The Life of Bismarck, Private and Political / With Descriptive Notices of His Ancestry

by George Hesekiel

The political life of Count Bismarck in Frankfurt was an uninterrupted fight against such a system as above described. He was never weary in pointing out and warning them that the elements ruling at the Diet were tending towards conditions which Prussia could not accept as permanent. He had also predicted at Frankfurt that the plan took a direction towards placing Prussia, as soon as the fruit was believed to be ripe, in the position that it would have to reject a resolution of the majority, then to commit a breach of the Federation, which should be ascribed to Prussia.

So also was the event. Prussia remained faithful to the Federation till it was violated by others, and when they had done, they blamed Prussia with the breach of the Federation.

The spring of the great year 1866 was the most difficult in Bismarck’s life. The terrible load of responsibility pressed heavier and heavier upon him. Serious and well-intentioned, as well as perfidious, attempts at peace, lamed and impeded his activity. Intrigues of all kinds hovered about his person. His position was now openly assailed, now secretly undermined. More than once he felt the ground trembling beneath him—he could not get forward; and in addition to this he was corporeally ill; rheumatic pains increasing in an alarming way. Doubt very often, it is probable, assailed the strong mind of Bismarck, the ghastly ray of suspicion fell upon his courageous heart. The man who had to fight for his King and country, with all the powers, the traditions of ancient brotherhood in arms, the ties of princely relationship, the intrigues of diplomatists, the falling away of old friends, with the wrong-headedness, cowardice, low-mindedness of others, down to the pacific overtures of his opponents, in so superhuman a manner, now gradually grew into a more and more intensified battle with himself. On this the Almighty, the Lord of him and of Prussia, had mercy on him. He gave him a great sign.

On the 7th of May, 1866, at five in the afternoon, Count Bismarck was walking abroad for the first time after his severe illness, returning from an interview with the King, and proceeding up the centre allée of the Unter den Linden. Almost opposite the Hotel of the Imperial Russian Embassy, he heard two rapidly following reports behind him. As it was afterwards found, one bullet had just grazed his side. Count Bismarck turned swiftly round, and saw a young man before him, who was raising his revolver to fire a third time. Bismarck met the man quickly, and seized him by the arm and by the throat; but before he reached him the man fired the third shot. It was a glance shot on the right shoulder, which Bismarck felt for a long time afterwards. Then the wretch passed the revolver, as quick as lightning, from the right to the left hand, and close to him fired two other shots at the Minister-President. One shot missed him in consequence of a quick turn, only burning his coat; but the other struck him, and at this moment Count Bismarck believed himself mortally wounded, for he felt that one of the bullets had struck him right on the rib. The rib probably feathered, as they say in deer-shooting—i.e., it bent elastically. Count Bismarck at once mastered the sensation of weakness which had come over him by the concussion of the vertebræ through the rib for an instant. He handed over the criminal—whom he had held with an iron grasp—to the officers and men of the first battalion of the Second Foot Guard Regiment, who were just marching down the street, and walked on in the direction of his house in the Wilhelms-Strasse, where he safely arrived before the news of the attempt was known.

During the whole period preceding the war there was nothing extraordinary in the Minister-President’s being with the King longer than usual, so that the dinner usually fixed for five was often half an hour late, or even longer. Nobody, therefore, was surprised at the Count’s late appearance on this occasion. No one in the house had even an idea of the terrible attempt at murder on the Unter den Linden—of the wonderful preservation of the master of the house. There was some company assembled in the salon of the Countess, awaiting the Minister-President; at last he entered. Nobody noticed any disquietude or excitement in his manner; it only seemed to some as if his greeting were heartier than usual. Saying, “Ah! what a pleasant party!” he went to his study, where it was his habit to remain for a few moments before sitting down to table. He this day made a short report of the event to His Majesty the King. Then he returned to the dinner-party, and said, as he very often did when he came late, in a merry scolding tone to his wife, “Why don’t we eat our dinners to-day?” He approached a lady to lead her to the dining-table, and then, as they went out of the salon, he went up to his wife, kissed her on the forehead, and said, “My child, they have shot at me, but there is no harm done!”

Tenderly and prudently as this was said, terror naturally displayed itself on all countenances. Everyone crowded round the honored gentleman in trembling joy at his wonderful escape. He, however, would not delay, entered the dining-room, and, after a short grace, sat down to his soup, which no doubt tasted all the better to him the less that he, in all human probability, seemed likely to have any right to it again half an hour before. The surgeon who was called in said afterwards, when all sorts of theories were attempted to account for the non-success of the attempt, with great justice:—“Gentlemen! there is but one explanation. God’s hand was between them!”

In fact, the dinner on that day was frequently interrupted; nobody ate any dinner at all except Bismarck himself. Before six o’clock, only half an hour after the crime, the King himself arrived, having risen from his own dinner to congratulate his Minister. Bismarck received his royal master on the stairs, and remained alone with him for a short time. No doubt it was a touching meeting for both of them; for the dear Lord who still could press his tried servant by the still warm hand, as for the Minister, ready at any moment to die for his King, be it on the battle-field or in the street! There was very little ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that day. Scarcely had the King departed ere, one after the other, the Princes of the Royal House who happened to be in Berlin appeared, and sat down at the family table, drinking a glass of wine to Bismarck’s safety. The company increased as the news of the criminal deed grew known farther off; the venerable Field-Marshal Count Wrangel was one of the first who hastened to express sympathy. Generals, ministers, ambassadors, friends, and all who respected him, even political opponents, thronged round the precious personage so wonderfully preserved to his native land. At the threshold of the door crowds of persons of all conditions were assembled, who inscribed their names in lists prepared for the purpose, in token of their sympathy. Supplements of the Gazettes then appeared, telling in brief periods what had taken place; and rejoicing multitudes thronged the Wilhelms-Platz and Wilhelms-Strasse till far into the evening. Conservative clubs serenaded him, and, for the first time in his life, Bismarck addressed from the window the people of Berlin.

From that day all vacillation in Bismarck was at an end. The Lord God, in his wonderful salvation, had vouchsafed him a sign, and he again felt the full and strong conscience of his historical mission; he knew that he was the sentinel whom God had placed at a post, from which alone He could relieve him. Nor was this a Divine signal to Bismarck alone.