Blood and Iron Part 41

63

The secret discontent of the man who believed himself sole founder of the German Empire.

-- When the Kaiser, on that eventful day in March, 1890, turned and told the old man to go, Bismarck received the heart-breaking sentence without a sign of protest.

-- To a friend who called he told the news in a calm voice, a smile on his lips, congratulating himself on being able to resume his country life, of which he was so fond, of visiting again the forests on his estates, and "belonging to himself" in the few years that were yet left.

-- "I'll soon be gone," he said, "and it is time I should take a rest."

-- The story is long and complex, but we will give you the large details, only. The day comes when Bismarck's old friend, Emperor William I, pa.s.ses from this earthly scene; his son, Frederick III, reigns three months and is carried off by cancer of the throat. The doom of Bismarck is now sealed! Emperor William I was the firm foundation of Bismarck's strength, but the son did not like the Iron Chancellor, and within the three brief months of power before death called, Frederick III let it be known that Bismarck was marked for retirement. Frederick's one act leveled against the Bismarck family-dynasty was to dismiss von Puttkammer, Minister of the Interior.

-- Now enters William II, aged 29, a mighty man in the making, a sleepless man, one who in his time was to become the standard by which henceforth all German inst.i.tutions are to be measured. His first address to the army; his second, to the navy; his third, three days later, to the citizens.

-- Did he not ask old von Moltke to resign? Yes, and others. It was not, as many historians set up, that Emperor William II was jealous of Bismarck, nor was it a case of "crabbed age and youth cannot live together."

-- The Emperor, with firm feeling in his will to Imperial power, wishes to develop Germany along lines of world-wide importance. Bismarck was of the past; William of the future. The blow fell March 28th, 1890.

-- The world gave a gasp of astonishment; it seemed impossible that Bismarck, the master-mind of United Germany, should be unceremoniously shuffled out of sight.

Political writers the world around become involved in spirited controversies, on the whole supporting the old man and denouncing what seemed like ingrat.i.tude on the part of the new Emperor. It was pointed out that Bismarck himself, speaking to the Czar, had only a short time before declared, "I hope to die in office, always a good friend of Russia." Also that William II had on New Year's telegraphed to Bismarck, "That I may long be permitted to work with you, for the welfare and greatness of the Fatherland!"

-- If Bismarck was not made by a King's breath, at least a breath destroyed Bismarck's control of the situation.

Bismarck had long ruled the lives of millions; but when Wm. II snapped his fingers and said "Finis!" the old Chancellor had to go. The loss of Bismarck's influence was as complete as though instead of being the foremost man of his time in the diplomatic world, he was instead only a clerk discharged by his superior.

-- In listing the elements on which Bismarck builded there is always one often overlooked, yet at the very foundation, the bottom stone in the wall. That one was the favorable att.i.tude of King William I.

Without the King's consent, Bismarck's career would have been impossible! Herein, we find a cla.s.sic ill.u.s.tration of how interdependent are men's lives; what small causes sustain or defeat great careers.

-- But first we wish to tell you something of his honors during the past few years, also of the munificent patronage of the Kaiser, going far to refute the libel that the Kaiser was ungrateful. The patient Kaiser in truth dealt n.o.bly with the moody old man.

On the old man's 70th birthday (1885), the people of Germany offered a gift of $1,350,000, one-half of which Bismarck used to repurchase the ancestral estate, Schoenhausen, which he had sold in his impecunious years; and now, thanks to the grat.i.tude of the German nation, the old place, mightily enlarged and improved, pa.s.sed again into Bismarck's hands.

The other half of the $1,350,000 Bismarck set aside as an endowment fund for school teachers.

-- Even Victor Hugo added his hero-worship, in this curious letter: "The giant salutes the giant! The enemy salutes the enemy! The friend sends the greeting of a friend!

-- "I hate you, cruelly, for you have humiliated France; I love you because I am greater than you.

-- "You kept silence when my eighty years sounded from the belfry of my glory; but I speak now because the stolen clock which stands upon your desk, refuses to announce to you that your 70th birthday has come.

-- "If you and I were united in one person, the history of the world would have been ended.... But you are great because you know not what fear is. Therefore, I, the poet, offer my hand to you, the great man."

-- The Prince, thunderstruck, wrote in reply two words, "Otto--Adieu!"

-- Nor was this all. The Pope bestowed upon Bismarck the Order of Christ, for ameliorating the last of certain hard conditions against the Church, dating from the culture-struggle of years gone by.

-- In 1871, Emperor William I had invested Bismarck with the hereditary dignity of Prince, and William II conferred on Bismarck, at the time of dismissal (1890), the t.i.tle Duke of Lauenburg, together with a larger share of the Duchy of Lauenburg, an estate on which the Emperor expended $1,000,000.

-- The old man's income was now said to be in excess of $100,000 a year; in addition he received unnumbered gifts of a princely nature, as well as priceless tokens of sentimental esteem, from patriotic Germans the world around.

-- It was a relief to Bismarck, in his old age, to know that his family would be rich and famous. He had been deeply engrossed in politics for years, and all his ambitions had been exhausted on his beloved Germany; he not only had no time to make money, but was heavily in debt; his interest account, for loans, was said to have been, for many years, $30,000 per annum.

How he managed to keep his head above water (with all the distractions of statesmanship, to say nothing of the burdens of three great wars, and the embarra.s.sments of his private finances) shows the man's iron const.i.tution as well as his sagacity in practical affairs.

-- In all, Bismarck received forty-eight orders of distinction, at the hands of monarchs; also a long list of university degrees, medals and golden keys bestowing the freedom of German cities.

-- The immediate cause of Bismarck's dismissal had to do with an old "Order in Council," 1852, to the effect that the Prime Minister, as head of the Prussian Cabinet, had autocratic powers.

This order the Kaiser now abruptly countermanded. The decision was made following an interview between Bismarck and Dr. Windhorst, at Bismarck's house.

William II did not much like this political jockeying on the part of Bismarck; Windhorst was an enemy of the established order; therefore, that the Prussian Chancellor should hold a secret caucus with a politician objectionable to the Emperor created a crisis.

The Kaiser, who lived in a wire-hung whispering gallery, knew at once that Bismarck and Windhorst had been in conference; and early on the day following, William abruptly appeared at Bismarck's and asked to see the Chancellor.

Bismarck came down in morning gown and slippers, for he had been summoned from his bed!

-- "What is the meaning of this Windhorst interview?" inquired the Kaiser sharply.

Bismarck replied with spirit. The breach widened. Bismarck took the ground that it was none of the Kaiser's business who called at the Bismarck house.

-- The Kaiser then insisted that in the future he should be notified in advance of prospective political interviews, that, if he so desired, he might send a personal representative, to report the drift of the talk.

This made Bismarck furious; the old man rebelled, flatly!

-- It was a sharp, short, painful scene; by no means a ceremonious discussion of const.i.tutional prerogatives, or the amicable rearrangement of methods of transacting state business. Instead, it was the parting of the ways, the breaking of old ties;--and after all these long years!

-- "Then I understand, Your Majesty, that I am in your way?"

-- "Yes!"

-- "Enough!"

-- "Haste!" rejoined the Kaiser; and thus, in few words, the celebrated interview came to an end.

-- In parting with the Chancellor, the Kaiser made Bismarck Prince of Lauenburg and gave him a very valuable country estate, and added also the rank of Field Marshal. The princes of Germany joined in good wishes for the old man's peace and happiness, for his declining days.

-- Peace and happiness--what a satire!