586 Readings in European History Bismarck's prudent moderation. opponents. I repeated that we were not there to administer retributive justice, but to pursue a policy; that I wished to avoid in the German federation of the future the sight of mutilated territories, whose princes and peoples might very easily (such is human weakness) retain a lively wish to recover their former possessions by means of foreign aid. 488. Three forces pro- vided for in the German federation. After the close of the short war between Prussia and Austria, a constitutional convention was summoned to draw up a plan of federation for Prussia and her neigh- bors north of the river Main. The constitution of the North German Federation was the result. The Assem- bly did its work so well that when, four years later, the southern states, Bavaria, Baden, and Wiirtemberg, came into the union after the war with France, the constitu- tion did not have to be materially altered, and still re- mains that of the present German empire. Sybel, the distinguished historian, was a member of the Assembly in 1867, and well describes in a speech the peculiar dif- ficulties of devising a union which should meet at once the demands of Prussia (a European power) and those of the various German monarchs, who had long regarded themselves as sovereigns and were fearful of being made the subjects of the king of Prussia. Gentlemen, we must now take up what is obviously the most important and characteristic part of our task. Now that we have sketched out in general the powers which the proposed federal government is to enjoy, we must reach a decision in regard to the organization of the union, — per- haps the most difficult question that any statesman has faced during the course of the century, — namely, the for- mation of a practicable and enduring central authority for Germany, strong enough to fulfill the various functions which devolve upon a modern state, and yet so far limited
