The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-10-20
BISMARCK ON RELIGION.
Letter Of the Prusslan Premier.


teresting personal account of Bis
marok, who, he says, IS no stranger to |
religious experience:
King William IS an honest, good /
hearted old soldier, and every obser-
yer OF his public conduct IA this
French war must have bsen struck
with the tone of unaffected modesty, !
truthfulness and pious recognition Of
the hand of God in the events Of his.
tory. am confident that Bismarck
fully shares these feelings. / knoW.
from q number of facts which
learned from his pastor (Rev. Me-.
SOuthWoTth, a most earnest eYsngeIi-
cal preacher in Berlin), and several
of his intimate friends, that whatever
may have been his former life, he Is
now man Of decided Protestant re-
ligious conviction and -reproachable
| private character But let him speak
for himself:
| From a letter dated Berlin, Dec. 26, 1865
MY DEAR A: Although am hard
pressed for time, l can not leave IN
answered an Interpolation which Is
| addressed to me from al honest heart
| with an appeal to ChIist's name. l
| sincerely regret If l give offense
/ L
| tain that in my position such offeuse
| is unavoidable. In the camp Of my
necessary political opponents there
are, no doubt, many Christians who
are far ahead Of ne on the way of sal.
walton. and yet, On account of what
on both sides belong to the earth, /
must live in conflict. with them. I
need only appeal to what you say
yourself: Nothing of the public life
on high eminence remains hidden
Where IS the man who. in such a pc.
sition, does not give Cffsnse, Justly or
unjustly? l concede more than this,
for your utterance that nothing re-
mains hidden is not true. Would to
. God that besides what the world
knows of me, had no other sins on
my soul, for which / hope forgiveness
only by trusting Ia the blood OF Christ
, (f,tr DIE fch mr. am Vertrauen AIT
} Christi Bat VerQue5Wage hofe) Il = =
As a statesman, am not even suffi-
GENTLY bold, but rather timid in feel.
ings, because it is not easy in ques-
tions with which have to wrestle TO
, gain that clearness on which alone
/ trust in God can thrive. He who calls
me an INSCRIPTIONS politician does
me injustice; let him first try his con-
: science on this battle field. = = y If
I stake my life on this cause, I do il
> | in that confidence in God which
G have nursed and strengthened in long
and severe cohict, but in honest and
humble prayer 10 God" n2A
} In letter written to his wife, from
J Frankfort, 1851, Bismarck conft sses
: to serious change in his view of the
world:
; Day before yesterday dined with
: -, at WeisbadeD, and looked with
O mixture of sadness and wisdom up
on the theater of former folly. May
it please God TO ill with his clear and
strong wine in the vessel in which
twenty years ago the Champagne of
} youth uselessly evaporated, leaving
, but empty drugs behind Where and
how may -- and Miss -- be
now? How many are dead and buried
with whom then wasted away the
time in counting, drinking, gam bling
(met demen icb dramas keGe'te bee.
herte, aouTtelte)! How many changes
has my view Of the world { IKeftqRse-
hquUng) undergone within the last
fourteen years? How much appears
to me little now, that then appeared
great; how much IS venerable to me
what [ then laugehd at? How many
leaf may yet bud from our inner man
and woEthlessly fade away till another
fourteen years have passed by, if we
should live till 1865?
Il can not conceive how a man who
reflects AID yet ignores God, can en-
duro live for contempt and eRRut. L do
not know how / stood it formerly. If
| Il h,1 -. 1
out God, without thee, without chill
dren. l could see no reason why |
should not lay off this life like an I'M
clean shirt. And yet most of my
acquaintance are Ia this condition,
ard yet they live. liz | ask, in indi-
vidual cases, what iustifes this or
that man to continue TO live, to labor,
to worry himself. TO intrigue and act
as SPY, verify do not know.
You must not infer from this
scribbling that | feel particularly
gloomy; on the contrary, feel as if,
on beautiful September day, l looked
upon the leaves as they turned yell
low, healthy and cheerful, yet little
sad, little homesick, longing after
-the wood, the sea, the Wilderness
after thee and the children -efl mixed
with sunset and Beethoven.
"On Saturday afternoon | rode with
1 ROchow and Lvnar to Rudesheim.
There / took bath in the Rhine and
in the moonshine, only nose and
eyes above the blue waves. There is
a strangely dreamy delight 20 lie in the
water In the silent, calm, warm night,
to behold the moon and the stars
above, the mountain tops and lowered
castles on the shore, and hear nothing
but the gentle sDlashiDg of ones own
motion; would like every day so to
swim. Returning, | drank good wine
i and sat long. smoking with Lynar, OF
the balcony, looking at the Rhine be-
meath. My little Testament and the
starry heavens led rs to Christian
conversation; l shock the Rosseauish
virtue of his soul, yet without other
effect but to bring him to silence.
He has been spoiled in his youth by
tutors aud governesses, without be-
coming properly acquainted with his
parents, and has by reason of similar
education acquired views similar to
my own, but found moro satisfaction
in them than ever did.
KANSAS has a population of about
1000 900, and Mr.. Greeley. who has
been on a visit to that State, writes
that settlers are pouring into East
ern Kansas by carloads, wagon loads,
horse. loads, daily, because of the
fertility of her soil, the geniality of
her climate, her admirable diversity
of prairie and timber, the abundance
of her living streans, and the mar
velous facility wherewith homesteads
may here be created" Mr.. Greeley
says further: 1t may give some
Eastern DeODle-aa- idea ola Decu-