in the war, it would be as enemies of the Kings of Prussia.  When Bismarck said that they were Prussians, and would remain Prussian, he undoubtedly spoke the opinion of the Mark and of Pomerania.  But the inhabitants of the Western Provinces still felt and thought rather as Germans than as Prussians; they had scarcely been united with the monarchy thirty years; they were not disloyal, but they were quite prepared—­nay, they wished to see Prussia dissolved in Germany.  No one can govern Prussia unless he is able to reconcile to his policy these two different classes in the State.  It was this which the Prussian Conservatives, to which Bismarck at that time belonged, have always failed to do.  The Liberals whom he opposed failed equally.  In later years he was very nearly to succeed in a task which might appear almost impossible.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE GERMAN PROBLEM.

1849-1852.

Bismarck, however, did not confine himself to questions of constitutional reform and internal government.  He often spoke on the foreign policy of the Government, and it is in these speeches that he shews most originality.

The Revolution in Germany, as in Italy, had two sides; it was Liberal, but it was also National.  The National element was the stronger and more deep-seated.  The Germans felt deeply the humiliation to which they were exposed owing to the fact that they did not enjoy the protection of a powerful Government; they wished to belong to a national State, as Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Russians did.  It was the general hope that the period of revolution might be used for establishing a government to which the whole of Germany would pay obedience.  This was the task of the Constituent Assembly, which since the spring of 1848 had with the permission of the Governments been sitting at Frankfort.  Would they be able to succeed where the diplomatists of Vienna had failed?  They had at least good-will, but it was to be shewn that something more than honest endeavour was necessary.  There were three great difficulties with which they had to contend.  The first was the Republican party, the men who would accept no government but a Republic, and who wished to found the new state by insurrection.  They were a small minority of the German people; several attempts at insurrection organised by them were suppressed, and they were outvoted in the Assembly.  The second difficulty was Austria.  A considerable portion of Germany was included in the Austrian Empire.  If the whole of Germany were to be included in the new State which they hoped to found, then part of the Austrian Empire would have to be separated from the rest, subjected to different laws and a different government; nothing would remain but a personal union between the German and Slavonic provinces.  The Government of Austria, after it had recovered its authority at the end of 1848, refused to accept this