The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-01
GERMANY,S RIGHT HAND.

and statesmen Of the century. Prince Otto
Won Bismarck Schonhausen has won for HIM
self enduring fame. A man Of iron nerve,
and with ever well defined object in view,
he has been active, vigilant and aggressive
from the hour he was called to the chancellor
ship by the then comparatively obscure King
William Of Prussia After the failure Of Man
teuffel and Won der Heydt to COM
mand the confidence and support of
the Prussian legislature, Bismarck was
chosen, in September, 1862, in the year that
Americas great general was winning his first
laurels at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and at
Shiloh. Bismarck like Grant, entered upon
the discharge of his trust with an evident do
termination to accomplish what his country
needed, and his predecessors had failed in do
ing. He found Prussia composed of number
of petty states, and without unity Of
purpose. The military bill on which
the two houses were split under
former Cabinets was passed by the peers soon
after the accession of Bismarck; but their
complaisance only produced a rupture be-
tween the two chambers and on the 18th day
Of October the session closed and the King
announced his intention Of governing without
the aid of the Constitution, the moving cause
Of this determination doubtless being the grim
Count Bismarck, who felt that the govern
ment was hampered by the power of the
legislature. This out of the way, he speedily
set about crystallizing the power of war in the
King.
In the Austro-P russian campaign against
Denmark he proved himself a man fully aware
of his Importance and determined to secure
every possible advantage to his country.
When settlement was made Prussia was
awarded the advantage. His campaign against
Austria, made as it was in opposition to the
wishes Of the legislature and the people, was
very unpopular until it appeared that he had
made sure of winning before the movement
was begun. His popularity was then
assured, though personally he was
austere to bitterness and aristocratic to a very
hateful degree. Bismarck it was who be-
slowed on royalty new dignities. Gathering
the scattered states in his grasp, he made
them, from the beginning of his career q
power in European politics. From states he
built a kingdom, in fact as well as name
Succeeding the war of 1866, in which
Prussia and Germany came to realiza-
ton of what they were capaBse- of in
a military way, came the ill-advised
campaign of Napoleon III against the now
united and disciplined soldiers north of the
Rhine. Out of the victories at Sedan and
Paris came naturally the consolidation of
Prussia and Germany, and the elevation of
William into an emperor, with the greatest
military power on the continent. The man
the anniversary Of whose birth will to-day be
celebrated from Hamburg to Stras-
burg, literally welded united Germany
from the incongruous scraps of
which it was composed prior to
1862. To do this he incurred the hatred of
all the petty princes who, with reason, found
that they would be shorn of their importance.
BY insisting upon coordination and central
izing the power of the people, he has brought
Germany into the forefront of European pow
ers, and made for himself name dreaded by
every potentate about him. The measure of
his achievements is less only than that Of the
man who, during the years Immediately pre-
ceding the birth of Bismarck, terrorized
Europe, while the lasting effects Of the Ger
man Chancellor will probably exceed those of
Napoleon.
To-day, therefore, is great day in Ger
many. The man who for twenty three years
has stood at the head of affairs in Germany
is still there by virtue of an indomitable will,
backed by mind quick to discern every ad-
vantage to the government which he has so
conspicuously served. Though seventy years
of age, he is still comparatively we'll preserved,
beyond the ailments peculiar to a man of his
years, and bids fair to attain the length of life
enjoyed by the Emperor whose fame he has
created.
THE Kokomo Tribune says of the record Of
the present Legislature in its hostility to the
educational interests Of the States
.1t allowed the State University little
more than half what it asked-of course