The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-08
STORIES OF BISMARCK
"REMINISCENCES OF THE PRINCES
PUBLI AND PRIVATE CAREER.
I'm the Old Diplomacy by His Blunt,
straightforward Methods.


dom from preconceived notions, and in the
~limpidness of his mind, which refused to
submit to accepted fallacies. This ten
dency in early age, earned for him, of the
dull pedantry AMI prim Philistines around
him, the sobriquet of "Tolle Bismarck
the mad Bismarck; but later on it resulted
in the complete demolition of the old sys-
tenn of diplomacy. For equivocation and
downright falsehood his powerful intellect
substituted a kind of outrageous frank
ness, which bewildered and outwitted his
Nothing, however. marks his
strong personality more vividly than the
intense hasreds and the blind devotions
with which he has surrounded himself. He
had the courage to be himself, the power
to rely upon himself, and to look at things
in the face; while his keen sense OF humor
enabled him to see clearly the vast array
of sham and pompous pretences of public
and private life. Never had madness more
method than is shown by the originality
of this strange being, half Mephistopheles,
half dragoon, who, before subduing to his
iron will the whole of European diplomacy,
shocked and Mortified the fogies of the old
school with the inuendoes and insinuations,
the sarcasms and stories, the gibes and
jokes, which he flung at their heads merci-
lessly and continually. The wigged and
powdered pomp which covered diplomatic
pretense and mendacity was torn aside the
instant that Prince Bismarck got a grip
of political realities, and his first appear
ance among the dignifed excellencies of the
German Diet constituted a veritable revo-
luton.
The incident of his early relations with
these empty-headed ''importantS sans i'm
the many anecdotes related-in Prince Bis
marck's own words in many cases-by
M Ms BENCH gSsah. his His d 6aith anao, seeret ia Srsn nr.
fort was with his hostler, who. like all
the good burghers of the Free City at
that time, was intensely anti-Prussian. The
old hotel where he put up, as Prussian
delegate to the Diet, was not provided with
a complete system Of bells. and Bismarck
to communicate with his valet. But he
was gruff1y told there was. none to spare,
next morning the loud report OF a pistol
set all the guests in a panic, with the
e els;ned abs Of s ss ma hsii s was fort bcnmi es-
mis- master had summoned hin by pistol
shot. Five minutes later the desired bell
was placed within Bismarck's reach.
The story of the cigar which, In fact, de-
cided the status of Prussia in the German
Bund, which. till then, had been tradition
trian Kaiser, has been told too often, and
too recently, to bear repetition now. That
hrSt historical Havana. so boldly lit in the
federal ommitte room, was the herald of
the revolution contaminated at Koniggratz.
tions of the men opposed to Bismarck were
such as to collapse on the first impact with
ployed were as various as they were in
genious,, but absurdly simple and always
The Cabinet Noir was then a recognized
Institution under Austrian supremacy. But
Bismarck's dispatches were the only ones
that evaded it. One of his colleagues was
curious to know how he succeeded in this,
and, as another authority relates, was al
lowed to m Bismarck on a walk
towards the OUTSKIRTS OF the town.. There
he entered into a small variety store and
h his s:6 ISE an ha 9mYe Was bruised rna. prf he reage sfai
the attendant to write a. certain private
Berlin address on the envelope. In 1t he in
fhrowg1ngh 1 Il in the p eostai THIS nisspahhc he sa,id. a ais
n of the means l employ; and what with
gered envelope and the smell of sardines
tyiae np perV &c It, I defy the keenest Aus
AN ACCURATE ESTIMATE.
He had taken the full measure of the
men of whom he spoke as Austrian din
lomats of the old school, who had no cali
to tell the truth" OF one of them. the
Baron Osten Prokesch, a luminary of thar
armament, he says:
.Prokesch was a regular Oriental in
triguer, absolutely indifferent to truth. One
evening that we were together at a party
somebody spoke of the Inaccuracy of an
austrian official statement. Upon this
Frokesch, raising his voice so that | could
not but hear, said: This must be true.
Were 1t not, I, speaking on behalf of the
been telling a Re While uttering n this
at him, replying. No doubt tae your I E9ceil
he glanced around, all present with eyes
cast down, he left the apartment and went
recovered the shock. He came up to me- me-
glass in hand.I certainly should have ex,
t nse'e slas g ehaile gaid. had welt it n lot be 6sen ma Tor
peace With pleasure 1 said, but the
minutes Of the sitting you wot of must be
altered He smiled as he observed. You
are incorrigible.' However, the minutes
were altered, which implied the recognition
of the falsehood uttered"
In his dealings with the petty German
princelings he was Just as roughly direct
it may be said Bismarck had "discovered'
and set up as pretender of Schleswig-Hol-
stein, thereby Initiating that marvellous
political and military game which cuimi-
mated at the crowning scene at Versailles.
speaki nssM of A. Augustsn5u t Just ABOUT that
casm nd nonchalance:
g! met him a day or two ago in the camp
in his Bayarian uniform. He might have
done better, and been a sovereign, had he
made us the requisite concessions. What
all the minor princes conceded to Prussia
in 1856. But he would not yield an iota
of the sovereign rights he expected us to
acquire for him. Thank goodness, the pet
tifogging wisdom of his advisers prevented
him. | remember having a conversation
Will UlIu Olc evening III 1908. we were IN
my billiard room and sat late into the night.
/ began by addressing him as his Highness,
and was altogether very courteous. On my
telling him we wanted kiel harbor he was
rather taken aback, and asked whether we
actually claim a whole square mile. l
could but say yes After this I discovered
that he objected even to our demand of mil
itary control Upon this 1 changed my
tone, called him Serenity DurchlauchD In
stead of Highness Hoheit, and in the end,
lapsing into Low German, quickly told him
there was nothing to hinder our wrlnging
the neck of the chicken we had Matched
ourselves"
This radical difference in temper and
mode of dealing was most strikingly notice
able in his relations with French diplomacy
with that of Napoleon III more especially.
With a franknesS amounting almost to
cynicism Prince Bismarck has admitted
how narrowly his policy escaped disaster
in 1866 and has placed it on record that
the French Emperor might easily have
seized the Rhenish provinces.
1T is true | did tell the Duke (of Beauf-
fremont in 1860 that if the Emperor Ma
own advantage he might have done a stroke
of business in 1866. If the Emperor. at the
moment of our attacking Austria. had
taken by force what he subsequently, de-
manded through Benedetti, he might have
done better for himself. At least / should
not have been able to stop him; nor is it
likely that England would have interfered.
What he had to do was to act and see
what would come of it. If we were VIC
torious his safest policy would have been
to support us and lure us forward into the
intoxication of triumph. But the man is
and ever was a Tiefenbacher.'
Iinfonhonhpr 4 a nm American oo,ara1 In