The Fortnightly Review: No. CCCCLXIII, New Series [‎595v] (81/239)

50
HOW IT STRUCK A CONTEMPORARY.
by side in an alliance so close that they could barely be distin
guished from each other. In such companionship it was not likely
that the designs of the National Party would be marked by a spirit
of moderation, or a respect for the rights of others; moderation,
especially in the matter of territory, has never been characteristic
of democracy. Whenever it has had free play, in the ancient world
or the modern, in the old hemisphere or the new, a thirst for
empire and a readiness for aggressive war has always marked it.” 1
This was a favourite theme of Lord Salisbury’s to the end of his
life, and though he was resj>onsible for adding more territory to
the British Empire than any other Prime Minister of modern
times, he seldom missed an opportunity of telling the public that
the quarrelsomeness of the nations, and their thirst for empire,
were an excess of the democratic spirit which had swamped the old-
fashioned sober statesmanship of kings and chancellors.
Whatever truth there may be in this generalisation it certainly
did not apply to the situation in Prussia in 1863. For King
William I. and Bismarck were in that year riding rough-shod over
the Prussian constitution and the will of the democracy as ex
pressed by the Lower Chamber, in their effort to create the army
which was to be the instrument of the policy of blood and iron.
The minority, which meant the King and Bismarck, had proposed
a scheme which more than doubled the number of the troops and
greatly increased their efficiency, but the democracy, so far from
encouraging the military spirit or showing ‘ ‘ a readiness for aggres
sive w T ar,” regarded the project as a scheme for arming the crown
against the people. The Lower Chamber first amended the Bill
out of recognition, and then rejected it altogether. Bismarck
thereupon advised the King to prorogue the Chamber, silence the
Press, and proceed with the Bill in defiance of Parliament and the
constitution. This advice was followed, and if now we turn from
Lord Salisbury’s essay to Bismarck’s autobiography, and to his
correspondence with the King and other Ministers at this time, we
get a complete inversion of the view which Lord Salisbury was
impressing on the readers of the Quartexly Review. Bismarck re
lates how he went to see the -ling at Babelsberg on September
22 nd, 1862, and found him in the act of abdicating, the instrument
for that purpose having been actually drawn up and laid on the
table before them. 2 He persuaded him to continue, hownver, and
promised to join the Ministry for the express purpose of defying
the Parliament. 3 A month later the King was again in the deepest
dejection, and Bismarck went to meet him at Juterbogk on his
(1) Essays, Vol. II., 68.
(2) Bismarck Reflections and Reminiscences. Vol. I., 291.
(3) Ibidem, 310-13.