The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-06-01
BISMARCK AS AN AUTHOR.
How London Paper Views the Great Ex-
Chancellor.

The London Pall-MalGasette says Prince
Bismarck, they say, is going TO blossom
forth into an author. lie has contracted
With one firm of publishers for the issue Of
| his Memoirs, and with another for an edition
OF his Complete Words. These will be in
tcnsely interesting books. hut meanwhile
there is another book to which Prince Bis
marck is every day making contributions
the book which records through the ages
the littlencss OF great men. II is big book
already. but it seems destined to be good
deal bigger before Prince Birmarck has
done with il.
is il really Rule that reveals the man. as
the old Greek prOyerD has IL! The ODpor'
tunities OF Power search out the greatness OF
men: but il is the trials of Fall that best re-
veal their iitilencss. IL is comparatively
easy 60 be great when you are ''in;" IT is
difficult not 20 he little when YOU are "out."
Prince Bismarck, il has been well said, is
.'big enough 20 contain almost every variety
OF human idiosyHcracy.n He j. certainly
big enough TO be also very little Even in
the days OF his power. the pettiness OF the
great ChancelOr-his little spites. his small
yindictiveness, his petty tyrannies. were
often a subject of remark. MI this showed
that the Great Man was sometimes little in
little things. But now his fall from pow
or shows that he can be little also IN
great thing. Ordinary mOTtals always
turn with natural curiosity to see how
great men bear great losses. Some turn
with q smile of cynicism, iOrcsceing an
other proof Of the littlencss of greatness;
others with admiration, hoping tor a PROOF
of the magnanimity Of greatness. Here IN
England we have had OF recent times two
pleasant instaiccs Of the latter There
was nothtug petty in the way in which Lord
u. a lfrf, If. Igfaaf In f-~4l Mr.
Gladstone his in 1856. But the very fire.
quency Of rcyerscs under a Parliamentary
Constitution like ours makes the trial Of
defeat less trying.
10 be OUT and "d0wn" is easily ac-
ceptod az the fortune Of war one day, when
YOU can always look forward 10 being IN
and "up" another day. The circumstances
i'm Germany are of course entirely different.
The long period Of Prince Bismarck's SUI
premacy. the completeness Of his fall, the
impr0bability Of any recovery. al c0nspired
10 make his trial cruelty searching one.
Every one waited. with sympathy as well
rs curiosity. 10 see how the great man would
take it, The great man, il must now be
confessed. is taking it very badly. The sto-
res published in the Freisinnigt /eitling
Yesterday may very probably not be wholly
authentic. But the journal Of Prince Bis
marck's enemies II i'm this case accepted as
Trustworthy even by his friend the Berlin
correspondent Of the Times.
There is a ring OF TRUTH says this gen
tleman. "abOut them" This Is rather "A
humilatne confession; for. in these latest
scraps of the Princes table-talk, there IL
decidedly also a ring Of pettiness.
IL is not merely, observe, that the eN-
Chancellor is sore. II would be almost in
credible that he should not be- so. TO ac-
cept so great fail with complete resigna-
| ton and seif-cOntrol might be angelic, but
| if would be nhuman. Nobody would think
any less highly of Prince Bismarck's great
ness because he tlarcd up at the idea that
| he had "rcSignod" or because ne pro
ceedod 10 beWail the ingratitude of men"
| But il is one thing not 10 sit still under the
pricks; il is quite another 10 begin prick
| Ing back. And this. if the reports Of
the table talk at FREDERICKSBURG and
the intentions attributed 10 its master by
| bis friends are 10 be trusted, is exactly
what Prince Bismarck i, doing. lleis bent,
| il seems. to use an expressive cOllOquiallsm
-0n taking it OUT OF the young Emperor.
| The Emperor compared himself and his new
| Chancellor yesterday with curious candor
to ship steering M fog. The Old pilot
| is Going. if he can, to put some more OBJ
structions Of his own in the way. or, to
vary the metaphor, instead OF helping the
new driver, he is going 10 do hi, worst 10
make the horses shy. 30 at any rate his
friends say; and So certainlp there has al
ready been some evidence TO show.
The Prince himself has begun criticizing
the Emperors new policy, even before u
has been fairly started, as f0redoomed Ia
failure-thcrcby. Of course, contributing
something % the realization Of his own
prophecies. The Prince lrieuds have taken
the cue, and we are told Of 1.-The fears cN-
cited bv the oXpcrimentalizing with the So
luton Of the labor and the social questions
on which the old and worldly-wise eN-
| Chancellor so graNelv differs from the
young and ambitious Emperor We very
much doubt if the fears exist any
where except in the wishes of Prince Bis
marck and his encourage. The worship of
power which the Prince himself has done 50
much Triumphant in his cOuntrymen now tells
against himself The suddenness OF h.r
| fall has been Cqualled only by the compo7ufr
with which it has been taken. The pew era
amounts wCll-nigh 10 a complete turnover;
| but if the Germans aIs now walking on their
heads instead Of Oh their feet, they are at
any rate doing il as the most natural thing
in the world.
| Prince bismarck has taught them that
''mlght is right" and hence the new era.
! since il has the command like the Old one
OF the biz battaliOns, is accepted, even IN
nOn-L LIBERAL circles. as the right and nor
nal order Of things. The general feeling in
Germany, we believe, is one Of hopeiulness,
and the general desire is TO give the Young
Emperor and his ambitious schemes fair
and favorable trial. That is what Prince
Bismarck-or at any rate some Of his
friends-wil not do. The Princes mind,
we are told in apology, is "a prey 10 disap-
pOintmcnt and irritation" That such irri-
iati0n should be allowed 10 set up "a sore in
the body polite is proof OF the litileness
| even of the greatest men.