¶ There is small profit in using precious time denouncing Bismarck's protest against French Constitutionalism. Let us, instead, try to understand why the old ways were cherished. And always bear in mind that the Past holds mankind in a tighter grip than the Radicals are willing to concede! There is no such thing as wiping off the slate and starting with a "new" set of ideas. The wisest man in the world cannot do that. At best, he recognizes the past, with here and there a slight variation. Such, in short, was Bismarck's broad and true idea of human necessity. And he planned his German Empire accordingly. * * * * * ¶ Bismarck was faced by these facts: the idiomatic ways in which German people thought and acted; their tastes and ideals, not only in politics but in society, law, religion;--nay, their very dreams. Throughout, there is always a profound sense of personal responsibility to the State. The State is not to be forgotten for some spurious personal individuality. And mark this: that for generations "events" in Germany all gave expression to certain racial habits of thought, against which all manner of Communistic uprisings were anathema. German sense of discipline, duty and personal responsibility, in State affairs, is grounded on a high consciousness that is not satisfied with half-measures, bungling, waste, cheap politicians, and freakish legislation. The German takes himself too seriously to permit a bunko-politician to come on with faking, as a substitute for the National ideal of government. ¶ Hence, Bismarck's Imperial democracy, with the Kaiser at its head. * * * * * ¶ As between the inevitable contest between the Crowd and the Crown, springing from the inflammatory ideas of French Constitutionalism, Bismarck did not shrink; but fought it out in his own way. Our Man of Blood and Iron desired the blessings of liberty for Germany with all the strength of his powerful being; but he could not stultify his common sense by meekly conceding no essential distinction between men, in their capacity for leadership. He was, then, intent on bringing out of the German political chaos a type of democracy that may be termed Imperial as well as representative, in which the people are accorded their share, as he saw it, but always under the guidance of a strong central authority.