New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-31
or.ySER FRITZ" INDICATED.

The memoirs and letters Of great men are
often such rs We might well wish had been
inferred with their bones. They may he
truthful but it is unpleasant truth. revealing
the gingerbread beneath tho gilt That such
revelations should I've made Is not At a. neces-
sarv or desirable There IS truth = petty
details that is tho worst Of falSchoO' - that
IL 6isfeurcs or conceas the vastly moro'"nror-
tant truth Of great general principles. II was
onlv Ther,itcS who looked TOR boils on Aga
n!emnon These thoughts come strongly 10
mind At reading the mass Of Bismsrctana
with which the world is just now flooded; o.
pccially that put forward by Herr Moritz
Busch Some of il Is worthy. hut much of it *
unworthy: and. despite Cromwels instructions
10 the painter. II Is not entirely we'll 10 depict
all faults and hlrmishes II IS with Bismarck
the empire builder that the world is concerned.
not with Bismarck the beer-drnker
For one feature of these memorial rcvcla-
tions. however. the world should he grateful
mono the less becauS" il was quite unexpected
That Is the Vndcaton. Rsmarck's own
testimony. of the character and temperament of
Frederick the Noble It * remembered that
that Inflated Prince was orcc reckoned to be a
dreaming doc,rinairo. of amiahle sentiments.
lecturer on moral phil ny but not tn bc Il
strong sovereign Of 4 great nation. That was
supposed 10 he Bismarck estimate If him. How
the gigantic BcrSerk Of Sadowa and conqucror
of AIsace-T orraHe could thus degenerate into
n man Of straw was not explained. unless 10y
the influence of tho mortal maady thar was
sapping his life. But such did become tho gen
cral estimate Of him. based chiefly upon tE" re
puted Judgment Of bismarck. The world feared
that hc was unworthy Of itS admiration.
To-day his character i vindicatcd 10y the post
humous testimony Of Bismarck. The En-
"peror Fredcricks strength Of will" tho Iron
| Chancellor Is quoted a. saying. has been I'm
| LIBERATED in many quarters. He was believed
80 he dependent on aprons and pctticoats.
| "That Is quite false EIe had a high sense Of
| "bs sovereignty and Tho good folk who cX-
"pectpd him to make A turn 10 the left and per
| "ccived in him special weakness for Con>ti-
| 'tutionalism would have found themselves
GENEROUSLY mistaken had he rclSned longer.
He was outwardly ohliging. but absolutely
/ 'autocratic" In brief he had mind worthy
Of his Titanic frame. and would have made 4
| strong sovereign as he was n valiant warrior.
That Is what the world has wished TO think.
and that Is what it may hcnccforlh believe
with absolute conviction.
! Justice we may add, Is likewise done in these
memoirs 10 the living The notion has pre-
vailed that Bismarck had a contempjuou> opln-
/ ION of the Empress Frederick. and that between
him and her a scarcely yelled hostility existed.
J II was not Bismarck appreciated her fine
/ qualities she is clever woman" he said
! True. she was an EnglishwOman. and always
! remained 50: so that when. even as Empress
she spoke of our army and navy or our
p Government il was not the German. but the
/ British. to which she referred This trait too.
! was appreciated h. Bismarck Il WISH" he
I said tho German rrincc,Ses who marry for.
eieners had some of IT, we were" lie added,