to public duties, and we can count by months the
time he was able to spend with his wife at the old
family house ; more than forty years were to pass
before he was able again to enjoy the leisure of his
early years.

The revolution which at the end of February
broke out in Paris quickly spread to Germany ; the
ground was prepared and the news quickly came to
him, first of disorder in South Germany, then of
the fall of the Ministry in Dresden and Munich ;
after a few days it was told that a revolution had
taken place in Vienna itself. The rising in Austria
was the signal for Berlin, and on the i8th of March
the revolution broke out there also. The King had
promised to grant a Constitution ; a fierce fight had
taken place in the streets of the city between the
soldiers and the people ; the King had surrendered
to the mob, and had ordered the troops to withdraw
from the city. He was himself almost a prisoner in
his castle protected only by a civilian National Guard.
He was exposed to the insults of the crowd ; his
brother had had to leave the city and the country. It
is impossible to describe the enthusiasm and wild



J852] The Revolution. 45

delight with which the people of Germany heard of
these events. Now the press was free, now they
also were going to be free and great and strong. All
the resistance of authority was overthrown ; nothing,
it seemed, stood between them and the attainment
of their ideal of a united and free Germany. They
had achieved a revolution ; they had become a po-
litical people ; they had shewn themselves the equals
of England and of France. They had liberty, and
they would soon have a Constitution. Bismarck did
not share this feeling ; he saw only that the monar-
chy which he respected, and the King whom, with
all his faults, he loved and honoured, were humiliated
and disgraced. This was worse than Jena. A de-
feat on the field of battle can be avenged ; here the
enemies were his own countrymen ; it was Prussian
subjects who had made the King the laughing-stock
of Europe. Only a few months ago he had pleaded
that they should not lose that confidence between
King and people which was the finest tradition of
the Prussian State ; could this confidence ever be
restored when the blood of so many soldiers and
citizens had been shed ? He felt as though some-
one had struck him in the face, for his country's dis-
honour was to him as his own ; he became ill with
gall and anger. He had only two thoughts: first to
restore to the King courage and confidence, and then
— revenge on the men who had done this thing. He
at least was not going to play with the revolution.
He at once sat down and wrote to the King a letter
full of ardent expressions of loyalty and affection,
that he might know there still were men on whom



46 Bismarck. [1847-

he could rely. It is said that for months after,
through all this terrible year, the King kept it open
by him on his writing-table. Then he hurried to
Berlin, if necessary to defend him with the sword.
This was not necessary, but the situation was almost
worse than he feared ; the King was safe, but he was
safe because he had surrendered to the revolution ;
he had proclaimed the fatal words that Prussia was
to be dissolved in Germany.

At Potsdam Bismarck found his old friends of the
Guard and the Court ; they were all in silent de-
spair. What could they do to save the monarchy
when the King himself had deserted their cause?
Some there were who even talked of seeking help
from the Czar of Russia, who had offered to come
to the help of the monarchy in Prussia and place
himself at the head of the Prussian army, even if
necessary against their own King. There was al-
ready a Liberal Ministry under Count Arnim, Bis-
marck's old chief at Aachen ; the Prussian troops
were being sent to support the people of Schleswig-
Holstein in their rebellion against the Danes; the
Ministers favoured the aspirations of Poland for self-
government ; in Prussia there was to be a Constitu-
ent Assembly and a new Constitution drawn up by
it. Bismarck did what he could ; he went down to
Schoenhausen and began to collect signatures for an
address of loyalty to the King; he wished to instil
into him confidence by appealing to the loyalty of
the country against the radicalism of the town.
Then he hurried back to Berlin for the meeting of
the Estates General, which had been hastily sum-



1952] The Revohttion. 47

moned to prepare for the new elections. An address
was proposed thanking the King for the concessions
he had made ; Bismarck opposed it, but he stood
almost alone.

"I have not changed my opinion," he said, "in the last
six months ; the past is buried, and I regret more bit-
terly than any of you that no human power can re-
awaken it, now that the Crown itself has cast the earth
on its coffin."

Two men alone voted against the address — Bis-
marck and Herr von Thadden, " It is easy to get
fame nowadays," said the latter; " a little courage is
all one requires."

Courage it did require ; Berlin was terrorised ; the
new National Guard was unable to maintain order;
men scarcely dared to appear in the streets in the
ordinary dress of a gentleman. The city was full of
Polish insurgents, many of whom had only just been
released from prison. When the National Assembly
came together, it became the organ of the extreme
Republican party; all the more moderate men and
more distinguished had preferred to be elected for
that general German Assembly which at the same
time was sitting at Frankfort to create a new Consti-
tution for the whole Confederation. How quickly
had the balance of parties altered : Vincke, until a.
few months ago the leader of the Liberals, found
himself at Frankfort regarded as an extreme Con-
servative ; and Frankfort was moderate compared
to Berlin. At this time an ordinary English Radical
would have been looked upon in Germany as almost



48 Bismarck. [1847-

reactionary. Bismarck did not seek election for
either of the Assemblies ; he felt that he could do
no good by taking part in the deliberations of a
Parliament, the very meeting of which seemed to
him an oiTence against the laws and welfare of the
State. He would indeed have had no logical posi-
tion ; both Parliaments were Constituent Assemblies ;
it was the duty of the one to build up a new Ger-
many, of the other a new Prussia ; their avowed ob-
ject was the regeneration of their country. Bismarck
did not believe that Prussia wanted regenerating ;
he held that the roots for the future greatness of the
State must be found in the past. What happened
to Germany he did not much care; all he saw was
that every proposal for the regeneration of Germany
implied either a dissolution of Prussia, or the subjec-
tion of the Prussian King to the orders of an alien
Parliament.

During the summer he did what he could ; he
contributed articles to the newspapers attacking the
Polish policy of the Government, and defending the
landlords and country gentry against the attacks
made on them. As the months went by, as the an-
archy in Berlin increased, and the violence of the
Assembly as well as the helplessness of the Govern-
ment became more manifest, he and some of his
friends determined to make their voices heard in a
more organised way. It was at the house of his
father-in-law at Rheinfeld that he, Hans Kleist, and
Herr von Below determined to call together a meet-
ing of well-known men in Berlin, who should discuss
the situation and be a moral counterpoise to the



1852] The Revolution. 49

meetings of the National Assembly ; for in that the
Conservative party and even the Moderate Liberals
were scarcely represented ; if they did speak they
were threatened by the mob which encumbered the
approaches to the House. Of more permanent im-
portance was the foundation of a newspaper which
should represent the principles of the Christian mon-
archy, and in July appeared the first number of the
New Prussian Gazette, or, as it was to be more gen-
erally known, the Kreuz Zeitung, which was to give
its name to the party of which it was the organ.
Bismarck was among the founders, among whom
were also numbered Stahl, the Gerlachs, and others
of his older friends; he was a frequent contributor,
and when he was at Berlin was almost daily at the
oflfice ; when he was in the country he contributed
articles on the rural afTairs with which he was more
specially qualified to deal.

These steps, of course, attracted the attention and
the hostility of the dominant Liberal and Revolu-
tionary parties ; the Junker, as they were called,
were accused of aiming at reaction and the restora-
tion of the absolute monarchy. As a matter of fact,
this is what many of them desired; they were, how-
ever, only doing their duty as members of society;
it would have been mere cowardice and indolence
had they remained inactive and seen all the institu-
tions they valued overthrown without attempting to
defend them. It required considerable courage in
the middle of so violent a crisis to come forward and
attempt to stop the revolution ; it was a good exam-
ple that they began to do so by constitutional and



50 Bismarck. [1847-

legal means. They shewed that Prussia had an aris-
tocracy, and an aristocracy which was not frightened ;
deserted by the King they acted alone ; in the hour
of greatest danger they founded a Conservative
party, and matters had come to this position that
an organised Conservative party was the chief neces-
sity of the time.

At first, however, their influence was small, for a
monarchical party must depend for its success on
the adhesion of the King, and the King had not yet
resolved to separate himself from his Liberal advisers,
Bismarck was often at Court and seems to have had
much influence ; both to his other companions and
to the King himself he preached always courage and
resolution ; he spoke often to the King with great
openness ; he was supported by Leopold von Gerlach,
with whom at this time he contracted a close inti-
macy. For long their advice was in vain, but in the
autumn events occurred which shewed that some
decision must be taken : the mob of Berlin stormed
the Zcughaiis where the arms were kept ; the Con-
stitution of the Assembly was being drawn up so as
to leave the King scarcely any influence in the State ;
a resolution was passed calling on the Ministers to
request all officers to leave the army who disliked
the new order of things. The crisis was brought
about by events in Vienna ; in October the Austrian
army under Jellachich and Windischgratz stormed
the city, proclaimed martial law, and forcibly over-
threw the Revolutionary Government ; the King of
Prussia now summoned resolution to adopt a similar
course. It is said that Bismarck suggested to him



1852] The Revohition. 51

the names of the Ministers to whom the task should
be entrusted. The most important were Count
Brandenburg, an uncle of the King's, and Otto v.
ManteufTel, a member of the Prussian aristocracy,
who with Bismarck had distinguished himself in the
Estates General. He seems to have been constantly
going about among the more influential men, en-
couraging them as he encouraged the King, and help-
ing behind the scenes to prepare for the momentous
step. Gerlach had suggested Bismarck's name as
one of the Ministers, but the King rejected it, writ-
ing on the side of the paper the characteristic words,
" Red reactionary ; smells of blood ; will be useful
later." Bismarck's language was of such a nature
as to alarm even many of those who associated with
him. Count Beust, the Saxon Minister, was at this
time in Berlin and met Bismarck for the first time ;
they were discussing the conduct of the Austrian
Government in shooting Robert Blum, a leading
demagogue who had been in Vienna during the
siege. Beust condemned it as a political blunder.
" No, you are wrong," said Bismarck ; " when I have
my enemy in my power I must destroy him,"

The event fully justified Bismarck's forecast that
nothing was required but courage and resolution.
After Brandenburg had been appointed Minister, the
. Prussian troops under Wrangel again entered Berlin,
a state of siege was proclaimed, the Assembly was
ordered to adjourn to Brandenburg ; they refused
and were at once ejected from their meeting-place,
and as a quorum was not found at Brandenburg,
were dissolved. The Crown then of its own author-



52 Bisniai'-ck. [1847-

ity published a new Constitution and summoned a
new Assembly to discuss and ratify it. Based on
the discipline of the army the King had regained
his authority without the loss of a single life.

Bismarck stood for election in this new Assembly,
for he could accept the basis on which it had been
summoned ; he took his seat for the district of the
West Havel in which the old city of Brandenburg,
the original capital of the Mark, was situated. He
had come forward as an opponent of the Revolution.
" Everyone," he said in his election address, " must
support the Government in the course they have
taken of combating the Revolution which threat-
ens us all." " No transaction with the Revolution,"
was the watchword proposed in the manifesto of
his party. He appealed to the electors as one who
would direct all his efforts to restore the old bond of
confidence between Crown and people. He kept his
promise. In this Assembly the Extreme Left was
still the predominant party ; in an address to the
Crown they asked that the state of siege at Berlin
should be raised, and that an amnesty to those who
had fought on the i8th of March should be pro-
claimed. Bismarck did not yet think that the time
for forgiveness had come ; the struggle was indeed
not yet over. He opposed the first demand because,
as he said, there was more danger to liberty of de-
bate from the armed mob than there was from the
Prussian soldiers. In one of the most careful of his
speeches he opposed the amnesty. " Amnesty," he
said, " was a right of the Crown, not of the Assem-
bly " ; moreover the repeated amnesties were un-



1852] The Revolution. 53

dermining in the people the feehng of law ; the
opinion was being spread about that the law of the
State rested on the barricades, that everyone who
disliked a law or considered it unjust had the right
to consider it as non-existent. Who that has read
the history of Europe during this year can doubt
the justice of the remark? Then he continues:

" My third reason for voting against the amnesty is
humanity. The strife of principles which during this
year has shattered Europe to its foundations is one in
which no compromise is possible. They rest on opposite
bases. The one draws its law from what is called the
will of the people, in truth, however, from the law of the
strongest on the barricades. The other rests on author-
ity created by God, an authority by the grace of God,
and seeks its development in organic connection with
the existing and constitutional legal status . . . the
decision on these principles will come not by Parliament-
ary debate, not by majorities of eleven votes ; sooner or
later the God who directs the battle will cast his iron
dice."

These words were greeted with applause, not only
by the men who sat on his side of the House, but by
those opposite to him. The truth of them was to
be shewn by the events which were taking place at
that very time. They were spoken on the 22d of
March. The next day was fought the battle of No-
vara and it seemed that the last hopes of the Italian
patriots were shattered. Within a few months the
Austrian army subdued with terrible vengeance the
rising in Lombardy and Venetia ; Hungary was
prostrate before the troops whom the Czar sent to



54 Bismarck. ti847-

help the young Austrian Emperor, and the last
despairing outbreak of rebellion in Saxony and in
Baden was to be subdued by the Prussian arn:iy.
The Revolution had failed and it had raised up, as
will always happen, a military power, harder, crueller,
and more resolute than that it had overthrown.
The control over Europe had passed out of the
hands of Metternich and Louis Philippe to fall into
those of Nicholas, Schwarzenberg, and Napoleon III.

In Prussia the King used his power with modera-
tion, the conflict of parties was continued within
legal limits and under constitutional forms.

The Parliament which still claimed that control
over the executive government which all Parlia-
ments of the Revolution had exercised, was dis-
solved. A new Assembly met in August ; the King
had of his own authority altered the electoral law
and the new Parliament showed a considerable
majority belonging to the more moderate Liberal
party. Bismarck retained his old seat. He still
found much to do ; his influence was increasing; he
opposed the doctrines of the more moderate Liberal-
ism with the same energy with which he had attacked
the extreme Revolution. The most important de-
bates were those concerning the Constitution ; he
took part in them, especially opposing the claim of
the Parliament to refuse taxes. He saw that if the
right was given to the Lower House of voting the
taxes afresh every year they would be able to estab-
lish a complete control over the executive govern-
ment; this he did not wish. He was willing that
they should have the right of discussing and reject-



1852] The Revolution. 55

ing any new taxes and also, in agreement with the
Crown and the Upper House, of determining the
annual Budget. It was maintained by the Liberals
that the right to reject supplies every year was an
essential part of a constitutional system ; they ap-
pealed to the practice in England and to the
principles adopted in tHe French and Belgian Con-
stitutions. Their argument was that this practice
which had been introduced in other countries must
be adopted also in Prussia. It was just one of those
argurnents which above all offended Bismarck's Prus-
sian patriotism. Why should Prussia imitate other
countries? Why should it not have its own Consti-
tution in its own way ? Constitution, as he said, was
the mot d'ordre of the day, the word which men
used when they were in want of an argument. " In
Prussia that only is constitutional which arises from
the Prussian Constitution ; whatever be constitu-
tional in Belgium, or in France, in Anhalt Dessau,
or there where the morning red of Mecklenburg- free-
dom shines, here that alone is constitutional which
rests on the Prussian Constitution." If he defended
the prerogative of the Crown he defended the Con-
stitution of his country. A constitution is the col-
lection of rules and laws by which the action of the
king is governed ; a state without a constitution is
a mere Oriental despotism where each arbitrary
whim of the king is transmuted into action ; this
was not what Bismarck desired or defended ; there
was no danger of this in Prussia. He did not even
oppose changes in the law and practice of the Con-
gtitution ; what he did oppose was the particular



56 Bismarck. [1847-

change which would transfer the sovereignty to an
elected House of Parliament. " It has been main-
tained," he once said, "that a constitutional king
cannot be a king by the Grace of God ; on the con-
trary he is it above all others."

The references to foreign customs were indeed
one of the most curious practices of the time ; the
matter was once being discussed whether the Crown
had the power to declare a state of siege without the
assent of the Chambers ; most speakers attempted to
interpret the text of the Prussian Constitution by
precedents derived from the practice in France and
England ; we find the Minister of Justice defending
his action on the ground of an event in the French
Revolution, and Lothar Bucher, one of the ablest of
the Opposition, complained that not enough attention
had been paid to the procedure adopted in England
for repealing the Habeas Corpus Act, entirely ignoring
the fact that there was no Habeas Corpus Act in
Prussia. We can easily understand how repulsive
this was to a man who, like Bismarck, wished no-
thing more than that his countrymen should copy,
not the details of the English Constitution, but the
proud self-reliance which would regard as imperti-
nent an application of foreign notions.

The chief cause for this peculiarity was the desire
of the Liberal party to attain that degree of inde-
pendence and personal liberty which was enjoyed in
England or France ; the easiest way to do this
seemed to be to copy their institutions. There was,
however, another reason : the study of Roman law
in Germany in which they had been educated had



1852} The Revohition. 57

accustomed them to look for absolute principles of
jurisprudence which might be applied to the legisla-
tion of all countries ; when, therefore, they turned
their minds to questions of politics, they looked for
absolute principles of constitutional government, on
which, as on a law of nature, their own institutions
might be built up. To find these they analysed the
English Constitution, for England was the classical
land of representative government ; they read its
rules as they would the institutions of a Roman
Jurisconsult and used them to cast light on the dark
places of their own law. Bismarck did not share
this type of thought ; his mind was rather of the
English cast ; he believed the old Prussian Constitu-
tion was as much a natural growth as that of Eng-
land, and decided dark points by reference to older
practice as an Englishman would search for preced-
ents in the history of his own country.

At that time the absolute excellence of a demo-
cratic constitution was a dogma which few cared to
dispute ; it appeared to his hearers as a mere paradox
when Bismarck pointed out how little evidence there
was that a great country could prosper under the
government of a Parliament elected by an extended
franchise. Strictly speaking, there was no evidence
from experience; France, as he said, was the parent
of all these theories, but the example of France was
certainly not seductive. " I see in the present cir-
cumstances of France nothing to encourage us to
put the Nessus robe of French political teaching
over our healthy body." (This was in September,
1849, when the struggle between the Prince Presi-



58 Bismarck. [1847-

dent and the Assembly was already impending.)
The Liberals appealed to Belgium ; it had, at least,
stood the storm of the last year, but so had Russia,
and, after all, the Belgian Constitution was only
eighteen years old, "an admirable age for ladies but
not for constitutions." And then there was England.

" England governs itself, although the Lower House
has the right of refusing taxes. The references to Eng-
land are our misfortune ; give us all that is English
which we have not, give us English fear of God and
English reverence before the law, the whole English
Constitution, but above all the complete independence of
English landed property, English wealth and English
common-sense, especially an English Lower House, in
short everything which we have not got, then I will say,
you can govern us after the English fashion."

But this was not all. How could they appeal to
England as a proof that a democratic Parliament
was desirable? England had not grown great under
a democratic but under an aristocratic constitution.

" English reform is younger than the Belgian Constitu-
tion ; we have still to wait and see whether this reformed
Constitution will maintain itself for centuries as did the
earlier rule of the English aristocracy."

That, in Bismarck's opinion, it was not likely to do
so, we see a few years later; with most Continental
critics of English institutions, he believed that the
Reform Bill had destroyed the backbone of the
English Constitution. In 1857 he wrote:

*' They have lost the ' inherited wisdom ' since the Re-



1852] The Revolution. 59

form Bill ; they maintain a coarse and violent selfishness
and the ignorance of Continental relations."

It was not merely aristocratic prejudice; it was a
wise caution to bid his countrymen pause before
they adopted from foreign theorists a form of gov-
ernment so new and untried, and risked for the sake
of an experiment the whole future of Prussia.

In later years Bismarck apologised for many of the
speeches which he made at this period : " I was a
terrible Junker in those days," he said ; and biograph-
ers generally speak of them as though they required
justification or apology. There seems no reason for
this. It would have been impossible for him, had he
at that time been entrusted with the government of