to
Bavaria. Even in 1870 the old principles of the Seven Years' War,
Protestantism and the neo-Romanism of Pius IX, reappear in the opposing
ranks at Gravelotte and Sedan. The new Empire, whether it be to Europe
a warrant of peace or of war, is at least a bulwark against
Ultramontanism.

The change in French political life finds its expression in the Russian
alliance. Time has atoned for the disasters at the Alma and Inkermann.
Would one discover the secret at the close of the century of the
alliance of Russia and France, freedom's forlorn hope when the century
began? It is contained in the speech of Skobeleff which once startled
Europe: "The struggle between the Slav and the Teuton no human power
can avert. Even now it is near, and the struggle will be long,
terrible, and bloody; but this alone can liberate Russia and the whole
Slavonic race from the tyranny of the intruder. No man's home is a
home till the German has been expelled, and the rush to the East, the
'_Drang nach Osten_' turned back for ever."

III

THE IDEALS OF A NEW AGE

In modern Europe political revolutions have invariably been preceded or
accompanied by revolutions in thought or religion. The nineteenth
century, which has been convulsed by thirty-three revolutions, the
overthrow of dynasties, and the assassination of kings, has also been
characterized by the range and daring of its speculative inquiry.
Every system of thought which has perplexed or enthralled the
imagination of man, every faith that has exalted or debased his
intelligence, has had in this age its adherents. The Papacy in each
successive decade has gained by this tumult and mental disquietude.
Thought is anguish to the masses of men, any drug is precious, and to
escape from its misery the soul conspires against her own excellence
and the perfection of Nature. Even in 1802 Napoleon in his Hamlet-like
musings in the Tuileries despaired of Liberty as the safety of the
world, and in hi