¶ There was a strain of bitter eloquence about this red-headed champion of the people's rights. He had read Guizot and talked much of Hampden, the Long Parliament, and all that. George had the legal side of the argument, especially since the French revolution had set liberty bells a-ringing everywhere, even in solemn old Prussia; but the doughty Bismarck would come thundering back with his "unlimited crown" and rulership over the people "by the grace of God," royal prerogative and general disdain for the masses;--as in the régime of Louis the Magnificent at Versailles, when the convicts worked to build the $200,000,000 palace to shelter art, wit and pretty women, while the people starved. How out of tune, Bismarck; how hopelessly reactionary! * * * * * ¶ Bismarck voted against every new privilege. His speeches read like reports of personal rows! He was frank, fearless and frenzied, and in turn his volleys excited groans and hisses. ¶ Was ever mortal so utterly out of touch with the prevailing French conception of liberty, equality and fraternity? Here is the way he summed up political equality: ¶ "The goosequill arguments of newspaper writers!" "Relics of pot-houses!" "The emancipation of the people does not mean progress!" "A royal word is more than volumes of law!" "The Prussian sovereigns are in possession of a crown by God's grace!" "The king has said he did not wish to be coerced or driven!" "Let there be a period of four years, at least, before another such stupid meeting as this is held." ¶ It was a curious situation. Bismarck was both rude and crude! His style of delivery was lame, his voice improperly placed, his mannerisms grotesque. Despite his hobbling oratory, however, Bismarck was soon a marked man; he held his audience by his sensational ideas and his dogged courage! * * * * * ¶ Why did Bismarck vote against every new privilege? This may not be decently answered in a word; you must read on in detail; there was a great principle behind Bismarck's political attitude. True, it was crudely conceived and expressed, at this period; but he will improve with time. ¶ Bismarck well remembered the excesses of German Jacobins, in the southwest, during the turbulent years of the French Revolution. Alsace and Lorraine had welcomed massacres as signs of political equality; mob leaders destroyed castles and monasteries; Jew-baiters went mad; Schneider, the tyrant of Strassburg, took charge of the guillotine, but not making enough blood flow, was soon aided by professional executioners, straight from Paris.