A conservative party, in the sense in which we wish it to be understood, did not then exist; nor did the general confusion of opinions at the time allow of the formation of true parties. It is true that Bismarck met many men in the White Saloon, whose opinions were well known to him; of these were his brother, the Landrath, his cousins, the Counts von Bismarck-Bohlen and von Bismarck-Briest, his future father-in-law, Herr von Putkammer, von Thadden, von Wedell, and many others—but unfortunately these gentlemen in general, as Herr von Thadden once bluntly said of himself, were not even bad orators, but no orators at all. Nor could the two Freiherrs von Manteuffel contend in eloquence with the brilliant rhetoricians of the liberals, such as Freiherr von Vincke, Camphausen, Mevissen, Beckerath, and others.
Very few persons now exist who can read those speeches of the First United Diet, once so celebrated, without a melancholy or satirical smile: those were the blossom-days of liberal phraseology, causing an enthusiasm of which we can not now form any adequate idea.
They acted with such an influence upon Bismarck, but he was soon sobered, when he attained the conviction that these great speakers, moved by their construction of the patent of February, advocated an end not contemplated by the spirit of the patent. To him it did not seem honest to contend for modern constitutionalism upon the judicial merits of the February patent, against its sense and spirit.
An inimical inspiration acted on him in liberal phraseology, and the more magnificent the oratory, the more repugnant it became to him, especially where he saw untruth clearly in view. He employed some time in making it evident to himself that the liberal idea was the very fact under the government of which men, otherwise of great honor, in the very best of faith, brought forward matters in themselves quite false; and the deepest want of confidence then made itself master of his mind. He began to understand how dangerous a power so intangible might become to the sovereignty.
At the sitting of the Three Estates on the 17th May, the Deputy von Saucken made one of those wordy enthusiastic speeches at that time so popular, and declared that the Prussian people had risen in the year 1813 for the sole end of obtaining a constitution. This had previously been asserted by Beckerath and others on several occasions.
After the liberal speaker had descended amidst the plaudits of the Assembly, the Deputy Bismarck, for the first time, appeared upon the tribune. His stature was great, his plentiful hair was cut short, his healthily ruddy countenance was fringed by a strong blond beard, his shining eyes were somewhat prominent, à fleur de tête, as the French idiom has it—such was his aspect. He gazed upon the assembly for a moment, and then spoke simply, but with some hesitation, in a strong, sometimes shrill voice, with not altogether pleasing emphasis:—“For me it is difficult—after a speech replete with such noble enthusiasm—to address you, in order to bring before you a plain re-statement.” He then glanced at some length at the real merits of a previous vote, and continued in the following words:—
“To discuss the remaining points of the speech, I prefer to choose a time when it will be necessary to enter upon questions of policy; at present I am compelled to contradict what is stated from this tribune, as well as what is so loudly and so frequently asserted outside this hall, in reference to the necessity for a constitution, as if the movements of our nation in 1813 should be ascribed to other causes and motives than those of the tyranny exercised by the foreigner in our land.”
Here the speaker was assailed with such loud marks of disapprobation, hisses, and outcries, that he could no longer make himself intelligible. He quietly drew a newspaper from his pocket—it was the “Spenersche Zeitung”—and read it, leaning in an easy attitude, until the President-Marshal had restored order; he then concluded, still interrupted by hisses, with these words:—“In my opinion it is doing sorry service to the national honor, to conclude that ill-treatment and humiliation suffered by Prussia at the hands of a foreign ruler would not be enough to rouse Prussian blood, and cause all other feelings to be absorbed by the hatred of foreigners.”
Amidst great commotion Bismarck left the tribune, ten or twelve voices being clamorous to be heard.