New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-18


to weep with over the war;" for the strategy =,
Gripping the enemy hip and thigh was exac,,,
what he wished to carry into practice a.
spoke Of his wife's "ferocious hatred OF n,
Gauls all Of whom she would wish to See sho,
and stabbed to death. down to the little babe,.
and. though he would have been incapable a,
initiating such q murderous policy, he mon
than once treated the vanquished in a sni,,
equally brutal A French peasant threatens
one Of his Hussars with a spade. The man,
wife came to Bismarck to learn his fate II va.
with q very Kindly" expression, as we lear,
| from DIT. Busch, that Bismarck assured IA.
woman that her husband would presently b
hanged. playfully touching his throat with hh
finger as he spoke. We make no comment n,
| this episode, but cite it merely to show the i'm,
| mood in which the great Chancellor waged va,
upon the enemies Of his State Possibly he h,a
inherited peculiar antagonism against Franc.
which may partly account for his desire to hsy.
every house burned down that had sheltered
"franctireur" Since the Huguenot war, he d.
clares. in one monologue quoted by Dr. Busch
| there was not one of my ancestors who did not
draw the sword against France My father and
three OF his brothers were engaged agains
Napoleon I. Then my grandfather fought
Rossbach. my great-grandfather against Loub
XIV, and his father against the same King
the little war on the Rhine in 1872 or 167a
Then several Of us fought on the imperial sids
in the Thirty Years War. others, II is true
Joining the Swedes And finally still anothe,
waa among the Germans who fought as mer
cenaries on the Huguenot side"
Before Paris he certainly longed for swifter
and more ruthless course OF action than ap
pealed to King William or to the military
authorities. Queen Victoria was opposed 10 tho
bombardment Of the city. and her influence eI.
erted through her daughter the wife of the
| Crown Prince, for some time held the King
back. Bismarck writhed under the restraint
How preposterous, he declared. to hold that BE-
| cause Paris contained works OF art, and other
| things important 10 civilization. they were ~
stay their hands. The French should have
thought Of that sooner. and he never tired Of
sneerng at the subsection Of the Court TO what
he contemptuously designated pet,coat To-
Guence. necessarily he deplored the fate which
tied him hand and foot What he wanted was
complete control Of the army for a period Just
long enough to carry him through the gates Of
the capital This fever Of mpatience appears u
have distorted all his views OF the French and
their negotiators No doubt the politicians and
| literary men who had succeeded to the control
| Of the Government the fall OF Napoleon III
were incompetent and frequently self-lnterested
| but 10 Bismarck there was not an atom OF SIN
certify in the whole city full Favre on one Of
his visits to Versailles. told the Chancellor that
on Sundays the boulevards were still full Of
fashionaby dressed women with pretty children
| Il remarked to him: am surprised at that
wonder you have not yet eaten them""
| good deal Of this brutality. OF course. was due
| to nothing more than il-breeding. TO the same
rough sense OF humor which he had cultivated
from his earliest years. He himself told many
stories OF his uncouth Joking. As youth be
| had attended the dances at the Russian En-
| bassy In Berlin. at which no refreshments were
served. He limited that a change would be ap-
preciated by bringing parcel Of food In his
pocket and leaving the discarded wrapping
paper on the drawngroom floor. The day be
fore going with friend to dine with noble
man, whose own habits were abstemous and
who hated all drunkenness he took pains 10 IN
tOxicate his friend and TO see that they were
both well spattered with mud by the time they
reached the castle. He chuckled at the dis
comfiture Of his host. When his unwilling land
lady at Versailles asked him an exorbitant price
for the clock which had looked down upon nn
abors over the capitulation Of Paris he was ho1
content with refusing the offer but observer
| that the grinning bronze demon on the Time
! piece was doubtless endeared to the family as .
| likeness OF one OF their ancestors. II is easy "
perceive in all this n grim humor not ineom-
patlble with kndlier feelings. Yet it Is dilhca''
not to resent the conqueror's pitiess excofia''oH
OF the French. as though he were so 'as''
their superior In the first place. the faf's'aa'
were not all devils; the outrageous manner ~
| which the French conducted the Mar--to eln-