the more energetic and liberal elements
among the German people. These young fellows had moved to the United
States of America, to Brazil, to the new colonies in Asia and America.
Their work was continued in Germany but by a different sort of men.

In the new Diet which met at Frankfort, after the collapse of the
German Parliament and the failure of the Liberals to establish a united
country, the Kingdom of Prussia was represented by that same Otto
von Bismarck from whom we parted a few pages ago. Bismarck by now had
managed to gain the complete confidence of the king of Prussia. That
was all he asked for. The opinion of the Prussian parliament or of the
Prussian people interested him not at all. With his own eyes he had seen
the defeat of the Liberals. He knew that he would not be able to get
rid of Austria without a war and he began by strengthening the Prussian
army. The Landtag, exasperated at his high-handed methods, refused to
give him the necessary credits. Bismarck did not even bother to discuss
the matter. He went ahead and increased his army with the help of funds
which the Prussian house of Peers and the king placed at his disposal.
Then he looked for a national cause which could be used for the purpose
of creating a great wave of patriotism among all the German people.

In the north of Germany there were the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein
which ever since the middle ages had been a source of trouble. Both
countries were inhabited by a certain number of Danes and a certain
number of Germans, but although they were governed by the King of
Denmark, they were not an integral part of the Danish State and this
led to endless difficulties. Heaven forbid that I should revive this
forgotten question which now seems settled by the acts of the recent
Congress of Versailles. But the Germans in Holstein were very loud in
their abuse of the Danes and the Danes in Schleswig made a great ado of
their Danishness, and all Europe was discussing the problem and German
Mannerchors and Turnvereins listened to sentimental speeches about the
"lost brethren" and the different chancelleries were trying to discover
what it was all about, when Prussia mobilised her armies to "save
the lost provinces." As Austria, the official head of the German
Confederation, could not allow Prussia to act alone in such an important
matter, the Habsburg troops were mobilised too and the combined armies
of the two great powers crossed the Danish fron