Middletown transcript., 1898-08-20
The Dead
Bismarck
[coNTINUED.1

mouse, my only duluS6Il6IlI JObGuu away
the cook for cheating me in the &C.
counts"
He thought Eugene beautiful woman
"My conscience, dear, reproves me for
seeing SO much that is lovely without
you" He walked on the sands at Biar-
ritz with Napoleon III, whom he was in
eight years to hold ruined prisoner of
war.
In 1862 cabinet crisis came in Berlin,
and Bismarck at AZ was summoned there
from the Pyrenees to be the head Of the
government. He was called The Hot
spur of the Junker party. Said the
democrats again: Bismarck That is
the coup d'etatT
In the midst Of his life Of commotion
at Berlin he wrote to his wife:
''Such good black pudding Inever ate,
and seldom such good liver. May your
slaughtering be blessedr'
He worked in the government from s
o'clock to 10 p. m. and said: "But health
and sound sleep tremendous thirst.
How love to be lazy and how have to
workp
His unscrupulous yet sincere character
now came fully out. He ruled without
law, but for the glory and ultimate Sc
curity of Prussia.
"The frontiers of Prussia, he growled,
"'are not favorable toa good state consti-
tuition. The great questions of the day
are not to be decided by speeches and ma
jorities, but by blood and iron."
A soldier himself, his moral courage
was extraordinary in Europe. He was
the Tecumseh Sherman of that side of
the water, and the year was that of Vicks-
burg.
He had a budgetless government. He
went specially to Paris to take leave of
Napoleon in August, 1862, at st. Cloud.
''Our relations to Austria, he declared
bluntly, 'fmust unavoidably change for
the better or the worse" "That Bis
marck drags US by the halter" said the
Viennese at the Danish war. Austria
went to Denmark to watch Prussia and
recover prestige from her defeats in Italy.
In 1864 the Prussian flag waved on the
Danish ramparts at Duppel, and Bis
marck was there with King William.
The emperor at Vienna gave him the or
der of st. Stephen and said, "Ah, if I
had but himp
The Danish war was an experiment on
the newly reorganized army and the
needle gun. In 1868 Bismarck was made
a Prussian count. He had an intrigue
with a celebrated opera singer, it was
believed, and their pictures were photo
graphed together like old Dumas and
Ada Mencken.
He was so disgusted in 1868 that he
said: 81 wish that some intrigue would
necessitate another ministry, so that ]
might honorably turn my back upon this
liver of ink. The restlessness of this ex-
istence is unbearable. I regard every
one as benefactor who seeks to bring
about my fall"
The French populace was even then
clamoring for war.
Sept. 20, 1866, as new major general,
Bismarck rode into Berlin with the vic
torious army. He wore white uniform,
orange sash, yellow collar and helmet,
and was in such bodily pain he could
hardly keep the saddle. For a good
while he was very i'll in the country.
The writer of this paper was in Berlin
in July or August, 1866, and noted the
complete conquest of the Prussian re-
pubicans and Liberals by Bismarck's 8
armed policy. Men like DR.. jacob,
whom 7 visited, gave up the competition
with such lion as Bismarck.
And yet, it seems, he never was an
actor and said new, natural, ofhand
things, but without much style. In
June, 1867, he was in Paris with his
king and soon after became chancellor
Of the North German confederation. In
1858 he seemed to be total wreck from
oyerwork. His horse next fell upon
him. He lived in those great years in a
1-story house in Berlin with 12 windows
in front. He drank red Bordeaux wine.
He bought estates near his wife's at
Varzin. By the great year in his for
fumes of 1865 Bismarck was sick, rheu-
matte, undermined.
The 7th Of May as he was walking
from the kings palace he heard two
shots fred behind him, and one Of them
grazed his side. He grappled the assas-
sin by the throat, who fired another shot
that glanced from Bismarck's shoulder.
Changing the revolver to the left hand,
the assassin fred again twice, one shot
burning his coat, another bending his
rib and making him for an instant sick.
He handed the criminal over to the sol
diery, and this person, a social demo-
crat, committed suicide.
The city turned out in his praise. The
king and princes went to his house. He
was compelled for the first time in his
life to speak from his window. Austria
wanted to kill him.
In five weeks the Prussian columns
were moving. June 30 the news of vic
tory arrived. All were singing Luther's
hymn. Lightning broke over Bismarck's
head, and he shouted, "The heavens fire
salutel"
July was fought Sadowa or Koenigs-
gratz. Major Bismarck, long under fire,
was the first to discover the crown prince
coming. "Those are not plow burrows, y
he cried; "they are marching lines" To
his wife he wrote from the field:
eff we do not become extravagant in
our demands and do not imagine that
we have captured the world, we shall
obtain a place worth the having. AT
Koenigsgratz I rode the tall roam. He
was 13 hours in the saddle without fod-
der. My bed was on the road with car
riage cushion"
He made peace to save his army from
pest in Hungary. He and the king stop
ped in the castle of Nicolsburg, where
Napoleon resided after Austerlitz. He
was 81 years old and had been in politics
nearly 20 years. Aug. he was back in
Berlin, the greatest man in Europe. To
the French minister he said: Friendship,
q lasting friendship, with Francei They
will, I hope, represent the dualism of in
telligence and progress"
Unable to get the army propriations
from the lower house, he closed the cham
bers, saying the thing would rule himself.
Four sessions of parliament he treated
in this way, ruling without other than
feudal law. He awoke, however, the
German student and patriotic feeling
against the Danes and beat them by the