Book the Fifth.
MINISTER-PRESIDENT AND COUNT.
Ministerpräsident und Graf.
CHAPTER I.
THE CRISIS.
The Crisis of 1862.—Bismarck Premier.—The Party of Progress.—The Liberals.—The Conservatives.—Bismarck’s Determination.—“Voilà mon Médecin!”—Anecdotes.—Attitude of the Government.—Refusal of the Budget.—Prudence of the Minister-President.—Official Presentation of Letters of Recall at Saint Cloud.
Twin-born with the active, restless life and labor so typical of our modern days, with the rapid course of political events, we note the natural sisterhood of swift forgetfulness. Most of us would have some difficulty in forming any thing like a clear picture of the decidedly involved situation in which Prussia stood in the autumn of 1862. It is beside our purpose to attempt any definition of this situation here, without taking into consideration the difficulties surrounding the solution of such a problem at that time; we must, therefore, content ourselves with cursory hints and indications.