The man who afterwards declared that, at the beginning of the Danish disputes in 1863, he made up his mind to have Schleswig-Holstein for Prussia[27], certainly saw in the Hohenzollern candidature a step towards a Prusso-Spanish alliance or a war with France that might cement German unity.
[Footnote 27: Busch, _Our Chancellor_, vol.i.p.

367.] In any case, that was the outcome of events.

The French papers at once declaimed against the candidature in a way that aroused no less passion on the other side of the Rhine.

For a brief space, however, matters seemed to be smoothed over by the calm good sense of the Prussian monarch and his nephew.

The King was then at Ems, taking the waters, when Benedetti, the French ambassador, waited on him and pressed him most urgently to request Prince Leopold to withdraw from the candidature to the Spanish Crown.