¶ Matters came to a crisis in ’47; King William IV needed money for a little railroad project in East Prussia. In his dilemma, he called his Baby Parliament, or Diet, April 11, 1847, and “deigned” to permit therein the right of petition; there were in truth no privileges of political significance, no real powers; it was a side-show, so far as the “people” were concerned—and for eleven weeks volleys of oratory crackled and thundered.
¶ Here, we meet Bismarck face to face; and you should now be prepared, from what you have read, to understand the gigantic problem Bismarck was called upon to face—single-handed!
¶ Furthermore, Bismarck’s attitude was not, as has often been recorded, a case of “might is right.” The French Revolution had proven conclusively that there can be no political “right” without a political “might.” We should not forget this fact throughout the Bismarck story of Prussia’s rise to power.