The King himself sympathised with their wishes and he probably would have acted according to them were it not that he had sworn to maintain the Constitution.

He was a religious man and he respected his oath.

There does not appear any evidence that Bismarck wished for extreme action of this kind.

Even in his private correspondence, at least in that part of it which has been published, one finds no desire to see Prussia entirely without a Parliament.

It was a very different thing to wish as he did that the duties of the Parliament should be strictly limited and that they should not be allowed completely to govern the State.