The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-11-08

the sum and substance OF TIE ISSUE W NC
decided on the 9th. The formula Is in-
deed wholly misleading, but The conserve
tiyez know that it is well worth their while
10 circulate II. II the election Tor the
| Rcichstag can be made to appear as SIMPLY
vote Of confidence or no confidence IN
the Chancellor, the victory, as between
/ them and the Liberals, Is tnelis.
No Liberal can under present circum-
stances promise Prince bismarck ms I'M
qualified support. Let the people, there
/ fore, only be persuaded that there Is no al
/ Tentative to unqualified support but I'M
compromising opposition, and the Liberals
are certain OF defeat. For it Is past doubt
that the great majority of the German peo-
ple would even now regard Prince Bis
marck's fall from power as the worst ca
lamity that could beiall them. His past
achievements inspire them with a graft
tude which only those who remember the
sufTerings Of divided Germany can really
understand: and in the conduct OF for
eign affairs they Justly feel that they
are safe in his hands. They may
disapprove his latest schemes for pro-
noting the national welfare; they may
deprecate his inscriptions method OF po-
litical warfare. But still, IL the question
I i
they will bear with or do without Bis
marck, they would sooner submit TO all his
aggrayating foibles, and even his danger
Gus faults, than part company with ruler
who has not only made Germany strong,
but still keeps her respected, and whose
combined boldness and seli-reStraint have
secured for her peace with dignity and
powerful alliance without dangerous liza
bilities.
As n matter OF fact. however, the ques-
ton is purely Fictitious one. Prince Bis
marck will not cease to rule Germany,
whatever be tho verdict OF universal suf-
frage at Tie ci.tcor'lg contest. lie Will
only be. according to the issue, more or
less despotic, more or less rcactionary.
II the ragged regiment OF iunkers and
bigots, OF interested manufacturers, obc-
dent officials, and aspiring parasites,
who now form the Conservative or
Governmental phslanx, succeed in per-
suading any large number Of their coun-
trymen that they alone represent
the unity ard desire the welfare OF
their country, Prince Bismarck will be
more determined than ever TO bring larger
and larger portion Of national life within
the direct control OF the State. He will
make the Government more independent
Of Parliament by introducing a tobacco
monopoly, and will bind the working
classes hand and foot by system Of COM
pusory and Statc-directed insurance. The
tendency OF all his proposed reforms is to
substitute official direction for private
enterprise and seli-reiiance, and to
seat an agerandized bureaucracy more
firmly than ever upon the back
of a people which from disposition or
habit is only too willing to submit to such
dictation. II is in support OF such sys-
tenn that the various shades Of Conserve
tism are for once united-some from short
sighted conviction, Others from conscious
self-interest. And this union is very
formidable one. The current Of public
opinion at the present time is decidedly
reactionary, alike with regard to religious,
TO commercial, and to purely political
questions. The SOcial-Rciorm policy
Of the Chancellor, shadowy and M
coherent though it he, is yet rich in
striking phrases and extensive pro-
misses, which have not wholly failed
OF their effect upon the classes which
form the recruiting-ground OF Socialism,.
And then there is that invaluable cry Of
For Bismarck" which exercises even
more potent spell upon the educated and
well-tO-do than the mirage OF state Social
ism does upon the poor and ignorant.
There could be no more curious psychic
logical study than the manner in which
many cultivated Germans, especially Of
the professional class-men in all other
m.tters so tenacious Of their opinions, and
even OF their whims-are now diScarding
the principles Of lifetime rather than
admit that Prince Bismarck can be mis-
taken. Men who have always been proud
TO be called Liberals now yainly exhaust all
the resources Of their logic TO show that
they are not inconsistent in following the
Chancellor in his reconyersion TO Toryism.
They will not as much as allow that Prince
Bismarck's attitude has altered. Frctting
even at the gentlest criticism OF their
idol, they would regard downright
opposition to him as nothing short
OF high treason. We are not now speak
ing OF the numbers OF men who have q
personal interest in finding nothing
but consummate virtue and wisdom in the
powers that be. Bismarck-worship is not
confined to the timc-seryers. 1t is the one
faith OF a great body OF intelligent and
patriotic Germans who have long since
outgrown all other creedS, and apparently
fuences making in its favor, il would not
be surprising il the coming elections added
apprecably to the parliamentary strength
OF the Conservative coalition.
The success of the Bismarckians sans
phrase might be more doubtful ii in the
face OF a united party OF rejection the Lib
erals also could at length condcscend to
work together; but such result is appa-
rently quite hopeless. Here and therea COM
promise may be effected. The groups
which are most nearly related to one an
other may in some instances combine; but
in the mair there are still two distinct and
incompatible tendencies running through
German Liberalism. On the one hand,
there are the men OF thorougher
principles and holder temper who, seeing
that Prince Bismarck has discarded Libe-
ralism, are ready to retort by describing
him. At a great meeting Of the Liberal
party lately held ut Berlin the two old enc
mics Richter and LaSker joined hands in
an mSparlng attack upon the whole do
nestle policy OF the Chancellor. The Ian
guage they then held may be taken as re-
presenting the present views alike OF
Prince Bismarck's old opponents, the Pro
oressists, and OF his more recent enemies,
"the Secession -; and these two groups
are i'm fact coalescing more and more into
party of resolute opposition. But it is
doubtful whether they represent the bulk
OF German Liberalism. The anxiety OF the
Conservatives to brand all their opponents
rs enemies OF the Chancellor is only equalled
by the anxiety of most Liberals, even where
they remain faithful to their principles, to
repudiate this imputation. Candidate after
candidate protests that, though he cannot
help opposing many of the Chancellor's
schemes, he will support him a. cor
daily Us ever in all measures which do not
run directly contrary to the fundamental
doctrines Of Liberalism. This position is
one 10 which in the growing heat OF pOlit-