Two of the deputies, on the occasion of this solemnity, displayed the cynicism of street democracy with childish vanity; one of them strutted about in a green frock-coat, and the other attempted to draw attention to himself by continually fanning himself with his gray hat. These were not, however, the worst enemies of the Prussian monarchy in the White Saloon on that day; under many a well-brushed black coat worse emotions were on fire.
By accident the sabre of one of the officers of the Guards fell from its scabbard on his suddenly turning; the naked weapon lay before the throne of Prussia, a circumstance which could only be regarded by many, on both sides, as portending that the sword alone could now save the throne.
At the sessions immediately succeeding the opening of the Second Chamber, Bismarck now found himself placed in the position of defending the constitution—although it did not fulfill his aspirations, opinions, and convictions—against the attacks of democracy. He had accepted constitutionalism, from necessity, and was bound to defend the sovereignty upon this basis. This he did bravely and openly, but in a spirit of self-consciousness and dignity, which often drove his antagonists to despair, and frequently aroused a storm of disapprobation.
“No word,” he once exclaimed, “has been more wrongly used in the past year than the word ‘people.’ Every body has held it to signify just what suited his own view, usually as a crowd of individuals, whom it was necessary to persuade.”
To throw this phrase into the face of democracy, meant far more in those days than at the present time.
He declared against a fresh amnesty with manly vigor and deep insight; he straightforwardly said the King, on the 18th March, 1848, had pardoned rebels, but such an act ought not to be repeated, because it would have the effect of spreading an opinion among the people that the whole political rights of the State depended upon the will of the population, as if any one who armed a certain number of individuals, or assembled them in unarmed crowds, to overawe a weak government, possessed the right to overturn any law obnoxious to him. “There is no accommodation possible with this battle of principles, which has shaken Europe to its foundations; these principles are founded on contradictory grounds, opposed from the very commencement. One apparently seeks its justification in the national will, but really in the brute force of the barricades; the other is founded in a sovereignty granted by Heaven, upon the supremacy of divine right, and endeavors to accomplish its development by organically allying itself with constitutional jurisprudence and law. One of these principles regards agitators of every kind as heroic combatants for truth, freedom, and right; the other classes them as rebels. These principles can not be decided by parliamentary debates; ere long the Almighty, who is the arbiter of battles, will throw the dice and so determine the controversy.”
The Second Chamber adopted the Frankfurt Imperial Constitution by a vote of 179 against 159. Bismarck spoke energetically against it, because it bore the broad impress of national sovereignty, this being evident, as the Emperor retained nothing more than a right of a veto of suspension. The Radicals, he said, would approach the new Emperor with the imperial arms, and ask,—
“Think you that this eagle is given you merely as a present?”
“The Frankfurt crown,” he continued, “may be very brilliant, but the gold, which lends truth to its splendor, must be added by melting into its composition the Prussian crown; and I can not believe that this recasting is possible by means of the proposed constitution.”
The course of the discussions in the Second Chamber gradually showed an increase in the power of the democrats, and they would render a monarchical government impossible. They insisted on the abolition of the state of siege in Berlin, as this materially impeded their projects; and when they had finally succeeded in effecting this, the Government could do no otherwise than dissolve the Second Chamber and prorogue the First. It seemed at one time that this dissolution would be the signal for another insurrection, but the democratic mob was taken aback when the Government showed the necessary severity. It was a terrible exaggeration for a Paris newspaper to announce, “Le canon gronde à Berlin.” One volley in the Dönhofsplatz, and then, “Arms—to the right,” and a cavalry charge in the Leipziger-Strasse, were enough thoroughly to deprive the democrats of all taste for another rising.