The times., 1898-11-07
BIsMARcK's DIPLOMACY.


Stepping to the counter. Herr Won Bis
marck asked a grinning young shop boy.
in shirt sleeves, blue linen apron not
of maiden freshness, and blessed with a
pair Of large, red, greasy paws, engaged
in Weighing some Dutch cheese. to oblige
him with a sheet of writing paper, some
sealing wax and pen. to direct letter.
On the boy producing the needful with
the traditional What else. sir?' Bis
marck said. MY hands are rather cold:
you had better do it for me-" and he
handed the boy couple of letters wrap
ped in the sheet of blush paper forming
an envelope. for in those days made-up
envelopes were still unknown in Germany.
Evidently fattered by the request OF such
an imposing looking client, for Herr Won
Bismarck's tall hat was almost touching
the ceiling of the squalid little shop, the
greasy handed youth took the parcel, and.
having closed it skilifully with some
brown sealing wax and indorsed it with
the initials of the firm, he returned 1t
to its owner to write the address.
Sorry, my friend. to give you more
trouble said the future chancellor, in
his jovial way, but / can't manage to
write with my gloves on. so just address
1t for me-" and he handed him a pencil
led slip with the name of Herr Fritz
Piepenbrink some such name. oil and
colonial warehouseman, No. 00o Fried
richs strasse. Berlin.
THANK you. young man. that'n do cap
! tally" and paying for the paper, etc,
with small tip to the oily boy with the
stereotyped grin. he pocketed his letter
and We left the place to continue our
| walk
Il dare say you are wondering why I
| treat my correspondents to such greasy.
evil-smeiling missives?" and he showed
| me the cheesy fingermarks of the boy on
both sides of the improvised envelope.
| I'll tell you a secret and teach you use
| full lesson for future times. You may
some day thank me for the hint ex-
claimed Herr Won Bismarck laughing
heartily. You know We are blessed here
| in Frankfort, throughout all South
/ Germany. with the Thurn and Taxis Pos
| tai administration. mine of wealth TO
| that fortunate family, but the most
! wretchedly managed concern under the
sun.
As you may imagine. 1t is under the
| thumb of Austria, hence slow, and the
| triumph of red tape. with a pronounced
weakness for diving into other peoples
business and skimming. of course, the
eign ENJOYS accredited to the Diet. with
preference for mine, the ever-suspacted
Prussian culprit and traitor. They have
established a regular Black Cabinet in
| the princely postoffice. where specially
trained imperial ana royal wiseacres
peruse our prose with critical eye trans
mitting copies of extracts of all treason
able matter, or particularly Interesting
reports. to the august Bailplatz. where
I (.auf1pd nd af L
established iynx-eyed system of polit-
;cai espionage tpolitisches-Schnuffein) ex-
, tending all over Europe and comprising
1 go ipso all German courts and chancel-
! leries.
Not being particularly anxious to
crafty the morbid curiosity of our Aus
/ trian ally. have thought il advisable to
send important reports to the Berlin F.
| o.. as well as all my letters TO the King.
! to Herr Won Manteufe and to my sister
and some particular friends under cover
I to some mercantile firm in Berlin, chang
/ ing frequently and usually asking a coun-
( ter jumper In cheesemonger's or OIL
/ mans shop to address them for me-and
I you can easily understand that the i'm
! perial and royal sniffers (Schnufeln)
| don't manage to guess the correspondent
| of the Prussian representative under a
greasy, ill-smelling cover. such as YOU
have seen 1t stands TO reason that the
smell of cheese or herring and the mer-
/ camille scribbling of a shop boy must de-
I ceive sharper men than the. Thurn and
+ TaNis post officials and the specially
=! delegated Austrian post office clerks. The
! only precaution l have to take is to go
! to different shops in quarters of the town
| where l am not known, and 10 vary the
| Berlin address from time to time-thus
I'm perfectly safe. lie tour est joue,
! and L snap my fingers at the Bailplatz.
1t is simple enough, as you have seen,
! yet it wouldn't do to send everything
through that channel. as they would
otherwise get suspicious. so / treat my
! friends at least once week to some of
| my diplomatic prose-unimportant stuff.
and occasionally something / want them
to know-or to believe" and he INDUCED
l in a bosteraus laugh