by Napoleon and protected by Metternich, and are blind to the dangers which threaten Prussia and the independence of Germany."
He wishes for a clear statement of their policy; a stricter concentration of the German military forces, reform of the Customs' Unions, and a number of common institutions to protect material interests against the disadvantages which arise from the unnatural configuration of the different states.
"Besides all this I do not see why we should shrink back so bashfully from the idea of a representation of the people. We cannot fight as revolutionary an institution which we Conservatives cannot do without even in Prussia, and is recognised as legitimate in every German State."[1]
This letter is interesting as shewing how nearly his wishes on German affairs coincided with those of the Liberal party and of the National Verein: he was asking the Conservatives to adopt the chief points in their opponents' programme. Of course they would not do so, and the King himself was more likely to be alarmed than attracted by the bold and adventurous policy that was recommended to him. Bis-
- ↑ Kohl prints a memorandum of this year (1861) which probably is that sent to Herr von Below; in it the ideas of the letter are developed at greater length and the language is more cautious; Bismarck recommends in it a representation of the people at the Diet, but points out that under present circumstances the consent of the Diet could not be attained; the plan to which he seems to incline is that of a separate union between some of the States; exactly the plan which Radowitz had followed and Bismarck had ten years before so bitterly opposed.
