CHAPTER IV.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP.
[1849-1851.]
The Second Chamber.—The Sword and the Throne.—Acceptance of the Frankfurt Project.—The New Electoral Law.—Bismarck’s Speeches.—The King and the Stag.—Birth of Herbert von Bismarck.—“What does this Broken Glass Cost?”—The Kreuzzeitung Letters.—The Prussian Nobility.—“I am Proud to be a Prussian Junker!”—Close of the Session.
Immediately after the publication of the December constitution of 1848, Bismarck was, in the same month, elected in Brandenburg the representative of West-Havelland, as a member of the Second Chamber.
The Diet was opened on the 26th of February, 1849; and Bismarck was among the first members to repair to the solemnity in the White Saloon. How many reminiscences were associated in Bismarck’s mind with the White Saloon! How many more were to arise! Memorials and landmarks still remain!
Without any special object, most probably, Bismarck took the same seat in the Assembly he had formerly occupied as representative of the Knight’s Estate of Jerichow, in the United Diet; and here he held, as it were, as member for the electoral metropolis of Brandenburg, a sort of court. It was at least something of a court, for not only was he received by his former associates, such as Count Arnim-Boytzenburg, the minister Von Manteuffel, and many others, but his opponents also addressed him—those who had been his opponents, and were to become so again. Among these were Auerswald, Vincke, and Grabow; at that time they all stood with Bismarck on the right, in the terrible crisis of the country. Bismarck received them with the perfect confidence of a great-hearted gentleman, in that gracious manner of which he was so perfect a master, but which he could, at any moment, for the sake of a joke, frankly and freely abandon, without in the least imperilling his position. On that day his face remained serious, despite the anecdote related by Freiherr von Vincke, who recounted in a humorous way that on alighting from his carriage he had been hissed at the palace gate by the Berlin mob, while plaudits were made to Temmes and D’Esters. Bismarck did not allow himself any illusions as to the difficulty of the position, although the royalists were in ecstasies at the result of the elections. Parties were at the time about equal in numbers, if those were counted to the royalist side that had not formally sided with the democrats. It was a very beggarly account, and yet this was to be regarded, after the events of the spring, as a considerable gain—a gain greatly to be ascribed to the endeavors of Bismarck and his immediate friends.
A conservative deputy from Pomerania, addressing the member for West-Havelland, said: “We have conquered!”
“Not so!” replied Bismarck, coolly. “We have not conquered, but we have made an attack, which is the principal thing. Victory is yet to come, but it will come.”
These words accurately and truly convey the nature of the situation, Bismarck being a master of short phrases in which situations are rendered in a perfectly intelligible manner. Very frequently his expressions appear as if a curtain had been suddenly withdrawn to allow brilliant light to dissipate gloom. He is the very opposite to those diplomatists who make use of language only to conceal their thoughts. His clear perceptions are ever conveyed openly in definite language. Not only in politics is this true, but in ordinary conversation. On one occasion the relative positions of the Pomeranian Circles were under discussion. Bismarck said, “The Principality of Cammin hangs like a pair of breeches over Belgard!” Of course his geographical studies aided him to this, but his expressions are equally applicable under all circumstances.