New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-31
BISMARCK.

Internationally In the plain OF Gizeh Is
MISUNDERSTANDING as far away as the high
ut cotgn Of vantage opposite Cairo. Seea
doseSat hand, 1t only confuses the spectators
h,ndexdth an.indeflnable sense Of vastness and
re,eI,t5 from a distance the relative proper
IONS Of a1I<hingssgreat and small In the yellow
,ista ofAthe Nile Valley are clearly discerned
so IL isxwith. thescareer which has closed IN the
Eatherland. 1t requires historic perspective.
Anv 1udament which may be formed by the
resent generation of Bismarcks character and
,ervices to Germany and Europe will be crude
md imperfect Fifty or hundred years hence
mere will besaytrue sense Of proportion, so that
Is labors In behalf Of German unity and MS
fences against progressive liberalism and the
rinciples Of representative government may DC
judged Alright. At present the critical faculty
i wanting The mind is filled with vague and
hadowy conceptions Of the momentous part
:hich he has played in human history. 1t is
ne mans hand, yet what weight 1t has had IN
he scales Of destiny! 1t Is one mans Will, yet
low powerfully it has swayed the fortunes or
atoms! Ii is one mans genius, yet behold
,ew Fatherland, ,united and powerful, In new
europe!
M Cambetta t.could be said he was the
,reatest tribune oftmOdern democracy. or Mt
Maidstone 1t may be said he was the worlds
aost useful andsconscientious citizen. of Bis
narck il can now'be said, without hesitation, he
/, IN historical Importance the greatest figure In
official history since the death or Napoleon
ravour was one Of q small group or men VINO
uited Italy and he died when the WORK was
nly fairly begun. Bismarck found PRUSSIA
eeble State. the dupe Of Austrian diplomacy
md the German States distracted with internal
aisssnsions. He created the strongest Empire
Of modern times, uniting the German KING
ioms and princlpalities, completing the work OF
Frederick the Great by humiliating Austria,
lvenging anew the defeats Of the Napoleonic
wars, and making Berlin the diplomatic capital
81 Europe. This was not the work of group
Of leaders and statesmen. 1t was the work Of
one man, and he lived TO complete 1t unalded;
and In creating a new Germany, in armng it
and welding its power, he made his own will
the strongest individual force in Europe. If
that Germany, which he had found scarcely
more than a geographical expression, had been
converted into q powerful military empire, an
industrial State with a Parliament elected by
universal suffrage 1t was 10 peculiar sense
HIsmarck's Germany. II that Europe, which
he had found sluggish and unarmed. bad be-
come q circle of camps and garrisOns, with its
military resources contributing in the main to
the ends of peace, it was also Bismarck
Europe.
Rismarck's career was series OF battles
FIRST for the Prussian Crown against repuD-
licaph.-.: next, for the Prusslan Crown against
Austria: then for the German Crown against
France: again for the German Crown against
me Vatican. and finally, for the German Crown
against political factions and Socialist tendeh-
Giles. From first to last he wore the uniform OF
the Kings mar Did he deny in 1877 that the
nation had any right TO a Constitution! lie
was upholdng the Kings rights. In the Schles'
Wig -uoisteIn negotiations was he Is wlly and