e southern German states would revert to their old love in case of
actual war, and side with the nephew of their former friend, the great
Napoleon. The French ambassador is instructed to force the pace. Not
only must the Prussian King disavow all intention to support the
candidacy of the German prince, but he must be asked to humiliate
himself by binding himself never in the future to push such claims.

William I is at Ems, and Benedetti, the French ambassador, reluctantly
presses the insulting demand of his country upon the royal gentleman
as he is walking. The King declines to see Benedetti again, and
telegraphs to Bismarck the gist of the interview. Lord Acton writes:
"He [Bismarck] drew his long pencil and altered the text, showing only
that Benedetti had presented an offensive demand, and that the King
had refused to see him. That there might be no mistake he made this
official by sending it to all the embassies and legations. Moltke
exclaimed, 'You have converted surrender into defiance.'" The altered
telegram was also sent to the Norddeutscher Allgemeine Zeitung and to
officials. It is not perhaps generally known that General Lebrun went
to Vienna in June, 1870, to discuss an alliance with Austria for an
attack on the North German Confederation in the following spring.
Bismarck knew this. This was on the 13th of July, 1870; on the 16th
the order was given to mobilize the army, on the 31st followed the
proclamation of the King to his people: "Zur Errettung des
Vaterlandes." On August the 2d, King William took command of the
German armies, and on September 1st, Napoleon handed over his sword,
and on January the 18th, 1871, King William of Prussia was proclaimed
German Emperor in the Hall of the Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles.

"It sounds so lovely what our fathers did,
And what we do is, as it was to them,
Toilsome and incomplete."

It is easy to forget in such a rapid survey of events that Bismarck
could have had any serious opposition to face as he tramped through
those eight years, from 1862 to 1870, with a kingdom on his back. It
is easy to forget that King William himself wished to abdicate in
those dark hours, when his people refused him their confidence, and
called a halt upon his endeavors to strengthen the absolutely
essential instrument for Prussia's development, the army; it is easy
to forget that even the silent and seemingly imperturbable Moltke
hesitated and wavered a little at the audacity of