Nevertheless, there was still a large percentage of persons who preferred riding the wave on an electric, or solar energy impelled vessel, to floating through the air in a flying machine, for nerves were not yet out of fashion. Notwithstanding all the dreams of nineteenth-century political reformers England had still retained its old institutions, for the Empire continued to be ruled by a monarchical form of government diluted somewhat with the constitutional. So far from being a great Republic by this time the tendency went the other way, for new conditions sprang up which gave the Sovereign a degree of absolutism which the fondest hopes of the Royalist could never have conjured up. By reason of marriages and intermarriages between the Royal Houses of Great Britain and Germany the two families became so intermixed that in consequence of the sudden death of the heir-apparent to the German crown, followed immediately by the death of the Emperor, the Sovereign of England woke up one morning to find himself the direct successor to the throne of the Fatherland. It happened in this way. A great war broke out between Germany and France in the year 1930, and in the midst of a fierce contest, where the great field pieces were charged with missiles which emitted volleys of electric lightning into the German ranks, a French electrician sent an electric bolt at the Emperor and his son, killing the younger royal warrior instantly, and severely injuring the elder. The following day the Emperor succumbed to his injuries, to the intense grief of all his subjects. This _coup_ failed to give the French nation the victory, but it gave the German crown to the Sovereign of England, who was the only successor. This was the last battle Europe ever saw; public opinion decreed that such cruel slaughter should be discontinued for all time. As a matter of course there was much opposition at the outset to the Sovereign of another country swaying the sceptre of their beloved fatherland, albeit he was in reality more German than English. Long speeches were made in the Reichstag, and ancient laws raked up to show its utter unconstitutional character. But when it was pointed out by their favourite minister, an old man full of wisdom and experience, what a splendid gain it would prove to their country in having such a powerful nation as the English merged into theirs; for united the two could defy the world independently of any alliance with other great Powers. To this unanswerable argument the opposition succumbed, and gracefully gave way to the inevitable.