Moreover, there was a general feeling that things could not last long; the Liberals believed that the future was with them; time itself would bring revenge.  At the worst they would wait till the death of the King; he was already nearly seventy years of age; the political difficulties had much injured his health.  When he was gone, then with the Crown Prince the constitutional cause would triumph.

How different was the future to be!  Year after year the conflict continued.  Each year the House was summoned and the Budget laid before it; each year the House rejected the Budget; they threw out Government measures, they refused the loans, and they addressed the King to dismiss his Ministers.  The sessions, however, were very short; that of 1864 lasted only a few weeks.

Each year Bismarck’s open contempt for the Parliament and their unqualified hatred of him increased.  The people still continued to support their representatives.  The cities still continued to withhold their loyal addresses to the King.  With each year, however, the Government gained confidence.  It was easy to see that the final result would depend on the success of the Government in external affairs.  To these we must now turn.

English opinion at that time was unanimously opposed to the King; it is difficult even now to judge the issue.  It was natural for Englishmen to sympathise with those who wished to imitate them.  Their pride was pleased when they found the ablest Parliamentary leaders, the most learned historians and keenest jurists desirous to assimilate the institutions of Prussia to those which existed in England.  It is just this which ought to make us pause.  What do we think of politicians who try to introduce among us the institutions and the faults of foreign countries?  “Why will not the King of Prussia be content with the position which the Queen of England holds, or the King of the Belgians,—­then all his unpopularity would be gone?” was a question asked at the time by an English writer.  We may ask, on the other hand, why should the King of Prussia sacrifice his power and prerogative?  The question is really as absurd as it would be to ask, why is not an English Parliament content with the power enjoyed by the Prussian Parliament?  It was a commonplace of the time, that the continued conflict shewed a want of statesmanship; so it did, if it is statesmanship always to court popularity and always to surrender one’s cause when one believes it to be right, even at the risk of ruining one’s country.  It must be remembered that through all these years the existence of Prussia was at stake.  If the Prussian Government insisted on the necessity for a large and efficient army, they were accused of reckless militarism.  People forgot that the Prussian Monarchy could no more maintain itself without a large army than the British Empire could without a large navy.  In all the secret diplomatic negotiations of the time, the dismemberment of Prussia was a policy to be considered.