Plainly between these two neighboring powers there has been
unhappy antagonism, constant, if not increasing, partly from the
memory of other days, and partly because Prance could not bear to
witness that German unity which was a national right and duty.
Often it has been said that war was inevitable. But it has come at
last by surprise, and on "a question of form." So it was called by
Thiers; so it was recognized by Ollivier, when he complained of
insensibility to a question of honor; and so also by the Due de
Gramont, when he referred it all to a telegram. This is not the
first time in history that wars have been waged on trifles; but
since the Lord of Frauenstein challenged the free city of
Frankfort because a young lady of the city refused to dance with
his uncle, nothing has passed more absurd than this challenge sent
by France to Germany because the King of Prussia refused to see
the French Ambassador a second time on the same matter, and then
let the refusal be reported by telegraph. Here is the folly
exposed by Shakespeare, when Hamlet touches a madness greater than
his own in that spirit which would "find quarrel in a straw when
honor's at the stake," and at the same time depicts an army

"Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that Fortune, Death, and Danger dare,
_Even for an egg-shall._"

There can be no quarrel in a straw or for an egg-shell, unless men
have gone mad. Nor can honor in a civilized age require any
sacrifice of reason or humanity.