“The year 1870, so eventful before its close, bade fair to
commence in a perfect calm. There was no
political question in Europe under discussion”.
(Lord Augustus Loftus – Reminiscences – page 258)
I would have to respectfully demur to the Honorable Lord
Loftus’ assessment. He was, it must be
remembered, a diplomat, accustomed to calming things down and casting oil on
troubled waters. But in 1869 at least
five separate, but intertwined matters provoked discussion.
1.
Religion was in ferment, turmoil, almost
anguish.
2.
The independence of Italy set men against each
other from Calabria to Tuscany and beyond.
3.
The desirable shape of a united Germany became
more and more heated a question with each stein of beer consumed in the kellers of Wittenburg, Munich and both
Frankfurts (Am Main und am der Oder).
4.
The place of the French Empire in Europe had
been the subject of heated riots in the streets and squares of every major city
in France and nowhere more heatedly than in Paris. The usual conflict was disagreement on the
correct way to defeat what looked to become a united Germany. The partisans of Napoleon III fought openly
with the Republicans, whose memories of the 1789 Revolution, the June Days of
1830, the epidemic violence of 1848 and the ascension of Napoleon III to the
Empire in 1852 conflicted directly with the Bonapartist dreams of Jena,
Austerlitz, Marengo and the heady first days of the advance into Russia in
1812.
5.
Throughout Europe, riot and supranational
revolution were whispered about and then shouted over depending on the lateness
of the hour. Young restless men and old
cynics shook their fists and laughed sarcastically at the prospects for
attaining some plausible utopia where the young worked only when they wanted to
and the old cynics could enjoy the fruit of someone else’s labor. Their utopia has come to pass but
satisfaction is not a state they would recognize or agree upon.
The root of all these disputes was
the relation between men and their governments.
One might say as well, men and their societies, their cultures. For the relation of a man to his culture is
an essential aspect of his relation to his government. Religion, ethnicity, language, history, all
have their little effects, and sometimes great effects, on how various groups
within society relate to some force or power purporting to rule that group.
Grand combinations of language,
ethnicity and religion marked the great nation-states that emerged from
1870. But these combinations contained
the seeds of their own destruction. As
two feuding villages may have resorted to a large castle when the barbarian
army approached, these entities were held together only by fear and greed.
The management of a large state is
a thankless task. The danger is that
when the threats dissipate, the internal conflicts will come to the fore. We see that happening all around our world
today, from Western China to France, even Britain. The European Union holds itself out as the
guarantor of peace through unity and conformity.
