Never in history has so great a calamity descended so suddenly
upon the Human Family, unless we except the earthquake toppling
down cities and submersing a whole coast in a single night. But
how small all that has ensued from any such convulsion, compared
with the desolation and destruction already produced by this war!
From the first murmur to the outbreak was a brief moment of time,
as between the flash of lightning and the bursting of the thunder.
At the beginning of July there was peace without suspicion of
interruption. The Legislative Body had just discussed a
proposition for the reduction of the annual Army Contingent. At
Berlin the Parliament was not in session. Count Bismarck was at
his country home in Pomerania, the King enjoying himself at Ems.
How sudden and unexpected the change will appear from an
illustrative circumstance. M. Prevost-Paradol, of rare talent and
unhappy destiny, newly appointed Minister to the United States,
embarked at Havre on the 1st of July, and reached Washington on
the morning of the 14th of July. He assured me that when he left
France there was no talk or thought of war. During his brief
summer voyage the whole startling event had begun and culminated.
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen being invited to become
candidate for the throne of Spain, France promptly sent her
defiance to Prussia, followed a few days later by formal
Declaration of War. The Minister was oppressed by the grave
tidings coming upon him so unprepared, and sought relief in self-
slaughter, being the first victim of the war. Everything moved
with a rapidity borrowed from the new forces supplied by human
invention, and the Gates of War swung wide open.