He attempted to meet it by strengthening the authority of the House over its own members; the Chairman did not possess any power of punishing breaches of decorum.

Bismarck often contrasted this with the very great powers over their own members possessed by the British Houses of Parliament.

He drew attention to the procedure by which, for instance, Mr.Plimsoll could be compelled to apologise for hasty words spoken in a moment of passion.

It is strange that neither the Prussian nor the German Parliament consented to adopt rules which are really the necessary complement for the privileges of Parliament.
The Germans were much disappointed by the constant quarrels and disputes which were so frequent in public life; they had hoped that with the unity of their country a new period would begin; they found that, as before, the management of public affairs was disfigured by constant personal enmities and the struggle of parties.

We must not, however, look on this as a bad sign; it is rather more profitable to observe that the new institutions were not affected or weakened by this friction.