The evening world., 1894-01-27

tamentaty government to which the
gentle Frederick had leaned, and the
general broad tolerance of his views
were abhorrent to Bismarck, and he had
no difficulty in making them equally in
tolerant'to his young pupil. the future
Emperor.
THE KING WILLS IT.
This idea of blind subservience to the
royal will was faithfully expressed in
the columns of the conservative Core
spondenz and the Norddeutsche Allege-
meme Gazette at the time OF the EN-
peror's final rupture with the Chancellor.
The same article appeared simulta-
neously in both newspapers, and bore
evidence of an inspiration straight from
the throne.
at is allowed us to criticise and
suggest write the dutiful editors. "but
the final decision rests with the powers
that be. Revolutionary countries may
do away with such regular system of
government. 1t has been attempted and
even found successful. but in Germany
private interferences. contrary to the will
OF the Emperor, either in her home
or her foreign policy. will never be
tolerated. Finally. when in attempting
such interference. doubt is cast upon the
good intentions and the peaceable policy
or the Government, then not only is the
monarchial principle outraged. but a
grave offense against patriotism is COM
mitted. A conservative should always
hesitate to express opinions which might
have the effect of creating distrust be-
tween the people and their ruler
With such Bismarckian ideas deeply
grounded In his mind: with his head
filed with half-digested schemes of
startling and theatrical things to be
done; with a vanity and conceit beyond
measure. except when put by the side
Of his obstinacy and arrogance. it was
inevitable that he and his master, the
Iron Chancellor. soon should clash.
Probably his vanity alone, even had
Bismarck been more yielding, would have
forced rupture. He was anxious to
show the world that new and brilliant
intellectual force had appeared upon the
horizon of European statecraft. He
would show the world, too. that Ger
many could dispense with her Bismarck
when he was at the helm; that IL Ger
many must have Bismarck. he, Kaiser
Wilhelm the Second, would be that Bis
marck.
BISMARCK'S IRON WILL.
But he was not forced to fall back upon
sheer arbitrary authority to bring about
the end of the great Chancellors de-
parture from power. He found in the
iron will of the old veteran all the op-
position that he desired. The secret
history of all the preliminary conflicts
which led up to the final crash never has
been and perhaps never will be written.
The accounts even Of the final rupture
itself are confused and conflicting. Ger
tain points and several details of the
differences between the sovereign and
the Prime Minister stand out with suffi-
cient clearness, and several of these
last were almost petty in character.
To begin with, over and above all
things there stands out the one primary
fact that Bismarck was sacrificed to the
Emperor's vanity, to his immature
schemes Of ambition, to his passion for
personal rule. to his longing for glory,
to his sublime faith in his own all-suffic-
ing power of insuring the good of the
country, which, for good or i'll, he had
resolved to govern alone and single
handed as absolute and sole dictator of
its destinies, taking no advice save what
came from the all-sufficient fountain of
his own supernatural genius. The Eu-
ropean world did not know he had these
sublime gifts. could not know 1t as long
as the colossal figure of Bismarck
lowered above him and overshadowed
him. Therefore the obtruding presence
must be removed; people must have q
clear, unobstructed view of the celestial
vision. 1t might dazzle them at first,
but their eyes would get used to 1t and
they would glorify it.
This was the one overshadowing in
fluence which led to Bismarck's retire
ment; all the rest were mere incidents,
mere means to an end that already had
been resolved upon. AS to the particu-
lar point on which the Emperor raised
the issue, as to one Of the principal
points, at least, there is no reason to
entertain any doubt. The Emperor
raised with the Chancellor the direct
issue Of Ministerial responsibility.
Heretofore it had been the custom for
all the Ministers to report to Prince
Bismarck in the first instance. That
rule had held in the reign of William
the First, had continued through, the
brief lease of power held by King Fred
erick the Good. and naturally was con-
tinued by Prince Bismarck and his
subordinate Ministers when the new
master assembled the throne.
NEW MASTER. NEW METHODS.
But the new master proposed to change
all that. Between the head OF the State
and all its departments there must be
no intermediary; all streams OF State
information must flow directly In the
one central reservoir of wisdom. The
Ministers were no longer to report to
Prince Bismarck in The first instance,
but were to report directly to the SOW
ereign himself
How important this was; how humili-
ating a blow at the dignity of the great
Chancellor 1t is easy to see. Prince
Bismarck had long been the actual head
and ruler of all the Ministers. He had
made and unmade them. Nominally, of
course, he acted as agent and representa-
tive of the sovereign in so doing; In
reality, he had acted upon his own au-
thor,ty and his own judgment. 1t was
an ancient custom. 1t dated back even
ttr,,n