There is but one unquestioned and unquestionable superiority in great things--that of a victorious army. And that brings other superiorities with it. Nothing could be more encouraging to the spirit of conquest than the exalted moral eminence which the Germans attained in Europe after Sedan, and the moral degradation of the French when they had been compelled to pay two hundred millions sterling. God had rewarded German virtue with victory and had chastised the wicked Frenchmen for their sins. And not only does victory exhibit moral worth, but it glorifies the intelligence of the victorious nation, making all its statesmen wise. Their mistakes are all forgotten; the evidence of their sagacity remains. It is now almost unimaginable that Napoleon III was held to be the profoundest statesman in Europe until he had been beaten in the field. After Sedan there was an immediate discovery of his weakness, dreaminess, ineptitude. All the faults of the beaten army, in all ranks, became suddenly apparent in the same way. During the Crimean war, and the campaign that ended in Solferino, the absence of stiffness in the French soldiers, and the comparatively easy relations between them and their officers, were considered signs of the practical qualities of the French. After Sedan the same characteristics were treated as evidence of a want of discipline. [Sidenote: Military Displays in Time of Peace.] It is an error to suppose that displays even of military power in time of peace will produce a subjugating effect on the imagination of foreigners. The only utility of them is to make the taxpayers at home believe that they have something for their money. The foreigner carps and sneers. The English made a great naval display at the time of the Queen’s jubilee, and there have been English naval manœuvres since. The effect of the review outside of England was to provoke a depreciating analysis of the shipping, by which it was shown that most of the vessels were either badly armed or of an obsolete construction. As to the manœuvres, they demonstrated, to the satisfaction of foreigners, how easily the English coast might be ravaged by a hostile fleet. [Sidenote: Difference between England and France.]