The century-long dreams of National unity based on idealistic speeches, poetry, romantic phrase-mongering, was now slowly to yield to a new spirit; and believers in German Unity came to see that Prussian supremacy held all there was, in a practical way, of possible German centralization. Bismarck certainly saw it very clearly and acted accordingly in his future political appeals and alignments.
¶ Prussia had early led in the practical business of clearing the Chinese-walls that had bound many of the petty states; the Zollverein or customs’ union, begun in 1818, as heretofore explained, grew in power with the extension of Prussian railroads and telegraphs; the Prussian capitalistic middle-classes, intent on building up the family fortunes, had prospered in proportion as the customs’ union had been extended, under Prussian domination; and accordingly in 1849 Bismarck, as soon as Prussia had been placed herself at the head of this Business Union, began scheming as never before to win German Unity through economic as well as patriotic arguments.
For one thing, Bismarck henceforth studied to put himself on even terms with the commercial interests in the 39 jealous states. The leaders of Liberalism were, as a rule, men of theoretical rather than practical ideas; essentially a cultured élite, as it were, engaged in babbling about German Constitutions, German fraternal alignments and impossible German peace-parliaments.
¶ True, the good faith of patriots opposed to Bismarck is undisputed; but the King’s Man was a man with an exceedingly strong will and with immense practical common sense to support his own ideas; a man who to bring about his beneficent plan of German Unity followed his flag even through three great wars.
This will of iron was exercised for the National good; and on the whole exercised wisely. He went on with his schemings for many years, from day to day making the best use of the material at hand; with well-nigh infallible instinct seizing on the very forces that were essential in years to come to the realization of his ultimate dream.
¶ Little by little he set aside the professorial class, and the cultured élite politicians, and the theoretical constitution-makers; in their places he brought forward hard-headed middle-class capitalists, on one side, and the supreme military and landed Prussian aristocracy, on the other side; and after overcoming gigantic obstacles made clear to the average German peasant that both wealth and authority were to be properly sustained in the old thorough-going German fashion only by having no more to do with semi-spiritual, politico-idealistic aims and purposes; also, that through Bismarck’s proposed new type of Unity the peasant on one side and the King on the other could rise to even higher worldly positions without setting aside safe old lines of respect for authority through a Divine-right king, at the same time sharing the royal power with a great and essentially democratic public opinion. Thus, Bismarck’s German National enterprise, although not thoroughly understood for many years, was found at last to support in every particular the ancient German tradition of a strong fighting man, as leader of a free people.
¶ That Bismarck was proud and old-fashioned he made his boast, his joy, his strength.
Opponents held him up to obloquy, picturing his ideas as prehistoric, even antediluvian; but Bismarck stood the prick of honor; as King’s Man he insisted in numberless arguments, far and wide, that behind the Divine-right idea was not only a sentimental but a practical side. At any rate, the King’s Man was everlastingly against any movement that looked like French mob-rule.
¶ As time passed, Bismarck learned gradually that he need not hesitate to throw himself fearlessly forward, with this Divine-right as a leverage, to express the legitimacy of the royal house for which he battled.