The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-04-05
OustiDg Bfsm arck.

There is every likelihood that opinions
and sentiments in Berlin adverse to Prince
Bismarck have 20 far prevailed with the
Kaiser as to excite him on the point whether
the imperial will was his own or his Chan
cellor's; rs to which of the two. in fact, is En-
peror. All that is known Of the Kaiser's
mind fully supports the notion that be is
not superior to this kind of vanity; that he
believes himself, and means that the world
shall believe, that he mainly is the author
of the great successes of his government.
Princes of mediocre capacity have always
been the victims Of this sort Of pique; this
has always been the 'bee in the bonnet" Of
crowned men who have barely had sense
enough to stand still and permit the great
geniuses gathered about q throne to go ahead
and do great things. In the coincidence Of
the two great men, Bismarck and Won
Moltke-the one even greater in diplo-
macy than the other in war-there is seen
repetition Of what occurred in France
when Talleyrand and Napoleon Bonaparte
were on the scene at the same time. Bona
parte was the great soldier Of the age, and
there was no man in Europe who could cope
with Talleyrand in those mere devices Of
diplomacy with which his name is most as
sociated, or who was SO clear and so strong
in his perception of the principles that
underlie all politics. If these two men had
been nominally in the service of any dull
hereditary prince of the line of Bourbon
that sovereign would have been the analogue
of the Emperor William, and the cases MS
to the personal elements would have been
precisely parallel. But it would have been
the tradition of the monarchy to assume
that oil the genius was the Kings, as it is
now the tradition in Prussia; and it is highly
probable that the King might have believed
it as the Emperor does. From this relation
of the Emperor to the Prince it is not
difficult for the elements inimical to
the great Chancellor to inspire the sover-
the Won Arnim story in the case of Won
Stosch would be more than unfortunate to
represent the Princes savage assertion Of
his dignity as mere explosion Of irritable
ity--a result OF q failing perception of the
proportions of things-an evidence that he
is overworked and needs rest. In this train
of ideas the assumption that his conduct is
due to the invalidity Of his intellectual oper-
atoms would, perhaps, be resented by the
Prince as an addition to the indignity, and
if he consented to put his withdrawal from
public life in that form it would be an adj
mission that he regarded the adverse ele-
ments as toopotent even for his strong grasp.
Against Bismarck there is, doubtless, in Court
and Cabinet, the spirit of jealousy and hidden
antipathy generally that is commonly felt by
people Of fair and average capacity against
one whose genius belittles them. They will
be glad to have him out of the way. and the
Emperor will assent because not disposed to
attach it's real Importance to Bismarcks SER
vices. But Bismarck's work is less than
half done. 1t is not O question who will
continue it, for the inimical elements are
committed to the policy of undoing it; and
the calamities and confusions that will fol-
low may fill the mind of the Emperor. if he
lives few years longer, with some doubts
as to who created the present German unity.