Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-10-01

- cRRATION OF De eERMAN EMPIR.

TIE CREATION OF TIE GERMAN EMPIRE
About the time Of his marriage Bis
marck made his appearance at Berlin
"a a member OF the Prussian diet con-
veped bv Frederick William ~. This
diet was q feeble body, with the power
onlyto advise and petitioai but It proved
the OF Germsn unity and .
Prussian kaiser. Bismatck's part In its
proceedings showed him TO be a staunch
and unyielding ~royalist, and though
be speedily became one OF the
valued advisers OF the king, he
warmly denounced what he termed
the latter's weak aud ill-ttmed hooral-
ism In the shape Of a written constitu-
ton. He was chosen a member or the
parliament convened In 1S4S to revise
and sanction this constitution, and In
IT'S deliberations resisted all attempts
10 encroach upon the powers OF the
crown, or reduce the strength OF the
army. Already, he foresaw, that in a
strong monarch and q well drilled
army Law the future hope Of Prussia
and Germany, and when, In April,
1sf0. Frederick William refused the
shadow of an imperial crown offered
him by the Frankfort parliament, he
found a vigorous defender in Bismarck.
Bismarck believed that a union OF the
northern German States under Prussia
must precede any permanent union OF all
the States, but ever the north was still
unprepared for ~uch union, and II was
because he saw this and knew the tenn
porary weakness OF the Prussian army,
that ne defended the abandonment OF the
Erfurt constitution in the conference at
OImutz November, 1851, and Prussia's
sc0uiescence In the revival Of the old
Germanic Diet under the presidency OF
Austria. Curiously enough, his adyo-
cacv Of the arrangement made at o.
mutz caused him OF all men TO be COM
monty regarded as an admirer Of Austria
and a believer In the old Diet, and II was
on these very grounds that Frederick
William, who desired to reduce the ten
sion between Vienna and Berlin, sent
him to Frankfort as secretary TO the
Prussian member OF the representative
assembly OF German soyereigns.
AS a member OF the Frankfort diet,
Bismarck devoted sll his splendid a6ili-
ties 70 extending aud fortiiying the in
huence Of Prussia in that body; dexterr
ously turned to her profit the solution
of the Schleswig-Hoistein problem and
skilful,y and thoroughly prepared for
the downfall and overthrow OF the
power Of the Hapsburg In Germsny.
No member Of the diet could compare
with him iu ability and he over-match-
ed them all. During the Crimean war,
Prussia. 1t the instance Of Bismarck,
held aloof, but by so doing she retained
the good will OF Russia, soon to prove
of the greatest value to her, and also
prevented Austris from interfering
with a reconstruction Of the Prussian
Zollverein which gave Prussia the COM
mercia! leadership OF all Germany.
In January, 1851, Bismarck became
Prusslan minister at St. Petersburg,
hut he was recalled TO Berlin 10 Sep
TENDER. 1862, 20 take the post OF premi-
ar aud foreign minister Of Prussia. His
Motley was outlined in a speech made a
few DAYS after his accession TO office.
''It is not" said be, by speechifying
and maiorities that the great questions
Of the time will have 10 be decided
nat was the mistake made in 1910 aud
1s49-but by blood and trga." Tbs
meaning OF this uttefsnce ws1 explained
nv his fixed rasolvei hat the armies,