Now, however, that the inner history of events has come to light, we know that it was Germany who fomented the quarrel, though both Austria and France must be held responsible for the conditions which made the policy of Germany possible.  The significant suppression of the part of Bernhardi’s memoirs dealing with his secret mission from Bismarck to Spain, and the fact that a large sum of Prussian money is now known to have passed to Spain, [80] while the Cortes was discussing the question of succession, make it probable that Bismarck not only took advantage of French hostility to Prince Leopold’s candidature, but deliberately instigated the offer of the Spanish throne to a German prince, because he knew France was certain to resent it.

[80] Lord Acton, “Historical Essays and Studies.”

Napoleon, however, must be held responsible, inasmuch as since the close of the Seven Weeks’ War, he had intrigued with Austria to induce her to revenge herself by a joint attack with him upon Germany, hoping that he might win with Austria’s help those concessions of territory along the Rhine, which Bismarck had peremptorily refused him as a pour-boire after Sadowa.  Austria, too, must take a share of the responsibility, since through the secret negotiations of the Archduke Albrecht she had encouraged Napoleon in this idea.  Both Napoleon and the Archduke were convinced that those South-German States which had been annexed by Prussia for siding with Austria would rise, if their attack on Prussia could be associated with the idea of liberation.  Bismarck’s cleverness in picking the quarrel over the question of the Spanish succession, a matter which did not in the least concern South-Germany, proved fatal to their expectations.  This triumph of diplomacy, together with the success of his master-stroke of provocation, the Ems telegram, decided the fate of France.  As edited by Bismarck, the King of Prussia’s telegram describing his last interview with the French Ambassador at Ems, infuriated the French to the necessary pitch of recklessness, while to Germans it read like the account of an insult to German-speaking peoples, and tended to draw them together in resentment.

    Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline

    SALTBURN, August 24, 1870

Don’t you sometimes feel that a few weeks’ delay in beginning this horrible war might have given time to Europe to discover some better means than war for settling the dispute?  We are full of schemes for the prevention of future wars.  The only compensation I see for all these horrors is the conviction they bring of the amount of heroism in the world and of the progress made in humanity towards enemies—­especially sick and wounded.

    Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline

    SALTBURN, August 30, 1870