In the summer of 1839 Bismarck entered on the administration of the Pomeranian estates, and carried it on, in conjunction with his brother, until the summer of 1841. At this time the elder brother was elected Landrath of the circle of Naugard, married, and settled in the chief town. By this the common household of Kniephof was broken up; and they divided the estates in such a manner that the elder brother retained Külz, the younger receiving Kniephof and Jarchelin.
The younger brother had already desired to divide the estates, as he spent more than his elder brother, and the income of the common treasury therefore fell short. Until his marriage, Bernhard would not consent to this, the brotherly affection between them having always been very sincere.
Bismarck became Deputy to the circle in his brother’s place, and in that capacity conducted the management of Naugard, and was chosen representative in the Provincial Pomeranian Diet; but, after the first session, wearied by the unimportant duties assigned to him, he resigned his functions; his place was filled by his brother.
When Bismarck, at the age of twenty-three, in the most pressing circumstances, without credit or capital, undertook the conduct of the wasted estates, he evinced prudence and activity, and, as long as bitter want pressed upon him, he found solace in agricultural activity; but when, by his means, the estates began to rise in value, and every thing went on smoothly, and he was able to rely upon able subordinates, the administration gave him less satisfaction, and he felt the circle in which he moved too contracted for him. In his youthful fancy, he had formed a certain ideal of a country Junker; hence he had no carriage, performed all his journeys on horseback, and astonished the neighborhood by riding six to ten miles[29] to evening assemblies in Polzin. Despite of his wild life and actions, he felt a continually increasing sense of loneliness; and the same Bismarck who gave himself to jolly carouses among the officers of the neighboring garrisons, sank, when alone, into the bitterest and most desolate state of reflection. He suffered from that disgust of life common to the boldest officers at certain times, and which has been called “first lieutenant’s melancholy.” The less real pleasure he had in his wild career, the madder it became; and he earned himself a fearful reputation among the elder ladies and gentlemen, who predicted the moral and pecuniary ruin of “Mad Bismarck.”
The mansion of Kniephof is pleasantly situated, but was built in a very simple style by its first possessor, the brave Cavalry Colonel Frederick August, who lay in garrison at that time at Gollnow, hard by, and who personally superintended its construction. The whole arrangements of the dwelling—little changed to this day—are of the sober simplicity of the era of Frederick William I. The then Major von Bismarck had purchased these estates chiefly to gratify his passion for the chase, for game then abounded on it, especially deer, very few of which remained when his grandson, Otto, came to reside there.
Kniephof did not then behold stag huntings with horses and mastiffs, as in the previous century. But strange scenes occurred when the youthful owner, tortured by dark thoughts, dashed restlessly, to kill time, through the fields, sometimes in solitude, and sometimes in the company of gay companions and guests; so that Kniephof became a Kneiphof far and wide in the land.[30] Strange stories were current about their nocturnal carouses, at which none could equal “Mad Bismarck” in emptying the great beaker filled with porter and champagne. Tales of a wild character were whispered in the circles of shuddering ladies—the power of imagination being rife in dear old Pomerania. At each mad adventure, each wild burst of humor, a dozen myths started up, sometimes of a comical, sometimes a terrible character, until the little mansion of Kniephof or “Kneiphof” was looked upon as haunted. But the ghosts must have had tolerably strong nerves, for the guests, slumbering with nightcaps of porter and champagne, were often roused by pistol-shots, the bullets whistling over their heads, and the lime from their ceilings tumbling into their faces.
And yet the guests at this time relate that they were “miserably” bored at Bismarck’s nocturnal political discussions with his intimate friends, Dewitz of Mesow and Bülow of Hoffelde—so different in character, but so inseparable from him. Young gentlemen in those days were not so accustomed to political discussions as the youth of our time, and political parties were then nearly unknown. It should be stated, however, that Otto von Bismarck, despite his wild life, stood in high consideration, and he was heard with avidity, though the affair might be “miserably” tedious. “He made an impression on all of us—and I think at that time he was somewhat of a liberal!” a companion of those days told us, who complained of being “wretchedly bored” amongst the rest. The estimation in which Bismarck was held was in nowise confined to youth; grave men of position, in a greater or less degree, felt that from this fermenting mass would be formed an excellent and strong wine. Many of the electors desired to nominate him for the Landrath, but Bismarck, decidedly enough, refused this.
And then there came a day, on which the furious revelry of “Kneiphof” was silent; the old mansion, as if by enchantment, grew quiet and respectable, so that the world was first astonished and then whispered, “A lady will become mistress of Kniephof!”
But no lady appeared at Kniephof—it was a mistake, perhaps a disappointment. It was then said, “Bismarck is going to India!” He did not go, though, perhaps, he for a time desired to do so.
For the rest, it must be said that Bismarck fought chivalrously with the demons around him. He read much, and continually received parcels of books from his bookseller, chiefly historical works, but also theological and philosophical works. Spinoza he studied deeply. The melancholy he had contracted by the events which befell him on the Rhine, he strove to dissipate by travelling. About this time he visited France and England; he even resumed the position of Referendarius under the Crown at Potsdam, and was very industrious; his friends, among whom were Baron Senfft von Pilsach, afterwards Chief President of Pomerania, and his brother, considering him remarkably adapted for the services of the State, although at that time he assumed a very surly attitude in reference to the bureaucracy. It was probably about this time, at a party, where his President somewhat slighted him, as he was inferior to him as an official, that he begged the President in a friendly way to consider that in society Herr von Bismarck was as good as Herr von Anybody Else—which scarcely pleased the President. Another of his chiefs once pretended not to notice the presence of Bismarck, went to the window and began drumming with his fingers, whereupon Bismarck went to the window and stood beside him, drumming the Dessau March. It was very likely the same official who allowed Bismarck to wait in the antechamber for an hour, and received the answer to his short question “What do you want?”—“I came here to beg for leave of absence, and now demand leave to resign.” To about this time may be referred a report of Bismarck’s as to certain expropriations, which attained much celebrity. He might have been appointed Landrath in Posen or Prussia Proper, had he been willing to go. In this report Bismarck freely and faithfully spoke his opinion as to the injustice of many expropriations, and his friends still quote the classical phrase, “You could not pay it me in cash, if you were to turn the park of my father into a carp lake, or the grave of my deceased aunt into an eel swamp!”