Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-03-29
Buschss New Bismarck Book.

Busch's New Bismarck Book.
From the London Times
Encouraged by the success of his first book on
Prince Bismarck. which was published six years
ago. Dr. Mor!tZ Busch has now issued work of
nlghef pretensions. His diary of the Franco
German war gave an anecdotal account of his
hero; the present book was undertaken as an
anaytical study of character in the German
manner, the author setting up an ideal man and
Illustrating his ldiosyEcrasy by facts carefully
selected to square with the ideal. Prince Bis
marck once criticised DR.. Busch's style as too
massive. The secretary answered that he could
Weld playful irony on occasions, and was re-
quested to try. He tried and was told that he
had managed the irony without the pIayfulness
This was IN the days when he wrote foreign
office dispatches, and his style has not improved
since. But DR.. Busch's ponderous verbiage and
iar-fetched anttheses do not detract from the
value of the information which he has TO give
1t has often been said that Prince Bismarck was
not DESTROYS Of anneXng any part of Lorraine
but only Alsace. where the people might be
called German. This is mistake. ITO annex
A!sace only Is professors idea said the
frlnce. ana one OF his favOrite schemes was to
create on the flank of France by the annexation
OF parts Of Burgundy and Champagne a Ger
man state which should be populated by Ger
man emgrants and form a standing bulwark
against France
In connection with these views embodying no
strong neighbory love, we may quote what Dr.
Busch has to say about Prince bismarck In his
Relations to Divine Things" I'm contrast
With GOeth, the Chancellor has seldom uttered
any confessions Of religious faith at variance
with other utterances Of his OH the same sub
1ect and never any thoughts on divine things
directly opposed to formerly pronounced views
Nevertheless he passed through rationa.istic
Perlod-then an unbelicvins time, a time at
1lpcf In oh, ~oIs,.
period in which, as he decidedly affirmed he
took up Christian and confessional standpoint
Lastly, he has arrived at a time in which he
may simply be defined as deeply religious
man who believes firmly In God in divine dis
PensatiOn, and in a personal continuance after
DEATH who derives his sense of duty from his
faith, but lays little stress on Dogma will hear
nothing OF Intolerance. and has no strong desire
for priestly edifcaticn. His mother was a sensi-
bic, enlightened woman; his father a genial
man, without any propensities toward the
supernatural; no religious influences were
brought to bear upon him either at school or at
the university. For all this a time came when
he was filled with disgust for the riotous days of
his student life
DR.. Busch affirms that Prince Bismarck will
leave behind him no kindred-mnded successor.
He has founded no school in the German foreign
Office. The present German diplomatists NAV
lin part" as he cautiously says be men of very
respectable talents. but: all stand tar below
coed to the chancellOr's Inheritance have still
fewer men Of capacity and no routine whatever"
II it be Prince Bismarck rule to repress all
signs OF individual talent among servants of the
foreign office, this dearth of talent Is perhaps,
easily to be accounted for but DR.. Busch forgets
to note this. Treating of the chancellor as an
''orator and 'humorist." he draws no dstinc-
ton between elOquence and mere vigorous
speaking. Prince Bismarck can hardly be called
fluent. The beginnings of his speeches are al
q q IN naak eli u-lu
If picking his way from argument to argument.
unless excited by violent prOvocatOn. When he
is angry his words gush out in boiling torrents.
and he works his arms into gestures of unimagin-
able energy. The late Herr Lasker was particll-
larly successful in gOadng him into these pas
siOns. and SO at one time was DR.. Rudolf Gneist.
to whom he once said: ~ tell you am no ora
tor. cannot play with words SO as to work on
your feelings and thereby darken facts am
man OF plain speech"
AS a humorist, Prince Bismarck Is known to
shine In private conversation, when he gives free
rein to his love of Rabelaisian drolleres, but the
examples which DR.. Busch offers of his pub-
lciy uttered witticisms are not at all very hap
PLY culled. Once, when resenting certain eX-
preparations of private land which had been
advocated on the ground of public good, he
said: do you think to compensate me by con-
verting my fathers park into pond for carp,
Or the grave of my deceased aunt into an eel
pond?" This is poor. but the chancellor was
better inspired when he gave this little descrip-
tion Of his interview with Napoleon III. after
Sedan: ''When, in the weavers house at Dom
cherry, sat for nearly an hour opposite the En-
peror Napoleon, felt for all the world like q
young man at ball who has engaged young
lady for a cOton but cannot find q word to saw
to her, and wishes some one would come and
take her away"
There is something pathetically amusing too.
in the chancellOr's own account of himself about
10 years ago to DR.. Busch: 1T is no longer with
me as 1t used to be in point of health-I am
mere drum, only skin and sound" year or
two after this there were rumOrs, which have
been renewed pretty often. of the princes resig-
nation. He was irrtateu against the German
parliament, and disheartened at meeting with
no response from his own prOfessed supporters
in respect Of his plans Tor economic and social
reforms. He rallied. however and explained his
return to business in these terms 1T is with
me as with wcaried huntsman, who, ex-
hausted by days fruitless sport, is about to
sink on the ground and give up the chase Just
then his fellow huntsman points out to him
pair of splendid swine, aud straghtway these
awaken in him a fresh ardOr. With renewed
spirits he returns to his pastime. and that is
what am now doing. Fatigued by business which
would not advance, and peevish at the conduct
of refractory colleagues, was fan to drop pc- |
tics. But when from the side of departmental
ministers good proposals were brought to me- |
was then disposed to set to work relnyigor-
ated."
In his concluding chapter DR.. Busch enumer- |
ates the portraits that have been taken of Prince
Bismark at different periods of his life. One |
painted In 1897 when he was % years old. by his
cousin, Helen of Kessel, shows him with q luxu- |
RANT growth Of hair, very different from the |