drowning when I have a chance. That's what I got that medal for."
After 1848, Bismarck's courage was displayed on other fields. He was among the first, and certainly among the most conspicuous, of those who, while all around were carried away by the Revolution, or despaired of being able to resist it, stood up boldly and agitated openly against it. He took the lead of the reactionary party, and became very unpopular. The Liberal press in Prussia attacked him with great violence. In Parliament he met with vehement opposition. He seldom lost his temper, but he never retracted a single word of his attacks on the Revolution. Some allusions having been made to the fate which generally awaits those who try to resist the demands of a great people for liberty, he merely shrugged his shoulders. He is of opinion that "death on the scaffold may be a very honorable death."
While he was canvassing for his election at a place called Rathenow, an old farmer asked him if he thought it were of any use to fight against those Berlin democrats. "It is better to be the hammer than the anvil," replied Bismarck. "Let us attack them by all means!" This has been Bismarck's policy through life. As soon as he sees an enemy before him he commences the attack. He has always managed to be the hammer.
When he was on the point of leaving Rathenow, a mob surrounded the carriage, in which he was seated with his friend, Mr. Von Stechow. Stones were thrown at him, and one struck him on the shoulder. He rose, and, picking up the stone that had fallen in the carriage, he hurled it back at the crowd. It was a multitude against two men; but nobody dared to stop Bismarck's carriage.
In 1850, when the tide of political passion was still running very high, Bismarck went one day into a tavern at Berlin to take a glass of beer. A man near him, feeling himself supported by the presence of his friends, began to abuse a member of the royal family. Bismarck looked at him, and said quietly, "If you have not left this room before I have finished my beer, Ill break this pot over your head." He then emptied his glass very deliberately, and as the man took no heed of the warning, he did as he had threatened. He went up to the fellow and knocked him about the head with the pot till he fell, howling, on the ground. Bismarck then asked the waiter, "How much for the glass?" and, having paid for it, he walked away leisurely, without any one having dared to molest him. Even at that time he was already a man of some political standing, and the acknowledged leader of the Conservative party; but, true to his principle, he always took the offensive, attacking his adversaries wherever he met them, and with all weappons.
Bismarck's attitude in Parliament had, of course, been much noticed at court. The king, Frederick William IV., had taken a great liking to the Junker, and when the post of Prussian minister at Frankfurt became vacant, he thought of offering it to Bismarck. He was rather surprised, however, when this latter, without asking time for reflection, declared himself ready to accept the king's proposal.
"But you are aware that it is a very difficult post, and it involves great responsibility?" said the king.
"Your Majesty may at all events give me a chance," replied Bismarck; "if I do not succeed, I can be recalled at any time."
The position which he at once assumed at Frankfurt created considerable astonishment there. Austria was at that time the ruling power in the Bundesrath, and the minor German States not only suffered this, as being legitimate and unavoidable, but they actually favored the pretensions of Austria; for they saw in the house of Hapsburg their natural protector against the Hohenzollern. The last representative of Prussia at the Bund had not been able to resent this, and had quietly consented to play a humble second part, Count Thun, the Austrian minister, and president of the Bund, being unmistakably No. I. This had gone so far that Bismarck's predecessor had, like his colleagues, allowed Count Thun to be the only member to smoke during the committee meetings. No consideration could prevent Bismarck from protesting against this. He took a cigar out of his pocket, asked Count Thun, to his amazement, for a light, and puffed away freely long after the Austrian minister had thrown his cigar away. It was but a trifle, but that trifle required more courage than any of his colleagues possessed; and Bismarck acquired thereby a personal position which his predecessor had never enjoyed.
We have recalled these stories, though they are unimportant in themselves, because we have thought it interesting to show that Bismarck's historical audacity — if such a term may be used — has its origin in his native, inborn daring. It is not difficult to show a fearless front
