The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-06-16
B|SMARCk'S DISMISSAL
 Copyright, 1919, by Ine

which was at once a resignation and a defence. and at noon of the 20t!l despatched it.
 Hardly had the Emperor received this enforced resignation when, on the same day, and within a few hours, he returned a reply, in which he said:
 My dear Princey-With deep emo tion I have seen from your request of the 18th inst. that you are resolved to retire from the offices which you have held with incomparable success for so many years past. l had hoped not to be forced to meet the need of our separation duEing our lifetime. If, however, I am fully conscious of the immense purport of your resig- nation am now obliged to accept this idea, I do so with a sad heart.
 The reasons adduced by you for your decision have convinced me that further attempts to induce you to withdraw your request would be use less"
 Though 1t Is not in my power to reward your services according to their full value. I must therefore be satisfied by assuring you of my never-ending thanks, and of those of the F'atherland. bestow on you the dignity of a Duke of Lauenourg as a sign of these thanks. and I shall send you my lfe-size portrait" This letter, a StupendouS monu- ment of Imperial insincerity, convey ing a totally false impression of the circumstances of the ChanceIlor's resignation, was hurriedIy gazetted on the evening of the same day, together with the announcement of the name of Btsmarck's successor-the person referred to in the Franz Josef letter as devoted to me, and in character as firm as a rock.'
 The position of the fallen Minister of an absolute Sovereign is, usually, as the greatest of our poets has shown us the most abject and pitiful con- dition that can fall to the lot of man, but Bismarck had his spiritual com pensations. Germany was not slow to appraise the Emperors heart sorrow" as at its true valuation Eight days later, when the dropped pilot left Berlin for his country home at Friedrichsruhe, the people treat ed' him, he said in the bitterness of his soul, to first class funeral" The streets were densely crowded as the great Chancellor passed through them on the way to the railway sta fion, where the parting scene is said to have been one of indescribable emotion The Emperor wasI not present He had sent certain officers of rank to represent him, and say his last adieux- But on their way back through the Thiergarten some of the spectators, to their amazement, pass ed the Emperor himself trotting gaily home with his aide-de- camp after his usual afternoon ride in the park Such are the facts as we know them- It is probably quite imma- terial at this distance of time whether it was Bismarck's or the Kaiser's lust of power which led to their separa- ton, and whether the Chancellor was envious of the Emperor, or the Elm peror of the Chancellor. But for it's illuminating value as evidence of mind and character it is at this moment of some consequence that in the let ter to Bismarck of March 20 co1a- pared with the letter to Franz Josef of April 3. and coupled with the in cidents of March Is and IT, the Kali ser (making allowance for the suave insincerities which may sometimes be necessary to diplomatic language) stands convicted of deliberate un- truthfu1ness.
 Let us remember this when the time comes. as it soon must, to con- slider the defence which the Kaiser is understood to have prepared Cex- cusing himself and accusing his (Chancel1ors) against the charge Of having the proyocation of the late war.