"For all these reasons," said the ambassador quietly, "it was not easy to gain Austria's consent to the peace programme drawn up by my sovereign. It was very hard to the emperor Francis Joseph to agree to the exclusion of Austria from Germany. At last he yielded to the urgent representations I made in the name of the emperor, and that he might no longer expose Austria to the chances and burdens of war, and no longer endanger the peace of Europe, the emperor of Austria at last accepted the programme."
Count Bismarck bit his moustache.
"This programme is now definite, with the consent of Austria?" he asked. He invited the ambassador to be seated by a movement of the hand, and took a chair opposite to him.
"Nothing has been altered," replied Monsieur Benedetti, "the integrity of Austria, but its exclusion from Germany as newly constituted; the formation of a North German Union under the military leadership of Prussia; the right of the southern states to form an independent confederated union, but the maintenance of a national connexion between North and South Germany, which connexion is to be determined by a free and general consent of the various states."
As the ambassador slowly and distinctly repeated this programme Count Bismarck accompanied each phrase with a quick nod of approval, whilst he slightly clasped the fingers of both his hands.
"Those are the rules laid down for the position of Austria, and for our own position in Germany," he said, "as we before agreed. As the foundation of the negotiations, since Austria accepts them, they suffice, but as the basis of a definite peace a further understanding is needful. Peace with Austria does not affect and must not affect our proceedings with regard to the other German states with whom we are at war."
"Austria leaves each of these states to conclude its own peace," said Benedetti.
"To conclude peace!" cried Count Bismarck. "These governments would be willing enough to conclude peace now, and on the first opportunity to begin the game afresh!"
After a short pause he continued in a calm voice:
"Some days ago the king imparted to the emperor your sovereign by telegraph, that a certain addition to the power of Prussia through acquisitions of territory had become needful. You have lived among us," he continued, "and you well know the stake Prussia had placed on this war, the sacrifices that have been made to carry it on, the wounds which war has inflicted on the country. The Prussian people expect--demand, a reward for their sacrifices, since victory has decided in our favour: they demand, and rightly, that the blood of Prussian soldiers, the sons of the people, shall not have been shed in vain, and that the state of things shall be definitely done away with, which always has caused and always would engender strife. Those vexatious boundaries which make Prussia's geographical position, and her unity, so difficult, which neither natural nor political considerations permit, must be removed--removed for ever. Prussia, rightly to fulfil and powerfully to carry out the position assigned to her in Germany by the peace basis, must before all things be thoroughly strong and more homogeneous. The incorporation of Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony is needful, firmly and indissolubly to connect the two halves of the monarchy, and to secure it against Austria in a military point of view."