Eighth Envelope. Undated letters and other documents, as well as some of uncertain date.
On Friday, the 12th of October, we were joined first at lunch and then again at dinner by a plump lady in black silk, a Frau von Patkowski from East Prussia, a daughter of Kaiserlingk, an old friend of the Chief’s. I begged the Prince’s permission to absent myself for three days, and took leave of him and of the ladies of the house.
I started for Berlin at 12.45 P.M. on Saturday, the 13th. On my going down to his bureau to see Rottenburg, who wished to accompany me to the train, I met the Chief in the antechamber. He said, smiling, “It is lucky that I have met you before you leave. Frau von Patkowski is travelling with you, so please take care not to lay siege to the pretty plump little lady on the way!” “Those times are over, Serene Highness, and besides, she travels first class and I second.” “Well, in that case she will no doubt be safe.” I expressed a hope that during my absence he would have good weather, as it is necessary for his health, so that he may get his walks and rides. “I do what I can,” he said, “to keep illness at a distance, but it will come all the same, and probably soon. It will be a sudden break down, just as I stand.” Thanks be to God, his appearance in no way justified such a foreboding, as he proceeded to the station with the lady on his arm, walking erect and the very picture of health.
On Wednesday, the 17th October, at 8.30 A.M., I again left Berlin for Friedrichsruh.
I had previously been accustomed every evening after dinner to spend some time romping in the next room with the three little Rantzaus. When I asked their mother at lunch how the boys were, she asked me not to let them have their usual game to-day as a punishment, the two elder lads having been rude and insolent to their governess in the morning. The Prince said they must be whipped for that. The Countess replied that she had deprived them of their bath and slapped them on the cheek for it. He rejoined, however, “That is not enough for such naughtiness. They ought to be well whipped.” He then related how he had chastised Herbert and Bill on one occasion, when they took some hazel nuts and then ran away from the ranger. “It was not on account of the nuts, but because they had obliged the old man to run after them through bush and briar until I caught them and gave them a good trouncing, at which the ranger seemed to be greatly surprised.” I inquired of him whether governesses and other persons entrusted with the education of princes were at liberty to chastise them when they were naughty, or whether they had to tell the parents, who decided as to their punishment. He answered the first part of my question in the affirmative, and went on to say that the governess of the Emperor William II. said as she was administering physical chastisement to him on one occasion: “Believe me, Royal Highness, that it hurts me as much as it does you to do this.” “Ah!” exclaimed the little Prince, “and does it hurt you in the same place?” Everybody laughed heartily at the queer form taken by the boy’s curiosity. As we rose from table and Lindau was taking leave before returning home, the Prince asked me: “Are you going to your room now?” “Yes, Serene Highness.” “I will send for you there. I have something I should like to show you.” In about a quarter of an hour I was summoned to the Prince’s study, where the Chief handed me a large packet of letters. “These are from the old Emperor,” he said, and then read me some passages from them. He wished to have them arranged like the former papers. “Again in mere chronological order, according to the dates.” He asked: “But will not that be too much for you?” I replied with an emphatic negative. I was there for that purpose, and it was a pleasure to me to serve him, and at the same time to have something to read and take with me for my information. He continued: “And here, too, is one from old Bodelschwingh-Schwindelbod. And there are others (pointing to a second packet), the correspondence with Andrassy, for instance, in the summer of 1879. You will find information enough there.” He took up the third pile. “These are from the Emperor Frederick when he was Crown Prince, and also one from her from the villa Zivio.” He was about to return them to the drawer of his writing-table, but I begged him to let me have them also. He said smiling, “But, Büschlein, haven’t you already enough?”—“It will be better for me to have everything there is at once, so that I may have a general idea of all the documents and arrange them more rapidly.”—“But there are still plenty more, and that pile is already heavy enough to carry!” I took all he had by him, however, and carried them upstairs in order to begin my inspection of them next morning. But I could not rest until I had read through some of them as specimens in the afternoon. For example, a long letter from the Crown Princess, dated San Remo, the 22nd of November, 1887, giving the Chancellor particulars of her consort’s illness and of the doctors; and also Bodelschwingh’s communication, on the top of which the Chief had written in pencil “Old hypocrite.” Then before dinner a further walk with Rottenburg in the wood where it is cut through by the road leading to Möhnsen. Lively conversation on a variety of matters serious and amusing, as for instance on Darwin and the high esteem in which he is held by the Chief.
Early on the morning of Thursday, October 18th, I began to assort the papers. The numbering and packing away in envelopes was to follow later, after a thorough inspection of the whole lot. Out of doors a beautiful autumn day, the sun, in a blue sky, casting high lights on the stems and branches of the trees in the wood. During lunch, at which Schweninger again joined us, I handed the Chief the Crown Prince’s letter introducing Geffcken to him and his answer justifying his refusal by a description of Geffcken’s character. I had found this among the papers on the previous day. He was pleased at the discovery, and the letters were handed to Rottenburg to be copied and used. Immediately afterwards Schweinitz, our Ambassador at St. Petersburg, arrived—a grey-headed, portly gentleman with a moustache, who speaks little and in a low voice. We were joined at dinner, in addition to Schweinitz, by a big-bearded gentleman in a shooting jacket. This was Major von Goldammer of Frankfurt, the sportsman who recently—to the great regret of the head forester—shot the stag with fourteen antlers that had broken out from the Chief’s preserves on to the shooting which he had rented. “If it had only been Count Herbert!” Bleichröder is to present his respects to-morrow.
On Saturday I spent the whole forenoon and two hours after lunch in arranging the papers in order of date. Bleichröder and his Jewish-looking Secretary took lunch with us. The banker related anecdotes of Amschel Rothschild and Saphir, and spoke of Lehndorff’s businesses. At table I observed that since 1871 Bleichröder, whom I saw at dinner at Versailles, had hardly altered in the least. “Not in his person” rejoined the Chief, “but very considerably in his fortune.”
On Sunday, the 21st of October, I began to examine and number the papers, which were now in chronological order, whereby I found that a good deal of rearrangement was necessary. Here follow some particulars.
The documents begin with a letter dated Oct. 19, 1862, from Bismarck to King William. Then follows a short letter from the Crown Prince to the Minister, dated Nov. 21, in which he says: “I trust that, as you express it to me, success may, in the present difficult phase of the constitutional life of our country, attend your efforts to bring about what you yourself describe as the urgent and necessary understanding with the representatives of the nation. I am following the course of affairs with the greatest interest,” and so on. Letter from Bismarck to the King, in which Eulenburg and Selchow are proposed as Ministers. (I shall not quote unimportant letters from the King and the Crown Prince, nor in future any matters of only slight interest.) A letter from Bismarck to the King, dated 20th February, 1863, on the convention with Russia. Goltz communicated it to Napoleon, but without the secret article, with which he himself was not acquainted. (Probably the article by which Prussia was bound eventually to render assistance against the Polish rebellion.) The Minister wrote: “As matters stand in Poland we shall hardly be called upon for active co-operation there. By means of the convention we have, therefore, the advantage of securing at a cheap rate for the future the gratitude of the Emperor Alexander and the sympathies of the Russians.”
Writing to Bismarck, from Stettin, on the 30th of June, 1863, the Crown Prince says: “I see from your letter of the 10th instant that at his Majesty’s command you have omitted to communicate officially to the Ministry of State my protest respecting the rescript, restricting the liberty of the press, which I sent to you from Graudenz on the 8th of June. I can easily understand that the opportunity of treating as a personal matter an incident which, as you yourself have acknowledged, might, in its consequences, acquire widespread significance, was not unwelcome to you. It would serve no purpose for me to insist upon that communication being made, as I am justified in inferring from your own words that it will have been done unofficially. It is necessary for me, however, to speak plainly to you respecting the alternative which you place before me, namely, to lighten or to render more difficult the task which the Ministry has undertaken. I cannot lighten that task, as I find myself opposed to it in principle. A loyal administration of the laws and of the Constitution, respect and good will towards an easily led, intelligent and capable people—these are the principles which, in my opinion, should guide every Government in the treatment of the country. I cannot bring the policy which finds expression in the ordinance of the first of June into harmony with these principles. It is true you seek to prove to me the constitutional character of that rescript, and you assure me that you and your colleagues remember your oath. I think, however, that the Government requires a stronger basis than very dubious interpretations which do not appeal to the sound common sense of the people. You yourself call attention to the circumstance that even your opponents respect the honesty of your convictions. I will not inquire into that assertion” (Bismarck’s comment in pencil: “Not over courteous,”) “but if you attach any importance to the opinions of your opponents, the circumstance that the great majority of the educated classes among our people deny the constitutional character of the ordinance must necessarily awaken scruples in your mind. The Ministry knew beforehand that this would be the case. It was also aware that the Diet would never have approved the provisions of that rescript beforehand, and it therefore laid no Bill before the Diet, and in a few days promulgated the ordinance under Article 63 of the Constitution. If the country does not recognise in this course of action a loyal administration of the Constitution, I would ask what has the Ministry done to bring public opinion round to its own view? It found no other means of coming to an understanding with public opinion than to impose silence upon it. It would be idle to waste a single word as to how far this ordinance harmonises with the respect and good will due to a willing and loyal people that has been condemned to silence because the Government will not hear its voice.