Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-27
BISMARCK.
A Pen and Ink Portrait of the Greaf
PrusSiRn Statesman

4 Prussian Statesman.
As a parliamentary speaker, Count Bis
mack commands attention by the weight
of his thoughts aud the importance which
his position gives to every thing that falls
/ from his lips. His voice, though clear
and audible, Is dry, hard and unsympa-
thetic; and his manner, lolling and negIi-
/ gent seems to express the thorough con
tempt he is known to entertain for par
| liamentary forms. When addressing the
Chambers he usually stands in a leaning
attitude, twirling pen in one hand, and
occasionally glancing at the papers on his
| desk, and speaks without gestures in
hating, mOnotOnous tone, often repeating
! himself, as if forgetting what he had lust
uttered, and frequently stammering in
painful manner. One who has often
listened to him says. ''He appears to
struggle with his thoughts, and the words
Chamber over his lips in half-reluctant
way. After two or three words he con-
tinually pauses, and one seems to hear an
inarticulate sob.n But, when reused, ne
sometimes closes with a well-delivered
and vigorous peroration. Upon occasions
he can be terribly bitter and scornful, but
he never warns into eloquence. rits1
In private life he is one of the most
pleasant of men, genial, witty and in
clined to social familiarity. His CONVEX
sation is sparkling, and few men tell an
anecdote with better effect. His fondness
for female society has given rise to sew
eral piquant stories at his expense; and
so much scandal was Oecasioned recently
by photograph in which he and noted
female singer were represented together,
that he felt compelled to explain the cir
cumstance in q letter which was pub
lished in the German newspapers. But
since the days of his youthful follies,
when he was known as ''Mad Bismarck"
his private life has been without re-
proach As statesman his career isOpen
to the seyerest criticism. Arbitrary, self
willed, imperious, impatient of Opposi-
ton, and Inscriptions in the use of
means to attain his ends, he governs with
the strong hand of absolute power, and
brushes out every attempt to assert the
political freedom of the individual or the
masses. His political ideas are those of |
tradition, by education, and by early pre-
possessions, with the aristocracy of Prus- |
STA, he has never sympathized with |
modern ideas Of popular rights. To him |
they appear monstrous and subyersive of |
law and order He believes firmly in the |
absolute right of the King to rule alone, |
and regards every check upon the royal /
will as an Infringement of divine prcroga-
tives and a step toward social anarchy. |
This explains his contemptuous and arbi-
trary treatment of the representatives of
the people in the Prussian Chambers, and
his arrogant assumption of the right to
carry out his royal masters policy with
out their consent, and in face of their Op-
position. 1t serves to explain, also, his
attitude toward other German States. He
saw that everywhere in Germany, except
Prussia, liberal ideas were making head
way, and that the military organization of
that State alone offered an effectual bar
rier to their progress and ultimate triumphAl
He regards the throne and the army as
the only true foundations of State. He
will make use of public opinion, when it
agrees with his own, to further his own
designs, but will neither follow it nor
allow it TO govern him. From the En-
peror of France he learned how to cheat
the people with the semblance of liberty /
and self-gOvernment, and to make univer-
sal suffrage the ignorant and servile agent
of absolutism.-HdTper's Ndgdzine.s