, 1880-07-14

he wonld have had no course but to resign
his place as Prussian Minister in case of
defeat, whether the King were ready to
accept his resignation or not. And he
leaves the impression strong that even
though he has not committed himself person
ally in public to the new Bill, he shall be
obliged either to dissolve the Diet, or to
transfer his power to new hands, i'll case
the Diet refuses to grant him the Ministe-
rial discretion for which he. asks.
1t is quite clear from this what Prince
Bismarck really thinks of Parliaments.
He regards then as engines not for teach
ing the Ministers what the people desire,
but for teaching the people what the Min
lister desires. 1t was much the same with
our own Stuarts, and the attitude of Prince
Bismarck towards the Prussian Dict and
German Parliament often reminds us OF
the attitude of Charles /. towards tho Par
liamentS which he was good enough to
summon because he could not get on with
out them, and good enough to dissolve
because he could not get on with them.
Prince Bismarck has failed to see the ex-
act nature of his position only on this ac-
count, that unlike our Stuarts, he really
did desire, and strongly desire, one thing
very hard to attain, which the PrusSian
and German peoples also desired and his
CtlCCCSS III GYMS tAlClA thSeU tAAlIS'@A 10
sian leadership and German unity,-was
so brilliant, that he fell into the blunder of
supposing that he might consider himself
for the future as the voice Of the PruSsian
and German peoples. Unfortunately,
when he had gone so far as this, he had
exhausted his real sympathieS with the
national mind OF his age. lie supposed,
indeed, that in relation to the Roman
Catholic Church he also sympathiSed with
his Acknowledgment; but that, as he is
now iindingOutwaS a curious mistake. They
really desired to see the 'Roman Catholic
Church put AID kept in irons they wish
ed to see is dictatoriaI spiritual instincts
mortified, its honest fanatics prosecuted.
its popular foes glorlfied. Prince Bis
marck wished nothing of tho kind. A
Protestant pietist himself, he had q good
deal of hearty sympathy with the pletism
OF the Roman C~thole Church., aud SO tar
as it thwarted his war against the partition
l~artsts, did he really wish to humiliate it.
When Roman Catholics were in his way,
he wished TO see them put down. But he
is very conscious that there are no more
formidable foes to the Secularist and So
cialist movement than the Roman Catho-
lies, and so soon as the Particularism OF
the smaller German States ceased to be
dangerous, and German Socialism showed
itself ia its true colours, he would have
been very glad to welcome back the
Roman Catholics as allies, on condition
they never rebelled against him again. He
wished to prosecute Roman Catholicism.
SO long as it was an obstacle in the path Of
German unity; but to pet it, so soon as it
was its distinguishing feature that it raised
the standard OF religion against German
Socialism, German Republicauism, land
German anarchy. Neither the German
people nor the German Catholic Church are
willing to accept this change of attitude. The
former say that they helped him to put
the Church in irons because they wished
to see it crippled as a Church, not be-
cause they wished to see it crippled as
the ally of the independence of the nj.
nor states, The German Catholics say that
they resisted his prosecuting laws because
they were radically unjust and irreligious, and
they are not willing to lend themselves to
their merely provisional repeal, leaving in his
hands at any time the discretion to use them
as a scourge again. So Prince Bismarck finds
that his new policy commands the adhesion of
no large party in the nation. Indeed, it is
solely because he dictates it that it gets any
support at all. He has lost the tide of popu.
lar feeling, and finds himself struggling alone a.
gainst forces he caa neither represent nor un-
derstand,-the fanaticisn of the s~ceptical ha-
treds on the one side, aud soreness of e~cclesias-
tical pride Cd the 9th or.
Thu truth ia that ha haq OnVnr vot IQqrnQd