Liebknecht, on the other hand, looked upon the North German Confederation as a reactionary work of violence and injustice that must be overthrown. In order not to strengthen it he repudiated all practical participation in the legislative measures of the Diet. The parliamentary tribune was only a platform from which he could hurl his protest against the new arrangement of things among the masses of the German people. In his opinion the creation of Bismarck meant the division, weakening, and servitude of Germany, and history would march over its ruins. During the Franco-German War of 1870-71 the flood of patriotic enthusiasm for a time almost submerged the socialistic agitation. At the commencement of hostilities Liebknecht and Bebel refrained from voting on the question of a war loan; they disapproved alike of the policy of Prussia and of Bonaparte. The other socialist deputies, including Schweitzer, voted for it, as the victory of Napoleon would mean the overthrow of the socialist workmen in France, the supremacy of the Bonapartist soldiery in Europe, and the complete disintegration of Germany. But after the fall of the French Empire all of them voted against a further loan and recommended the speediest conclusion of peace with the Republic, without annexation of French territory. Such views did not meet with much acceptance in Germany, either from Government or people. Several of the socialist leaders were thrown into prison. At the first election to the German Reichstag in 1871 the socialists counted only 102,000 votes, and returned two members. Soon afterwards Schweitzer announced his intention of retiring from the leadership of the Universal Working Men’s Association. He had been defeated at the general election. His position at the head of the Association, which, as we have seen, was a species of dictatorship, was no longer tenable. His trials and struggles with the Prussian police and courts of justice, the troubles he experienced in the midst of his own party, the persecution and calumny which he endured from the opposing Eisenach party, the sacrifice of time and money, of health and quiet, which were inseparable from such a post, had made it a very uneasy one. He had conducted the affairs of the Association with a tact, insight, and appreciation of the situation to which his successors in the leadership of the German socialists have apparently never been able to attain. He died in Switzerland in 1875.