“Your faithful, devoted and grateful King,
“William.”
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.
On the 23rd of February I again received a letter from Bucher, also under cover to Frau Hedwig Hämmerling: “23/2/91. He says he would like to see you once more, and requests you to visit him. You may choose the time most convenient to yourself, but give two days’ notice in advance, so as to avoid clashing with an invitation to Hamburg. Be sure to bring your sleeping garments with you, if you are as little in favour with the lady of the house as I am.”
I replied that I should have preferred to go the day after to-morrow, but that as I was at liberty to name my own time, and was now engaged in reading over papers, arranging and packing for my removal on the 16th of March, I would come on the 18th. I further requested him to say by what train I should come, and called attention to the fine cartoon and verses, “Dropping the Pilot,” in Punch, of the 29th of March, 1890, which an acquaintance had sent me the previous day, and which I should bring with me if they had not already seen it.
Bucher replied that they had the “Pilot” from Punch at Friedrichsruh; and that he himself had travelled by the slow train. I arrived at Friedrichsruh at 3 P.M. on the 18th of March. The Prince had gone out for a drive with Buhl, the member of Parliament, who had come on a visit. A servant showed me upstairs to No. 4 as my room, where Grant, Bancroft, and the busts of Washington and Hamilton kept me company. I immediately visited Bucher, whose room was opposite mine. He complained that the work of the “Memoirs” stood exactly where it did before. In dictating, the Prince wandered from one point to another, told many things several times, and almost always differently, &c. A huge pile of dictated notes had already been transcribed, he calculated some sixty printed sheets. It would, however, have to be sifted and worked up, and the Chief had not as yet looked through a line of it. Hardly anything would come of it, and, in any case, he had not as yet decided whether it should be published during his lifetime or after his death. Bucher intends to leave again for a time at the end of the month, and is very dissatisfied with his occupation hitherto. He showed me in the pile on the chair a thick packet, endorsed, “Nikolsburg,” and observed that it dealt less with the important events that took place there than with a variety of other matters. He had seen few of the papers arranged by me in 1888, none at all of those relating to the alliance with Austria, only two or three letters from the Gerlach correspondence, and he had also seen nothing of the correspondence with Manteuffel and Schleinitz. He believes that the Chief has sent all those that are missing to a bank in England for safety. But a few days later he modified this surmise, and said he thought the papers were in the keeping of some trusty friend.
Downstairs before dinner, Buhl, a lean old gentleman with a grey beard, introduced himself to me. I now made the acquaintance also of Dr. Chrysander, a slight young man. The Chief appeared shortly afterwards with the Princess. He greeted me with the customary “Büschlein,” was pleased to see from my appearance that I was well again, and said I must sit next to him at table on his right, while President Buhl sat on his left between himself and his consort. The Prince looked very well, was most good-humoured and talkative during dinner, was surprised that I still had so much hair, told amusing stories and expatiated with knowledge on various fine wines and judges thereof. (...)
Dinner was followed by some more serious conversation in the coffee-room. In reply to a question by Buhl the Prince disapproved of Caprivi’s East African policy: “Zanzibar ought not to have been left to the English. It would have been better to maintain the old arrangement. We could then have had it at some later time when England required our good offices against France or Russia. In the meantime our merchants, who are cleverer, and, like the Jews, are satisfied with smaller profits, would have kept the upper hand in business. To regard Heligoland as an equivalent shows more imagination than sound calculation. In the event of war it would be better for us that it should be in the hands of a neutral Power. It is difficult and most expensive to fortify”—a point which he then explained in detail. “That does not make one an ‘extender of the realm,’ not even to the extent that I was in the old days when I travelled back to Berlin with the cession of a strip of land on the Jahde in my pocket, thinking not a little of my achievement!” The Prince is also opposed to building any more large ships: “rather two small vessels than one big one; the North Sea and Baltic Canal doubles our naval strength.” (...)
On Friday, March 20th, after lunch, at which the Chief was again very bright and communicative, Bucher at my request allowed me to read the chapter on Nikolsburg from the material dictated for the “Memoirs,” in the first place that I should note the numerous digressions from the real subject. These excursions included, among other things, references to the anti-German Queen of Holland, intended annexations, Frederick the Great, an intrigue during the Regency, the indemnity, the impression made in Russia by the events of the summer of 1866, the Danzig Pronunciamento, the German question in 1848, dynastic sentiments, a lost opportunity in 1848, factions, the Wochenblatt party, Augusta, the removal to St. Petersburg and the Italian war. In doing this I ran through the greater part of the manuscript, and found some new and interesting matter respecting the King’s desire for annexation, Bismarck’s reasons for moderation, and a speedy conclusion of peace; Moltke’s strategic plans; a visit of the Crown Prince, who comes to Bismarck and promises to support him at a time when he was almost despairing of carrying through his scheme; and the final consent of the King, who complains, however, that it is an “ignominious peace.” Further matters of interest are: Augusta’s influence on the Regent, Bismarck’s audience before his transfer to St. Petersburg, his condemnation of the Ministers of the new era, as for instance of Schwerin, and afterwards of Usedom and his English wife; the remarkable allegation that Frederick the Great was also vain, supported by references to the King’s own judgment of a poem written by himself immediately after the battle (“n’est pas trop mal après une bataille”), and to his flute playing. In conclusion, the views expressed as to our relations with Austria and Russia, and the policy which they impose upon us, well deserve to be taken to heart. Irritation against the Russians has arisen (this doubtless refers to the Emperor William) out of personal impressions (due to inadequate appreciation); yet we cannot be quite certain of Austria, as the possibility of a breach with her depends upon one person. Bucher says that the Chief would doubtless speak to me about Windthorst, as to whom there were still many things to be said, and suggested that I should start the subject when opportunity offered. This was done indirectly over our coffee after dinner, but the Prince did not take it up. Later on, however, it was suggested that such excessive honours would never have been paid to the old Guelph advocate at his death if the Emperor had not set the example. To-day the Chief dictated to Bucher on “questions of State rights,” but was unable to get properly under way and could not verify or complete what he had to say, as he had not got his books, “his tools.” (...)