The Arena | Page 8

the glorious dreams of which Queen Louise had been the
symbol, the Joan of Arc?[8]
[8] I would recommend every student of history to read attentively the
extraordinary article of M. Paleologue in the Revue des Deux Mondes
entitled "La Reine Louise de Prusse Comment se Fait une Legende." It
is a poetic but true suite to Professor Lévy Brühl's magnificent study.
That, indeed, brought the Hohenzollerns on the scene, and lent to
prosaic history its legend, giving to Frederick's "big battalions" the
white-robed heroine who should lead them on.
Whether, through the long years of indecision, during which disorder
and revolution seemed the danger to be averted, the future "Chancellor
of Iron" matured his plans after the manner of Newton, by "forever
thinking of them" is still a question to be adequately answered by
himself alone. This much is certain that when, in 1863-64, the subject
of the Duchies cast its shadow on the path, it revealed its importance to
Bismarck, as it had done fourteen years previously to Dahlmann, and
stood forth distinctly as the initial syllable of the one mystical word,
Unity.
Schleswig-Holstein was, as a matter of fact, and by all its several
complications, the German question; it was its sign and portent, and if
action of some sort were not taken thereupon, the door set ajar was
closed upon the future, for a generation at least. Palmerston's
declaration, than which no unwiser one was ever made, touching the
insanity of the man who should seek to understand the enigma of the
Danish Duchies, was adopted in England solely from the dense and
inconceivable ignorance of the British mind on all German topics, and
the equally inexplicable but inborn dislike of all British politicians to
grapple with any serious study of them.
It was the problem to which no German of the North could show

indifference; and it was the one subject which brought Prussia to the
fore, and put her reigning house in the van, forcing the Hohenzollerns
into predominance. This was a crucial point, and wondrous to record!
the will of Bismarck on that exceedingly curious detail brought the
Hapsburgs together with the Hohenzollerns; Frederick with
Marie-Therèse, Wallenstein's camp with Rebels, in an unescapable
atmosphere of rank Germanism!
But here again the first step of the forthcoming ruler was taken in
obedience to an irresistible, though, perhaps, unavowed, national
suggestion. The sense of all that the past had given to German history,
to the power of German thought, formed a part of Bismarck's very
nature, and spite of the timidity of his experienced statecraft, he could
not disobey the promptings of the German conscience.
When the quick-witted French public applied to Professor Lévy Brühl's
work the title of "The idea whence comes the fact," they awarded it its
permanent signification; it is the development of the German
conscience that causes the imperial unity of Germany, and no one is
more thoroughly aware of that than the famous chancellor.
We feel with whomsoever was a witness of the crowning struggle, that
nothing can even paint its gigantic character more aptly than the
concluding phrase of the now famous French historian:--
... "Thus was formed the virtual German nation,--the nation that willed
to be, and for long years could not be because reality refused to bear
out practically all its ideals. It was in truth, l'ame qui cherche un
corps!"
These words can never be improved upon. The chancellor knows their
truth, as the Kronprinz knew it, but the years lying between them threw
a certainty of glory into one which the other could not attain to,--and
Bismarck, too, was a man of old Prussia, of her ancient traditions and
formalities, while the crown prince was modern amongst moderns--a
soldier, yes! but pre-eminently a man, a citizen; but though each felt his
conviction differently, its strength was one and the same in both.

The unity of Germany was the creation of no individual. German unity
and the imperial unity sprang from the whole past of German history
and German thought. The State existing now is the outcome of
Germany's own self, of the idea, of the soul of Germany.

"SHOULD THE NATION OWN THE RAILWAYS?"[9]
BY C. WOOD DAVIS.

PART II.--THE ADVANTAGES OF
NATIONAL OWNERSHIP.
[9] The first part of this admirable essay appeared in July ARENA.
First would be the stability and practical uniformity of rates now
impossible, as they are subject to change by hundreds of officials, and
are often made for the purpose of enriching such officials. State and
federal laws have had the effect of making discriminations less public
and less numerous, but it is doubtful if they are less effective in
enriching officials and their partners, although it may be necessary to
be more careful in covering tracks. That they are