Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1898-12-15
-BIsmarck and HIs opportunities.

Looking back. with the face OF his
tory and official data and actual facts
at our command, we find on the one
side a master. not secure in his seat.
with the Orleans faction continually
pittting to dethrone him and put one
nf their 9Tn party in his place, whom
the Republicans hate with the hate
Of men Who'll 1see in him the assassin
Of meir youas republic, and the de-
porteur and murderer OF their ableSt1
leaders, Corruption everywhere, es-
| pecially SO in the higher ranks of the
army, and loose discipline in the lower
An army poorly equipped and
poorly clad and fed, with no leader
able to copo in ability with Won
Moltke. Nt
On the other side we find an auto
crat with nerves and will Of iron, his
orders instantly obeyed; an army the
best trained and drilled i'm the world
well officered, well fed and we'll equip
ped, with wrongs to avenge and disas-
trous defeats t5neRatS, enthused, and
Tor leader The finest general of his
cine. Silent ias th{ sphinx, who
/ would only speak with the roar OF his
cannon and the well directed. fire of
Ehfs columns, one could easily foretell
the resnlt (fhe French were1 9easily
defeated on every battlefield, and Paris
taken.
The political drama of five acts, con-
ceived by Bismarck. the first act of
which Md at Frankfort-on-the the Main,
the second on the bloody battle fields
Of Denmark, the third on those of
Austria, the fourth on those of doomed
France, and the Fifth at Paris, had
been successfully played. BY the
terms of peace France was made to re-
store to the fatherland under Prussian
protectorate, Alsace and Lorraine,
wrested from her two and half cen
turies ago. and to pay an indemnity OF
billion francs; and these terms,
harsh as they may seem, would have
been harder, had not Russia interpos-
ed, who wished not to have too strong
l neighbor in Prussia.
The dream of Bismarck's life had
: been realized. He had, under the lead
, Of Prussia, re-established the German
, empire on a firmer basis than ever
lad placed on his friend and masters
head the imperial crown of Charlie
nagne. Himself a prince of the en-
pire, its chancellor, its prime minis.
ter of state, the most powerful sub
4 ject in Europe, the hero of his owr
. drama, the greatest statesman of the
century At the pinnacle of his fame
= we as liberty-loving Americans, mus
!, grieve to see that so great minC
should dim the lustre of so great {
q name by aiming, not to give his coun
= trymen greater liberty ana larger
9 privileges, but to endow his master
g not only with the imperial crown, bu
n with the power of an autocrat; a pur
pose only frustrated by the firm stant
- of the south German states whC
threatened separate organization.
q 1t would seem almost incredible
~ that an intellect so clear should be 81
. blinded by the prejudices of his caste
, not to be aware of the fact that des
potism is doomed; that like the huge
q rock that stretches out its arms to the
n action of the mighty waves of the
, mighty ocean, and is finally ground tc
o atoms, It is the fate of destiny, thai
o despotism shall be ground to atoms
G by the resistless, ever advancing
6 waves of modern nenlightenmentand re-
lance on self government.
The rest of Bismarck's of7ciel life
, cannot be of great interest TO Amer
leans. 1t was devoted to cement al
:, each session of the Reichstag the sol
q idity of the empire, and increase the
! of the people,
To his all-powerful influence was
due the passage of the anti-socialistiC
9 laws under which it has been possible
to imprison one American citizen for
speaking disparaglngly of the official
superintendent of German bathing
place, and another, Within the last few
weeks, for speaking lightly of His
Majesty, the Emperor.
In closing my article on Bismarck
I regret to think that that powerful
mind was not devoted to the liberal
- cause
GLADSTONE.
' My portraiture of the life and char
5 acter of Gladstone will be much more
e brief than that of Bismarck. Born on
4 uhe same soil, emanating from the
a same stock cradeled by the same
= 'mpther, from we erstwhile separated
t d set up an independent household of
= our own; bone of our bone and blood
. of our blood, the man, one of the most
a eminent of the century, so great. and
= pure Ain his aspirations for the betterA
g ment of humanity the name of him
e and. fHe life of him, ought to be- more
r or less faNilar to eveyY intelligent
: American NC> III
/ Estranged from the mother country
+ Tor upwards of a generation, again
b compelled in 1912 to assert our inder