CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | PAGE |
|---|---|
| BUCHER, COBDEN, AND THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL—BÜLOW AND THE COMTE DE JOLIVAR—THE HOLY DRUJINA—KEUDELL IN THE PROGRESSIST PRESS—FOUR SECRETARIES OF STATE IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE—KEUDELL AND HIS ARREARS OF WORK—THE CHIEF AND THE PROGRESSIST ELECTIONEERING AGITATION—LIES IN LAUENBURG—INSTRUCTIONS RESPECTING UNRUH’S ARTICLE IN THE “DEUTSCHE REVUE”—WHY BENNIGSEN WAS NOT MADE MINISTER—THE CHANCELLOR ON THILE AND THE DIEST LIBEL—BUCHER ON HOLSTEIN—BUNSEN’S FRIENDS AND TRUTH—A MONUMENT FOR MY SON, WHO DIED AT SEA—THILE’S OPINION OF THE CHIEF—THE CHANCELLOR ON THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION, THE OPPOSITION TO THE TOBACCO MONOPOLY—THE EMPEROR, THE CROWN PRINCE, AND PRINCE WILLIAM—PHILOPATER AND ANTIPATER AT POTSDAM—BUCHER TENDERS HIS RESIGNATION—THE CROWN PRINCE AND THE PROGRESSISTS—THE VICE-CHANCELLORSHIP—ARTICLES AGAINST THE EMPRESS | [1] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| BLEICHRÖDER AND GERMAN DIPLOMACY IN CONSTANTINOPLE—FURTHER INTERVIEWS WITH THE CHANCELLOR—RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND AUSTRIA—THE GABLENTZ MISSION—QUEEN VICTORIA—AN UNPLEASANT EPISTLE—A SEVERE REPRIMAND—BISMARCK COLLABORATES WITH ME—BUCHER’S JOURNEY WITH SALAZAR—A PRESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST ENGLAND—DOCUMENTS AND ARTICLES ON SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTIONS | [70] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| THE CHANCELLOR ON BULGARIA AND SERVIA, AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA, THE BATTENBERGER AND THE TSAR—HIS VIEW OF THE TREATMENT OF THE RUSSIAN BALTIC PROVINCES—A COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH PARTIES AND OUR OWN—GERMANY AND ENGLAND IN AFRICA—THE CHANCELLOR ON THE MILITARY QUESTION, AND THE THREATENED CONFLICT IN THE REICHSTAG—WHAT HE SAID THERE WAS ADDRESSED TO RUSSIA—THE TSAR’S CONFIDENCE IN THE CHANCELLOR—THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS CONSORT—BISMARCK AND HIS WORK—WHAT IS GREATNESS?—THE CHIEF ON HIS OWN DEATH—INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIEF ON THE MARRIAGE OF THE BATTENBERGER, AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE “GRENZBOTEN” ARTICLE, “FOREIGN INFLUENCES IN THE EMPIRE”—BEWARE OF THE PRESS LAWS—NOT TOO VENOMOUS—A SURVEY OF BRITISH POLICY—THE CATALOGUE OF ENGLAND’S SINS—TWO EMPRESSES AGAINST THE CHANCELLOR—QUEEN VICTORIA AT CHARLOTTENBURG—DEATH OF THE “INCUBUS” | [147] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| THE EMPEROR FREDERICK’S DIARY—THE CHIEF ON THE DIARY AND ITS AUTHOR—THE GERMAN QUESTION DURING THE WAR OF 1870—THE EMPEROR FREDERICK AND HIS LEANING TOWARDS ENGLAND—THE CHIEF PRAISES THE YOUNG EMPEROR—“BETTER TOO MUCH THAN TOO LITTLE FIRE!”—I AM TO ARRANGE THE CHIEF’S PAPERS, AND DO SO—LETTERS FROM FREDERICK-WILLIAM IV. AND FROM WILLIAM I.—CORRESPONDENCE WITH AND CONCERNING THE CROWN PRINCE (FREDERICK)—LETTERS TO AND FROM ANDRASSY DURING THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE AUSTRO-GERMAN ALLIANCE—LETTERS FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE SAME SUBJECT—WILLIAM I.’S RELUCTANCE TO DESERT RUSSIA—CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE TSAR AT ALEXANDROWO—WILLIAM I.’S FINAL INSTRUCTIONS—BISMARCK’S ACCOUNT OF HIS RELATIONS WITH THE EMPEROR FREDERICK | [190] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| SIGNS OF FRICTION BETWEEN THE CHANCELLOR AND THE YOUNG EMPEROR—WITH THE CHIEF DURING THE CRISIS—HIS ANXIETY ABOUT HIS PAPERS—HOW TO GET THEM AWAY—HIS RETIREMENT A FACT—THE EMPEROR WANTS TO BE RID OF HIM IN ORDER TO GOVERN ALONE WITH HIS OWN GENIUS—COURT FLUNKEYISM—HIS RETIREMENT IS NOT DUE TO HIS HEALTH, NOR IS IT IN ANY SENSE VOLUNTARY—LETTERS FROM BISMARCK TO WILLIAM I.—THE CHIEF ON THE INITIATION OF PRINCE WILLIAM INTO PUBLIC AFFAIRS—THE GRAND DUKE OF BADEN’S ADVICE TO THE EMPEROR FREDERICK—THE CHIEF TALKS OF WRITING HIS OWN MEMOIRS—BUREAUCRATIC INGRATITUDE—FOREIGN OFFICE APOSTATES—ACCORDING TO BUCHER THE NOTES DICTATED FOR THE MEMOIRS ARE MERE FRAGMENTS, SOMETIMES ERRONEOUS—THE CHIEF’S LIFE AT FRIEDRICHSRUH—SCHWENINGER’S APPREHENSIONS | [305] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| I AM INVITED TO FRIEDRICHSRUH—BUCHER AND THE PROPOSED “MEMOIRS”—HE DOUBTS WHETHER THE LATTER WILL BE COMPLETED—THE CHIEF—“BÜSCHLEIN” AS BEFORE—THE ANGLO-GERMAN AGREEMENT—THE EMPEROR AND RUSSIA—THREE KINGS IN THEIR NAKEDNESS—BÜSCHLEIN WILL WRITE THE SECRET HISTORY OF OUR TIMES—THE PRINCE GIVES ME IMPORTANT PAPERS TO EXAMINE IN MY ROOM: HIS RESIGNATION IN 1890, A DRAFT OF A CONFIDENTIAL STATEMENT OF THE MOTIVES OF HIS RETIREMENT AND NOTES ON THE ATTITUDE OF THE INDIVIDUAL MINISTERS ON THAT OCCASION—STILL ANOTHER BOOK ON BISMARCK IN VIEW; CORRESPONDENCE ON THE SUBJECT WITH BUCHER AND THE CHIEF HIMSELF; THE PLAN DROPPED—LAST VISIT TO BUCHER IN JANUARY, 1892—HIS DEATH—LAST STAY AT FRIEDRICHSRUH IN MAY, 1893—“GOOD BYE, DEAR OLD FRIEND.” | [350] |
BISMARCK
SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY
CHAPTER I
BUCHER, COBDEN, AND THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL—BÜLOW AND THE COMTE DE JOLIVAR—THE HOLY DRUJINA—KEUDELL IN THE PROGRESSIST PRESS—FOUR SECRETARIES OF STATE IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE—KEUDELL AND HIS ARREARS OF WORK—THE CHIEF AND THE PROGRESSIST ELECTIONEERING AGITATION—LIES IN LAUENBURG—INSTRUCTIONS RESPECTING UNRUH’S ARTICLE IN THE “DEUTSCHE REVUE”—WHY BENNIGSEN WAS NOT MADE MINISTER—THE CHANCELLOR ON THILE AND THE DIEST LIBEL—BUCHER ON HOLSTEIN—BUNSEN’S FRIENDS AND TRUTH—A MONUMENT FOR MY SON, WHO DIED AT SEA—THILE’S OPINION OF THE CHIEF—THE CHANCELLOR ON THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION AND THE OPPOSITION TO THE TOBACCO MONOPOLY—THE EMPEROR, THE CROWN PRINCE AND PRINCE WILLIAM—PHILOPATER AND ANTIPATER AT POTSDAM—BUCHER TENDERS HIS RESIGNATION—THE CROWN PRINCE AND THE PROGRESSISTS—THE VICE-CHANCELLORSHIP—ARTICLES AGAINST THE EMPRESS
On the 10th of July, 1881, Bucher wrote me the following note in pencil:—
“The Chief is having articles written on the played-out Liberals in the Vienna Parliament, from which a moral is drawn for our own people. It would certainly amuse him to see Glaser’s letter, a precious production, which you will find in the enclosed book, reprinted. What do you think of the idea?
“In a few days I shall send you a pamphlet on the Cobden Club (written by me, of course secret). I would suggest that it should not be discussed until after the silly season, somewhere about the beginning of September, when we must again hammer away at the subject. I shall then supply you with plenty of material. In the meantime, it may be well to collect together the abusive language to which the pamphlet has given rise.
“In eight or ten days I shall send you an article on the origin of the Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce, which may be published immediately.
“Br.”
Glaser’s letter appeared in a small pamphlet, entitled, An Austrian Minister and his Father, published in Berlin, 1872, by Kerskes and Hohmann. It contained the following passage: “Another year, and the Chosen People shall have attained the object of the Holy Alliance,[1] which they concluded in Paris. We have no more ardent desire than to see the day arrive when we can bid him (Prince Adolph Auersberg) good-bye, and see his place taken by one from our midst” (the Jewish Liberals); and “then” (when the aristocratic party is suspected by the dynasty, and has fallen out of favour) “a really new and regenerated nobility, drawn from our people” (the Jews) “shall enter into power, and fulfil the mission to which God has called them.” I had this letter reproduced in the Grenzboten, with a few introductory remarks.
On the morning of the 11th of July I called upon Bucher, from whom I ascertained that he had collected the material for his pamphlet on the Cobden Club in the British Museum, about a fortnight previously. He had gone to London, under instructions from the Chief, giving a false name, and holding no intercourse with anybody.
On the 21st I called on Bucher at the Foreign Office, to remind him about the pamphlet and the proposed Grenzboten article. He had been unable to write the latter, as he could not obtain a book which he required for the purpose. (This was the Principles of Currency, a work by the Oxford Professor, Bonamy Price, which appeared in 1869.) He gave me his pamphlet, and a quantity of material for the article upon it, to which he made some additions during the following days. He also sent me a number of English and French publications, to be used for the same purpose. In the meantime, Glaser’s letter was emphatically declared to be a forgery by Glaser himself. Bucher, however, still held it to be “genuine in the main.”
I now wrote a series of five articles, entitled “Characteristics of the Manchester School,” based on Bucher’s pamphlet, and the notes and books with which he supplied me. These appeared in Nos. 33 to 37 of the Grenzboten.
On the 27th of July Bucher related to me “an anecdote illustrating the way in which the Secretary of State von Bülow carried on business.” Lasker called upon him one day to introduce a Frenchman, one Comte de Jolivar, who was going to Constantinople, and wished to have a letter of introduction to our Embassy there. Bülow had this letter prepared, and added in his own hand a few words of warm recommendation to Werther, who was our representative at the Porte at that time. The Comte proceeded on his journey with this document in his pocket, and one of the first things he did on his arrival at the Golden Horn was to swindle a German artisan out of a respectable sum of money. This was soon followed by similar operations, which speedily came to Werther’s ears, who probably had already felt surprised at the Frenchman having asked for and received recommendations from the Foreign Office in Berlin, instead of from that in Paris, or from the French Minister in Berlin. He reported these cases of swindling to the Wilhelmstrasse, and from there inquiries were addressed to the Foreign Office in Paris. The information received was to the following effect. Comte de Jolivar is not a Comte, but only a Chevalier, that is to say, chevalier d’industrie, who—as the police records show—has been condemned on several occasions for embezzlement and swindling, and was once prosecuted for forgery, but just managed to save his skin. “Tableau” in the office of our Secretary of State!
Bucher praised Hatzfeldt, who has entered upon the duties of his office in succession to Bülow, as a pleasant and easy chief. Speaking of Bunsen, Bucher said that he had written for the Secessionist Tribune. Bucher also referred to the controversy which he had recently fought out with Bunsen, in the columns of the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
On the 29th of July I received the following note from Bucher:—
“1. Can you get the enclosed inserted in the Daily Telegraph, or some other English newspaper, and send the Chief a copy?
“2. Herewith the draft of an article on the commercial treaty, of which you must alter the introduction. The second edition of Bonamy Price which I have received from Baden (whence he also obtained the Sophisms of Free Trade, which he sent me for the ‘Characteristics of the Manchester School’) does not contain the letter from Chevalier. I have instructed Ascher to get the first edition at my expense, and to forward it to you.
“Yours, Br.”
The enclosure mentioned in paragraph 1 ran as follows:—
“It appears that a secret society has been formed in Russia, by a number of determined and loyal subjects of the Tsar, which is understood to be organised on the same lines as the associations founded for the purpose of assassinating him. This new society purposes to fight the Nihilists with their own weapons. Like the latter, who seek to terrorise the sovereign by attempts upon his life, the new society which has been constituted to oppose these criminals, will endeavour to keep them in check by hunting out and killing the chiefs of the band of assassins in Switzerland and England. It is a regrettable circumstance that honourable men in Russia should be obliged to resort to a kind of mediæval Vehmgericht as a means of protecting the monarch from these miserable cut-throats.”
On the morning of the 30th I forwarded this paragraph to the Daily Telegraph, stating that it came from the “very best source,” and adding that I should be thankful for its insertion. On the 31st, however, I received the following note from Bucher: “Herbert has just telegraphed to me to hold back the paragraph on the Anti-Nihilistic society for the present. Luckily Sunday has intervened. Will you please countermand it by telegraph, and charge me with the costs?” I accordingly telegraphed to London, and the paragraph did not appear.
The second enclosure was worked up for the Grenzboten, and published in No. 32, under the title of “The Genesis of the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty.” It was completed by an extract from Chevalier’s letter, which was published by the Pall Mall Gazette.
In the meantime, on the 30th, I received the following note from Bucher: “As your articles on the Manchester School in the Grenzboten will one day form material for the historian, I would suggest that after the reference to Schlesinger and his association with the Treasury, you should insert the words: ‘since the Macdonald affair at Bonn.’ I will give you the particulars for your memoirs. They are very curious.”
Bucher left for his holidays on the 1st of August.
On the 14th of September Bucher wrote to me that he was in Berlin, and on the 21st I called upon him. He told me that the Chief had again had “difficulties with the Emperor.” The latter now reads no more newspapers. Recently, however, some courtier must have called his attention to a paragraph which he represented to come from the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, to the effect that a Papal Nunciature was to be established in Berlin. The Emperor thereupon wrote the Chief a “snappish letter” which commenced somewhat in the style of Zwückanör (one of the comic figures in the Kladderadatsch): “I am much surprised.” The Chancellor first sent a short telegram, saying that he knew nothing of any such paragraph in the newspaper in question (which had contained nothing of the kind), and afterwards forwarded a memorandum on the subject, which filled three sheets of paper. “He was greatly incensed at the action of the Most Gracious.” Tiedemann, who has now been definitively replaced by Rottenburg, goes in the first place to Bromberg, in the capacity of Regierungspräsident, and not, as he had desired, and expected, to Kassel as Oberpräsident. The mention of Keudell in the first Grenzboten article on the Manchester School, which has been described by the Progressist press as a “violent attack,” has led that gentleman to state in the Morning Post that he had requested the President of the Cobden Club to remove his name from the list of members. He at the same time endeavoured to defend himself in Progressist journals, like the Vossische Zeitung and the Berliner Tageblatt, concluding, as usual, with self-praise. Bucher remarked: “These almost identic articles are written by himself. Only his signature at foot is wanting.” These productions were forwarded to the Chancellor at Varzin, who thereupon had the following statement published in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung:—
“The Berliner Tageblatt, the Schlesische Zeitung and the Vossische Zeitung publish articles respecting Herr von Keudell which are similar in effect, and which all conclude with the phrase that owing to his retirement from the Cobden Club the valuable services of the German Ambassador in Rome still remain secured to the State.
“It requires that complete ignorance of the customs prevailing in the service of the State, and particularly in diplomacy, and of the habits of the higher circles which distinguishes Progressist writers, for any one to imagine that an Ambassador’s position could ever be endangered by a matter of such trifling importance as the circumstance that he had been nominated an honorary member of the Cobden Club six or more years ago. We are in a position to assure our readers that the matter has never been taken into consideration either officially or confidentially at the Foreign Office, nor has it ever called for any inquiry or exchange of views. The whole story as to the position of Herr von Keudell being in the least affected by that circumstance is simply an invention of Progressist writers, suffering from a dearth of ‘copy.’
“We are not aware whether Herr von Keudell has resigned his honorary membership. If such be the case he will probably have been led to take that step by recent disclosures respecting the Cobden Club. So far as his relations to the Imperial service and the Imperial Chancellor are concerned, however, it is a matter of indifference whether this purely private step has been taken or not. That Progressist journalists believe the contrary is the consequence in part of their ignorance as to the relations existing between respectable people, and in part of their own sentiments, i.e., of the furious rancour with which these partisan writers exaggerate and garble the most insignificant incidents. They assume that an equal degree of malice and violence prevails in circles to which they have no access. In short, they are partisans who are accustomed to treat with hatred and contempt every shade of difference from the party standard. In their eyes whoever is not a free-trader is either a knave or a fool. This is natural enough in those whose sole claim to honesty and intelligence is that they are free-traders. It is not so in higher circles, where there is more toleration, and less time for matters of secondary importance.
“The Imperial Ambassador, moreover, can hardly care, we believe, to find unauthorised representatives and advocates in just such papers as the Berliner Tageblatt and the Vossische Zeitung. No one who does not belong to the political and social circles represented by these papers would willingly be credited with any connections with them, and this is doubtless sufficiently well-known in Rome for any such connection to be shunned, and for such damaging advocacy to be duly repudiated.”
On the morning of the 25th of October I paid Bucher a visit at his lodgings. He complained that the Chief now occupied himself too much with press matters. Instructions of this description came from Varzin almost daily, and sometimes three or four together. No one in the office understood anything about them, neither the sons, nor Rantzau (who was paid for that purpose, but who, nevertheless, could only take down dictation from the Chief), nor Holstein, who was a mere “bungler,” and least of all Rudolf Lindau, who “is quite incapable, has had no political or journalistic training, and can merely play the amiable, tell good stories and go out walking.” He had been brought into the Office by family influence, which also kept him there. “In Japan he made the acquaintance of Brandt, our Chargé d’Affaires, through whom he obtained a connection with the Intelligence Department of the general staff. He afterwards (if I rightly understood) accompanied Brandt to St. Petersburg, where he was presented to the Grand Duchess Hélène, who recommended him to Bismarck. The latter sent him to Harry Arnim in Paris as a Press Attaché. He afterwards received an appointment at the Foreign Office—again on an exalted recommendation. The Prince knows that he is entirely unfit for the duties which he has to perform, but the Grand Duchess protects him; and so, although he has been virtually shelved, it has been done in such a way that he appears to have control of press affairs.”
Bucher said that Count Bill is on very intimate terms with Paul Lindau ... with whom he had been in Hungary. Herbert had yesterday, on the instructions of his father, written Bucher a four-page letter, which he showed me, asking him, Bucher, to make a “journalistic onslaught” upon the Progressist candidate Klotz on account of his election speech. Rantzau, however, had been unable to obtain the most indispensable of essentials, namely Klotz’s speech, and, in fact, knew nothing whatever about it. One of the Chancery attendants, however, was cleverer, and remembered that it had been printed in pamphlet form and distributed by the thousand. This man arranged to procure a copy.
“Sybel is another plague with which the Chancellor has afflicted me,” continued Bucher. “It is not so long since Sybel was fighting against the Chief; but he has now been taken once more into favour, and is to write a history of Germany from 1860 to 1870.” For this purpose the Chief had at first ordered that all diplomatic documents of this period should be laid before him. Bucher, however, pointed out that it would be necessary to make certain exceptions, some of which he mentioned, including those concerning the Hungarian Legion. The Prince agreed to this, and arranged that the documents mentioned by Bucher, as also the “Secreta,” should not be shown to Sybel. The latter is now carrying on his researches at the Foreign Office, which Bucher does not regard as dangerous. He has come upon references to the documents that have been withheld from him, and has asked to see them, stating that he would anyhow have possession of them some day as Director of the State Archives. Bucher was, however, obliged to refuse his request. He complained of the responsibility imposed upon him in this matter.
He then went on to say that it was much the same with one Herr Poschinger, a Bavarian, who had taken it upon himself to describe Bismarck’s work as Envoy to the Germanic Diet in Frankfurt. The Chief had given instructions that he was to see everything relating to this period in the first and second departments of the Foreign Office. Poschinger plunged into these, and then sent his opus to the Prince for revision. The Chief did not care to read it, and instructed Bucher to do so. “I then found that it was merely an endless string of extracts, and not a book but only materials for a book; and that while he dwelt discursively on insignificant details, he cursorily dismissed or overlooked altogether matters of real importance.” That was pointed out to Poschinger, who revised his work in accordance with the suggestions made to him, abbreviating some parts and amplifying others, and then returned it to the Chief, who again forwarded it to Bucher. “It was now better material,” continued the latter, “but it was still no book. I reported to the Chief in this sense, and he gave instructions to obtain Sybel’s opinion on it. His agreed in the main with my own, but Poschinger discovered that Sybel had criticised him.”
Bucher thought that the visit which the newspapers reported Gambetta to have paid to Varzin about ten days ago was possible, and indeed probable. He declared, on the other hand, that the discovery, made by the National Zeitung, that this visit took place at Friedrichsruh, was unfounded, because the Chief was at that time suffering from severe pain in the back, which made it impossible for him to travel. “I do not like to make inquiries on the subject,” he said, “and I therefore know nothing positive about it. We should have reason to be thankful, however, if the visit took place, as it would make Gambetta impossible in France.”
October 28th.—Met his Excellency von Thile to-day in the Potsdamer Platz. We first spoke about the elections. Thile had formerly abstained from voting, but this time—like Bucher and myself—had voted for Stöcker. He then asked what I thought of the report that Gambetta had visited the Chancellor. I replied that it appeared to me to be possible, and indeed probable. “I will tell you something,” he said. “One of my acquaintances was recently at Frankfurt, where he put up at the ‘Russischer Hof’—you know, ‘Auf der Zeil.’ In conversation with the landlord, with whom he was acquainted, he asked whether there was any news. ‘Yes, and something of importance, Excellency,’ replied the latter. Gambetta was here recently on his way home from Germany, and lodged with us. The head waiter asked his servant where they had been, and the man replied: ‘Nous avons été à la campagne dans les environs de Danzig.’”
November 9th.—Called this morning upon Bucher at his lodgings to inquire about the article in yesterday’s Post stating that the Chancellor proposed to resign. I fancied the article came from Varzin, and was intended to prepare for a dissolution of the Reichstag, and to give the country an opportunity to choose at the elections between the Chief and the Liberals. According to Bucher, no one would believe that a general election would induce him to retire, and as to the dissolution of the Reichstag, that could only take place if it perpetrated some piece of stupidity. The article was purposeless, merely an expression of ill-humour at Varzin, which Herbert, “with his usual ineptitude,” had made public. “But they have been in the backwoods for half a year, and do not know what is going on in the world. The elections would have turned out better in many respects if the press campaign had not been so foolishly conducted. But these things are shockingly ill-managed at present. We have now no less than four Secretaries of State: Busch, the real one, who is good; then Herbert at Varzin; and Rantzau and Holstein here. These know nothing, and are incapable of doing anything properly. None of them reads the papers or knows what is going on, and if the Chief gives violent instructions they are carried out with still greater violence. It is sad that the Chief should think so much of providing for his family and finding places for them. Virchow was right when he brought that charge against him. And the other gentlemen are no better. In addition to the Secretaries of State we have the gentlemen who spend their time strolling about, and who are more often to be found out shooting than in their office.” He then mentioned two, including Radolinski, ... and added: “After all it was just the same formerly, when, in addition to Thile, there were only two who really worked, yourself and Abeken. Hepke had hardly anything but trifles to deal with, and the aristocrats for the most part spent scarcely two hours in the office, just for a little gossip and a glance through the newspapers and despatches—Hatzfeldt, for instance, and Keudell, who was incapable to boot.”... “Hatzfeldt rarely came before two o’clock,” said Bucher, “and often went away again at three. While they lived upstairs he usually came to play a game of croquet. He would ask Wartensleben, ‘Now what do you think of a little game of croquet to-day?’ Wartensleben used then to say he would go up and see whether the Countess would care to join them, and when he came back with the message that the Countess begged to be excused as she had something else to do, Paul would remark, ‘Well, then, one may as well say good bye,’ and take himself off.... And Keudell could really do nothing. I suppose I have already told you the story about Taglioni and Keudell’s thirty arrears of work? Well, at Versailles I was told by Wiehr—you remember him, the fat, bald deciphering clerk—it was simply frightful how little Keudell managed to do. When he sat down he wrote two or three lines, then pulled out his watch, took the rings off his finger and played with them, put them on again, wrote another few lines, stopped once more, and finally rose, leaving his work unfinished. On one occasion Taglioni took pity on him and offered to assist the Councillor. The latter was delighted with such an amiable fellow, and Taglioni actually disposed of some thirty items of work which were in arrear. But in spite of that a number of even sensible people had a high opinion of his power of work and his intelligence—people such as Gneist, for example, whom I know well, as we studied together. I always meant to enlighten him, but have not done so yet. It is necessary, however, that people should know Keudell if he is to be a Minister one day.” Bucher then came to speak of Count Herbert again, and I said that the Prince had once observed to me that he had thought of promoting him to be Secretary of State, as he had worked for seven years under his own personal supervision, but that he was too young. “Yes,” rejoined Bucher, “and so he is still. Paul Hatzfeldt will not remain. Things will go on for the present in the same way. He comes at two o’clock and disappears again at five, attends to nothing beyond the interviews with foreign diplomatists, and troubles himself very little with the other business—which, for the matter of that, is no loss. But when the Prince comes back, and he is summoned to receive instructions two or three times a day, it will not be at all to his liking, and he will go back to Constantinople. He will be replaced by Herbert, that haughty and incapable fellow, and more than one of the officials will leave.”
I asked, in conclusion, if he knew what the Chief had intended by the article on the Anti-Nihilistic society which I forwarded to the Daily Telegraph, and afterwards countermanded. “The Holy Drujina?” he said. “That was true. Such a society had been formed under the protection of the Emperor, who had subscribed a million and a half to its funds. Despatches have been exchanged between ourselves and St. Petersburg on the subject, and one of the members of the society has called upon Rantzau. But I cannot conceive what the Chief can have intended by the publication of the paragraph in England. If one of those gentlemen were to go there and murder a Nihilist leader, he would be hanged as a matter of course. The affair should have been treated as a profound secret, yet in a few weeks’ time it appeared in full, with all manner of details and humorous comments, in the Berliner Tageblatt. When I mentioned this to Rantzau afterwards, he was simply terrified. Of course he had not read it, and wished to know where it had appeared. I told him the name of the paper, and let him hunt up the number himself. I used formerly to get him the paper on such occasions, but now leave that to him, so that he may have at least some occupation.”
As I left, Bucher said: “If anything happens, I will let you know.”
The Prince returned to Berlin in the afternoon of the 12th of November. At noon of the 15th a Chancery attendant brought me a letter from Sachse, saying that the Chief desired to see me at 1 o’clock on the following day, Wednesday. I arrived at the time appointed, and was shown in to the Prince at a quarter-past 1. He had been dictating to Count William before I went in. The Chancellor, who was in plain clothes, looked fresh and hearty, but began by complaining of his health. He had been ill, he said, during the whole five months of his holiday, even at Kissingen, but particularly at Varzin, where he had had to endure great pain. It was his old trouble.
He then spoke of the elections, and stated that in certain circumstances he would retire, as he had already intimated to the Emperor. “The centre of gravity has changed,” he continued. “The Progressist and Secessionist Jews, with their money, now form the Centre. At first I was not in favour of this agitation (for Stöcker as an Anti-Semite). It was inconvenient to me, and they went too far. Now, however, I am glad that the Court Chaplain has been elected. He is an energetic, fearless, and resolute man, and he cannot be muzzled. The elections have shown that the German Philistine still lives, and allows himself to be frightened and led astray by fine speeches and lies. He will not hear of the protection of labour against the foreigner, nor of insurance against accident and old age, nor of any reduction of school and poor rates, but wants direct taxation to be increased. Well, he can have that, but not while I am Chancellor.”
“Do you seriously mean that, Serene Highness?” I asked. “I believe they have only nibbled at the democratic bait just as they did formerly.”
“It may be that they do not quite know what they want. But they have taken this course at the elections, their representatives vote against me, and, in order to govern I must have a majority—which I cannot find under these conditions. In case of necessity it might be possible to manage with a coalition of Conservatives and Clericals and such like, but the Centre Party has been against us all through the elections, and there is no trusting them. Folly and ingratitude on all sides! I am made the target for every party and group, and they do everything they can to harass me, and would like me to serve as a whipping-boy for them. But when I disappear they will not know which way to turn, as none of them has a majority or any positive views and aims. They can only criticise and find fault—always say No. You are right in saying that they have turned the people’s heads with their fine phrases and lies. They make out that I am in favour of reaction, and want to restore the old régime. If I can get my monopoly, tobacco will cost three to five marks a pound, but cigars will be three times as dear as they are now. They have frightened the people by reviving the old stories of the past, Junker rule, the corvée, territorial jurisdiction, and even the jus primæ noctis, as, for instance, in Holstein and Lauenburg. There the Danish Kings had allowed all the ancient institutions to remain—unadulterated mediævalism. The Junkers ruled, and were decorated with the Order of the Elephant. They took all the best posts as if they had inherited them. They held the most remunerative offices up to ten thousand thalers a year, or at least four to five thousand thalers; and yet they neither did nor could do anything except pocket fees and impose heavy fines. They farmed the domains among themselves, on the lowest valuations, and lived on the fat of the land. When I came there the people were obliged to drink the abominable beer which the Junkers brewed on their estates, and no one could purchase a piece of ground because they did not wish the population to exceed two thousand to the square (German) mile. There the people still remember all this misrule, and emissaries of the Progressists and Secessionists—who are just the same—threaten them with its revival, and warn them against me. I am represented as desiring to restore that state of things, yet the contrary is the case, and it was I alone who abolished it.”
I reminded him of the homage of the Estates in Lauenburg, Bülow’s anxiety respecting the maintenance of the Compact of the nobility, and the scene in the Ratzeburg Cathedral, asking if that was a correct account of the incident. He then related it to me once more, the narrative agreeing in all important particulars with that already given. Returning to the agitation that preceded the elections, he continued as follows: “They do not, however, even believe what they preach. They hate and slander me because I am a Junker and not a Professor, and because I have been a Minister for twenty years. That has lasted too long for them—hence their vexation. They would like to come to power themselves, and form a Government. But that is mere covetousness, and not ability, and if I were to make way for them they would be desperately embarrassed, and would recognise that they could do nothing. I was born a Junker, but my policy was not that of the Junkers. I am a Royalist in the first place, and then a Prussian and a German. I will defend my King and the monarchy against revolution, both overt and covert, and I will establish and leave behind me a strong and healthy Germany. To me the parties are a matter of indifference. I am also not a Conservative in the sense of the Conservative party. My entire past as a Minister is evidence of that. They saw that in 1873 in the question of the Inspection of Schools Bill, when they turned their backs upon me, attacked me in their papers, and wrote me absurd letters.”
He took from the shelves near him a copy of a letter with which he had disposed of an old gentleman in Pomerania (Senfft-Pilsach), who had at that time warned him to reflect and pray. This letter, which he read to me, directed attention, inter alia, to the Psalms, chapter 12, verses 3 and 4: “The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: who have said, with our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” He then returned to the last elections, and observed: “The defectiveness of our institutions is shown by the credulity of the electors. It may come to this, that we shall some day have to say of the German Constitution, after all attempts at government and reform under it have failed, as Schwarzenberg said at Olmütz: ‘This arrangement has not stood the test.’ But that must not be printed now. It is only for yourself.... They have now invented another calumny. They take advantage of my attachment to the Emperor, and pretend that I am clinging to office, that I am devoured by the love of power. It may turn out differently, however, and I may say to them: ‘Here you have it! Now let us see you govern!’ That, however, can only be after a division on some important question, not on the electoral returns. The Emperor is half inclined to try it and let me go, if only for one session. Things cannot go on as they are much longer. Of course, I am not going to desert the Emperor; it would be unfair to leave the old man in the lurch. But I cannot renounce my convictions, and I will not have a return to the period of conflict. I demand more appreciation and better treatment.”
Returning once more to the statement that the Liberal parties had been guilty of gross misrepresentation during the last election, he added that they had at the same time set the followers of the Government a good example by their excellent organisation, energy, and self-sacrifice. “Many people on our side, such as Herzog, for instance, have also given a great deal of money,” he said; “but the Progressists have done more. They had all the treasure of the Hebrews at their disposal, and were at the same time thoroughly drilled and well organised.”
“And now,” he asked, “have I anything else for you? Unruh has published various things that should be refuted.” He took up the October number of the sixth year’s issue of the Deutsche Revue, which lay before him, and continued: “He maintains that he has written for historians, but he obviously intended to influence the elections. A great deal of it is erroneous, other portions are electioneering lies, and some parts require to be supplemented. Here, for instance, on page 9, he states that while I was still a member of Parliament I had a conversation with him which I concluded with the words: ‘Now I tell you, if your party is victorious, you shall take me under your wing, and if my side gets the upper hand I will do as much for you. Shake hands on it!’ This offer was actually made. And curiously enough, a similar proposal was made to me by d’Ester, the Radical member of Parliament. In this case, however, I declined, and said: ‘If your party wins, life will no longer be worth living, and if we have the upper hand, then hanging shall be the order of the day—but with all politeness, up to the very foot of the gallows.’”
He turned over the leaves of the Revue, and continued: “There is no foundation whatever for the statement that the Opposition was not aware during the years 1862 to 1866 that I had a strong anti-Austrian policy in view. Besides, it is clear from Unruh’s own ‘Memoirs’ that they were fully informed respecting this policy, and only offered opposition through hatred to me, the Junker, and in consequence of their own dogmatism. Here, on page 11, it is stated that shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Austrian War in 1859, he had an interview with me at the Hotel Royal, when I said to him that for Prussia to come to the assistance of Austria would be an act of political suicide. I had entirely lost my sympathy for Austria. If we did not succeed in driving Austria out of Germany proper, and if she kept the upper hand here, then our Kings would once more be mere Electors and vassals of the Hapsburgs. There could be no doubt as to the attitude of the individual German Governments in case of a crisis. With the exception perhaps of a few of the minor States that fell within the sphere of Prussian influence, all of them, if forced to make a choice, would decide in favour of Austria. Prussia would, therefore, be isolated, but there were circumstances in which she might have the entire German people as her allies.... Surely that was plain speaking, and it ought not to have been difficult afterwards to recognise the connection between such language and the increase of the army. They would not see it, however.... On page 13 is another proof that they knew what I had in view: ‘When the King went to Baden-Baden, accompanied by the Ministers Von Auerswald and Von Schleinitz, Bismarck followed him, evidently with the object of continuing his efforts to prevent assistance being rendered to Austria.’ And on the same page we read: ‘There is another circumstance which strikes one as an important piece of evidence to show that Bismarck’s anti-Austrian policy, in so far as Austrian influence in Germany was concerned, did not originate in 1859, but was of older date. After 1866, speaking in the House of Parliament to the former Landrath of the Teltower district, I related to him my conversation with Bismarck in 1859, whereupon he told me that Bismarck had expressed the same anti-Austrian views to him in 1854, and frankly confessed his anti-Austrian policy. It was not until 1866, that is to say, twelve years later, that it was practically applied. Bismarck had therefore kept this plan of driving Austria out of Germany before him all that time, and had resolutely pursued it. This is of some importance in forming an opinion upon the period of conflict.’ That is certainly correct. And is it possible that what that Landrath in 1854 and Unruh in 1859 ascertained from me personally had not also come to the knowledge of the others and been present to their minds when they—the Liberals—fought against me with the utmost violence from 1862 to 1866?”
The Chancellor turned over a few further pages, and then continued: “With regard to the situation in the autumn of 1862, Unruh was convinced (page 15) that ‘if Bismarck desired to put an end to dualism in Germany, it was obviously impossible to do so without a war with Austria, and that for this purpose it was necessary to make the Prussian army as strong as possible.’ That is therefore what I have already told you. In October (page 16), during a general meeting of the National Union at Coburg, he communicated the conversation of 1859 to a confidential circle. He writes: ‘I told my old Prussian and my new German friends that they were quite mistaken in regarding Bismarck as a simple Reactionary or indeed as an instrument of reaction. He was certainly not a Liberal, but he had quite different ideas and plans in his head to those entertained by Manteuffel and his colleagues.’ The gentlemen were in doubt, and wanted to wait and see how I acted. In 1863 they would appear to have acquired the conviction (page 18) that I had given up my schemes of foreign policy, and was now nothing more than a reactionary Minister—of foreign policy, because (as they inferred by a most extraordinary process of reasoning) in the interval there had been in domestic affairs political persecution, measures against Liberal officials, restrictions on the liberty of the press, and attacks upon the freedom of speech in Parliament. But what in the world had that to do with my foreign policy, and the belief in my anti-Austrian schemes? Moreover, on the next page, one ascertains that at this period Unruh & Co. had received an assurance from a trustworthy source that I had a struggle with the Austrians in view. The writer of the ‘Memoirs’ reports: ‘Seidel, who was at that time Chief Burgomaster of Berlin, made me a communication which he said came from the Military Cabinet, of which General von Manteuffel was the head. According to this communication either Manteuffel or some one who was in intimate relations with him had said that Bismarck was exceptionally well fitted for the task of stamping out the Opposition in Parliament, and that when he had succeeded in doing that and the military organisation was secured, he must be set aside as he would otherwise bring about a war with Austria, and would use our increased military forces for that purpose. A conflict with Austria and a successful war against her would again drive the Conservative party from office. In order to keep the Conservatives in power it was necessary that Prussia should remain on good terms with Austria, and for that purpose they should even, if necessary, make concessions. This statement (Unruh goes on to say) looked highly probable. General Manteuffel was known as the head of the extreme Conservative or so-called Austrian party at the Prussian Court, and was much esteemed in Vienna. Bismarck had given frequent expression to his anti-Austrian plans even before he became Premier, and had indeed submitted them to the King himself. If Bismarck were to bring about a compromise with Parliament, and to conclude a peace with the popular representatives, his services, in the opinion of the Manteuffel party, would be of no further use, and he ought then to go. It would be quite different if in spite of the violent struggle with Parliament, he succeeded in carrying through the military organisation scheme. So long as the conflict with the popular representatives continued, he remained indispensable, his value increasing with the fierceness of the struggle.’
“This is a tissue of mistakes and contradictions. In the first place there is no foundation whatever for the statement that Manteuffel wished to get rid of me, and that he was the head of the Austrian party. It was rather Schleinitz who held that position, and who afterwards was in frequent intercourse with the Austrians, his salon indeed being their rendezvous. Manteuffel was by no means a partisan of Austria, but on the contrary a Prussian officer of ardent Royalist patriotism. But in that case one would have thought that if the Opposition in the Diet had been imbued with Prussian patriotism, if they had desired to see the dualism in Germany put an end to and the German idea realised through Prussia, they ought to have supported me with all their might, knowing as they did that I had exactly the same object in view. And that would also have been wise from their Liberal standpoint, since it was of course known that a victory over Austria would drive the Conservatives from power. Finally, there was no reason to apprehend my overthrow by the Austrophil Conservatives, as, according to Unruh himself, it was known that I possessed the confidence of the King, who, it was indeed said, had himself called me his spiritual doctor. The Opposition, however, instead of acting on such considerations, adopted a diametrically opposite course. They acted in an unpractical, illogical, impolitic way, and against their own interests, blinded by their stupid animosity and pettifogging dogmatism. It was necessary for the Liberals, if they desired to pursue a practical policy, to win for their cause—which could not be promoted without driving Austria out of the Confederation—the support of the King of Prussia, who had scruples as to a conflict with Austria, scruples which were encouraged by a section of his entourage. King William should have been gradually convinced of the necessity of breaking with the Vienna policy, and of attempting to give Prussia alone the leading position in Germany. I pursued this end, and Parliament should have done the same. Instead of doing so, however, they flew in the face of the King by refusing him the means for the reorganisation of the army, and they therefore lacked the necessary leverage for promoting their own views. There they were, floating in the air, with nothing to sustain them but the wind of their own speeches and self-conceit which deluded them into a belief in their own importance.
“Finally, Unruh says here (page 19) that I aggravated the struggle over the Military Bills into a constitutional conflict, that I assumed an aggressive attitude towards the Opposition, and endeavoured in almost every speech to incense them by jibes and sneers, all this for the sole purpose of maintaining myself in power and office against the Austrophil Court party; and, on page 20, he repeats the same charge in the following words: ‘I am still of opinion that Bismarck used and took advantage of the conflict to maintain and strengthen his position.’ Now that is a gross slander, such as would render a man liable to prosecution—a falsehood arising from the same blindness as another on page 16, according to which the great men of the National Union regarded me merely as the representative of reaction. I desired no reaction, then as little as now, when I am again charged with doing so. Had I desired it I could have had it. Unruh and his colleagues would not have been able to prevent it, and ‘The People’ who elected them, could have done nothing. But it was not the people. The determined attitude I adopted towards the Opposition in Parliament was just as little due to the love of power, or to the desire to strengthen my ministerial position. It was rather due to my innate Royalism, which has always been a leading feature in my character. It was this which made me hold fast to my position. In doing so I was guided by my sense of duty towards my King, who, in the circumstances then obtaining, could not have found another Minister. I remember saying to him, ‘No one shall have it in his power to say that your Majesty cannot find a servant so long as there is one nobleman of the Altmark still surviving.’ Otherwise, at that time, it was, honestly speaking, no pleasure to be a Minister. A Legation in Paris, or even in Frankfurt, would have been much pleasanter. There one had a good salary with little work, little responsibility, and little worry, and was not attacked and reviled on all hands. The provocation and the sarcastic speeches in Parliament, of which Unruh complains, were not intended to prolong or aggravate the conflict, but were an exercise of the jus talionis. I am stated on page 17 to have often been most offensive. There is no denying that. But even when my expressions were offensive, they were not nearly so offensive as the language used against me and other members of the Government by speakers in the House. They were much coarser and more malicious than I ever was, indeed actually abusive and threatening, speaking of ‘a Ministry of tight-rope dancers,’ of ‘the reactionary brand of Cain,’ and other unflattering epithets. I was not the man to submit to that sort of thing. It was not in my nature to turn the left cheek to the smiter. On the contrary, I defended myself and paid them back in their own coin. Then, in addition to that, there was my contempt for the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and my disgust at the Byzantine veneration paid to it by the Opposition. That was an abomination to me, and revolted me even more than their venom.
“The passage here on page 22, as to the motives of my attitude on the question of the payment of members in the North German Diet is amusing, and indeed ludicrous. Unruh says: ‘At that time I was still in favour of payment, but said to Bennigsen I did not believe that Bismarck would give way; perhaps it was entirely out of his power to do so. It seemed to me as if he had entered into binding engagements with the Upper House, which he expected later on to swallow universal suffrage, when the several States had given their necessary approval to the North German Constitution.’ With the Upper House! A body which always stood apart from active politics, and had no influence of any importance. An absurd idea!
“On page 24 he recalls a remark made by Loewe, that one of the chief defects of the German Constitution is that it was made after my own heart. Now, that is a mere phrase which no amount of reiteration in party newspapers and speeches during the last few years has brought any nearer to truth.
“On page 25 he says: ‘As far back as 1867 it must have become clear to every person of insight that there was no possibility of Parliamentary government under Bismarck. An essential condition of such government is that in certain circumstances there should be a change of ministers and parties capable of furnishing and supporting a Cabinet.’ This is quite true. ‘Parties capable of furnishing and supporting a Cabinet’—where were they to be found during the past two decades? I have seen none, neither one with a majority nor one with a positive programme. And, least of all, in the Liberal camp. All their manifestoes and speeches have consisted merely of fault-finding criticism and negation. They have never brought forward anything positive. They have only a thirst for office, ambition and envy, but not the power which is essential to productive government.
“On the same page he says: ‘Almost all parties, in so far as they are not hostile to German unity, consider the Imperial Chancellor to be absolutely indispensable.’ And yet from 1877 onwards I have been subjected to the most bitter hostility even from the National Liberals, and before and during the last elections the Progressist party gave out the watchword ‘Away with Bismarck!’
“The statement which immediately follows is also a mere hackneyed phrase: ‘A party which has no principles of its own, but only aims at securing a majority for the Government, affords no reliable support in critical and dangerous times.’ One would like to know why. Does the Opposition with its Liberalism perhaps offer such support, with its untrustworthiness, its suspiciousness, and vacillation, its huckstering and knuckling down, and its petty criticism and dogmatism?
“On page 29 it is represented as a matter of indifference whether the idea of a Zollverein Parliament was originated by me or by Delbrück. I take it that this ought not to be a matter of indifference to Unruh, who claims to provide materials for future historians. The idea did not come from Delbrück, but from me. As can be seen from Hesekiel’s book, I mooted it as far back as the time when I was in St. Petersburg, and embodied it in the treaties of 1866, which secured its fulfilment.[2] But he, as a Liberal and a member of the learned classes, must of course get the credit of having first originated it, not a Junker. I do not wish to say anything against Delbrück’s ability and merit, but it would never have occurred to him that the Zollverein could be turned to account in that way, for although he had a great deal of talent, he had no political instinct.
“On page 30 Unruh states: ‘During the debate on the Tobacco Taxation Bill, when Bismarck had declared a monopoly to be his ideal, Bennigsen informed me that he had broken off the negotiations into which he had entered with Bismarck in the autumn for joining the Ministry, and had told him that he could not commit himself to the monopoly.’ That is not true, or at least only half true. This is how the matter stood. In 1877 Eulenburg wished to retire. I offered his post to Bennigsen. He demanded that Forckenbeck and Stauffenberg should also be appointed Ministers, but there were no posts vacant for them. In the meantime Eulenburg hit upon another idea. He went to the King and incited him against me for having had anything to do with Bennigsen. His Most Gracious was offended, and in a brutal letter forbade me to treat any further with Bennigsen. Several months passed, during which time it transpired in the press that Lasker also counted upon a seat in the Cabinet. Bennigsen came to me subsequently in the Reichstag, an unusual thing for him to do, and inquired about the tobacco monopoly. I replied that I was in favour of it and would try to carry it, whereupon Bennigsen declared that he could not support the measure, and withdrew from the negotiations. Out of politeness I forbore to tell him that he was no longer in my mind, as I had been forbidden to think of him.
“Further on Unruh says: ‘From that time forward there was an obvious change in the attitude of the Imperial Chancellor towards the National Liberals.’ That is incorrect. The contrary is the case. From that time forward the National Liberals treated me with mingled coolness and hostility, withdrawing their support in the Diet and attacking me in their newspapers—chiefly in the National Zeitung, which is the most mendacious of them all, full of hypocrisy and trickery.
“On page 31 Delbrück’s free-trade system is spoken of as having been for a long time in force. The question here is what is meant by ‘a long time.’ The system which is here named after Delbrück has only been in existence since 1865, and we first began to entertain serious doubts respecting it in 1875. Up to the latter date I had had no time to think of its advantages or disadvantages, as I was obliged to devote my whole mind to watching and averting the serious danger of coalition which then existed.
“On page 32 there is a falsehood obviously calculated to influence the elections. I am made to say that I wished to ‘drive the National Liberals to the wall,’ while people heard at the same time that I intended to make a complete change in the previous customs and commercial policy. This is impossible. I first thought of the latter in November last; and to ‘drive to the wall’ is an expression which I have never used, either in this connection or in any other. It is not to be found in my lexicon. Every one knows whether he is apt to use a certain phrase or not, and I am quite satisfied that I have never used that phrase.
“The dissolution of the Reichstag after the Nobiling outrage is represented as a measure directed against the Liberals. It was in reality the very opposite, an act of complaisance on the part of the Government towards the Liberals. I wished to make the change of opinion with regard to the Anti-Socialist laws easy for them by means of a dissolution and new elections. But that is the way with these gentlemen and their excessive amour propre. If one does not always stand hat in hand before them, they regard one as their enemy, and full of arrogance. But I cannot do that. I do not set much store by criticisms and speeches intended for the newspapers. Indeed, I lack altogether the bump of veneration for my fellow man.”
At this moment Theiss announced the Minister Maybach. I rose, and putting under my arm the number of the Revue which he had given me with his grey, red, and blue pencil marks and comments, was about to leave. Before going, however, I said: “Might I venture to ask whether Gambetta has called upon you, Serene Highness?” “No,” he replied. “He has said so himself, and it is the fact. Of course it is evident from his journey to Danzig that he had thought of paying a visit to Varzin. He doubtless reconsidered the matter there, or they may have written to him from Paris that it would not make a good impression.” On Maybach coming in at this point the Chancellor said: “We were just speaking of Gambetta. It was not my business to deny the report of his visit to me. People might have thought that I had some grudge against him—that I wished to hold aloof from him, which was not at all the case.”
I took my leave and immediately wrote down what I had heard. The first part respecting the results of the elections was worked up into an article entitled “The Chancellor Crisis,” which appeared in No. 48 of the Grenzboten; the criticism of the Unruh Memoirs being utilised for an article in No. 49.
After I had received copies of these and of a third article, “The Imperial Chancellor and the Reichstag,” I handed over all three at the palace at noon on the 2nd of December for delivery to the Prince. An hour later I received the following letter from the Imperial Chancellerie, signed by Sachse:—
“Under instructions from the Imperial Chancellor I have the honour to request you to call upon his Serene Highness to-day at any time up to 5 o’clock. The Imperial Chancellor mentioned at the same time that the articles which you have submitted to him cannot possibly be published in their present form.”
I presented myself at the palace at 3 o’clock, but could not see the Chancellor, as Prince William was with him, and Mittnacht, the Minister, was announced to follow. On my returning again at 4 o’clock Mittnacht was with the Chief, but left in about ten minutes. Immediately afterwards the Chancellor sent me word that he was waiting for me in the garden. On my passing through the door of the large antechamber, I found him standing outside with his dog. He shook hands in a friendly way, saying immediately afterwards, however: “But what have you been doing, Doctor? Why, that is all wrong, the very opposite of what I wanted. Surely the article is not yet printed?” I regretted that it was already published. “That is most unfortunate,” he rejoined. I asked which of the articles he meant. “Why, that about Unruh,” he answered. “You have said exactly what Bennigsen asserted. It might have been written by one of my worst enemies. And the other is also not correct—often pure nonsense. I remember it was just the same three years ago with the things you sent on to me to Kissingen and Gastein—in many places the direct contrary was the truth.” I replied that that was only the case in one instance, in the story about Rechberg, which was then left out. He would not agree to that, however, and continued: “You must submit these articles to me before they are printed. You now trust too much to your memory, which is not so good as it was formerly, or you have not listened attentively. I related it all to you quite differently.”
At this point we were interrupted by Count Bill, who brought a message. When he had gone the Chief took the article out of his pocket, and as it had grown dark we passed through another door into his study, where he looked through the passage once more. At the first, on page 395, where I—following Unruh’s statement—made the Chief say that in the year 1859 the German Governments “with the exception of a few minor States which fall within the sphere of influence of Prussia, would all join Austria. The former would, therefore, be completely isolated, yet she would have allies if she knew how to win and to treat them, namely the German people,” he said: “That’s pure nonsense. Directly contrary to history. Why, you should have known that.... But, no, I misunderstood the sentence. I read it wrongly in my hurry. The ‘former’ and ‘she’ referred to Prussia. There I have done little Busch (Büschchen) an injustice.... But further on, here (the passage on 398) where I say that the people could have done nothing against a reactionary policy during the period of conflict. That is unfounded. I cannot say that. It should have been ‘would have done nothing.’ No doubt they would have desired to do it. Well, on page 401, that is again an oversight on my part. Here I overlooked the first ‘not.’” (He referred to the passage: “The expression ‘drive them to the wall’ has not only not been used by me in this connection, but was never used by me at all.”) “But all this about Bennigsen is quite wrong—the second part of it. There you have written in his interest. If that were a correct account I should have told a lie. My main object in the article was to explain that point, and you ought to have known from the Norddeutsche how the matter really stood. You should know that the article in that paper was written at my instance. But I suppose you do not read the official journals. No further negotiations took place with him after the interview at Varzin, that is with Bennigsen respecting the ministerial post, although I did not break with him otherwise. It is true that my son wrote to him once more, but I knew nothing of this. And Eulenburg did not decide to remain. He had had enough of it. He went to the King, however, told him of my negotiations with Bennigsen, and incited him against me. I had been in treaty with these Liberals behind his back, &c. The King did not inform me that Eulenburg did not wish to retire, but wrote me an exceedingly rude and snappish letter somewhat to this effect: How dare I enter into negotiations with this rabid Radical, this arch-demagogue, and expressly forbade me to treat with him any further. That did not take place ‘several months,’ but only three or four days after the Varzin interview. The statement that Lasker reckoned on obtaining a portfolio is correct. On the other hand it is quite incorrect to say that out of politeness I abstained from telling Bennigsen that I did not think of him any more, as the post was no longer open. It was still open, as you might have seen in any calendar. Surely you know that Friedenthal only held it provisionally. The truth is I could not explain to Bennigsen that his Most Gracious had forbidden me to negotiate with him any further.”
While speaking thus the Chancellor underlined the passage referred to, page 400, lines 19 to 28, in so far as he had corrected them, adding notes of exclamation and remarks such as “No,” and “three days.” I expressed my regret at the harm that had been done and observed that it could be put right in the next number of the Grenzboten. He agreed to this and wished to see the correction before it appeared. I promised to submit it to him. Finding in the course of his examination, that the misfortune did not extend to more than some five lines in an article of nine pages, his excitement gradually subsided. Indeed, the “Büschchen” at the beginning had already sounded less severe, and at the close he said “I must have a breath of fresh air before dinner. Come along!”
We strolled up and down in the park for about an hour longer, and spoke of other matters. I congratulated the Prince on the success with which he had repelled the attacks of his opponents in the Reichstag three or four days previously. “Yes, successfully,” he rejoined. “That’s very fine, but what good has it done? They have, all the same, refused the 80,000 marks for an adviser on political economy; and the Government has now no means of keeping itself informed.” I remarked that they had obviously been influenced by their own ignorance of practical affairs, and particularly with industrial matters, as well as by jealousy and fear. Bamberger’s assertion that they knew enough themselves was no proof of the contrary. They wished to appear before the public as the only infallible wiseacres, and also being doctrinarians, they could afford to ignore economic facts.
We then spoke about Windthorst, of whom the Chief said: “His vote against the Government has destroyed the slight degree of confidence I was beginning to feel in him.” The conversation then turned upon Bennigsen’s Parliamentary activity, and I remarked on the striking circumstance that up to the present he had taken no part in any of the debates. The Prince rejoined: “It is very sensible on his part to keep silent, although he is a good speaker. He sent the others to the front—Benda, and he also voted against it—a further proof that he and his party are quite untrustworthy. He has no decided views, he is not frank, and he is afraid of Lasker. With him it is always vacillation and half measures. Do you play cards?” I replied in the negative. “But you know the cards?” “Yes.” “Now, at whist he always keeps three aces in his hand, and gives no indication that he holds them. He can no longer be counted upon, and besides his followers have been greatly reduced owing to their vague and vacillating policy. Nevertheless, he still sits there with the same high opinion of himself and the same dignified air as formerly when he commanded hundreds; and he will continue to do so even if they should be reduced to thirteen, like George Vincke’s Old Liberals. There is nothing to be done with the others either. It has now come to pass, through the absurdities of the Liberals, that the tag, rag and bobtail, the Guelphs, Poles, and Alsacians, the Social Democrats, and the People’s Party, turn the scale, putting those they support in the majority. Mittnacht, who was with me before you came, is of the same opinion. In future we shall have to count upon the Governments rather than upon the Reichstag, and, indeed, we may ultimately have to reckon upon the Governments alone.”
I said that the whole Parliamentary system would in time lose all credit, even with the public, through such senseless attacks and votes. It brought everything to a standstill, but was itself unable to produce anything better. “The effect of the recent debates,” I went on, “is already here and there observable. This morning I met Thile, who stopped me and asked what I thought of the Parliamentary struggle. He was immensely pleased with the attitude you had adopted. A friend of his, whom he did not wish to name, but who was an admirer of the new era, though up to the present by no means favourable to you, had said that the manner in which you spoke and repelled the attacks of the Opposition was simply magnificent, and excited universal admiration. And women speak with disgust of the way in which you were hounded down and personally insulted by the Progressists and Lasker. A Hanoverian lady, of Guelph sympathies, spoke to my wife yesterday in this sense. This disgust and this pity for you will gradually affect the men, and help to bring about a change in the present tendency. I myself feel no pity, I only foresee your triumph. Pray excuse me for comparing you to an animal, but you remind me of the picture of a noble stag, which time after time shakes off the snarling pack, and then, proud and unhurt, regains the shelter of his forest, crowned by his branching antlers.” “Yes,” he said, “one might take another animal, the wild boar, which gores the hounds and tosses them away from him.”
He was silent for a time, and as we walked up and down he hummed the tune “Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus.” He then remarked suddenly: “But if they go on in that style they will ultimately meet the fate to which I alluded—the Luck of Edenhall. You know Uhland’s poem? It will be a case of Bang! and snap goes the German Constitution! You spoke of Thile. Do you mean the former Secretary of State?” I said “Yes, I meet him sometimes as he lives in my neighbourhood.” “He is a dangerous man,” he observed. “He was quite incapable. He could do nothing, and wrote nothing, because he was afraid it would be corrected; and yet I kept him for ten years, although he conspired against me with Savigny. He is to blame for the Diest libels, which led to the prosecution. I heard the whole story and how it began from Rothschild. Savigny went to him about the promotion of the company in question, and asked him if he could not let him have a share in it. Rothschild said no, he had already been obliged to part with a large share, a million and a half—meaning to his branches, the houses with which he is associated. Savigny, however, thought he was alluding to me, and would appear to have hinted something of the kind, but Rothschild seems either not to have understood him, or not to have answered with sufficient clearness. Savigny then carried the tale further, telling it first to Thile, who mentioned it to his brother, the general, instead of speaking to me, his chief, and in this way Diest ultimately came to hear of it. But, as Minister, I have never done any business with Rothschild, and even as envoy at Frankfurt very little. I drew my salary through him, and on one occasion I exchanged some stock for Austrian securities. I have not found it necessary. My profession as Minister has brought me in something, and through the grants and the gift of the Lauenburg estates I have become a rich man. It is true that if I had gone into a business, or carried on a trade, and devoted to it the same amount of labour and intelligence, I should doubtless have made more money.”
We then returned once more to the recent debates in the Reichstag, and I again expressed in strong terms the contempt I felt for the Opposition. “You were always a gentleman pitted against vain and vulgar creatures,” I said, “and in saying that I am not thinking of your rank as a Prince.” “No, I understand—a gentleman in my way of thinking,” he rejoined. “Lasker’s Jewish forwardness and presumption,” I continued, “the Professors with their priggish airs of superiority, and their empty pathos; Hänel, the self-complacent and pathetic doctrinaire—it is impossible to imagine anything more repulsive. He wanted to be Minister of Justice in ‘sea-surrounded Schleswig-Holstein.’” “Yes,” said the Chancellor, interrupting me, “they had divided the parts among themselves before the piece had been secured, and they probably have done the same thing now. Nothing came of it, however, after the interview which our Most Gracious had with me upstairs in the yellow chamber, where he remained with me from 9 o’clock until near midnight.” “And where he heard the simile of the chickens in Low German,” I added. “And then that impudent, lying, clown Richter, and the whole tearing, snarling, sprawling pack face to face with simple, solid, positive greatness. It was as if you belonged to an entirely different species.” “Yes,” he said, “when I lie down in bed after such debates, I feel ashamed of ever having bandied words with them. You know the way one feels after a night’s drinking, if one has had a row and perhaps come to blows with vulgar people—when one begins to realise it next morning, one wonders how and why it all came about.” Then after I had promised to make the corrections immediately and send them to him, he took leave of me with the words “Good evening, Busch. Auf Wiedersehen.” Busch! Not “Herr Doctor” as usual.
In two hours I sent him the corrections, which I received back through a Chancery attendant before 10 P.M. There were only a few alterations in the second half.
On the 2nd of January, 1882, I again visited Bucher. He complained in general of the incapable entourage of the Prince, including his sons, and of Rudolf Lindau, whom they favoured because he gave card parties and made himself useful to them in other ways. (...) He was a mere tradesman without education or political knowledge. The Prince wished to make things comfortable for himself, and no blame to him, but he was mistaken if he thought the machine would still go on working as it ought to. In that respect the choice of the personnel was of importance, and those who were now engaged, particularly in the press department, were almost constantly blundering. The stuff which Paul Lindau wrote for the Kölnische Zeitung was also of little value.
We then spoke about the negotiations with the Curia, which were making satisfactory progress; of Held’s contribution to the social history of England; of Taine’s account of the Jacobins, in whom Bucher discovered some characteristics of the Progressist party; of Stirum, who had also left because he was not disposed to put up with the intrigues of the clique that surrounded the Prince, and who had told him, Bucher, that he “preferred in future to admire the Chancellor at a distance”; and of the Chief’s recent criticism of my article. I said that the Chief must be mistaken in asserting that after the visit to Varzin he had had no further negotiations with Bennigsen respecting his joining the Ministry, as he had himself told me that at that time Herbert had written to Bennigsen, which he would scarcely have ventured to do without his father’s knowledge. Bucher agreed with me, and added that some one had expressed the opinion that Bennigsen had acted like a gentleman with regard to the statements published by the semi-official press. Bucher arranged to send me Taine’s book when he had finished reading it, in order that I might write an article upon it. He is extracting passages which point to the similarity between the Jacobins and the Progressist party.
On the evening of the 8th of January, Count William Bismarck sent me an article for the Grenzboten on “Agricultural Credit in Prussia.”[3]
On Monday, the 16th of January, I took back the third volume of Taine’s History of the Revolution, La Conquête des Jacobins, to Bucher. He told me that according to a conversation with the Chief, a campaign would presently be opened in the press in order to clear up some points respecting Stockmar and Bunsen. He was to write a pamphlet on the latter in which various documents, of which only portions were given in Frau von Bunsen’s book, would be published in extenso. I could then make myself useful by utilising this information, in addition to which he would give me further material. We then spoke of the Coburg clique, of Abeken, who had been described on one occasion by Bunsen as the “magnificent Abeken,” of Max Müller of Oxford, with whom he had spent some pleasant hours, of Geffcken, and finally of Hepke. On my asking how it was that the latter had fallen into disfavour with the Prince, Bucher said that in 1862, shortly after the Chief had come into office, Hepke, who had charge of the German reports, reproduced, almost literally, in a brochure which he published under the title of “A Word from a Prussian,” a memorandum which Bismarck had submitted to the King. Although this pamphlet was anonymous, the Chief came to hear of it, and forbade Metzler to mention it in our papers. Then, again, shortly before the war of 1866, Hepke, “through vanity, in order to show how well informed he was,” communicated some scheme that was in hand against Austria to the Austrian Envoy, probably at dinner, and this came to the knowledge of the Chief later on, after our reconciliation with Austria, most likely through Rechberg.
I then turned the conversation on Thile, mentioning what the Prince recently said to me. Bucher still maintained that Thile is a gentleman and very good-hearted, and questioned whether he were as incapable as Bismarck had described him to me.
On the 26th of January, Bucher sent me the first and third volumes of Nippold’s edition of Bunsen’s biography, the proof sheets of a refutation by him of a letter from Prince Albert to Stockmar, explaining Bunsen’s “fall” (which was published first in the Münchener Nachrichten, and afterwards in the National Zeitung), and finally some rough notes for a Grenzboten article, which I prepared and published by the 2nd of February in No. 8, under the title “Bunsen’s Friends and the Truth.” Bucher’s refutation was to appear in the February number of the Deutsche Revue für das gesammte National-Leben der Gegenwart. In the rough notes he spoke as follows of Bunsen:—
“He took away with him copies of official documents, (just like Arnim), which his family published in a mutilated and therefore falsified shape. You may indeed without hesitation throw out the suggestion whether he did not perhaps take the originals. He did, as a matter of fact, take away at least three. This whole section of the book (i.e., of the biography, so far as it relates to Bunsen’s retirement) is a fable, written in despite of the author’s better knowledge. That the King afterwards wrote him a friendly letter, &c. is explained by the distinction which Frederick William IV. was in the habit of drawing between the official and the friend, as in the case of Radowitz. The Memorandum is a schoolboy’s exercise. Austria to extend her borders as far as the Sea of Azof, Poland to be restored—a terrible suggestion to be so coolly uttered—Prussia to get Austrian Silesia, one of the Provinces most devoted to the Imperial House, and Moravia!
“Vol. II. p. 557. His views concerning the proper preparatory education for the diplomatic service. That did not succeed in the case of Theodore (one of Bunsen’s sons). He must have achieved something out of the common at Lima and Alexandria, since after a short stay at these places he was on each occasion superseded, and had ultimately to resign. If he had had the preliminary training which he scoffed at, instead of a mere professorial education, he would probably not have been guilty of the follies and insubordination of the 1st and 4th of March 1854.
“You will find particulars as to the æsthetic International in the index at the end of the third volume. You are better versed in the religious type of humanity than I am. Every third word is God. Bunsen seems to have considered that the lieber Gott took quite a special interest in him.
“A bon mot which circulated in London: The learned regarded him as a diplomat while the diplomatists believed him to be a savant. The self-flattery in the account of the conversation with Clarendon, Part III. Bunsen and Pourtales certify to each other’s excellences. The source of Albert’s letter, Part III. page 356. Bunsen complains of his Government to Albert.
“A popular explanation of the political side of the book will doubtless be also necessary for the dull-witted Philistine. Prussia should involve herself in war with Russia, and what was to be the compensation? 1. That the English fleet should enter the Baltic. This would mean at least, that the Prussian coasts would be protected against the Russian fleet. 2. That the four Plenipotentiaries (of the Vienna Conference) should announce Prussia’s community of interest in the overthrow of Russian predominance. Much good that would have done us! How often has the integrity of Turkey been declared to be a European interest? And the idea of an Anglo-Prussian alliance (the Old Liberal dogma) which so frequently crops up in the book is equally absurd, and shows a complete ignorance of English policy, which never enters into permanent alliances without positive and limited aims. Part III. 201 and 207.”
On the 2nd of February I again called upon Bucher. He gave me various further particulars respecting the “great patriot and meritorious diplomatist,” Bunsen, and his sons. The old gentleman’s chief reason for tendering his resignation so hastily was that when about to take his holiday after the catastrophe, he was not paid his full salary as an envoy for six months, as he had demanded, but only for six weeks, as provided by the regulations. Theodore, whom Bunsen described to Thile as the most gifted of his sons, had made himself impossible at Lima, by his tactlessness in holding intercourse with the Opposition party, and using his influence on their behalf. He afterwards held the post of envoy at Stockholm, which he resigned when the Government refused him leave to marry a very wealthy German-Russian lady from the Baltic Provinces. He now enjoys possession of this lady. Another son has a fat benefice in England. “Frau Schwabe,” the “Elpi’s Melena” of the newspapers, who is frequently mentioned in the Nippold edition of the biography, is an enormously rich German Jewess, widow of a manufacturer, and a friend, not only of Bunsen, but also of Garibaldi, to whom she sent, after he was wounded at Aspromonte, an artistic armchair in “letter form,” that is to say, pasted all over with postage stamps. Bucher expects that George von Bunsen will reply to our articles. He, Bucher, will then write an answer from further official documents, for publication in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
On the 17th of February I left a proof of my Grenzboten article on Bunsen at the Imperial Chancellor’s palace for submission to the Prince. It was in an envelope and signed “Moritz Busch,” but was accompanied by no letter. I ascertained at the same time from the porter that the Chancellor had not been quite well for some time past. On my way back through the Leipzigerstrasse I met Bucher, who was delighted with “the fine goings-on in England now.” I asked what he meant, and he replied: “Why, the Standing Orders in Parliament, the Closure. Our people may well ask themselves whether they are equally pleased with this new feature in their ideal.”
The extracts from Taine, properly grouped and spiced with references to the German connections of the Jacobins, namely the Progressists, appeared in Nos. 7 and 9 of the Grenzboten under the title “The True Story of the Jacobins.” I also wrote an article on Gladstone’s measure referred to by Bucher. This was published in No. 10 of the Grenzboten under the title, “Gladstone, and Liberty of Speech in Parliament.”
On the 10th of March I received the news of the death of our son John, from Captain Alm of the Dora Ahrens at Falmouth. He had died at sea on the 19th of December last, on the return voyage from Corinto, in Nicaragua. Falling overboard during a violent storm in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, he was unable to hold on to the rope which was thrown to him, and was swallowed up in the waves. With him, our only son, disappeared my best love, my energy and pleasure in work, my pride and my hope. Henceforth my life is overshadowed by this grief. He was only thirty-one years of age, had lived the hard life of the sailor, and passed two severe examinations, so that we had reason to hope that we should soon see him the captain of a handsome craft. Now he lies at the bottom of a distant sea, and all that remains of him is the memory of his dear face and his brave, high-minded nature. Fearless, truthful, and devoted to his duty, he died as he had lived in the service of his ship, as the soldier dies for his flag, his king and his country. He was a man, a character, and death has no power over such! God has further use of them. But we shall never see him again with mortal eyes, and can only wreathe his portrait with laurels and forget-me-nots on his birthday, the 13th of April.
“Lass mich im düstern Reich,
Mutter, mich nicht allein!”
“Nicht allein! Wo Du auch weilest.
Ach! Wenn Du dem Tag enteilest,
Wird kein Herz von Dir sich trennen.”[4]
All our friends manifested the greatest sympathy for us, in which the Imperial Chancellor also did not fail to join. He wrote me on the 16th of March:—
“My Dear Sir,—I have heard with sincere regret of the heavy loss which you have suffered, and although I have no consolation to offer in such circumstances, I cannot refrain from expressing to you my heartfelt sympathy.
“Bismarck.”
With this these notes may be concluded. Evening has set in.
The sense of duty as a chronicler awoke again before the pain of our loss had subsided. I again felt an interest in other things besides the portrait of our dear departed son, and so returned to my diary. The lines dedicated to his memory shall remain, however, as a monument to him, and a reminiscence of days full of sorrow, and weeks of deep prostration and melancholy.
On the morning of the 29th of March I called upon Bucher. He declared that the anti-German party in Russia was growing dangerous, and though the Emperor appeared to be our sincere well-wisher, he would perhaps be unable to withstand it. It was true that he had spoken very sharply to Skobeleff who told Schweinitz, as he was returning with him from Gatshina, that the Emperor had severely reprimanded him (il m’a donné un savon). The General actually looked depressed. A Russian diplomatist (Nesselrode, if I understood rightly) once said of Holstein when the latter was with Bismarck in Petersburg years ago: “Ce jeune homme sait une foule de choses, mais il n’est pas capable d’en faire une seule.”
Pope Leo has shown great readiness to meet us half way in personal questions. Among other things, he had originally desired to appoint to the bishopric of Osnabrück a former Jesuit and pupil of the Collegium Germanicum, who had been recommended to him by Tarnassi. But when our Government pointed out that the candidate referred to had taken part in various forms of anti-German agitation, the Pope unhesitatingly dropped him.
On the 12th of May I met Thile in the Linkstrasse, and accompanied him part of the way to his house. He expressed his regret at our loss and his pleasure that the Chief had likewise done so. The conversation then turned on Hatzfeldt, and he said that Bismarck had always favoured him, “pitying him for having such a mother,” which, after all, was very nice on his part. He had also dispensed with the diplomatic examination in his case. Besides Hatzfeldt had talent and was good-hearted in addition. As evidence of the latter he mentioned that he frequently visited Goltz, who was suffering from cancer of the tongue, although it was scarcely possible to stand the atmosphere of the sick room. He, Thile, had also repeatedly visited the sufferer. Bismarck, on the other hand, had never gone to see him, although they had been on very friendly terms formerly. “It was enough to turn one’s stomach,” he said. It was true that subsequently, just before Goltz had moved, the Chief called at the old lodgings, and then gave as an excuse: “I was at his place but he had left.” Thile then added the following characteristic anecdote: “Of course you too are an old student of Goethe, and remember the poem ‘Füllest wieder Busch and Thal, still mit Nebelglanz.’ This was being recited on one occasion, and when the reader came to the passage—
‘Selig wer sich vor der Welt
Ohne Hass verschliesst,
Einen Freund am Busen hält
Und mit dem geniesst.’
(Blessed is he who retires, without hatred, from the world, and enjoys his retreat in communion with a single friend.) Bismarck exclaimed: ‘What! Without hatred? What a tailor’s soul he must have!’” In reply to my inquiry whether this story was absolutely authentic, he mentioned Keudell as his authority.
At 6 P.M. on the 8th of June, three days after the Chancellor’s return from Friedrichsruh, I left a note for him at the palace in the Wilhelmstrasse, requesting him if he had anything for me to do to name a day and hour on which I should call for the necessary information. At 8.30 P.M. I had a letter from Sachse stating that the Prince “wished to speak to me for a few moments,” and requested me to call upon him next day at 12.30 P.M. I called at the time appointed, and after waiting for about half an hour, while the Chief was dictating to one of his deciphering clerks who wrote shorthand, I was admitted to see him, and the “few minutes” extended to a full hour. The Prince was in plain clothes, with the exception of military trousers. He had grown thinner, so that his coat hung in folds over his shoulders. Otherwise, however, he looked well, and was evidently in good humour. He greeted me with a shake hands and “Good day, Büschlein.” Then, inviting me to sit down, he said: “You want fodder, but I have none. There is nothing going on either in domestic or foreign affairs. You recollect that little bit of a Herzegovina, and now we have that little bit of an Egypt. It is not of much concern to us, although it certainly is to the English and also to the French. They set about the affair in an awkward way, and have got on a wrong track by sending their ironclads to Alexandria, and now, finding that there is nothing to be done they want the rest of Europe to help them out of their difficulty by means of a conference. Nothing can be done with the fleet without a landing force, and this is not at hand, so that it will be merely a repetition of the demonstration before Dulcigno. In that case it was the rocks, here it is the European warehouses, otherwise they would in all probability have already bombarded the place. It is also a question whether they would not have come off second best, as the Egyptians have very heavy guns, and their artillery is not bad. But so far as a conference is concerned, it is like an inquiry round a board of green cloth, the interests of the Powers are not the same, and therefore it will not be easy to come to any practical conclusion. The Sultan too will not co-operate. He is not without justification in declining to do so. If he can put things right by writing letters and sending plenipotentiaries—which we shall know one of these days—the Western Powers will have reason to be thankful. If not there will be no alternative left but for the Padishah to send his Nizams to restore order there. That is due to the absurd policy which Professor Gladstone has pursued from the beginning. He tries to come to an understanding with France and Russia, forgetting the fact that their interests in the Levant are quite different to those of the English. He surrendered all the valuable results which English policy had tried to secure during the past eighty years in its dealings with the Porte and with Austria, and thought he could work miracles when he had offended them both. And in France they have also taken a wrong course out of consideration for public opinion. Egypt is of the utmost importance to England on account of the Suez Canal, the shortest line of communication between the eastern and western halves of the Empire. That is like the spinal cord which connects the backbone with the brain. Any increase of Turkish power does not affect England injuriously in this, or indeed in any other respect. France thinks more of the prestige to be gained by the Porte if it exercises a mediating and controlling influence in the Egyptian question, and fears that her own prestige in Africa might suffer. Nevertheless, France has also very important material interests there, since there are 14,000 Frenchmen in Egypt and only 3,000 English. It was in vain for me to point out to them that an Arabian Empire, such as Arabi may have in view, would be far more dangerous to their position in Africa than any strengthening of Turkish influence on the Nile. The Porte is an old European landowner who is deeply in debt, and who can always be reached and subjected to pressure if he becomes too exacting. It is impossible to foresee what effect an independent Egypt would have upon the French position in Africa. That is doubtless recognised by Freycinet, but he is afraid of the traditions, prejudices and vanity of the French, and of Gambetta, who manipulates them. It is true the division in the Chamber turned out favourably, indeed very much so, but even assuming that Gambetta cannot return to power shortly, the wind may soon blow from another quarter, and the understanding with England come to an end. A campaign in co-operation with the French, a military occupation, would be a hazardous undertaking for the English, as the French could always send more men than they, who require their soldiers in Ireland, and who have altogether none too many. If France had the larger force there she would of course exercise more influence and play the leading part, and it would perhaps be difficult to get her out of the country again. The rest of us would not co-operate in a military sense, as for the present the question is one of comparative indifference to us, and it is no business of ours to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for other people, particularly for the English. So there they are, with their ships, in a blind alley, and now they want a conference to put the matter right. Here also we are expected to come to their assistance, and bring pressure to bear on the Porte, thus embroiling ourselves with the Sultan—a suggestion which, of course, we must politely decline.”
“Much in the same way,” I said, “as the English before the last Russo-Turkish conflict wished you to forbid the Russians entering upon hostilities, merely because that did not suit England’s policy, and when Queen Victoria wrote to you and the Emperor to that effect.” “Yes,” he rejoined, “and it was the same before the Crimean war, when Bunsen pleaded their cause. They must manage to get out of the difficulties into which they have plunged by themselves—having made their bed they must lie on it.”
The dog, which had been standing behind me and occasionally made his presence known by snarling, now began to bark. “He notices that there is a stranger outside,” said the Prince, who rang the bell and ordered the attendant to keep the dog in the outer room. He then continued: “In home affairs there is also nothing of importance that you are not weary of. They will reject the tobacco monopoly. There is no other course open to them now.” “But, Serene Highness,” I said, “you will submit it to them again, and carry it through in three or four years’ time?” “That depends upon circumstances,” he replied, “upon the future elections. I have no intention of pressing the tobacco monopoly out of a mere liking for this particular method of fiscal reform. The monopoly is an evil, but it is still the best of all available means of reform.... I first want to get from them my certificate that I have done everything in my power to do away with an unfair form of taxation, but that they would not hear of it. Then they may settle the matter with their electors and justify their conduct, should it perhaps result in an increase of the class tax (a form of direct taxation), while other burdens cannot possibly be reduced.”
“Then one might as well emigrate,” I said.
“Certainly,” he rejoined. “The class tax, which at present is retained only in this country, is one of the chief causes of emigration. If you only knew for how many evictions it is responsible among the poorer and indeed even among the middle classes! It is like the Russian poll tax, and does not permit of any equitable distribution of the burden in accordance with the condition of those who have to bear it, while indirect taxation distributes itself automatically. My object was to provide a remedy for this and to lighten the burden of the poorer citizens. That ought also to have been the object of the Diet. But you have seen from the discussion on the Appropriation Bill how little disposed they are to do so; and Lingen’s motion, which was adopted by the Commission, will not even admit the necessity of a reserve.”
I observed: “The emphasis laid upon economy in his motion is quite after the manner of the pedagogue, and of the narrow-minded Philistine. It does not sound as if it came from the Parliament of a great empire, but rather as if the vestry of Little Peddlington were casting the light of its wisdom upon the subject. This petty huckstering spirit is characteristic of all Liberalism. The majority of them are ‘snobs’ with a sprinkling of ‘swells.’”[5]
“That is true,” he said. “They certainly have not much amplitude or breadth of view, and they are bent on obstinate resistance to the Emperor’s message, in which a far higher standpoint is adopted. But that is their nature. They only think of their joint stock companies, i.e., their Parliamentary parties, and whether their shares will rise or fall if this or that is done or left undone. They trouble their heads very little with anything beyond that. Besides they hope that the old Emperor will soon die and that his successor will give them a free hand. The Emperor, however, does not at all look as if he were going to oblige them. He may live for a long time yet and indeed reach a hundred. You should see how robust he is now, and how straight he holds himself! From what—(I understood, Lauer) says, the Nobiling phlebotomy has been of benefit to him, both physically and mentally, the old blood has been drawn off, and he looks much less flabby than formerly. We are now on good terms, better than we have been for years.” “And the Successor will have to follow the same course,” I said. “He cannot govern differently without doing mischief.” “Oh, yes,” he rejoined. “He also would like to retain me, but he is too indolent, too much devoted to his own comfort and thinks it would be easier to govern with majorities. I said to him: ‘Try it, but I will not join in the experiment!’ Perhaps they are out in their reckoning however, and a long-lived sovereign may be followed by a short-lived one. It seems to me as if this might be the case. He who would then ascend the throne is quite different. He wishes to take the government into his own hands; he is energetic and determined, not at all disposed to put up with Parliamentary co-regents, a regular guardsman!—Philopater and Antipater at Potsdam! He is not at all pleased at his father taking up with Professors, with Mommsen, Virchow and Forckenbeck. Perhaps he may one day develop into the rocher de bronze of which we stand in need.”
He then came to speak of his other schemes of reform, and observed: “The so-called Socialistic Bills are in a tolerably fair way. They will force themselves through, and develop further, even without me. The most pressing and necessary measures will in the main be soon carried. But it is unsatisfactory that they should want to bring the funds for the relief of the sick into too close connection with the insurance scheme. In this case it is not advisable that the payments in kind should be transformed into money payments.” He then gave a technical explanation, the details of which I was unable to understand, and was therefore unable to remember fully. I said: “But it is intended to drop the State subsidy, through which you hoped to reconcile the labouring classes, by getting them to recognise that the State not only makes demands upon them, but also comes to their assistance, procuring relief for them in case of need, and providing for their future as far as possible.”
“No, not dropped,” he replied, “but it is not immediately necessary in the new form which the Bill has taken. In about five or ten years it will be seen how far the contributions go, and in fifteen years’ time it may be asked whether, and to what extent, the State should contribute. It is sufficient for the present that all sums falling due are immediately paid, the State guaranteeing the amount.”
He again explained this in detail, and then said: “I am tired and ill, and should prefer to go, once I got my release from the Reichstag, but I do not like to leave the old Emperor alone. When he lay on his back after the outrage, I vowed to myself that I would not. Otherwise, I would rather be in the country at Friedrichsruh. I always felt better there; while here I get excited and angry, and become so weak that I can scarcely work for a couple of hours without losing hold of my ideas. How beautiful and fresh it was there in the country. I enjoyed every day, driving out and seeing how fine the rye looked, and how healthy the potatoes!”
This led him on to speak of the hope which he had of a good harvest, and that again to the price of corn in Germany and England. In this connection he observed, inter alia: “The opinion that low prices for corn mean happiness, welfare and content is a superstition. In that case the inhabitants of Lithuania and Rumania ought to be the most prosperous of all, while prosperity should decrease in proportion as you come west towards Aix la Chapelle. In England, the price of corn is now lower than here, and yet discontent prevails among the poorer classes, Radicalism is spreading, a revolution is approaching, and that democratic republic for which Gladstone and his friends and associates, Chamberlain and Dilke, have helped to pave the way, will come. It is just the same in Spain and Italy, where the dynasties, it is true, will offer resistance, but probably to no purpose. In France it remains to be seen whether the Republic will maintain itself, and if it does a condition of things will arise similar to that in America, where respectable people consider it disgraceful to have anything to do with practical politics, or to become a Senator, Congress man, or Minister.”
On my rising he walked about the room for a while, continuing to speak, but sat down again soon as if he felt tired. He mentioned Herbert, who is still in London, and from this I turned the conversation on to Hatzfeldt, remarking that his appointment as Secretary of State had not yet taken place. He rejoined: “That is due solely to the fact that he himself has not yet declared in favour of remaining. He has still to complete his arrangements, and settle with his brother about a mortgage. Moreover, I cannot blame him if he prefers to draw—(I did not catch the amount) in Constantinople, where things are cheaper, than 15,000 thalers here. He has a fortune of about 100,000 thalers. I wanted more for him, 60,000 marks, but the Federal Council rejected the proposal, as they could not give the Secretary of State more than the Imperial Chancellor, who receives only 54,000, but who has become wealthy thanks to public grants. You cannot expect everybody to be prepared to make sacrifices. Every one is not disposed to lead a simple life, cutting his coat according to his cloth, and to forego great entertainments and other expensive habits; and then it is a case of five into four won’t go, so I borrow one. He must, however, decide between this and July. Otherwise we shall have to ask Dr. Busch.”
“No, thank you,” I replied. He said: “There are two doctors of that name, and I mean the other, not Büschlein. But Busch has as poor health as Hatzfeldt, who is effeminate to boot, wraps himself up like a Frenchman, and goes to bed when he has a headache or cold, so that I have already been obliged to do their work instead of their taking over mine.”
From these invalids he passed on to the Empress. “She lives on and is again in good health, but a great deal of my illness comes from her intrigues. Schleinitz is also on his legs again, although he was very ill. Doubtless he thinks: ‘Perhaps there may be some more Jewish pourboires, so I must keep alive!’”
I asked if he would speak in the debate in the Reichstag on the monopoly. “Yes,” he said, “if my health permits it. Not for the purpose of convincing them, but to bear witness before the country, and then to demand my release.” I inquired whether he intended to go to Kissingen again this summer. “No,” he replied. “Although the waters have usually been very beneficial, they did me no good the last time. For nearly four months afterwards I was tormented with hæmorrhoids that were fearfully painful, burning like hell fire.” He then added a description of the symptoms.
Before leaving I also asked: “How do you like the Chevalier Poschinger,[6] Serene Highness? There is a great deal of interesting matter in the collection, but it seems to me that he might have made a better choice. But I suppose all the documents did not come into his hands?” He replied: “That, too, had something to do with it. But there is a great deal that has not got into the archives, such as my letters to the late King, which were retained by Gerlach and which his heirs will not easily part with. But even as it is, the book is very instructive, as it contains a great deal which was not known so accurately before; and it is perhaps well that those letters and other things should remain unpublished for the present.”
He had in the meantime shaken hands several times by way of taking leave of me, but each time started some new subject which caused me to remain. He now reached me his hand for the last time, and thanking him for giving me the pleasure of seeing him after such a long interval I took my leave. As usual after such interviews, I went straight home in order to write down what I had heard without delay, before anything else should chance to blur the impression.
On the 15th of July I again visited Bucher. He complained once more of the indifferent way in which business was done at the Foreign Office and in the Imperial Chancellerie. Herbert sent his father, Holstein or Rantzau private reports of what he picked up in London society, the clubs, &c.—mostly gossip—which was then forwarded to the Emperor and occasionally made use of in the press. The correct thing for him to do would be to communicate what he had heard to his Chief, the Ambassador, who could then forward it separately, or include it in his own despatches. Herbert reported recently that after the murder of Cavendish and Burke, Gladstone, when sitting in his place in Parliament, covered his face with his hands in order to show the depth of his affliction, although the event was in every way opportune for him. That evening, however, he was.... Rantzau then came to him, Bucher, to say that the Chief would like to see that mentioned in one of the papers, but not in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and to ask whether he, Bucher, would see to it. Bucher replied that his instructions were to write only for the Post and the Norddeutsche. He would, however, prepare it for the press and Rantzau could then give it to Lindau, who might get it into the Kölnische Zeitung, or into one of the Hamburg papers. After a while Rantzau returned and said that in Lindau’s opinion one of the phrases would be better if translated into the oratio obliqua. “But,” said Bucher, smiling, “it was a quotation, yet neither of them recognised it, although it was taken from Schiller. I said to him they could do what they liked with it, and since then they have not pestered me with such matters.” Bucher confirmed what the Chancellor had told me respecting Prince William’s attitude and way of thinking in political matters. He added that the Prince had told some of his acquaintances how much he disapproved of his mother reading the Volkszeitung, and identifying herself with the views of the Progressist party. Bucher then mentioned that a member of the Crown Prince’s entourage had informed him that one of the leaders of the National Liberals had recently stated that they were not so very much opposed to the tobacco monopoly, but wished to “keep their consent to it as a gift for the next emperor.” He added “I was about to write that to the Chancellor, whom I now rarely see; but I saw from his speech on the monopoly that he had already been informed of it.” In Bucher’s opinion the most important feature in the Egyptian question is “that we may expect it to lead to a breach between France and England.... Our relations with Austria are excellent. What he was not able to tell you at the time is a fact. We have a formal alliance with the Austrians, and the Chief has also done something more, so that we are quite safe from war for several years to come.”
With regard to Hatzfeldt, Bucher said: “He wants to have the Secretaryship of State offered to him so that he may make his acceptance conditional upon exorbitant terms for himself. But the Chief, in order to avoid placing himself under any obligations, means to leave it to the Emperor to settle matters with him.”
We finally spoke about Eckart, whom it was intended at first to employ in the Literary Bureau, but who has now a prospect of an appointment in the Ministry of the Interior. Bucher thinks the affair is a demonstration of the Chief’s against the Russians, who “always fancied until now that we must run to answer the bell whenever they ring.” Eckart, by the way, no longer makes the extracts from the newspapers for the Foreign Office....
On the 19th of July, Bucher sent me an article from the Deutsches Tageblatt of the 16th of July, entitled “Hirsch-Bleichröder-Rothschild and Germany in Constantinople.” It disclosed the financial intrigues of this group of bankers, “choice members of the Chosen People,” who exploit Turkey under the pretence that they are protected by the German Government in the persons of its representatives. It energetically protests against this trio, and particularly against “Bleichröder, who knows how to take advantage of the credit which Germany enjoys at the Golden Horn in association with persons who only manifest their national sentiments and their patriotism when these can be turned to account for their own transactions.” Bucher wrote: “I send you this article for your Memorabilia. It will be frequently mentioned hereafter. Justizrath Primker of Berlin, is the agent of Bleichröder here referred to.”
On the 2nd of August I received a card from Bucher, in which he said: “I have to-day taken leave of absence, and at the same time tendered my resignation. I will tell you why at some future time. Auf Wiedersehen.”
I therefore called upon him (Bucher) on the 2nd of October, and at once inquired whether he decided to retire or to remain on. He replied that he would remain for the present. On the 1st of August he begged the Chief to obtain the Emperor’s consent to his retirement. In this letter the only motive which he gave was consideration for his health (growing nervousness), although, as I knew, he had other and stronger reasons. He then proceeded to Bormio, whither the Prince’s answer followed him. The Chief wrote that before regarding his request as final, he would like Bucher to come to Varzin to talk over the matter—he would doubtless also be pleased to see the place once more. He (Bucher) arranged to go there on his return from his holiday, and accordingly proceeded to Varzin on Tuesday last. There the Chancellor explained to him that he still required the services of his knowledge and ability, and although he could quite conceive that he was ailing and tired, he believed he could get over that difficulty by giving him as much holiday as he liked at all times, summer and winter. In future, also, he should be immediately under him. To this Bucher replied that he did not wish to retire altogether, but he had had a mind to take up some work of importance which he could have done at home in connection with documents in the Archives that had not yet been used. He believed he could do that work as well as the officials of the Archives (Poschinger and Sybel). That might also be done, the Chief said, but he must remain in the service; he was indispensable to him. Bucher then begged to be allowed two days to think the matter over, after the lapse of which time he acceded to the Prince’s wishes. He does not expect any good to come of the arrangement, however, as in his opinion there will be no change in the condition of affairs.
I then inquired how the Chief was getting on. Bucher replied: “Not very well. He suffers from faceache, which occurs constantly and is often very bad, but passes away again after a while. The doctor thinks it comes from a bad tooth, and has advised him to have it out or let the nerve be killed. But the Chief will not agree to this, as he does not believe in the doctor’s opinion. When this is not tormenting him he is still the same old amiable causeur, and he often has moments of inspiration too, when he speaks on political affairs with astounding far-sightedness. I shall hardly enjoy much more of it, however. During recent years I have seen him more seldom than yourself, sometimes not for two months at a time. But perhaps that may improve again later or indeed very soon. A few days ago when I was speaking to Rantzau about my resignation, he said that was surely not necessary. It was true that the Emperor might live to a great age, but he would probably not govern much longer and then it would be the turn of the Crown Prince, who had not altered since the conflict he had had with his father twenty years ago. (Freytag’s account of this conflict was handed over by me for publication to the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Frankfurt-on-the-Main somewhere about the summer of 1862. It made a great sensation at the time and caused no little anxiety.) He was a regular Progressist and already he made no secret of it.” While I was away he had accepted Ludwig Löwe’s invitation to inspect his revolver manufactory, and even deigned to take breakfast there. Recently, on entering a Court gathering at which Puttkamer and also three Progressists, including Mommsen and Virchow, were present he passed the Minister by and joined the Liberal trio, with whom he then conversed in a demonstrative fashion. It must be remembered that this took place at a time when an action was being brought against Mommsen for insulting the Chancellor. The Chief was quite aware of this and speaking of the future Emperor, he had said: “He will wish to retain me, but I shall lay down my conditions, which he will agree to, but he will not keep his promise.” Bucher continued as follows: “Then the Chief will resign and proceed to Varzin, which he even now does not wish to leave, and a sort of colony will be founded there in connection with which they doubtless have me also in view. It is then intended to write memoirs. Speaking to me about them in 1877, he said: ‘I have still a great deal to say to the world.’—The Progressists are aware of the Crown Prince’s views and they will then want to form a Ministry taken from their own ranks. Virchow has hinted as much in public speeches, adding that the entire policy of the country including foreign affairs would be different.—Bismarck was a gifted politician who represented a system of diplomacy which, except by himself, had long since been regarded as played out. That would lead to a pretty state of affairs, but would not last long. In the meantime, however, many blunders and an immense deal of harm might be done.”
I then asked what he thought of Bismarck’s religious sentiments, giving him my reasons for thinking that his wife had influenced him in this respect. He agreed with me and said that the views of the Moravian Brethren prevailed in her family. For the rest it was very difficult to form an opinion on those matters. He then observed that Bismarck also believed in ghosts. There is a castle in East Prussia which no one will inhabit as it is said to be haunted by the ghost of a lady who committed some crime. She is visible in broad daylight. On one occasion, when this story was told in Bismarck’s presence and some of the company spoke of it as folly, the Chief said there might very well be something in it, and that one ought not to laugh and jeer at such things, as he himself had had a similar experience.[7]
Bucher also considers such things possible. He said: “A very remarkable incident of that kind once occurred to myself. When I lived on the Lutzow Embankment—it was during the first years of my appointment when I had a great deal to do and was so tired in the evening that I used to fall asleep as soon as I lay down—one night I saw my mother stoop down over my bed and smile contentedly, as if she were pleased that I had now begun a regular life. I am quite certain that it was not a dream.”
Finally I told him I intended to leave Berlin and return to Leipzig, as I had too little opportunity of seeing and being of use to the Chief, and found little society for my wife and myself. I would remain until February, in order to take leave of the Prince in person, and then proposed to come to Berlin a couple of times every year to visit him. In the meantime, I would now and then take the liberty of requesting him (Bucher) to furnish me with advice, explanations and materials in political affairs, while, on the other hand, I also should be at his disposal, as before 1878, whenever he wished to secure the insertion of anything in the press. Should the Chancellor retire at any time I would write him immediately, that he might count upon my services. Bucher approved of these suggestions.
On the 2nd and 3rd of November Bucher sent me a number of newspaper extracts referring to Bleichröder and his relations with Hatzfeldt, and Augusta’s intrigues against Bismarck, with which the latter in a pencil note had associated the Jesuit, Father Beckx. Bucher intends to write me further on the subject.
On the morning of the 6th of November I called on Bucher at his lodgings, and reminded him of this promise. He gave me the following information. “Hatzfeldt intends to become Vice-Chancellor. For that reason he has had himself made Minister of State, a measure which was unwelcome to the Chief, and which was managed with difficulty owing to the opposition of his colleagues. Hatzfeldt has had that represented in the press as necessary, supporting the contention by precedent. Hohenlohe was once Vice-Chancellor. I will cut out some of the newspaper articles and send them to you. He had a démenti of the article on the Hatzfeldt-Schapira affair (reproduced by the Volkszeitung from the Süddeutsche Post) published in the Deutsches Tageblatt, which the Chief reads. This article was written by Viereck, a Social Democrat, while the démenti was probably by Holstein or Fuchs. Hatzfeldt is gradually disclosing his Catholic sympathies, using his influence, for example, with the Minister of Public Worship for the appointment of certain Catholic clergymen. Bleichröder, senior, applied to the Parisian Rothschild and the Discontogesellschaft to co-operate in his great Turkish railway and tobacco monopoly scheme, as his own funds were not sufficient; without success, however, as the latter did not wish to have any dealings with such a corpse as Turkey. He had also been to Busch, the Under-Secretary of State, and had hoped to obtain his support for the scheme, as in the Rumanian affair, which was a disgrace to us. The support was given in that case owing to the pressing appeals of the old Hohenzollern, Prince Charles’ father.”
On one occasion in the sixties Corvin (Wiersbycki)[8] had at Bucher’s instance written in an English newspaper against the Empress Augusta. The Chief had instructed Bucher to get this done, as such attacks influenced the Court, which was afraid of the press. Corvin then borrowed a hundred thalers from Bucher, and only paid him back twenty-five. “He probably forgot the remainder. But the article was very well done.” Finally Bucher mentioned that Lindau was now ill. The Prince’s son had formerly begged in writing not to let it be noticed that Lindau was incapable, and he had retained the letter. “Heyking has now for a considerable time past been looking after the press; but, while you and I managed that alone, he has taken on a Count Henckel as an assistant. The latter, who reads the newspapers for him, has again appointed one of the men in the office to act as amanuensis, and do ‘the scissors and paste.’ They are fond of their ease, these aristocratic gentlemen!”
CHAPTER II
BLEICHRÖDER AND GERMAN DIPLOMACY IN CONSTANTINOPLE—FURTHER INTERVIEWS WITH THE CHANCELLOR—RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND AUSTRIA—THE GABLENTZ MISSION—QUEEN VICTORIA—AN UNPLEASANT EPISTLE—A SEVERE REPRIMAND—BISMARCK COLLABORATES WITH ME—BUCHER’S JOURNEY WITH SALAZAR—A PRESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST ENGLAND—DOCUMENTS AND ARTICLES ON SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTIONS.
On the morning of Monday, the 27th of November, 1882, I called upon Bucher to hand him a packet with two articles and a letter to be forwarded to the Prince at Varzin, which he promised to do. The latter ran as follows:—
“Hochverehrter Herr Reichskanzler,
“Every man has his own ambition. Mine consists in studying and giving as true as possible a picture of your Serene Highness. I am accordingly about to write a new book respecting you in which the more important material scattered through my previous book will be brought together and supplemented from my own observation, and such sources as the letters in Hesekiel’s work, and the despatches published by Poschinger and in Hahn’s collection. It will not be a biography, but only a detailed character sketch, in a number of chapters, such as Bismarck and Parliamentarism, Bismarck and the German Question, Bismarck and Religion, the Legend of Junker Bismarck, Bismarck and the Diplomatists, Bismarck and the Social Problem, Bismarck as Public Speaker and Humorist, Bismarck and Austria, France, Russia and the Poles, and, finally, Bismarck in Private Life. The way in which I propose to treat the subject will appear from the two articles herewith enclosed, which I would beg you to regard as mere preliminary studies. The first of these, ‘Bismarck as a Junker,’ being a harmless sketch, has already been published in the monthly periodical, Aus Allen Zeiten und Landen, and the second, ‘Bismarck and Religion,’ is to appear in the Grenzboten. In case of new material coming into my possession both shall be re-written for the book, the object of which is to assist the future historian, and at the same time to be useful to yourself. Everything calculated to interfere with the latter purpose shall be omitted. It is highly desirable that I should receive your Serene Highness’s help in the course of the work. I therefore venture most respectfully to recall the fact that Hesekiel was greatly assisted in this way, and that your Serene Highness in 1873 held out hopes to me of similar assistance. Moreover, as many parts of the book will certainly produce the impression that the author is well informed, it is to be feared that should it at the same time contain errors, the public may also accept them as true.
“I therefore beg in the first place that the two specimen articles may be kindly revised and returned to me, supplemented with as much new material as possible, and, where needful, corrected. I would afterwards, with your permission, send in from time to time legibly written copies of other chapters, and crave the same consideration for them.
“It may be said that such books should not be written during the lifetime of the person described. I take the liberty of rejoining that they can be best done at that time, if confidence is reposed in the writer, as he can then obtain fuller information than can be found in archives, the contents of which are not always, later on, rightly understood by every one.
“Should your Serene Highness desire to communicate verbally with me on the matter, I am ready at all times to obey your commands without delay.
“Your Serene Highness’s most respectful and devoted
“Dr. Moritz Busch.
“Berlin, November 26th, 1882.”
At 11.30 A.M. on the 1st of December, Bucher called upon me to return the two articles that had been sent to Varzin, namely, “Bismarck as a Junker” and “Bismarck and Religion.” He at the same time communicated to me the contents of a letter from Count Herbert, to the effect that the Prince had read the articles through, and had said with regard to the second that he could communicate nothing on a matter of so personal a character; and that he could not remember having made the statement on page 2 that he had “brought about three great wars.” It might be possible to insert the word “perhaps” in that sentence. His (Herbert’s) personal opinion was that nothing more ought to be written about his father, and if he had any influence with me he would use it in this direction. I explained to Bucher that if the Prince himself had asked me not to publish anything more about him, I should most probably forbear to do so, but that Herbert had no claim to any influence upon me. “What is Hecuba to me?” I concluded.
December 19th.—Received the following letter from Bucher:—
“A horrible cough has deprived me of my night’s rest for the past fortnight, but I am a little better since yesterday. As you do not read many of the newspapers, I send you two extracts which will furnish material for the history of the morals of our time.
“1. Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, of the 15th instant.—The following in print:—‘Herr Justizrath Primker is returning to Constantinople in order to join the Council for the administration of the Turkish State Debt in connection with the establishment of the tobacco monopoly and the unification of the Debt. The reports received from various correspondents respecting that gentleman’s failure or success in connection with any other financial mission are all erroneous. How far the investigations made by Herr Justizrath Primker respecting matters of commerce and means of communication in the East may be utilised in the interest of German capital remains a question for the future.’” Bucher then goes on to say: “Unquestionably prepared by Bleichröder, and intended to serve as a kind of official credentials for his agent. You are sufficiently acquainted with the position of that newspaper to know that such an article would not have been accepted unless some one in the Foreign Office (Hatzfeldt) had had the matter in hand.
“2. Deutsches Tageblatt of the 19th instant.—The following also in print:—‘We are pleased to learn from an incidental paragraph in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung that Justizrath Primker, one of Messrs. Bleichröder’s agents for international transactions, has had and has no other financial mission in Constantinople than to represent their firm. We are glad to see this statement in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, because—as one of our well-informed Vienna correspondents has shown—Justizrath Primker has contrived in Constantinople to make it appear as if he were on the staff of the German Embassy, and as if the German Government were backing him up with all its influence and approval, a circumstance which we should deeply regret, as Primker’s efforts are directed to promoting the interests of Bleichröder and of the notorious Baron Hirsch, and do not tend to the furtherance of the general interests of the German Empire on the Bosphorus. Herr Primker is again going to Constantinople, ostensibly to take part in the work of the Council of the Turkish Public Debt in introducing the tobacco monopoly administration and unifying the State Debt. The Council, as is well known, has charge of the interests of the European creditors of Turkey, and with this object supervises the administration of the Turkish Public Debt. It protects, however, only the interests of the larger creditors, as is shown by the attitude adopted by Herr Primker, who knew how to secure all the advantages for Herr Bleichröder and his partners, while entirely neglecting the claims of the poorer holders of Turkish securities in Germany, so that they actually came off worst of all in the arrangements ultimately made. And yet it was these who ought to have been considered in the very first place, as the net receipts of the Turkish railways amounted to about four million francs, a sum which was sufficient to provide for a fair interest on the securities. It is well known, however, that Baron Hirsch is still able to withhold these receipts from the Turkish Administration, and is assisted in doing so by his business friend, Herr Bleichröder, who is quite indifferent as to whether the interests of others and particularly of German creditors suffer thereby. One hawk does not peck out another hawk’s eyes. Even if we can do nothing to remedy this state of affairs, we can at least help people to recognise the bird by its feathers.’ (Bucher’s letter now follows once more.) I am sufficiently acquainted with the management of this paper to know that such an article must at least have been sanctioned in a higher quarter (Bismarck).”
December 20th.—The day before yesterday I wrote to the Imperial Chancellor begging for an interview, and in case there were anything to mention in the press to supply me with the necessary information. At 1.30 P.M. to-day a Chancery attendant brought me a letter from Hofrath Sachse, marked “Urgent,” in which Bismarck “requested me to be good enough to visit him this afternoon at 4 o’clock.” I went to the palace at the time appointed. Theiss showed me in to the Prince, with whom I remained for three-quarters of an hour. He had a white beard, and was sitting at his writing-table. After reaching me his hand he said: “You have doubtless come with great expectations, and think I shall have something to say to you about the article in the Kölnische Zeitung—the one on Russian armaments.” I asked: “Did that come from here?”
He: “No, not from me; but from the military authorities.”
I: “And the statements are correct?”
He: “Certainly. They are constructing many more railways than they require for trade and traffic, and the garrisons in the western towns and fortresses have been placed almost upon a war footing. I should not be surprised if there were a war with them next year. The Bourse has also shown itself much concerned, but I believe that the fall in quotations arises rather from anxiety respecting France. But (he continued) you have been indiscreet in the Grenzboten in your reference to the alliance with Austria. It has been very awkward for them (in Austria), for the Hungarian Diet can now come and demand information on the subject.”
I replied: “I thought that the matter had gradually leaked out. Three or four months ago some one, I forget now who it was, said to me that everybody now knew that a formal alliance existed, and not a mere memorandum. Perhaps my informant had it from Vienna. I was therefore of opinion that it could do no harm, and might possibly be of use if I mentioned it incidentally, as I did in the Grenzboten article, and I was quite astounded when all the newspapers wrote leading articles upon it. I must be very much mistaken if I have not seen something similar elsewhere.”
“Yes,” he said; “but it was a State secret, and if you had only remembered from whom you had it, an inquiry might well be instituted. It is quite possible that something of the kind had already been said elsewhere; and if what you wrote had appeared in another paper, perhaps no one would have taken any notice of it. But you have given the Grenzboten such a nimbus that it is placed on a level with the Official Gazette. That is not good for you as a writer. You are regarded as, in the highest degree, inspired.”
I: “That is a matter of indifference to me. It only excites hatred and envy; and I have never associated with the local journalists.”
“Well,” he said, smiling, “you can destroy this nimbus if you will only write something thoroughly silly.”
I: “And if you then have a vigorous démenti inflicted upon me.”
He: “But, seriously, you can to a certain extent correct the statement which you blurted out inadvertently, by saying that in doing so you believed you were only repeating what was already known; and you might go on to add a number of useful observations, as, for instance, that, if the alliance did not actually exist, it ought to be brought about, as it would be of great advantage and would fulfil the requirements of two peace-loving Powers—and, further, that we should very much regret the truth of the assertion made by the Kölnische Zeitung that it had only been concluded for five years; in that case it should be extended over a longer period. Finally, it would be in accordance with the interests of both Empires to strengthen and consolidate the good political relations existing between them by closer commercial relations on a treaty basis.”
He then returned to the question of the Russian armaments, and said, inter alia: “Now I am to assist! But they can settle the matter themselves. Three years ago I made proposals to them which they would not accept. Now let them settle it!”
He reflected for a while, and then suddenly exclaimed: “Can you find us money, and rid us of the bailiff?... Parliament will not agree to the licensing tax, not even the Conservatives, each one of whom is cleverer than the other, while they are all of them wiser than the Government. Here there is nothing but discord, and the majority are blockheads. What is the use of their Conservatism when they will not support us? A progressive income tax is unjust, and would not be of much assistance, but an equitable income tax would be good and useful. That can be obtained by self-assessment, and it would in a short time cover the deficit in the four classes. The higher classes—14,000—pay about seven million marks, and to double that amount would be oppressive, it would mean a tax of 26 per cent. The capitalist is either a mortgagee, and if his taxes are raised, he turns upon his debtor and raises his interest to 5 or 5½ per cent. interest, instead of 4; or a loan and debenture company, and then its securities would lose as much in value as the tax amounts to; or a holder of industrial shares, and then the tax might reduce or indeed destroy the export trade in the manufactured article. The State cannot tax its own securities, and therefore there only remain foreign securities and railway shares. People are not afraid of the capitalist, but only of the tobacconist, the wine merchant, and the brewer. Of the capitalist one may say:—
“‘I prithee take thy fingers from my throat;
For though I am not splenetive and rash,
Yet have I in me something dangerous,
Which let thy wisdom fear!’
“If the Conservatives were at one with the Government all would be well. As it is, however, we shall doubtless be obliged to dissolve again in February, and then there will not be so many Conservatives returned. The King has so far committed himself that he can no longer govern with the bailiff. His position is most painful, and he will ultimately ask the country again and again whether the bailiff is to be retained.”
He then spoke about Wedell-Malchoff’s motion for taxing time bargains on the Bourse. In his opinion it was not a bad idea, but the phrase “time bargains” should be defined, and in such a way as not to include genuine transactions in rye and spirits or cash transactions. Furthermore, it should start, not with two per mille, but, as the Government had proposed, with one per mille. The latter would be feasible, and of course once a beginning had been made it could be raised. The mistake here was that they were trying to get at dishonest transactions, and thus to introduce a moral tax, whilst such transactions could not possibly be defined or reached. The Chancellor’s statements were somewhat to the foregoing effect. More I cannot say, as I did not understand all these financial explanations, in which he doubtless credited me with more technical knowledge and capacity than I possess to supplement their purport.
In the course of his remarks he mentioned Bleichröder’s name, and I asked whether he had noticed certain hints that Bleichröder’s schemes with regard to the Turkish tobacco monopoly and railways were being promoted by German diplomacy. He denied the fact. It was true, indeed, that in the Rumanian affair Bleichröder had been supported, because, in that instance, in addition to some distinguished gentlemen, a great number of small investors were concerned. Of the former he mentioned Ujest, and, if I am not mistaken, Lehndorff. There Bleichröder had really done good service, “gallantly risking his money, and it was for that reason that he had been ennobled by the King.” Primker, on the other hand, he described as “clever but unscrupulous.” As to the Austrian Government, he observed that they had committed themselves too far with Hirsch.
We finally came to speak about his neuralgia, which caused him a great deal of pain. I suggested that it probably came from a bad tooth.
He: “Others have thought the same, but the doctor has hammered at all my teeth, and says they are sound. No, it is a nervous affection, muscular pain, particularly when I am worried and excited. That is why I do not attend the Parliamentary sittings; for what a delight it would be to certain people if, in the middle of a speech, I suddenly made a wry face, and were unable to proceed!” He dismissed me with the words: “Adieu, Büschlein, auf Wiedersehen! But take care to avoid further indiscretions.”
January 14th, 1883.—Called this morning on Bucher to give him my new address.
Bucher then expressed a hope that the Bleichröder swindle, which was becoming more and more widely known, would ultimately be mentioned in the Reichstag. I told him that, in speaking to the Chief recently, I had referred to certain newspaper articles on the subjects, and that he declared he knew nothing of diplomatic influence having been exercised in that way at Constantinople, and had, moreover, praised Bleichröder’s action in the Rumanian affair. Bucher exclaimed angrily: “Well then, he lied to you in that matter.... It is true, indeed, that Bleichröder and the Disconto Bank plunged into the affair gallantly, but it was not for the sake of the poor tailors, cobblers and cooks that had blundered into it, but because the Prince of Hohenzollern was also involved.”
Bucher also denounced as “a lie” the Prince’s statement that the article in the Kölnische Zeitung which followed the paragraph in Grenzboten on the Austro-German Alliance, and emphasised, first its five years’ duration, and then the warlike preparations of the Russians, did not come from the Foreign Office, but from the military authorities. (Perhaps this assertion was intended to lead me into some “blunder” which would have deprived the Grenzboten of its “nimbus.”)... “The article is by Kruse, who as you are aware is here. I know also who corrected it.” (Probably Bismarck, or possibly Bucher himself under his instructions.) The fact that the Chief told me to advocate the renewal or prolongation of the treaty, with additional commercial provisions, (this was done subsequently in the Grenzboten and was noted and emphasised by the Post) tallies according to Bucher with a proposal which the Chancellor made in Vienna. He was, however, informed in reply that that would not do, as Austria-Hungary consisted of an industrial and an agricultural country, with different interests. Bucher condemned the proposal, saying: “He is in too great a hurry, because he thinks he has only a few more years to live.” I shall now take care to get away from Berlin as soon as I can, and thus avoid further risk of hearing and circulating untruths from the Chief’s mouth.
January 28th.—Wrote to the Chief yesterday, informing him that the editor of Harper’s Monthly (published in London) had asked me to write an article upon him, and if possible, also to send a photograph of the Prince with his new full beard. At the same time I added a request for an interview. On the same evening I received an answer from the Imperial Chancellerie that the Prince begged me to do him the honour of calling upon him to-morrow, Sunday, at two o’clock. I went accordingly to-day, and had to wait for a while, as the Minister of Justice was with the Chancellor, and Hatzfeldt was already waiting in the antechamber with Möller, the Under-Secretary of State. When Hatzfeldt was called in Möller dropped into conversation with me, and asked me whether I was the author of Count Bismarck and his People. He then turned out to be an admirer of my former books also. He had read, among others, the Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and even the Wanderings between the Hudson and the Mississippi. When Hatzfeldt came out, the attendant immediately called me in. The Chief, who gave me a very friendly reception, had a particularly bright colour in the face. He asked: “Now then, what is it you want me to tell you for the article? All the principal facts are known.” I replied that I had come less on that account than for the photograph. They had written to me that thousands of Germans in America would be much interested in seeing his portrait with the new beard. “Yes,” he observed, “they now show their interest in the old country by overloading me with contributions for those who have suffered by the inundations on the Rhine. I have not the least idea what I am to do with them. I have talked over the matter with the people in the Reichstag, they must distribute the money. As to the photograph, however, the man suggested in your letter (Brasch, in the Wilhelmstrasse) cannot do it, as I have promised Löscher and Petsch, with whom I have always been satisfied. But I cannot go to them at present as I should catch cold in this weather, and also because I do not go to the Emperor, and he would be surprised if I were to be seen going to the photographer. But I should myself like to see a portrait with the beard, as I do not know how long I shall keep it.” I suggested that he should let Brasch take two photographs only, as he lived close by and would bring his camera here, one of them being for Harper and one for me. He could be forbidden to sell any copies. But the Chief considered that that would be a breach of his word, and showed a disposition to lose his temper, so I let the matter drop.
He spoke of the way in which they “hated him in Parliament,” although “he had done them no harm.” “I cannot understand it,” he continued. “It is not so with other Ministers, even with those who have done nothing but commit blunder after blunder, while I, at least, have maintained peace for them. Surely the present Ministry in France is a wretched concern, English policy has been an unbroken series of blunders for the last three years, and Gortschakoff, with his vanity, also makes all sorts of mistakes; yet no one in their own countries worries and hampers them in every direction. Nor in other respects have I ever given them ground for dissatisfaction. Other Ministers speculate on the Stock Exchange, and take advantage of their office and information to make money. It is asserted that several French Ministers do so, and such cases also occur in Austria, and particularly in Hungary, where the Zichys have made millions in railway shares. Manteuffel and Schleinitz took advantage of their position in the same way. No one can say anything of the kind against me. The Diest-Daber statements were slanders. I have never held speculative securities, but only regular dividend-bearing stock. It is only the national grants that have given me my competency. I have made nothing, but was, on the contrary, much better off formerly than I am now, in consequence of the low prices of corn and timber and unwise purchases of land.... Nor have I led a loose life, but have, on the contrary, been always a respectable father of a family. And nothing of the kind can be said of my sons either. (Really?) No charge can be brought against me, and nevertheless I am hated. But I am tired. I have lost my old passion for shooting and riding, and I fear I shall soon lose my liking for politics. I am sacrificing my health. I ought to live in the country, and the doctors say that if I were free from business, and could spend three or four hours a day in the open air, I should be well again. But I do not like to desert the Emperor, who will soon be eighty-seven, when he begs me with tears in his eyes to remain. Nor can I expect him to accustom himself to others.”
I inquired how he now stood with the Crown Prince, and he replied, “Latterly he has been very amiable to me, particularly at the various festivities.” Then returning, without any transition, to the subject of Parliament and its opposition to himself, he said: “I have maintained peace for them with a great deal of trouble. After 1870 everybody expected war in a couple of years; but so far it has not come, and perhaps, indeed, it may never come again. We are now on a better footing with Russia than we have ever been before, and with Austria we have concluded an alliance.” I asked him if he was still negotiating for an improvement of the treaty in a commercial direction. He rejoined: “I will not tell you that, as you have been indiscreet enough to let it be known that it was only concluded for a period of five years. The Kölnische Zeitung has reproduced that from the Grenzboten.”
I: “I beg your pardon, Serene Highness, but the converse was the case. I could not have said it before the Kölnische Zeitung, because I was not aware of the fact until I read it in that paper.” He maintained his opinion until I offered to prove to him that he was in error, by sending him the Grenzboten article. He then went on to relate: “They (the Austrians) thought they might satisfy their greed in that way. I imagine that I am doing them a good turn and making them a present, and then they come with their conditions. I have rejected them. A commercial treaty is possible in which we might grant them more favourable terms than to the others, and in which the tariff would not be raised, indeed perhaps reduced. The high duties which we have imposed upon Russia and America need not be applied to Austrian maize and barley. The importation of cattle may also be allowed, although that is scarcely feasible in view of the certificates given in Galicia and Hungary, where everything can be bought and everybody can be bribed. But commercial union and a common customs frontier are out of the question, for Germany takes plenty of imported goods, and superior foreign wines are consumed here in Germany, while even a groschen would be too much for a Slovak or a Raizen (i.e., a Servian of Slavonia or Lower Hungary), who uses nothing of the kind. Even here there is a great difference between the Elbe Duchies or the Rhenish provinces and East Prussia or Upper Silesia.”
He then came once more to speak of the peaceful times in which we are now living, and said: “You have only to look at the newspapers and see how empty they are, and how they fish out the ancient sea-serpent in order to have something to fill their columns. The feuilleton is spreading more and more, and if anything sensational occurs they rush at it furiously and write it to death for whole weeks. This low water in political affairs, this distress in the journalistic world, is the highest testimonial for a Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
After a moment’s silence he went on: “Then you propose to return to Leipzig?”
“Yes,” I replied, “since the death of my son, my wife requires amusement and society, which are not to be had here, but which she may find in her own native town.”
He: “Well, but surely any one who writes on politics ought to live in Berlin, where politics are now made.”
I: “But Leipzig is only three hours from here, and during the months when you are in town I can easily reside here.”
He: “That is not necessary, but you might come every fortnight, or when anything occurs, and ask me.”
He again complained of the neuralgic pains, at the same time dipping his finger, as he had already done frequently, in a wine glass containing some strong-smelling yellow liquid, with which he rubbed his right cheek bone. “That relieves me for a short time,” he said. He then continued: “But I am very tired. I have now been engaged in politics practically since 1847, nearly forty years, and that is exhausting. At first in Parliament, then at Frankfurt, where I was very busy, having work thrown upon me from Berlin also.”
I: “That can be seen from Poschinger’s book, which I am now reading and making extracts from.”
He: “Yes, but he does not say that I also wrote numerous letters to the King from Frankfurt,[9] and that I came no less than thirteen times in one year to Berlin to see him.”
I: “It looks almost as if already at Frankfurt you had been his Minister for Foreign Affairs—at least Manteuffel drew his inspiration from you in the principal questions.”
He: “Yes, the late King discussed all great questions with me, and Manteuffel put up with it.”
I mentioned that the extracts which I was making from the documents contained in Poschinger’s book were intended in the main for the chapter on “Bismarck and Austria,” in which I proposed to embody what I had personally gathered in 1870, as, for instance, Prince Luitpold’s abortive letter to the Emperor Francis Joseph.
He: “Certainly! But as long ago as 1866 I made an attempt to come to an understanding with them. I suppose I have already told you the Gablentz story?”
I: “No, but you have told me others from that period, as, for instance, how the King wanted to annex portions of Saxony, Bavaria and Bohemia, and how you persuaded him not to do so.”
He: “Well, it occurred in this way. Just after the first shot had been fired (in reality it must have been about a fortnight before) I sent Gablentz, the brother of the general, to the Emperor at Vienna with proposals for peace on a dualistic basis. I instructed him to point out that we had seven or eight hundred thousand men under arms, while they also had a great number. It would therefore be better for us both to come to an agreement, and making a change of front towards the West, unite our forces in attacking France, recapture Alsace, and turn Strassburg into a federal fortress. The French were weak as compared with us. There might be no just cause for war, but we could plead with the other Powers that France had also acted unjustly in taking Alsace and Strassburg, whence she had continually menaced South Germany ever since. If we were to bring these as a gift to the Germans they would accept our dualism. They, the Austrians, should rule in the South and have command of the seventh and eighth army corps, while we should have command of the ninth and tenth and the federal command in chief in the North.... Dualism is a very ancient institution, as old as the Ingævones and Istævones, Guelphs and Ghibellines.”
I observed: “Already under the Othos, indeed as long ago as Charlemagne with his Franks, and the Saxons.” “High German and Low German,” I said. “With a Celtic fringe below and a Slavonic fringe above.”
“Well,” he continued, “Gablentz submitted his proposal to the Emperor, who seemed not disinclined to entertain it, but declared he must first hear the views of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mensdorff, you know. He, however, was a weak-minded mediocrity, unequal to ideas of that calibre, and he said he must first take counsel with the Ministers. They were in favour of war with us. The Minister of Finance said he believed they would beat us—and he must first of all get a war indemnity of five hundred millions out of us, or a good opportunity for declaring the insolvency of the State. The Minister of War was not displeased with my suggestion, but in his opinion we ought to have our own fight out first, and then we could come to an understanding and fall upon the French together. So Gablentz returned without having effected his purpose, and a day or two afterwards the King and myself started for the seat of war.”
I thanked him warmly for this important and startling communication, and asked him if I might use it in my book. He replied: “Yes, it is for that purpose that I have related it to you. But not in detail, merely the main features. Proposal for peace on the dualistic basis, united attack upon France, and the reconquest of Alsace.”
I then asked once more whether he wished to read the book before it went to press, and he said: “Yes, in order that you may not include anything false in my epitaph.”
I: “That would certainly not be done intentionally. You know that I worship you, and would let myself be cut into a thousand pieces for you.”
He: “Ah, no; not into so many! It is not necessary.”
I: “Well then, only into two pieces, so that one might see half a Büschlein (little Busch) fall to the right and half to the left!”
On my then begging him as soon as his health permitted to let Löscher and Petsch come to take his portrait, he promised to do so, adding: “If they do not care to come, then the other man can—what’s his name?”
I: “Brasch, here in the Wilhelmstrasse, at the corner of the Leipzigerstrasse.”
He: “But I must first keep my word.”
I: “I did not ask you to do anything contrary to it. I only thought of Brasch because he took a very good photograph of my late son.”
He: “How did the thing happen?” I then related shortly the circumstances of my son’s death.
He: “That is a sad case, and there are many to share your misfortune, all who had relatives on board the Cimbria.”
I: “But my son was engaged in his profession, in the fulfilment of his duty, and died bravely and conscientiously for his ship like a soldier for his flag.”
He reached me his hand, and said, “Auf Wiedersehen!” I had been with him fully three-quarters of an hour, and all this time good old Möller had to wait in the antechamber.
On returning home on the evening of the 3rd of February, I found lying on my table a letter from Count Bill, in which, at his father’s request, he enclosed a new photograph of the latter with a full white beard.
On the 24th of February I wrote to the Chancellor begging to be allowed to take leave of him personally, as I proposed to start for Leipzig on the following Thursday. I handed the letter to the porter at the palace at 11 A.M., and in about an hour and a half I received an invitation through Sachse to call upon the Prince at 3 o’clock. He was in the room behind his study, which opens on the garden. He was in an armchair, half sitting, half lying, and had beside him a small table covered with documents. After he had asked me how I was, he complained that he still felt very poorly. When one trouble left him another set in. The neuralgic faceache often prevented him from sleeping. If he could only go to the country, away from business, things might improve; but the King would not grant him leave, and “pestered him with all sorts of unimportant orders,” &c., as, for instance, with the question as to who should go to St. Petersburg to attend the coronation. “He thinks,” he continued, “that if I can manage to keep on my legs I shall live to be old,—and if not, why then I must die in the fulfilment of my duty.... And here in the Foreign Office I have no proper assistance. Look at that pile of documents which I must read through myself!” I said: “Of course there is not much to be done with Hatzfeldt. He has little ability, and still less inclination, to work. He only wants to amuse himself, and to draw a big salary for doing so.” “Yes,” he replied, “Hatzfeldt does little for his money, and has neither a good memory nor a taste for business.” He then continued: “The Crown Prince is also inconsiderate, and torments me with matters of no importance; and, in addition to that, the people in the Diet are committing all sorts of blunders. How abusive they have been during the past few days! But it is the same everywhere with Parliaments and Ministers.” I remarked: “Quite so, for instance in France.” “It is no better in England,” he rejoined. “The European is no longer making progress. There is nothing more to be done with him.” He repeated that he was sick of politics, and wanted quiet. He then spoke of the Kulturkampf, observing: “The Pope is really well disposed, but he is not so powerful and independent as one may think; he is dependent upon people who will have no peace. For some time it appeared as if a modus vivendi could be arrived at, but now that is at an end. On the signs of approaching fine weather Windthorst threatened to strike and resign the leadership of the Centre party. He wants a stormy sky for other purposes, for stirring up discontent and strife, and they on the other hand need him, or think they do. They accordingly became frightened in Rome, and now they are once more making themselves unpleasant.” I said: “Catholicism has always been a secondary consideration for Windthorst. He is, above everything else, the well-paid advocate of the Guelphs.”
He rejoined: “Ah, he believes in nothing whatever. He has absolutely no religion.”
He caught sight of an envelope which I had brought with me and laid on the table beside us containing an enlargement by Brasch of his photograph by Löscher. He asked: “What have you there?” I answered: “It usually happens that granting one request brings on another, and that is the case now. I have had your last portrait enlarged and mounted, and I would now beg your Serene Highness to write your name under it as a souvenir. Of course it can be done in pencil.” “No,” he said, “in ink.” He rang for the attendant and asked for “a pen to write my signature,” and then wrote under the photograph: “v. Bismarck, Berlin, 24 February, 1883.”
I thanked him and said: “It is then arranged, Serene Highness, that I may come here and address myself to you occasionally when anything of importance arises, particularly when there would seem to be anything on foot in which you might wish to have some one near you in whom you could repose special confidence? And as to the book, I may send you the proofs in a few months? We shall probably not begin printing before August.” He agreed to all this, and then said: “Well, good-bye, Busch. Auf Wiedersehen! Enjoy yourself in Leipzig ‘an der Pleisse.’” He pronounced these words with a true Saxon accent.
On the 13th of May I came from Leipzig to Berlin, and reported myself to the Chancellor by letter.... On the 15th Sachse sent me word that the Chancellor expected me at 3 o’clock. I presented myself punctually at the time appointed, and had to wait while the Chancellor had a short interview with Rottenburg.... The latter referred to Colonel Vogt’s Grenzboten article on Thibaudin, and mentioned that the Imperial Chancellor had remarked that it was no business of ours to point out to the French that their army was in bad hands. Count Rantzau also came across to shake hands with me. The Chief’s youngest grandchild, Heinrich, some five months old, was also in the antechamber, and he also gave me his little hand to shake.
I was then with the Prince from 3.5 to 4 P.M. He was in plain clothes, and sat at his ordinary double writing-table. He did not look ill, but complained as usual of his neuralgia. He said: “It now extends over the whole body, the chest and abdomen, and I can no longer exert myself to think or work for any length of time—two hours at the outside; then I must give up, or drink champagne or something of that kind to keep myself going for a while longer. I ought to get out of harness altogether, but the Emperor will not consent to this, and even when I go to the country, business and worry now follow at my heels.” I asked: “Worry with the gentlemen in Parliament?” “Ah, no,” he replied; “I no longer read their speeches and brawling. It is the Ministers. Scholz is all right, as also Bötticher and Maybach, although the latter is somewhat blunt,—but the others, and particularly those in the Foreign Office!” I said: “But surely Bucher and Busch are able and diligent.” “That is so,” he rejoined; “but Bucher is cross-tempered and soured, and Busch is sinking under his load of work. I was mistaken in Hatzfeldt. He is very good for negotiating with the King and the Crown Prince, but he thinks only of his own interest, and would like to be my successor; but he has no sense of duty and no love of work.” I added: “One or at most two hours’ work in the day, as formerly—and then to play a game of croquet or lawn tennis with Mrs. or Madame So-and-so.” “Yes,” he said, “that’s his way. Like Lucca. Unser Paulchen ist sehr faulchen (Our little Paul is very lazy). His Excellency Herr von Keudell also wanted to become Imperial Chancellor one day, and absurd as the notion was, he worked it through his friends in the press, who had to praise him up to the skies and represent him as your intimate adviser. But I always regarded him as quite insignificant in politics, and in addition to that he could never do any work. He found a difficulty in managing the most ordinary affairs. I was often obliged to do things for him, and once at Versailles Taglioni, the deciphering clerk, finished off no less than thirty documents for him with which he was in arrears. It is true that he was very clever in looking after his own interests.”
He: “Yes, and he also knew how to get himself a rich wife, and to take advantage of the position which he acquired through the friendship of my wife and his own musical talent. Moreover, he knew how to impress people with his importance—through his silence. But there was nothing behind it. He is stupid, empty and incapable. He was unable even to manage the Pay Department properly.”
I: “On going to Constantinople it is said that he left a deficit of 80,000 thalers.”
The Chief then spoke of Hohenlohe, and appeared to think more highly of him than he did of Hatzfeldt. He also referred to Radowitz and afterwards to Radowitz’s father, alleging that the “Jesuitic attitude of the latter was responsible for Olmütz.” “You know what sort of a man the late King was,” he continued. “For years, during which something might have been done, Radowitz kept him occupied with all sorts of tailoring and ornamental matters, with mediæval questions of costumes, uniforms and coats of arms. He acted as Keeper of the Wardrobe to his fancies: whether such and such counts were or were not received, and the Knights of St. John, and the Wetterau bench of Counts, and the absurd question whether Saxony and Hanover should retain the right to appoint envoys,—as if a barber could not have intrigued successfully against our policy so long as they had the power. He amused the King with such trifles as these until it was too late.”
He then came to speak of Lady Bloomfield’s Memoirs, the Tauchnitz edition of which he brought in from the next room, and asked me to review it in the Grenzboten. He said I should find “the genuine English arrogance in the lady,” who was “much pleased at the opposition of the Crown Princess (the present Empress Augusta); and full of the profoundest aversion to everything Prussian and German.” In 1866 she “had been anti-Prussian to the backbone,” and had “libelled our officers as the French did in 1870 with their story of the clock.” In this connection he referred to the merino goats which the Prussians were alleged to have driven away with them from Bohemia. This led him to speak of the Crown Princess and her “English self-conceit,” whereupon I reminded him of the story of the silver plate of the English shopkeepers and of the Prussian nobility which he then repeated to me as before. On my remarking that the Queen, her mother, was also unfriendly to us Germans, and had always sided with the Belgian-Coburg clique, &c., he denied that this was the case, and said that, on the contrary, she had “on the whole been favourable to us.”
He then continued: “I wish you would some time or other refute the charge that I have acted inconsistently in the struggle with the Curia, and that I have changed my opinions and aims in the ecclesiastical question, and in others. That is the sort of criticism which can only proceed from some one who has never occupied the position of a leading Minister. Whoever has held such a post for any considerable time can never absolutely unalterably maintain and carry out his original opinions. He finds himself in presence of situations that are not always the same—of life and growth—in connection with which he must take one course one day, and then perhaps on the next another. I could not always run straight ahead like a cannon ball. (Doubtless a reminiscence of Schiller, ‘Piccolomini,’ I., 4.) Had I done so I should have knocked my head against a wall. When the situation changed I was obliged to alter my plans. Such changes in the situation were, moreover, chiefly due to the fickleness of parties, and, therefore, if any one is to blame they are. Their action, on the other hand, was in great part influenced by their envy. That is the national vice of the Germans. They cannot bear to see any one hold a high and leading position for any length of time. One of the most important changes was produced by the formation of the Catholic party, the founders of which might at the beginning have been expected to support the Government. Savigny, you know. It, however, weakened my position. The entire struggle with the Centre party would have taken another form, and have had a different issue, if I could have fought it out at the head of the Conservatives. I had risen from their ranks, but if I was to do justice to the requirements of the time it was impossible for me to continue in agreement with them on all points. This, and the long-suppressed hatred and envy of old comrades of my own class and faith, which very soon broke out, drove me over to the Liberal side. An understanding had to be come to with the latter if the Empire was to strike firm root, and so I was obliged to come to an agreement with the strongest party, a thing which I had tried in vain to do in 1866, when it was also desirable. It was particularly necessary in those years when Germany was threatened with a Triple Alliance like that of the Kaunitz period. The latest achievement of German diplomacy is to have prevented the formation of such a coalition against us for thirteen years. The Government was forced to appear at the head of the Liberals, at the head of the majority, in order to avert this coalition. The Conservatives fell away from me on that account. I would remind you of the Inspection of Schools Bill, and of the attitude of the Kreuzzeitung, and of the libels published in the Reichsglocke. And just as the situation was thus altered at that time, so it was again changed in 1878, through the defection of the Liberals. Here, too, it was envy and self-importance, and the desire to rule. I was no longer supported, or only in a lukewarm fashion. They were not sorry to see me weakened by the opposition of the Centre party, so that I should be forced to negotiate with them. The Progressists combined with the Centre against me. The Secessionists acted in very much the same way. From this time forward the National Liberals were silent in the struggle with Rome. They were pleased at the embarrassments to which it gave rise, and wished to have a weaker Government in order that they might appear stronger. When the Government had to strike the Liberals out of its reckoning, it naturally followed that I had to slacken my opposition to Rome. I cannot speak any longer now, or the faceache will return.”
He then rose, but continued to speak of his illness for a while as he walked up and down, describing it as very painful, “like shingles.” I further asked if I might in a few months send him the proofs of my book. “What book?” he said. I answered: “That which your Serene Highness has already twice promised me to read through.” He then thought for a moment, and promised once more to do so, whereupon I took my leave, with wishes for his speedy recovery. He said he had no longer any hope, and only expected to grow worse. (...)
On the 11th of July, after the Chancellor had left Berlin for Friedrichsruh, Grunow sent him the first sheets of my book, Unser Reichskanzler, to read through before they were sent to press. On the 16th of July, Count Bill returned me these proofs, with the following lines:—
“Friedrichsruh, 16/7, 1883.
“Dear Sir,
“I enclose the proofs herewith. All that has been struck out is a passage in a private conversation. It would be better to omit altogether expressions of a similar character made in conversations of a confidential nature. (Of course, here and in what follows it is not the writer, but the Chancellor who speaks.) Many things may be said that are not suitable for publication; among these are animadversions upon Imperial institutions, such as the Constitution, for example.
“With much esteem,
“Count W. Bismarck.”
The portion struck out appeared in the third sheet, (page 31, in the first volume of the work as afterwards printed, following the words “einmal zu Grunde gehen,”) and ran: “Then it will be Bang! and snap goes the German Constitution. There might be a repetition of Schwarzenberg’s saying, ‘This arrangement has not stood the test.’” The Prince has also corrected an oversight (Vol. I., p. 12, line 24), striking out the syllable “un,” where I had written “unmöglich” by mistake—evidence of the care with which he had read it through.
On the 18th of July, Count Bill returned more proofs which were accompanied with the following letter:—
“Dear Sir,
“Although my father cannot act as collaborator but must confine himself to a more negative part, suggesting to you the suppression of incorrect or unsuitable passages, he nevertheless requests you to replace the portion within brackets on page 6, by the enclosed, as the latter is more in harmony with the facts.
“With much esteem,
“Count W. Bismarck.”
The enclosure here referred to was dictated to Count Bill, and appears in the book Unser Reichskanzler, Vol. I., pp. 54 and 55.
On the 20th of July further proofs, up to the end of the first chapter, arrived from Friedrichsruh. These again included alterations that had been dictated to Count Bill by his father.
When the Prince shortly afterwards proceeded to Kissingen, Grunow continued to send him the proofs, as he had received no orders to the contrary. They were not returned, and the printers had therefore to stop work. I, however, received the following long letter from the Chancellor, which was written by an amanuensis on official foolscap, like a State document, the two sheets being tied together with silk thread in the Imperial colours.
“Kissingen, August 3rd, 1883.
“Dear Sir,
“You probably have no adequate conception of the state of my health and of my need of rest or you would doubtless not be the only person who begrudges me the latter, while the Emperor and the Empire and all their officials respect it. Possibly you have also no notion of the difficulties of the work which you expect me to do. On former occasions of a similar kind I have corrected all errors of fact which had arisen through mistakes on your part or on that of others. Now, however, you wish to submit to the public with regard to my way of thinking and my inner man inferences drawn from observations made by yourself and others, which in great part are actually incorrect. (He had then in his hands Chapters II. and III., and a considerable portion of Chapter IV.) It is, therefore, not surprising that your conclusions do not correspond with the facts, so that if you were to publish them I should be forced to controvert and refute them. There are a number of gross errors of fact, and confusions of jest and earnest, in the expressions and incidents upon which you base your view of my supposed way of thinking. You assume that in everything that I have ever said in your presence for the entertainment of my guests at table, or in my own home, or in what you have gathered from the unreliable accounts of third persons, I have invariably given serious expression to my inmost feelings with the conscientiousness of a witness giving evidence on oath before a Court.
“In view of the pedantry with which you utilise scattered fragments of conversation, a man in my position would be obliged never to depart for a moment from a formal mode of expressing himself or step down from his official stilts. Everything you say in particular respecting my attitude towards Christianity and the question of the Jews is not only monstrously indiscreet, but thoroughly false. (Everything?) The jokes about my superstition have already appeared in print, and in so far as there is any truth in them are just mere jokes or consideration for the feelings of other people. I will make one of a dinner party of thirteen as often as you like, and am ready to undertake the most important and delicate business on a Friday.
“At the present moment I am particularly interested in setting public opinion right as to my share in the Catholic question. What you give on the subject is incomplete and superficial, and as soon as my health has improved I should like to supply you with better material. For that purpose it would be necessary that I should see you personally as soon as I have finished my cure. If I were to correct this and other points by correspondence I should have to myself rewrite your book. But I must be left absolutely in peace for the duration of my Kissingen cure, and cannot occupy myself editorially with such difficult and delicate questions as those you touch upon.
“I would suggest to you to recast your book altogether, as in its present form I do not believe it will be favourably received. The work is far too lengthy, and, in particular, it contains too much material published long since by yourself and others. What is new in it is in part of little interest, while other portions are incorrect, so that I should be obliged publicly to dispute their accuracy.
“I shall be very pleased to read the further proofs in order to form an idea of the whole. When I have done that, I can afterwards give you my opinion in Berlin or Friedrichsruh, but while I remain here I must decline every description of critical or editorial work.
“(Signed) v. Bismarck.”
In reply to this communication, I excused myself for having sent the proofs, through my ignorance of his absolute need of rest, and by recalling the fact that, in 1878, I had been permitted to send him such proofs to Kissingen and Gastein. The printing was then postponed for about eight weeks, until the beginning of October. On the 5th of that month I wrote to Friedrichsruh to ask whether it was now agreeable to him to receive me for the purpose of the interview which he had mentioned as desirable in his letter of the 3rd of August. On the 6th of October Count Herbert wrote that his father would be glad to see me as soon as he had read the proofs sent to him in the summer. Owing to his journey and the state of his health he had not been able to do so up to the present.
The work remained at a standstill for four weeks more. This was very disagreeable to Grunow, who repeatedly requested me to press the matter at Friedrichsruh. I declined to do so, as I could wait. He then wished to write to the Prince himself, describing his embarrassment. I tried to dissuade him, but as he nevertheless repeated the suggestion, I told him he might do so at his own risk, and also gave him a few ideas for his letter. Next day he told me that he had written. On the 9th of November I received the following letter from Friedrichsruh:—
“Friedrichsruh, November 8th, 1883.
“Dear Sir,
“The Imperial Chancellor has received a letter dated the 5th instant from Johannes Grunow, publisher, of Leipzig, in which he urges despatch in the supervision of the proofs of your work. The letter contains the following sentence:—
“‘The manuscript was ready and in my hands eight weeks ago, and I do not know what excuses to make without prejudice to the truth unless I can communicate to those who are pressing me the real cause of the delay. This has not been done up to the present, but if the delay should continue for any length of time it will, to my great regret, be scarcely possible to avoid it, unless I receive some other explanation.’
“It is obvious that the Imperial Chancellor cannot continue a correspondence with a person who even now threatens him with disclosures. On the contrary, he is disposed to leave this gentleman to publish your work, if he should think proper so to do, reserving to himself the right of criticising it afterwards. Before he comes to any decision on this point, however, he desires to discuss the matter with you verbally, and requests you to visit him at Friedrichsruh, bringing with you your copy of the proofs of your work.
“I beg of you to be good enough to let me know shortly beforehand the day and hour of your arrival.
“I am, honoured Sir, with profound esteem,
“Your most obedient,
“F. Rantzau.”
I thereupon announced that I should arrive at Friedrichsruh on the 12th of November. I started on the 11th, and, travelling viâ Berlin, reached Friedrichsruh shortly after 12 o’clock on the following day. I was met at the station by a servant, who accompanied me to the Prince’s house and showed me to my room. Shortly afterwards I was called downstairs, where I had a friendly reception from the Chancellor and his wife. We then took lunch, Rantzau being also present, and immediately afterwards the Prince went with me into his study in order to discuss the matter that had brought me hither. He first gave expression to his indignation at Grunow’s letter, in which connection I also came in for my share. Among other things which he said was: “You have turned me into a bookseller’s hack; I am to be exploited like a Christmas speculation, and harnessed to his cart, the impudent fellow! He should have known nothing whatever of my assistance!” I explained to him that I had to inform Grunow owing to the possibility of a considerable delay in the return of my proofs, that I had previously mentioned this to him, the Chancellor, and that he had agreed, and that the same course had been adopted in the case of the first book. In his excitement he appeared to have overlooked what I had said, as he went on as follows: “That must remain between ourselves. I can trust you. You may write to me. But he! What right has a bookseller got to correspond with me, to warn and threaten me?” I tried in vain to appease him, endeavouring to show that the passage quoted by Rantzau when read in connection with the remainder of the letter was perhaps not a threat, but only a strong and not particularly felicitous expression of Grunow’s difficulty and embarrassment. The latter was a man of straightforward character, who knew how to keep his own counsel, and who was incapable of wishing to bring pressure of a threatening character to bear upon the Chancellor, for whom he entertained the highest regard. He then rang for Rantzau, and asked him to bring Grunow’s letter, which he handed to me to read. I could not see that it contained anything more than a cry of distress on the part of the publisher, who had promised the booksellers that a certain book would appear at a fixed date, and who feared he could not keep his word nor find any sufficient excuse to give them. I was as little affected by this embarrassment as I was by any loss which Grunow might suffer in case the book was not published at Christmas. I could have waited for a long time, and even if that were not the case it would never have occurred to me to press him. He said: “You acted in a perfectly proper way when the matter was postponed, and I had not expected anything different from you. But all the same that remains a threat on his part, and a piece of presumption, and I hesitated whether I should not decline to have anything further to do with the book, and afterwards publicly contradict erroneous passages in it. But then I thought of you, although I altogether object to having books written about me and to people trading with me and my affairs. Poschinger has done so, and sold my despatches and letters, forgetting even to send me any remuneration.” (Sometimes his humour does not desert him even in his anger.) “Besides, this new book is not so good as the preceding one. It does not contain much that is new, and what it does is false. You are not such a good observer as you were; you have grown older; and you want to divine and picture my inner man from fragmentary observations, which were mainly misconceptions. You draw conclusions from occasional utterances which you jotted down under the table-cloth. According to you I am always in deadly earnest, as if I were on oath, &c.”
I abstained from urging what could be said on the other side, and his excitement gradually subsided. Taking some of the proofs he sat down at his writing-table and invited me to take a place opposite, in order that I might note down his corrections and additions. He was rather impatient over it, said my hearing was not so good as formerly, and complained that I did not take down dictation as rapidly as his sons, and so on. On this occasion we went through the greater part of the third chapter, and he had very much less to object to and alter than I had apprehended from his letter of the 3rd of August. By far the greater part of these pages he turned over without any remarks. With respect to the others he made observations that had no reference to the book, as for instance: “Thadden, a narrow-minded fellow, who has no brains.” After about three-quarters of an hour he stood up and said: “I must now get some fresh air.” He strode up and down the room, however, for a while, as before, and began again to vent his anger at the presumption and threats of “this bookseller who wanted to harness me to his Christmas cart.” Ultimately, however, he quieted down, grew more friendly, and showed me over the apartments, including his bedroom. In one of the first of these was hung a portrait in oils of a Roman prelate of high rank. In reply to my inquiry he informed me that it was Cardinal Hohenlohe.
He then went out for a walk or drive, while I proceeded to my room and wrote out his observations and the corrections which he had dictated to me. This room, which contains pictures of Grant, Washington and Hamilton, looks out on the park. After 3 P.M. I paid a visit to the Head Forester, Lange, with whom I took a drive.
At a quarter-past six I was called to dinner. Among those present, in addition to the Prince and Princess, were the Rantzaus, Dr. Schweninger, of Munich, who was in attendance on the Chancellor, and Herr von Ohlen, another of the doctor’s patients. The Prince, as I now observed for the first time, suffered from a slight attack of jaundice. Schweninger (a man of lively temperament, with dark hair and beard, who seems to be very much at home here) diagnosed the Prince’s ailment as chronic catarrh of the stomach, and has been successful in his treatment. (...) While taking our coffee, which was served in the Princess’s room, the conversation was at first of little significance. It turned on Becker’s portrait of the Prince during the Frankfurt period, and on two groups of his male and female ancestors, who from their costumes would appear to have flourished in the time between the death of Luther and the Thirty Years’ War, and on the portrait of his sporting grandfather with the shot-gun, which was formerly in Berlin, but has now found a place here too. The conversation gradually grew more lively and interesting; and the Chancellor, who had remarked in the tête-à-tête with me at midday that he would henceforth be careful of what he said in my presence, had probably forgotten his intention. On my stating, among other things, that the war of 1870 appeared to have had an excellent effect upon the national feeling in Saxony, he added, “and still more so in Bavaria. I once said jestingly to Fabrice[10] that we should live to see order restored in Saxony one day by Bavarian troops.” Speaking of Court circles in Berlin, he complained: “Whenever I performed on the political tight-rope they hit me on the shins, and, if I had only fallen, how delighted they would have been! Particularly the eternal feminine (das ewig Weibliche).”
It was only after lunch on Tuesday, the 13th, and again before dinner, that the work with the Prince was resumed, when Chapter II., the remainder of Chapter III., and about half of Chapter IV. were weeded out, the weeds again proving much less abundant than I had anticipated. He maintained that in the second chapter I made him out to be a “hypocrite” in religious matters, an idea which he had no difficulty in entirely disproving, inasmuch as he justified his belief in God among other things by a reference to facts which could only be accounted for by the existence of a Deity.
In the second section he began to dictate to me an account of his attitude towards the Kulturkampf, which he broke off on our being called to dinner. Before that he again suddenly renewed his grumbling at Grunow, I, too, coming in for a small share. He was also displeased with my long full beard. “My wife asked me,” he said, “if you were older than I. ‘No,’ I said, ‘I thought you were four or five years younger.’ But she was right. It’s your beard. It should be cut shorter. As it is it makes you look fearfully ancient.”
On Wednesday, the 14th, the Chief set to work on the proofs with me after breakfast. At Chapter IV. he exclaimed: “Look here, you must have a thoroughly wicked heart. You are delighted every time you hear and can jot down a disagreeable remark about somebody.” I rejoined: “I cannot trust myself to give any opinion upon my own heart. But one thing I do know, it has always been devoted to you. I only hate your enemies.” He afterwards reflected for a moment, looked at the clock, and said: “I must now go out to receive Giers, who is coming from Berlin to discuss important matters with me. We shall introduce you and Schweninger to him as doctors of medicine, for if he ascertained that Dr. Busch belonged to another variety he would be afraid that he was being watched and that it would get into the newspapers. By the way, you have included him among the Jews in your diplomatic chapter, and that must be struck out. (I had referred to his name, Giers, as a russified form of Hirsch.) He may be a Jew, although he asserts that he is the son of a Finnish officer. But we must not write that, as he is well disposed, desires peace, and does what he can to secure it. He is quite indispensable to us.”
The Russian Minister arrived between 2 and 3 P.M. The Chancellor received him at the station, drove with him to the house, and then conferred with him until nearly 6 o’clock, when Giers dined with us, the company remaining together over their coffee until about 9 P.M. Giers is a man of medium height, and would seem to be well advanced in the fifties. He has somewhat of a stoop as he walks. His features are of a slightly Jewish cast, a characteristic which is also evident in his gestures and movements, there being something in the hands in particular which recalled our Semites. On this occasion he spoke only in French.
On Thursday, the 15th, I wrote in my diary: Giers went off again last night about 10 o’clock, and Schweninger and Ohlen left at noon to-day. I took lunch with the Prince’s family, Count William being also present. The Prince, who, by the way, now observes great moderation in diet and drinks only the lightest wines, read despatches, and gave Rantzau instructions for replying to them. The subjects were Bulgarian affairs, and the North Sea and Baltic Canal. I then retired to my room to work, and afterwards made an excursion to the Aumühl. As I was about to return I saw the Chief coming towards me in a carriage. When he recognised me he reached out both hands towards me from a distance, left the carriage, and walked back with me to the mill. (I therefore fancy that he cannot have been so very angry with me.) He described to me a pretty pathway through the woods on the other side of the streamlet, saying: “I know you are also a lover of lonely country walks.” Yesterday evening over our coffee, after Giers had left, he also said: “I always feel happiest in my top-boots, striding through the heart of the forest, where I hear nothing but the knocking and hammering of the woodpecker, far away from your civilisation.”
Again at work with the Chancellor from 4 o’clock onwards. He told me his wife had said: “The doctor may be very clever and amiable, but all the same you should be on your guard at table when he is present. He always sits there with his ears cocked, writes everything down, and then spreads it abroad.” She herself, however, in her simple way, forgot to keep on her guard to-day. While seated on her right at dinner my napkin accidentally dropped, and, lo and behold! her Serene Highness, the lady of the house, bent down for it before I could prevent her! I felt that I had been fearfully awkward.
On Friday, the 16th, the Chief dictated to me the conclusion of the long passage respecting his attitude towards the ecclesiastical struggle. He then gave me, for insertion in the fourth chapter, the following statement with regard to Bunsen:—“During the Crimean War, when he was Minister in London, he reported to Berlin that England offered us Schleswig-Holstein in return for our joining in the war against Russia, whilst he stated in London that Prussia would join if she received the Duchies. Both statements were false, and when the affair became known, he was dismissed. I had something to say in the matter. The King exclaimed: ‘Why, he has been my friend for twenty years, and now he acts in this way!’ Old General Rauch observed: ‘Yes, he has also lied and betrayed your Majesty for twenty years.’ ‘One cannot allow that to be said of a friend,’ rejoined the King.” He then proceeded to other matters, and on my asking whether there was any subject which I could deal with in the press, he at first replied in the negative, but then said: “Giers found the Emperor very frail, and perhaps he will not last much longer. Well, when he dies, I shall go too. He is a gallant old gentleman, who has always meant well, and whom I must not desert. But I will make no experiments with the Crown Prince. I am too old and weak for that. Things will not go on particularly well, and on the whole I am convinced that what we have built up since 1866 has no stability.” In the course of his further remarks he mentioned the Crown Princess, “a Liberal Englishwoman,” “a follower of Gladstone,” and maintained that she “has more influence upon her consort than is desirable.” He then spoke once more of his need of repose and a country life, referring to Berlin in very disparaging terms, and scarcely allowing it even to be a handsome city. He insisted that owing to the drainage there was already a bad smell in every house, and that in a short time, the place would become utterly intolerable. He said in conclusion: “I have always longed to get away from large cities and the stink of civilisation. Every time I return I feel that more and more, and I have earned my leisure.” I remarked that I could fully understand that feeling, and also his reluctance to serve the coming King, on account of his opinions; but surely he would not abandon a work which was so entirely his own, and retire altogether from the political stage. He would at least take his seat in the Upper Chamber and be elected to the Reichstag, where he could offer advice and admonition. He replied: “Yes, but not like the others in perpetual and uncompromising opposition.” I said, “Then please remember this little fellow when you want anything done in the press. I shall always be at your service.” “All right,” he replied, and reached me his hand. “You can then come to me and arrange my papers. (With a significant smile.) There is still a great deal of good stuff there.” I begged leave to remain the following day, as it was such a pleasure to me to be near him. “Oh, certainly!” he said; “but you must not ask me to play cards with you or otherwise entertain you.”
I remained over the 17th, made several excursions on foot through the woods to the east and west, and was present in the evening after dinner when Lange made his report as to the administration of the estate. I started for Berlin at noon on the 18th, and returned to Leipzig on the 19th. There I received in instalments from Rantzau the bulk of the remaining proofs. The Chief sent two more to Bucher in Berlin, whence I had to fetch them.
I immediately noted down the following particulars of the conversation I had with Bucher on this occasion. I praised the Countess Rantzau as being good-natured and unaffected. “Well,” he rejoined, “she is cleverer and more prudent than her mother. The Princess, for instance, is not fortunate in the selection of her acquaintances. First she had the little hunchback Obernitz. Then Babette, Meyer was her friend and confidant—an intelligent body, but.... She was often with her in Berlin and elsewhere, and as the Princess heard a great deal about political affairs and spoke of them to others, Babette, while she was with her, certainly overheard many things and then repeated them to others.... It was afterwards Frau von Wallenberg’s turn. She was the worst, and she it was who had most opportunity for eavesdropping and keeping other people informed. You know that the Prince generally goes through his official papers at lunch time, and gives instruction to his sons or to Rantzau as to the answers to be returned. She could hear all that, and take note of it for Holstein, who has recently developed, owing to his ambition, into a very dangerous intriguer. He is accustomed to communicate to Paulchen (Hatzfeldt, the Secretary of State), everything he ascertains in this and other ways.”
I turned the conversation on Bucher’s share in the negotiations respecting the candidature of the Prince of Hohenzollern for the Spanish throne. He gave me a detailed account of this. The first time he was in Madrid in connection with that affair was in Easter and then in June, 1870.[11] He gave the following particulars of his second journey: “It was a rush hither and thither in zigzag, accident playing a large part in delaying and hindering as well as in promoting my purpose. Salazar came to me on the Saturday, and wanted to have the final decision of the Prince by Monday. I replied that that would not be possible in such a short time, particularly as I did not know where the Prince was staying at the moment, and of course he would have to be consulted first. Nor was it an easy matter for me to get away at the time. He said he knew the Prince was in Reichenhall, and added, ‘Selon ce que vous me dites je renonce.’ I replied: ‘I assume that you will write a statement of what has passed between us, which will find its way into the Spanish archives; and as they will some day be open to historians, I should not wish to take this responsibility upon myself. I will travel with you, first to Madrid, (improbable, but so I heard it,) and then to the Prince of Hohenzollern.’ He said he would take one of his liegemen with him, a man who would fling himself out of the window without hesitation if he told him to do so. A curious condition of things still prevails there, the obedience of feudal vassals, the devotion of the age of chivalry. Well, we started for Reichenhall, travelling first in separate compartments so as to avoid notice in Paris, and afterwards together, as he did not understand German and his companion spoke only Spanish. On my making inquiries at the office of the baths, I found that the director was at a neighbouring village, and the others could give me no information respecting the Prince. They believed he was not there. I drove out to the village they mentioned and found that the director had left. On returning to Reichenhall I proceeded to the police station. As I was going up the steps I was met by a rather shabbily-dressed man, who stopped and said he supposed I wanted to go to the police office, but it was now closed. He, however, belonged to it, and would go back with me. I told him I was looking for the Prince of Hohenzollern, to whom I had a communication to make. He replied that the Prince was here, and lived at such-and-such a place, but under another name. I therefore proceeded thither with Salazar, but only found the Princess, who told us that her consort was now with his father at Sigmaringen. We packed up once more and made off for Sigmaringen, where we found them, and they agreed. They could, however, decide nothing without the consent of the King, who was at Ems. We then started for that place, and were received by the old gentleman, who was very gracious to me and agreed to what I submitted to him. I then went to Varzin to report to the Chief. It was a regular zigzag journey with obstacles.” Bucher added that he had taken shorthand notes of his conversation with Salazar, which he “still possessed.” At least, so I understood him.
On the whole the Prince in his collaboration with me struck out a little over seventeen pages out of a total of nearly 900, while he contributed some twenty-two pages to the two volumes. The first edition of 10,000 copies was issued at the end of February 1884, and by the autumn of 1885, 6,500 copies had been disposed of, although the Liberal press did its worst to run the book down. An English translation was published by Macmillan in April, and some months later arrangements were made for an Italian edition. (This translation, by Brandi, was only published at Milan in the spring of 1888.)
On the 14th of March, 1884, I again took up my residence in Berlin; and on the 16th I called upon Bucher, to present him with a handsomely bound copy of my book, Unser Reichskanzler. He had already got it, however, and had read it through without coming across any inaccuracies. He made three suggestions for some supplementary material on the issue of a new edition.
According to Bucher, the Chancellor had returned this time from Friedrichsruh in excellent condition, had already been twice out riding in the Thiergarten, and once for a walk there. He had drawn up a memorandum for the Emperor, showing that the home policy of Gladstone, the extension of the franchise, must lower the position of the English aristocracy and with it that of the Crown, which was of course only its head. The Emperor’s minute said that he was much struck with this statement, and suggested that it should be laid before the Crown Prince—a suggestion to which the Chief agreed. In Bucher’s opinion the Chancellor would on certain conditions consent to remain in office when the Crown Prince came to the throne, but the latter would not keep his promises, and then Bismarck would retire. A further communication of Bucher’s was also interesting, namely, that the “refutation of the absurd attack of the National Zeitung” (on my account of Gablentz’s mission), which was contained in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung was written by the Prince himself.
A few days after this visit to Bucher I wrote to the Imperial Chancellor, informing him that I was again a resident of Berlin, and begging him in case there was anything I could do for him in the press to kindly let me know when I might call upon him to take his instructions. I received no answer to this letter. My intercourse with Bucher continued. On the 3rd of July, he sent me a card informing me of his departure for Laubbach, near Coblenz.
On the 27th of July, I received the following letter which had been returned owing to an incorrect address and then re-despatched:—
“Kissingen, June 30th, 1884.
“Dear Sir,
“Rarely has a book excited my interest to such a degree as your Unser Reichskanzler, which I have perused whilst taking the waters here. As it will have produced a like impression upon others a new edition will soon be required. I therefore consider it my duty to call your attention to an error which I have also noticed in the French and English newspapers. The letter of the Minister President of the 26th of December, 1865, which was made public entirely against my will and in consequence of a gross indiscretion which has not yet been quite cleared up, was not addressed to the clergyman, Roman von André, but to the Rittergutsbesitzer, Andrae-Roman. In addition to this you will allow me to correct a few of the following observations, as, for instance, that on page 158. I have always spoken and written to Prince Bismarck not from a clergyman’s standpoint, but with the consciousness that in matters of faith our views were identical, and with a feeling of hearty affection for his powerful individuality, having fully recognised his greatness long before he became a public character.
“Allow me to add one further remark. The somewhat cool attitude adopted by Bismarck towards the clergy as such did not originate in the conflict with the Kreuzzeitung. It existed long before that date, and was closely connected with a similar attitude towards the Church, and arises from entirely different causes, which I need not enter into here. That clergymen, or, indeed, laymen, in signing ‘the Declaration’ made themselves sponsors for any of the vile and malicious calumnies, which—I regret to say—were at that time heaped upon the great man, I must dispute until that charge has been proved in some specific case. I speak only of those Conservatives who hold the same religious belief as Bismarck. I was pained and surprised to find for the first time in a letter addressed by the Prince to my friend von Holtz during the General Synod, that he entertained this view. I immediately put myself in communication with a considerable number of my co-signatories to the declaration who were present in Berlin at that time, and all those with whom I spoke on the subject agreed with me that the public declaration by Bismarck (I have neither this nor the text of the declaration itself with me at the present moment)—his declaration, namely, that ‘after the unfortunate articles in question no respectable person could continue to read the Kreuzzeitung,’ was the sole cause of the counter-declaration, that we considered ourselves to be respectable persons, although we continued to read the Kreuzzeitung. It does not contain a word of approval of any ‘vile and malicious calumnies.’ I have never read nor approved of the Reichsglocke. The statements respecting the death of my relative, Herr von Wedemeyer, are also very hazardous, and would be difficult to prove. It was at that time decided to send to the Prince a joint statement, which was to be drawn up by me. At the desire, however, of a person closely connected with the Prince this decision was altered, and it was arranged that each should write separately to him in the sense indicated above. This was done in a great number of cases. There are, however, different kinds of Conservatives. The most reliable, if not always the most pliant, those who hold the same religious belief as the Prince, have always been and will ever remain on his side.
“With the most profound respect,
“A. Andrae-Roman.”
On the 23rd September I called upon Bucher, who had undergone a course of massage and hygienic gymnastics at Laubbach, and had been back in Berlin for about five weeks. He again complained of the “shocking way in which business was conducted in the Foreign Office”; and in particular of Hatzfeldt and Holstein. For a long time past he had given up saluting the latter. He would “like best of all to leave the place, if that were only possible.” He praised Count Herbert as “very diligent and not unskilful,” and was of opinion that the Prince intended to make him Secretary of State at some future time. Münster, “who is more English than German, and does very little,” having allowed some question to hang fire, the Chief sent Herbert to London, where he at once took it into his own hands, pressed it through, and finally settled it satisfactorily. “Another person placed in the position of the Ambassador would have resigned in such circumstances.” I suggested: “Angra Pequena, and the long delay in answering the Chancellor’s inquiries?” Bucher replied in the affirmative. He then said: “It will not be pleasant to work under the young man, but work will be done, and things will not be allowed to drag on in such a slow and slovenly way. Herbert has also a good memory, and has been a great deal with his father. He was often present at interviews with important personages, at which matters of great moment were discussed that do not appear in the official documents, and in that way he has had splendid opportunities for learning.” Bucher agreed with me regarding the meeting at Skiernevice as a “spectacle intended to show Europe the good understanding which exists between the three Emperors.” He added, however, that “the relations between Austria and Russia leave much to be desired in many respects.” He furthermore confirmed the fact that the Chief, “in view of the cool and repellent attitude of Gladstone, has for a long time past been working towards a better understanding with France, and not without success.” After speaking of the Balkan Peninsula, and hinting at an understanding respecting it, Bucher said he had a mind to write something on the despatch of an English Commission to Sarakhs for the purpose of settling the question of the frontier between Afghanistan and Russia, but he had not yet been able to collect the geographical materials. These remarks showed that he had been busy with this question recently. I offered to publish something of the kind in the Grenzboten, and he promised the necessary materials from the library of the Foreign Office, and in particular the account of O’Donovan’s travels. He saw the Prince (who has now returned to Friedrichsruh) a short time ago; he thinks that the journey to Skiernevice has done him good, as he is much less stout, feels thoroughly well and also works hard.
Bucher called at my house at 8.45 A.M. on the following morning with a collection of newspaper extracts on various subjects for my use. I had, however, gone out. On my returning the bundle of papers given to me on the 28th of September he gave me some further particulars of the way in which Herbert had dealt with the English. On Lord Granville asking him in the course of the negotiations respecting Angra Pequena whether we were not contemplating an ultimate expansion of territory towards the interior (Query, towards the East, in the direction of Bechuanaland and the Boer Republic), he retorted, not over politely, that that was “a question of mere curiosity,” and indeed finally, “a matter that does not concern you.” The Chief showed him the letter in which that was reported, and was pleased with his son’s sturdiness. The English have now so far yielded in the matter that the Ministry has not confirmed the resolution of the Cape Government to annex the country around Angra Pequena. “Münster,” he said, “must leave London, but I doubt whether there is any truth in the report that Herbert has been selected as his successor.” He afterwards said: “When the Germans, a short time before the conclusion of the Preliminary Peace at Versailles, sank some English coal ships on the Lower Seine and the English made a row on the subject, the Chief asked me, ‘What can we say in reply?’ Well, I had brought with me some old fogies on the Law of Nations and such matters. I hunted up what the old writers called the jus angariæ, that is to say, the right to destroy the property of neutrals on payment of full compensation, and showed it to the Chief. He sent me with it to Russell, who allowed himself to be convinced by this ‘good authority.’ Shortly afterwards the whole affair with the jus angariæ appeared in The Times. We wrote in the same sense to London, and the matter was settled. A short time ago, when I had to look up something in the documents of the war period, I found that the two papers which I had written in this matter were gone. They had been removed by our mutual friend Abeken through jealousy of me.” I reminded him of O’Donovan’s work, but he said that just now the Grenzboten article would be premature. In this connection he gave me a short survey of the relations of the English and the Russians in Afghanistan, which showed that he was fully informed on that subject. I finally suggested that I should now give a description in the Grenzboten of the scandalous treatment of Ireland by England, based upon Lecky’s book, which he promised to get for me from the Foreign Office library, but which I already had. I wrote the article which appeared shortly afterwards.
The Prince having returned from Friedrichsruh, I wrote to him (on the 27th of October), requesting him, in case he wished anything said in the press respecting the Brunswick question or any other topic of the day, to let me know when I might have the honour of receiving information as to his intentions in the matter.
This letter also remained unanswered. It would therefore appear that the Chancellor will have no further intercourse with me, having apparently taken offence at something or other. His will be done! And so we bring the diary to a close.