Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-08-02
The Death oi Bismarck.

more. Prince Bismarck has ioincd the
great majority, but his name and in
fluence will survive forever. 1t is a
strange coincidence that the deaths of
Gladstone and Bismarck. the greatest
respectively Of Englishmen and of
Germans, should occur so near to-
gether.
All great deaths come suddenly at
last, and Bismarck's departure is none
days there have been rumors that his
illness was serious. He has been a
great figure in Europe since 1851 when
he faced Austria at Frankfort and
made up his mind that Prussia should
contest with Austria the primacy in
German affairs. Fifteen years later,
when Austria went down in battle at
Sadowa and Prussia stepped to the
front, Europe knew what manner of
man this was. He is in too great a
hurry" said the French Emperor
-Four years later the Emperor was his
prisoner, the French empire collapsed
and on its ruins rose few months
after the colossal fabric which ever
since has dominated Western Europe
Such was the work of one in less
than a generation. You must go back
to no lam Ii,
and the empire Charlemagne founded
fell to pieces, while that of which
Bismarck was the architect is built
upon rock. The first Napoleon
was perhaps more brilliant person.
age, but neither did his work endure
1t used to be said that Bismarck S
would crumble when Bismarck's hand
| no longer held it together. But it is
| now more than eight years since he
was dismissed from power by the
present Kaiser. And it may be said
that a political structure which has
survived eight years of William ii.
must have in it the elements of per-
| manent solidity.
By common consent, Bismarcks
was the master mind of Europe. In
that constructive capacity which is
the highest order and test of states
| manship no man approached him. 1t
is idle to compare Gladstone with him.
He was a man of words, Bismarck 4
man of deeds. Yet neither had the
latter his equal in diplomacy.
| He was an expert in statecraft as
well as in craftsmanship. He knew
how to make king do his will. He
knew how to inspire in the souls of a
| great but divided people that senti-
ment of unity without which no Ger
man empire was possible. He crushed
| Particuarism. He taught Bavaria to
look to Prussia as her natural leader.
He made Catholic and Protestant lie
| doHaf together. Not merely the Ger
man empire, but Germany is the crca-
ton of this single will Before his
I time sshe was, like Italy, only a geo.
graphical expression. Today she is a
nation, and as a nation she mourns for
him who out Of some fifty odd Pow
ers and principalites and contending
peoples brought the German nation
and a German national life into being
No higher eulogy than that is pos
sible, but it is the simple verdict of
history. Yet there is still something
to ada. He has been tremendous in
fluence not in Germany only, not in
Europe only, but throughout Chrlsten-
dom. He set himself like a rock
against the advancing flood of social
ism and of all those IaWless forces
which all the world over seek to dis
turb the existing order of things.
There has grown up of late" said
| bismarck at Jena, "a notion that the
world can be governed from below
That cannot be-" He found the king
ly principle in Germany the efficient
principle of government, and he
strengthened it and left it SO. He
found the principle of authority, of lib
erty regulated by law, the basis of
modern society. His example made it
| stronger. The world owes him much
as well as Germany
His work was done, but the death of
| so great man is none the less a
catastrophe. He was hated and loved,
| feared and idolizcd, in life. In death
all Germany, all the world, feels that a
great natural force is gone The
most commanding figure of his time,
one of the most commanding figures of
all time, is henceforth only a memory
instead of possession. But Bis
marcks influence upon political
thought and upon political life will
last as long as anything lasts.
One of the first things for American