conditions and circumstances that we must find some explanation of their imprudence, and of their inability to make a stand against the emperor's weakness, the clamour of hot-headed deputies, and the war-cries of journalists; some excuse, in short, for the heedlessness with which a well-meaning ministry stepped into the snare that had been laid for them. When, in 1871, the ex-emperor was told of M. Ollivier's earnest protest against the cruel injustice of holding him alone answerable for the national disasters, Napoleon is reported to have replied that this responsibility must be shared by the ministry, the Chamber, and himself. 'Si je n'avais pas voulu la guerre, j'aurais renvoye mes ministres; si l'opposition etait venue d'eux, ils auraient donne leur demission; enfin, si la Chambre avait ete contraire a l'entreprise, elle eut vote contre.'[53] In a broad and general sense this conclusion may be accepted, for all parties concerned were heavily to blame; and manifestly the disasters were the outcome of a situation in which weakness and rashness were matched against unscrupulous statecraft and the deep-laid combinations of a consummate strategist. FOOTNOTES: [41] _L'Empire Liberal: Etudes, Recits, Souvenirs._ Par Emile Ollivier. Vol. xiv.: La Guerre. 1909.--_Edinburgh Review_, January 1910. [42] 'Animo retto e buono' (_Memorie_, p. 407). [43] Benedetti, _Ma Mission en Prusse_. [44] _Papiers Secrets: Les Prefets._ [45] _Reflections and Reminiscences of Prince Bismarck._ [46] _Histoire du Second Empire_, vi. 258. [47] 'Rien n'etait plus officiel que l'entretien qui se poursuivait en ce moment entre le ministre des affaires etrangeres et l'ambassadeur de Prusse.'--Gramont, _La France et la Prusse_, p. 168. [48] _La France et la Prusse_ (1872), pp. 131-2. [49] _L'Empire Liberal_, p. 270. [50] _Historical Essays_, p. 222. [51] 'Au debut nous avions demande au Roi de conseiller ou d'ordonner a son parent de renoncer, ce qui entrainait implicitement une garantie que la candidature ne se reproduirait plus. Le Roi ayant refuse d'intervenir, et la candidature ayant disparu a son insu, nous avions reclame sous une forme explicite, notre premiere demande.'--_L'Empire Liberal_, p. 453.