liberty or their property derived its validity from the simple
proclamation of the King.

Bismarck, if he had read less, understood better the characteristics of
England, probably because he knew better the conditions of his own
country. He rose to protest against these parallels with England;
Prussia had its own problems which must be settled in its own way.

"Parallels with foreign countries have always something
disagreeable.... At the Revolution, the English people were in a
very different condition from that of Prussia to-day; after a
century of revolution and civil war, it was in a position to be
able to give away a crown and add conditions which William of
Orange accepted. On the other hand, we are in possession of a
crown whose rights were actually unlimited, a crown held by the
grace not of the people but of God, and which of its own
free-will has given away to the people a portion of its
rights--an example rare in history."

It shows how strong upon him was the influence of his friends in
Pomerania that his longest and most important speech was in defence of
the Christian monarchy. The occasion was a proposal to increase the
privileges of the Jews. He said:

"I am no enemy of the Jews; if they become my enemies I will
forgive them. Under certain circumstances I love them; I am ready
to grant them all rights but that of holding the magisterial
office in a Christian State. This they now claim; they demand to
become Landrath, General, Minister, yes even, under
circumstances, Minister of Religion and Education. I allow that