“You ought not to undervalue in these latter days the services of that class, whether as officers of the army, or in such positions where landed property enables it to fight against anarchy and for the salvation of Prussia. The nobility of Prussia has in these affairs been spinning no silk, take it as a whole; it will be remembered that its immediate ancestry conquered the Westphalian Land Tax in the Rhine Province, and that its grandfathers paid for the Patow Promemoria with their blood in Silesia. In like manner, you will find the sons of this class ever among the truest servants of the country. It is true the Prussian nobility have had their Jena; in common with the political associates of those who now attack it, they have had their Second United Diet. If, however, I survey their history as a great whole, I believe there exist no reasons for such attacks as we hear in this place, and I do not think it necessary to despair of discovering within this class worthy members of a Prussian peerage.”
To the continually reiterated taunt concerning Junkerdom and the Junker party, he fearlessly replied:—
“I am proud to be a Prussian Junker, and feel honored, by the appellation. Whigs and Tories were terms which once also had a very mean signification; and be assured, gentlemen, that we shall on our part bring Junkerdom to be regarded with honor and respect.”
We here take leave of Bismarck’s activity as a conservative party leader in the Second Chamber. This volcanic earth in the Hardenberg Palace, on the Dönhoffsplatz, he only re-entered eleven years afterwards as a Minister, although in the winter of 1851-’2 he several times came from Frankfurt to Berlin, and also appeared in the Chamber.