Evening journal., 1898-08-09

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forced the third Napoleon to declare
war against Prussia in July 10 he.
Bismarck, did not employ the sicluly
plea Of humanitarianism in order 10
gain his purpose, nor did he make s,e
unexplained loss Of mere battleship
a casus be.Ii; Bismapck knew what he
wanted, and he was sufficiently
Straightforward to let the world know
what he wanted He wanted a money
ed war indemnity the territories or AL
SAGE and Lorraine, the forts OF stras-
bourg and Meta and last, but not least.
the consolidation OF the petty princl-
palities Of Prussia into one loyal and
concrete whole The man who did All
this was cne OF the four really great
men OF this century. The life-work OF
Prince Bismarck may have been char
alcterized by more or less turpitude
and IL so, then there will doubtless be
found many people who win claim that
that turpltude was conducted uDon
such a grand scale as to compel al
miration for the man. Very true It is.
that there never was anything petty
or small about either the domestic or
foreign policy of this great German;
both policies were ever on parallel
with the mans physical makeup. el-
gantic and colossal in conception.
The world gauges a man by results
not by motives. A mans motives may
be as dark as Erebus; he may wade
through rivers OF blood to a throne
but being seated firmly thereon he
reaches, in the popular estimation. the
very apex of greatness. The first Ma.
poleon was not a fool until he fai.ed
to remember the seventies Of Rus-
sian Winter, and he did not become a
stMl greater fool until he allowed him
self to be beaten at Waterloo by a
man who, as a general. was his in
felior But il the great Corsican had
not fallen into the trap at Moscow. and
If he had not been beaten by WGliug-
ton at Waterloo, tho worlds unnseea-
sary deification Of the man would
have been even still greater than IT
was and is. And 1T is very certain
that II the French had reached Berlin
in 70, instead Of the Germans occnpy-
ing Paris, Bismarck would not only
never have become Prince. but he
would have gone down to his grave as
a bungler and man whose vaulting
ambition had o'er-leapt itself. That
would have been the worlds verdict;
the question OF whether or not Bis
marck wzs justified IN aataEonIzinq
the FrerneA wosiEd not have been con
sldered. X is "a Bismarck hLnaelf
oAco observed 'NOA this earth therc ia
nothing but hypocrisy and jugE.ery.
Fools and wise man iook very rnu-a
ike one anothsr."
Prince Bismarck, like Gladstone. was
firrn believer in Christianity. Per
haps OF all the great attributes ascribed
to these TWO men the greatest was that
Of faith in the religion OF to-day-for
they never permitted their implicit
faith in the promise OF an imm5rtadty
hereafter TO be disturbed by any mod
ern freakish theological speculation.
III l were not a Christian" said Bis
marck, Il would not continue 10 serve
the king another hour. Were | not a
staunch Christian, did not stand upon
the miraculous basis OF religion vow
would never have possessed federal
chancellor in my person" But in
spite Of this declaration, and perhaps
no one doubts the sincerity OF Bis
marck's religious convictions, the fact
remains that Bismarck was a complex
character, defying an altogether just or
correct analysis and hindering the
reason from forming hfelike concep-
ton Of the real man. We know that
Bismarck both champloned War and
feared God. Now these two desires
or mental pr0Clivities do not run we'll
together; they are Incompatible and
antithetical to degree. A man might
Just as we'll try to make a success Of
serving God and Mammon as try to
pass muster by serving God and War
II either attempt is made, then the at-
tempt becomes farcical, dead failure
In order to reconcile Bismarcs's ad-
yocacy Of Christianity with his advo-
cacy Of War, in order to reconcile 90
siaring a moral discrepancy we should
have % admit that he Bismarck. was
2 law unto himself We are not pre-
pared to admit anything Of the kind.
not even concerning the greatest man.
whoever he may have been. that everl
drew breath. We remember stating IN
a former article that to the warmontyer
ahere usually c5mes the aftermath OF
reflection. We thought at the time we
were uttering a truth; we now know
we were, for Bismarck, when con-
graduated upoR the fact of his having
built up a great nation, said: Eyes, but
how many other nations have render
ed unhaTPy2 But for me three great
wars would never have taxen tt,rsy /