DEPUTY HERR JÄNSCH.

189

which feeds and pastures with the proprietor's herd, without any kind of return on her part.

"Every day-laborer-those who have not grown-up daughters -keeps one servant-girl, with wages of, say 10 thalers (£1 10s.) per annum, who, on account of the laborer, performs services to the proprietor, which the laborer's wife never does, but takes care of the children, and cooks.

"The pay in cash, which such a family, with servant, according to the foregoing tariff, after deducting the produce, much of which remains for sale, is ascertained, according to the number of children able to assist in the work, to be about 34 to 50 thalers per annum.* A family without children receives, after deducting the 190 non-paid days (including 60 days for threshing) and the 52 Sundays=242 days (inclusive of market-days and the like), annually, in cash-paid days for man and maid-some of these days being semi-labor days, and so justifying the apparent difference-52 days at 4 sgr., 178 days at 3 sgr., and 150 days at 2 sgr., in all 34 thalers 22 sgr. If this be added to the abovenamed produce, it will not be astonishing that the Pomeranian laborers would not be disposed to exchange their present condition for the poor 6 sgr. per day which Herr Jänsch in his ignorance would obtain for them. I will not boast, but only state, as a matter of fact, that the greater number of the proprietors have hitherto voluntarily adopted the usual practice of supporting the inhabitants during calamity, cattle murrain, and years of famine-many to a degree of which the babbling philanthropists who declaim. against the Junkers have no idea whatever. In the past year of famine, in which the Deputy Master Butcher Jänsch made a disturbance in Belgard, which, if I mistake not, obtained some notice from the Court of Justice, the large class of proprietors he has attacked by erroneous or fictitious statements made great sacrifices to give the inhabitants of their estates no reason to increase the class of the dissatisfied, at the head of whom Deputy Herr Jänsch now fights to attain tumultuary laurels. I have added this personal remark in order to draw the attention of Herr Jänsch to the rest of the article, and thus afford him the opportu

* £5 2s. to £7 10s.-K. R. H. M.

+ We should think not. 6 sgr. per day at 213 days= 46.18.£7 within a fraction.-K. R. H. M.

190

BISMARCK AT STOLPE.

nity of learning something of the condition of the class he asserts himself to represent; a condition of which he ought to have known, before he talked about them in the National Assembly. "BISMARCK.

"Schönhausen, the 21st August, 1848."

The then Deputy for Belgard has never attempted to obtain any advantage by a reply!

Immediately after the days of March, Bismarck, impelled by his Prussian heart, addressed a letter to His Majesty; not a political letter, full of counsels and plans, but an outpouring of the feelings produced by the moment. Throughout the whole of that summer this letter lay upon King Frederick William's writ ing-table, as a precious token of unchangeable Prussian fidelity. During that summer, so fraught with weighty events, Bismarck was often called to Sans-Souci, and the King took his advice in many important affairs.

Stolpe, on the Baltic, was the residence of Bismarck for some weeks of the summer. An incident of his life is furnished by a spectator. After one of the concerts denominated "Navy Concerts "for in those days an opinion was entertained that a fleet could be built by means of beer-drinking, concert-pence, and such similiar "miserabilities" of good intentions-Bismarck, drawing himself up to his full height, majestically addressed one of the gentlemen who had been active in the concert, greeting him as an acquaintance, and added: "You have taken pains to make the work somewhat hotter for us!" It was one of the hottest days of the year. An anxious smile played upon his lips, but bright daring spoke in the firm contour of the bearded face. His hat alone bore the Prussian colors. It was indeed refreshing to see such a man in those days.

And when the "winter of discontent" came for democracy, when the question of saving the construction of a ministry was prominent, it was Bismarck who took the initiative concerning the introduction of the elder Von Manteuffel, his partisan at the United Diet, and thus drew the eyes of the people upon the man who promptly restored order. He had discovered the right man for the situation as it then existed.

CHAPTER IV.

CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP.

[1849-1851.]

The Second Chamber.-The Sword and the Throne.-Acceptance of the Frankfurt Project. The New Electoral Law.-Bismarck's Speeches.-The King and the Stag.-Birth of Herbert von Bismarck.-" What does this Broken Glass Cost?"The Kreuzzeitung Letters.-The Prussian Nobility.-"I am Proud to be a Prussian Junker!"-Close of the Session.

IMMEDIATELY after the publication of the December constitution of 1848, Bismarck was, in the same month, elected in Bran

Memorials and landmarks still remain !

denburg the representative of West-Havelland, as a member of the Second Chamber. The Diet was opened on the 26th of February, 1849; and Bismarck was among the first members to repair to the solemnity in the White Saloon. How many reminiscences were associated in Bismarck's mind with the White Saloon! How many more were to arise!

Without any special object, most probably, Bismarck took the

192

OPENING OF THE SESSION.

same seat in the Assembly he had formerly occupied as representative of the Knight's Estate of Jerichow, in the United Diet; and here he held, as it were, as member for the electoral metropolis of Brandenburg, a sort of court. It was at least something of a court, for not only was he received by his former associates, such as Count Arnim-Boytzenburg, the minister Von Manteuffel, and many others, but his opponents also addressed him-those who had been his opponents, and were to become so again. Among these were Auerswald, Vincke, and Grabow; at that time they all stood with Bismarck on the right, in the terrible. crisis of the country. Bismarck received them with the perfect confidence of a great-hearted gentleman, in that gracious manner of which he was so perfect a master, but which he could, at any moment, for the sake of a joke, frankly and freely abandon, without in the least imperilling his position. On that day his face remained serious, despite the anecdote related by Freiherr von Vincke, who recounted in a humorous way that on alighting from his carriage he had been hissed at the palace gate by the Berlin mob, while plaudits were made to Temmes and D'Esters. Bismarck did not allow himself any illusions as to the difficulty of the position, although the royalists were in ecstasies at the result of the elections. Parties were at the time about equal in numbers, if those were counted to the royalist side that had not formally sided with the democrats. It was a very beggarly ac count, and yet this was to be regarded, after the events of the spring, as a considerable gain—a gain greatly to be ascribed to the endeavors of Bismarck and his immediate friends.

A conservative deputy from Pomerania, addressing the member for West-Havelland, said: "We have conquered!"

"Not so!" replied Bismarck, coolly. "We have not conquered, but we have made an attack, which is the principal thing. Victory is yet to come, but it will come."

These words accurately and truly convey the nature of the situation, Bismarck being a master of short phrases in which situations are rendered in a perfectly intelligible manner. Very frequently his expressions appear as if a curtain had been suddenly withdrawn to allow brilliant light to dissipate gloom. He is the very opposite to those diplomatists who make use of language only to conceal their thoughts. His clear perceptions are ever

DEFINITION OF THE WORD "PEOPLE."

193

conveyed openly in definite language. Not only in politics is this true, but in ordinary conversation. On one occasion the relative positions of the Pomeranian Circles were under discussion. Bismarck said, "The Principality of Cammin hangs like a pair of breeches over Belgard!" Of course his geographical studies aided him to this, but his expressions are equally applicable under all circumstances.

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