Hisempirewouldhavebeenablessingtothem，andtheywouldhavehadsomechanceofbeingcivilizedundertheFrench。Allthisunificationofnationalitiesisthegreathumbugofthecentury。Everystupidracethinksit’shappybecauseit’sunited，andcivilizationhasbeensetbackahundredyearsbythewarsthatwerefoughttobringtheunionsabout；
andmorewarswillhavetobefoughttokeepthemup。Whatafarceitis！What’sbecomeofthenationalityoftheDanesinSchleswig-Holstein，ortheFrenchintheRhineProvinces，ortheItaliansinSavoy？”
Marchhadthoughtsomethinglikethishimself，buttohaveitputbyGeneralTriscoemadeitoffensive。“Idon’tknow。Isn’titratherquarrellingwiththecourseofhumaneventstoopposeaccomplishedfacts？
Theunificationswereboundtobe，justastheseparationsbeforethemwere。Andsofartheyhavemadeforpeace，inEuropeatleast，andpeaceiscivilization。Perhapsafteragreatmanyagespeoplewillcometogetherthroughtheirrealinterests，thehumaninterests；butatpresentitseemsasifnothingbutaromanticsentimentofpatriotismcanunitethem。By-and-bytheymayfindthatthereisnothinginit。”
“Perhaps。”saidthegeneral，discontentedly。“Idon’tseemuchpromiseofanykindinthefuture。”