His Minister, Count Bismarck, is the partisan of "divine right,"
and, like the King, regards with satisfaction that hierarchical
feudalism from which they are both derived. He is noble, and
believes in nobility. He believes also in force, as if he had the
blood of the god Thor. He believes in war, and does not hesitate
to throw its "iron dice," insisting upon the rigors of the game.
As the German question began to lower, his policy was most
persistent. "Not by speeches and votes of the majority," he said
in 1862, "are the great questions of the time decided,--that was
the error of 1848 and 1849,--_but by iron and blood_." [Footnote:
"Nicht durch Reden und Majoritaetsbeschluesse werden die grossen
Fragen der Zeit entschieden,--das ist der Fehler von 1848 und
1849 gewesen,--sondern durch Eisen und Blut."--_Aeusserungen
in der Budgetkommission_, September, 1862.]

Thus explicit was he. Having a policy, he became its
representative, and very soon thereafter controlled the counsels
of his sovereign, coming swiftly before the world; and yet his
elevation was tardy. Born in 1815, he did not enter upon diplomacy
until 1851, when thirty-six years of age, and only in 1862 became
Prussian Minister at Paris, whence he was soon transferred to the
Cabinet at Berlin as Prime-Minister. Down to that time he was
little known. His name is not found in any edition of the bulky
French Dictionary of Contemporaries, [Footnote: Vapereau,
Dictionnaire Universel des Contemporains.] not even its "Additions
and Rectifications," until the Supplement of 1863. But from this
time he drew so large a share of public attention that the
contemporary press of the world became the dictionary where his
name was always found. Nobody doubts his intellectual resources,
his courage, or strength of will; but it is felt that he is