THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
48 
picture of modern philosophy in Germany, and endeavoured to 
prove that the theories of Kant, Fichte, and Hegel were only the 
logical development of the same system. The form of his dis 
course was too abstract, and did not please the public at all, 
although he was careful to recall the fact that Fichte had pro 
phesied German unity, and had announced that one day the 
German people would enjoy the liberty and equality proclaimed 
by the French Revolution. He had a sort of worship for the 
men of that time, and especially for Robespierre, often carrying 
a cane given to him by his friend Forster, the historian, which 
had once belonged to Robespierre. Like his model of ’93, he 
affected great elegance, and one of his critics said of him, that 
he liked to have a chased handle to his Jacobin poignard, and 
lace on his Phrygian cap. 
In 1861 he published a literary study of Lessing, and a very 
learned work on jurisprudence in two volumes, the “System of 
Acquired Rights " {Systetn der Envorbenen Rechte). Radical 
ideas of reform obtrude themselves through the purely scientific 
dissertations, as, for instance, when the existing system of 
property and inheritance is severely criticised. In two political 
pamphlets which appeared shortly afterwards, “ The Essence of a 
V Constitution” ( Ueber Verfassungswesen), and “ Might and Right ” 
{Macht und Recht), he takes up his favourite idea that in human 
affairs it is force which always decides in the last resort. All 
constitutional problems are summed up in this : Who is the 
strongest? If the Chambers cannot command efficacious 
means of resistance, they lie at the mercy of the sovereign. 
This theory, which has since widely spread, because certain 
contemporary events have appeared to justify it, is open to 
objection. It is true bayonets decide, but what puts bayonets 
in motion if not ideas? Is it not the abstract principle of 
nationality which has completely changed the map of Europe ? 
Cavour created the unity of Italy, and Bismarck that of 
Germany, because they carried out this idea, while Napoleon I., 
with all his prodigious victories ahd amazing genius, created 
nothing durable, because he ignored and disregarded it ; and 
unless Austria will frankly accept this principle, sooner or later 
she will fall before it.