1 administrative detail, it must be added that the entire popula- Next to these monarchical and military institutions, which breathe a very absolute spirit, comes the Reichstag or Dieta body of a very opposite character, for it consists of a popular assembly elected by universal suffrage and ballot every three years. This body has legislative powers over the whole Bund, but its functions and rights are loosely defined, and we cannot determine with precision what control it will exercise over the executive departments of the Empire. We remarked in an article entitled New Germany,' which appeared in this Review in July 1868 (No. cclxi. p. 240), that the North German Constitution was a mere pretended Confederation, as there was no equality or counterpoise of power between its members. It clearly gave Prussia absolute power over her confederates, whilst it gave the lesser confederates no powers at all over Prussia. And we observed that such a Constitution was manifestly only a form of transition into that of a more homogeneous commonwealth. It appeared at that time that this consideration might long retard the anticipated fusion between Northern and Southern Germany. The war, however, has abruptly settled that question, and whatever may have been the secret policy or desires of the respective parties, Bavaria, Baden, Wirtemberg, and Hesse have now cast in their lot with the rest of Germany. We rejoice at this result, for not only does it bring Germany considerably nearer to the unity she desires, but it supplies the elements of a much more considerable opposition and counterpoise to the preponderating power of Prussia in the Federal Assemblies. Prussia has thus far carried everything before her, and had her own way in everything since the rupture of 1866. The only effectual check upon her autocracy is that which may be applied by the representatives of the German nation in the Federal Parliament or Diet. Everything depends on the constitutional attitude they may assume, and on their firmness in maintaining it. The Prussian Government has hitherto treated Parliamentary assemblies with supreme contempt, and used them only as a blind to mask its own secret policy, which was working in the opposite direction. The Parliament was for a reduction of the army; the King increased it: the Parliament was for peace; the King has carried on with success two colossal wars: the Parliament stopped the supplies; but the King levied the taxes, on the ground that taxes already established by law in former years must be paid. Of the ingenious mechanism by which the representatives of the people in England and America do really hold the purse-strings of the nation, and thereby control the whole policy of the executive government, there is at present hardly a trace in Germany. The real battle between prerogative and military power, represented by the symbols of the Empire and the rights of a free people awakening to a sense of its national strength, is only now about to begin; and it will depend on the result of that contest whether the German Empire of the future becomes a more perfected form of military despotism, or a government worthy of a free and enlightened people. We need hardly say that we cordially desire the latter result; and there are some reasons for hoping that it may ultimately be attained. The military organisation and training of the whole population has this advantage, along with many evils, that the army is of one blood with the people, and the people are almost as well prepared to fight as the army. Were matters to come to the last extremity, it is difficult to say how long the sense of military duty would prevail against popular sympathies; and at any rate a nation of men trained to the use of arms, and electing every three years a body of representatives by universal suffrage, cannot, without their own consent, be converted into the tools of despotism. This is the grand distinction between the Empire of the Past and the Empire of the Future. The Germans have shown a power of organising immense armies unprecedented in history, and even more remarkable than their gallantry and endurance on the field of battle. They have now before them another task of equal difficulty, but demanding the same patriotic qualities. We trust for their own sake and for the sake of Europe that they may succeed in it, and that the Empire which was proclaimed on a foreign soil amidst scenes of carnage and rapine, will in another generation take rank among the free and peaceful States of Europe. And here we must in justice remark that the known principles and character of the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Heir Apparent of this vast Empire, are a hopeful symptom and a pledge that the future will not always be as the past has been. That Prince has shown his valour and military skill, accompanied by moderation, in two great He may ere long enter upon a nobler task, and establish on a lasting basis the liberties of the great nation over which he is not unworthy to reign. wars. many. But upon a review of the whole subject, we incline to the belief that the federal union and liberty of Germany will ultimately be secured, not by Imperial, but by Republican, institutions. It is not impossible that King William himself with his obsolete ideas of divine right, and Count Bismarck with his very practical notions of royal or imperial authority, are in reality preparing the way for a future state of things entirely opposed to their own system of government. They have dethroned sovereigns of houses far more ancient than that of Brandenburg-so much for legitimacy; they have annexed and absorbed independent kingdoms and duchies-so much for territorial rights; these very measures have been accepted and applauded by some of the organs of the most advanced section of the German democratic party, because they argue that these acts of violence are excellent precedents for their own revolutionary policy. But in truth, there is no country in Europe which offers so fair a field for republican institutions as GerThe divisions of the nation have been kept alive by the interests or ambition of the ruling families; a Federal Union of free commonwealths would unite, without confounding them. There are now some millions of German emigrants settled in the United States, who have cordially and successfully adopted the republican institutions of that country; and the correspondence, public press, and state of opinion of the American Germans reacts powerfully on the mother-country. The general diffusion of the two great elements of freedomeducation and the use of arms-throughout Germany render it highly improbable that the nation will be content to accept any restoration' of the Germanic Empire in full satisfaction of its claims. The heroes of the present hour may exult in new titles, in military ascendency, and in the supremacy they have acquired over the country, from the Alps to the Baltic. But the future destinies of Germany are not within their control. They rest with the People of Germany; and we believe, from the progress already made, that in one or two generations, not only will the Empire of Germany not be restored, but its monarchical traditions will be swept away; Fata viam invenient: and Germany may one day be both united and free. ART. VII.-1. Mémoires de Madame de Mornay; édition revue sur les manuscrits, publiée avec les variantes et accompagnée de lettres inédites de M. et Mme. du PlessisMornay et de leurs enfants. Pour la Société de l'Histoire de France. Par Mme. DE WITT, née GUIZOT. Deux tomes. 8vo. Paris: 1869. 2. Les dernières Heures de De Mornay du Plessis, Gigord, Rivet, Du Moulin, Drelincourt et Fabri. Par JEAN-JACOB SALCHI. Publiée par la Société de Livres religieux de Toulouse. Valence: 1847. 3. Les Fondateurs de l'Unité Française. Études historiques. Par M. le Comte LOUIS DE CARNÉ. Paris: 1868. WH HILE the events of the late war still echo in our ears, we know not whether any apology be needed for reverting to a page of long past French history. Yet the book before us is so full of genuine interest, is so personal, and so pathetic, and turns so much on those feelings by which, as a French poet has assured us, the heart of humanity is kept ever young, that it will prove, as we believe, its own apologist. If it be true that history repeats itself, then assuredly a narrative of domestic trials, of political emergencies, and of religious animosities can never be out of date, since men and women still bear in their hearts passions as vindictive, a patriotism as ardent, and, let us hope, a piety as sincere as distinguished, in the sixteenth century, Philip and Charlotte du Plessis de Mornay. Monsieur du Plessis, best known to fame as having been the confidential secretary of Henry IV., married Madame de Feuquères, née Arbaleste de la Borde, in 1575, when he was twenty-three, and his bride twenty-two years of age, while yet, to use M. Guizot's striking words, they were of the number of those in whom the sight of crimes and the prospect of danger only serves to arouse indignation, and a more obstinate persistence in virtue. How they did persist, and what of rewards or penalties their conduct entailed on them, this history of their joint lives will show, which was written by the wife and originally intended for the use of their son. We extract from the author's preface 'Now that I behold you ready to start off into the world, to see it, and to study in it the manners of men and the state of nations, not being able to follow you with my eyes, I will follow you however with the same care, and pray God that you may increase in the fear and love of God. He has made you to be born of a father of whom in these days He has made use (and who will again serve to His glory), and who has since your infancy dedicated you to His service. . . . . But to the intent that you should never want a guide, here is one under warranty of my own hand to go with you: this is the example of your father, which I adjure you to have ever before your eyes, to the which end I have taken the trouble to discourse to you what I have been able to know of his life. Albeit that our companionship was often interrupted by the troubles of the time, you have enough here to know what graces God has given him, as well as the zeal and affection with which he has ever used them; and you may hope for the like help whenever you too are resolved to serve Him with all your heart. I am sickening and failing, so much so that I am led to think that my God will not leave me long in this world. You will keep this writing in memory of me. . . . In whatever place you are serve God, and follow your father. I shall go to my burial content, at whatever hour I am summoned, if I see you in the way to advance His honour. ... For the rest, I commend your sisters to you love them, and let them see by your loving them that you would perhaps also have loved your mother. . . . Written at Saumur this 25th April, 1595. Your very fond mother, .... CHARLOTTE ARBALESTE.' The truth and simplicity of these memoirs make them valuable materials for history, and they are well worthy of the care which Madame de Witt, on behalf of the Société de l'Histoire de France, has bestowed upon this new edition. Of their authenticity there has never been a doubt, two manuscript copies of the work having been preserved, one in the Bibliothèque Impériale, and another in the Bibliothèque de l'Université. The variations between these copies are neither many nor important, but such as they are, Madame de Witt has compared them, and given both the readings in her pages, enriching the book at the same time with a collection of letters, and with a few pertinent notes. M. Guizot's introduction to the book is a piece of finished and beautiful writing. The idiom is delicate, the style all that we could expect from the historian of Civilisation, and the temper of it is worthy of Madame du Plessis' own. It is surely no small praise to give to an author of the period of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, who was a woman, a personal sufferer, and who lived in an age when religious toleration was not to be found in either theory or practice, that her memoirs are devoid of passion. Nay, more than that, they frequently record the good offices of Catholics with gratitude, but at the same time with a simplicity which shows that the writer herself would have been quite ready to render like offices in her turn. Tranquil, equable, and pious, her mind, as it has imaged itself in these pages, affords a pleasant relief from too many of the heroines of that day. Though a warm |