Smyrna times., 1898-11-23
A DIPLOMATIC TRICK.
AN INCIDENT THAT PROVED THE CUM
MING OF BISMARCK.


The Roundabout Manner In Which
He Secured the Safe Transmission
of His Official Correspondence to
the Foreign Office.
Stepping to the counter, Herr Won
Bismarck 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 sheet of writing
paper, some sealing wax and pen to
direct letter
On the boy producing the needful
with the traditional "What else, sir?''
Bismarck said: my hands are rather
cold. You had better do it for me-" And
he handed the boy couple of letters
wrapped in the sheet of blush paper
forming an envelope, for in those days
made up envelopes were still unknown
in Germany Evidently flattered 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 skillfully with some brown
sealing wax and indorsed it with the
initials of the firm, he returned it 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 ad-
dress it for me " And he handed him
penciled slip with the name of Herr
Fritz Piepenbrink or some such name,
oil and colonial warehouseman, No 900
Friedrichs strasse, Berlin
Thank you. young man, that'll do
capitally. 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 con-
tinue our walk
II dare say you are wondering why l
treat my correspondents to such greasy,
evil smelling missives?' And he showed
me the cheesy finger marks of the boy
ON both sides of the improvised envel-
ope "Ill tell you a secret. and teach
you useful lesson for future times.
You may some day thank me for the
hint, exclaimed Herr Won Bismarck,
laughing heartily
You know we are blessed here in
Frankfort, as throughout all south Ger
many, with the Thurn and Taxis postal
administration, a mine of wealth to
that fortunate family. but the most
wretchedly managed concern under the
sun. AS you may imagine, it is under
the thumb of Austria, hence slow and
the triumph of red tape, with a pro-
nounced weakness for diving into other
peoples business and skimming, of
course, the correspondence of all Ger
man and foreign ENJOYS, accredited to
the diet, with a preference for mine,
the ever suspected Prussian culprit and
traitor
"They have established a regular
black cabinet in the princely postoffice,
where specially trained imperial and
royal wiseacres peruse our prose with
critical eye, transmitting copies of ex-
tracts of all 'treasonable' matter, or
particularly interesting reports, to the
august BallplatZ, where Gentand and
after him Klindworth have established
lynx eyed system of political espionage
tpolitisches schnuffeln) extending all
over Europe, and comprising go ipso all
German courts and chancelleries.
mot being particularly anxious tc
crafty the morbid curiosity of our Aus.
trian ally, | have thought it advisable
to send important reports to the Berlin
foreign office. as we'll as all my letters
to the king, to Herr Won Manteufel,
and to my sister and some particular
friends, under cover to some mercantile
firm in Berlin, changing frequently and
usually asking a counter jumper in 8
cheesemonger' or oilman's shop to ad
dress them for me-and you can easily
understand that the imperial and roya
sniffers (schnuffier) don't manage t
guess the correspondent of the Prussiar
representative under greasy, ill smell
ing cover, such as you have seen.
ut stands to reason that the smell O.
cheese or herring and the scribblinI
Of shopbOy must deceive sharpe
men than the Thurn and Taxis pos
officials and the specially delegated
Austrian postoffice clerks The only pre-
caution | have to take is to go to differ
ent shops in quarters of the town wher
am not known and to vary the Berlil
address from time to time Thus In
perfectly safe
lie tour est Joue, and snap my fin
gers at the Ballplatz 1t is simpl
enough, as you have seen. yet i
wouldn't do to send everything thIougl
that channel, as they would otherwis
get suspicious, so treat my Austrian
friends at least once week to some O
my diplomatic prose unimportan
stuff, and occasionally something wan
them to know-or to believe, and b
INDUCED in a boisterous laugh. -Baro
de Malortie in Cornhill Magazine.