Year: 1874

London Cor. New York Graphic.


From almost every quarter hear the


most extraordinary stories about affairs
IN Germany. Some of these stories have
| for their theme the madness Of Prince
Bismarck, and they represent him as be-
ing very mad indeed. If half of these


stories are half true, the great ehancel-
lor should be locked mp in an insane


asylum. The three people in all Ger


many who are not afraid of this mad


man are the empress, the crown prince


and his wife-they detest him all the


rest Of Germany is shaking in its shoes


at the thought of what he may do next.
The old nobility, the middie-classes,


the shop keepers, the artists and the


literary people all feel that their lib


erty and freedom are dependent on the


Whims of this terrible madman. His


own employees tremble when they hear


his voice they never get kind word


from him, and he is fond of cutting


down their salary or even stopping it


altogether. The newspaper editors all


live In mortal dread of him. The gen.


eral opinion in Berlin is that Bismarck's


head has been turned. Some of them


say that he Is drunk with power: others


that he keeps himself drunk with sham


payne and beer. He is subject to extra


ordinary bursts of fury; when these


are upon him he respects neither age,


nor sex, nor station. He was always


violent or given to violence /; but when


he gets into rage nOw-and this hap


pens several times a day-his anger


wakes to frenzy. Even the female mem


bers of his family shrink from him


when he is in these moods, and tremble
when they hear his voice, as the wretch
ed wife of drunken Lancashire collier
trembles when she hears him coming
home. For very decency's sake I re-
frain from repeating some of the stories
which have heard about Prince Bis
marck within the last few days. But I
may quote what was said of him by a
well-k known writer in enc of the most
respectable of English journals day or
two ago:


'sTRey say at Berlin that the mans
head has become affected by unbridled
authority. and that he bursts out in
sulphurous storms of fury of late for
no intelligible cause. He was always
a violent man, but now he RACES like a
lunatio bull in china shop, believing
till the whole world resounds about
nothing. There used to be an under
current of humor in his fierce Jokes
now he has grown morose, and broOds
on schemes of vengeance. He wants
to have another war in France, and has
been trying for the last two years to find
a pretext for sending fire and sword
again upon Iight-hearted and lOveable
people. He wants to destroy the inde-
pendence of Denmark, but Is here met
by q mild no: wants also to take further
possession of Bavaria, but finds the
musical monarch resolved to keep out
of a serape. Austria is 50 submissive
to. and Russia so sure of him, that he
can manage no serious dispute with
either of them, and is obliged TO stand
bowling quite motiOnless, even when
checkmated by those powers. England,
also, is very discreet, and no materials
for q. riot can be found anywhere but In
Spain and Japan, where he can only
strike blows in the cir, having no tangi-
BILE enemies. This is probably why he
has turned his attention to Count Arnim.
He must have somebody to fight and
worry. Count Arnim could be seized
by the throat as well as another count,
and he was seized. 1t Is a
fury which respects neither the honor
of gentlemen nor the happiness of
ladies and children. The very bed
rooms of Countess Armin and her moth
er have been searched within the last
few davs by policemen, and her hus-
band is put IN solitary confinement
without trial. There must be speedy
end to this kind of thing, and, let us
trust. also. an end TO Prince Bismarck,
with whom there must inevitably also
be an end of that mysterious Russian
agent and prompter concealed under the
name of Herr Bucher."