BECAUSE FRANCE WAS READY.


In sending defiance to Prussia on this question, the French
Cabinet selected their own ground. Evidently a war had been
meditated, and the candidature of Prince Leopold from beginning to
end supplied a pretext. In this conclusion, which is too obvious,
we are hardly left to inference. The secret was disclosed by
Rouher, President of the Senate, lately the eloquent and
unscrupulous Minister, when, in an official address to the
Emperor, immediately after the War Manifesto read by the Prime-
Minister, he declared that France quivered with indignation at the
flights of an ambition over-excited by the one day's good-fortune
at Sadowa, and then proceeded:---

"Animated by that calm perseverance which is true force, your
Majesty has known how to wait; but in the last four years you have
carried to its highest perfection the arming of our soldiers, and
raised to its full power the organization of our military forces.
_Thanks to your care, Sire, France is ready,_" [Footnote:
Address at the Palais de Saint-Cloud, July 50, 1870: Journal
Officiel du Soir, 18 Juillet 1870.]

Thus, according to the President of the Senate, France, after
waiting, commenced war because she was ready,--- while, according
to the Cabinet, it was on the point of honor. Both were right. The