Bismarck

Wednesday, December 7th.—At dinner the Chief related some of his Frankfurt reminiscences. “It was possible to get on with Thun,” he said. “He was a respectable man. Taken altogether, Rechberg[18] was also not bad. He was at least honourable from a personal standpoint, although violent and irascible—one of those passionate, fiery blondes! It is true that as an Austrian diplomat of those days he was not able to pay too strict a regard to truth. I remember his once receiving a despatch in which he was instructed to maintain the best relations with us, a second despatch being sent to him at the same time enjoining him to follow an exactly opposite course. I happened to call upon him, and he inadvertently gave me the second despatch to read. I saw immediately how matters stood and read it through. Then handing it back to him I said: ‘I beg your pardon, but you have given me the wrong one.’ He was fearfully embarrassed, but I consoled him, saying I would take no advantage of his mistake, using it merely for my personal information.” “The third, however,—Prokesch—was not at all to my liking. In the East he had learnt the basest forms of intrigue and had no sense of honour or truth. A thoroughpaced liar. I remember being once in a large company where some Austrian assertion which was not in accordance with the truth was being discussed. Prokesch, raising his voice in order that I might hear him, said: ‘If that be not true, then the Imperial and Royal Cabinet has commissioned me to commit an act of perfidy, indeed his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty has lied to me!’ and he emphasised the word lied. He looked at me whilst he was speaking, and, when he had finished, I replied, quietly: ‘Quite so, Excellency!’ He was obviously aghast, and as he looked round and found all eyes cast down and a deep silence which showed approval of what I had said, he turned away without a word and went into the dining-room where the table was laid. He had recovered himself, however, after dinner, and came over to me with a full glass in his hand—but for that I should have thought he was going to challenge me—and said, ‘Well, let us make peace.’ ‘Certainly,’ I replied, ‘but what I said in the other room was true, and the protocol must be altered.’ The protocol was altered, an admission that it had contained an untruth. A rascally fellow!”

Thursday, December 8th.—Some one asked at dinner how the question of Emperor and Empire now stood. The Chief replied inter alia: “We have had a great deal of trouble with it in the way of telegrams and letters. But after all Holnstein has done the greater part of the work. He is a clever fellow, and not in the least spoilt by or prepossessed in favour of Court manners.” Putbus asked what position he held. “Master of the Horse. He showed himself very willing and energetic, making the journey to Munich and back in six days. In the present condition of the railways that requires a great deal of good will. Of course he has the necessary physique. Indeed, not merely to Munich, but to Hohenschwangau,—and there saw the King who had just been operated under chloroform for a tumour in the gum. But King Lewis also greatly contributed to the speedy settlement of the matter. He received the letter immediately, and at once gave a definite answer. He might easily have said that he must first take some fresh air in the mountains, and would answer in three or four days. The Count has certainly done us a very good service in the affair; but I really do not know how we can reward him.” I forget how the conversation came to deal with the terms “Swell,” “Snob,” and “Cockney,” which were the subject of much discussion. The Chief mentioned a certain diplomat as a “swell,” and observed: “It is really a capital word, but we cannot translate it into German. ‘Stutzer,’ perhaps, but that conveys at the same time pompousness and self-importance. ‘Snob’ is something quite different, while it is also very difficult for us to render properly. It denotes a variety of attributes, but principally one-sidedness, narrowness, slavery to local or class prejudices, philistinism. A ‘snob’ is something like our ‘Pfalbürger,’ yet not quite. It includes also a petty conception of family interests, political narrow-mindedness, rigid adherence to ideas and habits that have become a second nature. There are also female snobs and very distinguished ones. The feminine half of our Court are snobs. Our two most exalted ladies are snobs. The male element is not snobbish. One may also talk of party snobs—those who in larger political issues cannot emancipate themselves from the rules that govern private conduct—the ‘Progressist snob.’ The cockney again is quite another person. That term applies more particularly to Londoners. There are people there who have never been outside their own walls and streets, never got away from the brick and mortar, who have never seen life anywhere else nor travelled beyond the sound of Bow Bells. We have also Berliners who have never left their city. But Berlin is a small place compared to London, or even Paris, which has also its cockneys, although they are known by another name there. There are hundreds of thousands in London who have never seen anything but London. In such great cities conceptions are formed which permeate the whole community, and harden into the most inveterate prejudices. Such narrow and silly ideas arise in every great centre of population where the people have no experience, and often not the faintest notion of how things look elsewhere. Silliness without conceit is endurable, but to be silly and unpractical, and at the same time conceited, is intolerable. Country life brings people into much closer contact with realities. They may be less educated there, but what they know they know thoroughly. There are, however, snobs in the country also. (Turning to Putbus.) Just take a really clever shot. He is convinced that he is the first man in the world, and that sport is everything, and that those who do not understand it are worth nothing. And then a man who lives on his estate in a remote district, where he is everything, and all the people depend upon him; when he comes to the wool-market and finds that he is not of the same importance with the townspeople as he is at home, he gets into a bad temper, sits sulking on his sack of wool, and takes no notice of anything else.”

At tea, Keudell said that I ought really to see, not merely those political despatches, reports and drafts which I received from the Minister, but everything that came in and went out. He would speak on the subject to Abeken, who acts here as Secretary of State. I accepted his proposal with many thanks.

Bucher informed me that the Minister had made some very interesting remarks in the drawing-room while they were taking coffee. Prince Putbus mentioned his desire to travel in far distant lands. “It might be possible to manage that for you,” said the Chief. “You might be commissioned to notify the foundation of the German Empire to the Emperor of China and the Tycoon of Japan.” The Minister then discussed at length the duties of the German aristocracy, of course with special reference to his guest.

The King was faithful to his duty, but he was born in the last century, and thus he regarded many things from a point of view which was no longer suitable to the times. He would allow himself to be cut to pieces in the interests of the State, as he understood them, if he knew that his family would be provided for. The future king was quite different. He had not this strong sense of duty. When he found himself in good case, had plenty of money at his disposal, and was praised by the newspapers, he was quite satisfied. He would choose his Ministers in the English fashion from the Liberal or from other parties just as things happened in the Diet, in order to avoid trouble. In that way, however, he would ruin everything, or at least produce a condition of constant instability. The great nobles ought then to intervene. They must have a sense of the necessities of the State and recognise their mission, which is to preserve the State from vacillation and uncertainty in the struggles of parties, to give it a firm support, &c. There was no objection to their associating with a Strousberg, but they would do better to become bankers straight away.

Monday, December 12th.—The Chief’s indisposition seems to have again grown worse, and it is said that he is in a particularly bad humour. Dr. Lauer has been to see him. The Times contains the following communication which it would be impossible for us to improve upon.[19]

An excellent letter which we must submit to the Versailles people in the Moniteur.

Busily engaged all the evening. Translated for the King articles published by The Times and Daily Telegraph warmly approving of the restoration of the German Empire and the imperial dignity.

The Times article, after stating that not merely the fact of the restoration of the German Empire but also the manner in which it had been brought about could only be regarded with the liveliest satisfaction, proceeds as follows:—

“The political significance of this change cannot be placed too high. A mighty revolution has been accomplished in Europe, and all our traditions have suddenly become antiquated. No one can pretend to predict the relations of the Great Powers; but it is not very difficult to forecast in a general way the political tendencies of the time on which we are about to enter. There will be a powerful united Germany, presided over by a family which represents not only its interests, but its military fame. On the one side will be Russia, strong and watchful as ever; but on the other side will be France, which, whether patient under her reverses or burning for revenge, will be for a time incapable of playing that great part in Europe which belonged to her even under the feebleness of the Restoration. Thus, whereas we had formerly two strong centralised military empires, with a distracted, unready nation between them, which might be ground to powder whenever the two closed to crush it, there is now a firm barrier erected in Central Europe, and the fabric is correspondingly strengthened. In this the policy of past generations of English statesmen is fulfilled. They all desired the creation of a strong Central Power, and laboured for it in peace and war by negotiations and alliances, now with the Empire, now with the new State which had arisen in the North.”

On the instructions of the Chief, I also wrote a paragraph for the press to the effect that we are no longer opposed by France, but rather by the cosmopolitan Red Republicans, Garibaldi and Mazzini (who are with Gambetta, and act as his counsellors), and Polish, Spanish, and Danish adherents of that party. The aims of these good people are indicated in a letter from the son of the Prefect Ordinaire, who describes himself as an officer in Garibaldi’s General Staff. This letter, which is dated from Autun on the 16th of November, and addressed to the editor of the newspaper Droits de l’Homme, contains the following passage:—

“You will see from the post-mark where we are now stationed—in one of the most priest-ridden towns of France. It is the centre of monarchical reaction. It looks less like a town than an enormous monastery, huge black walls and barred windows, behind which monks of all colours intrigue and pray in darkness and silence for the success of the good cause. In the streets our red shirts are constantly brushing against the black cassock of the priest. The whole population, from the tradespeople downwards, present a mystic aspect, and appear as if they had been all drenched in holy water. We are regarded here as if we had been inscribed upon the Index, and the calumnies that are rained upon us rival the deluge. A breach of discipline (which is unavoidable in the case of a volunteer army) is immediately exaggerated into a great crime. Trifles are transformed into outrages that deserve to be punished by death. The mountain frequently gives birth to a mere mouse, but the bad impression produced upon the public mind remains.

“Would you believe it? The officials themselves put difficulties in our way! They echo, I hope unwittingly, the calumnies that are circulated against us, and regard us with evident ill will. Indeed, our fellow citizens are almost inclined to look upon our army as a band of brigands. Can you imagine that the monarchists have not in the least renounced their mischievous endeavours, and hate us because we have sworn never to permit the re-erection of those mountebank stages from which kings and emperors have ordered nations as the humour took them? Yes, we proclaim the fact aloud that we are soldiers of the Revolution, and I would add not of the French Revolution alone, but of the cosmopolitan revolution. Italians, Spaniards, Poles, and Hungarians, in gathering under the French flag, clearly understand that they are defending the Universal Republic. The real nature of the struggle is now evident. It is a war between the principle of the divine right of kings and of force, and that of popular sovereignty, civilisation, and freedom. The fatherland disappears before the Republic.

“We are citizens of the world, and whatever may happen we will fight to the death for the realisation of that noble ideal of the United States of Europe, that is to say, the fraternisation of all free peoples. The monarchical reactionaries know that, and so they reinforce the Prussian forces with their own legions. We have the enemies’ bayonets in front, and treason behind us. Why is not every old official sent about his business? Why are not all the old generals of the Empire ruthlessly cashiered? Cannot the Government of National Defence see that they are being betrayed, and that these people, with their hypocritical manœuvres, shameful capitulations, and inexplicable retreats are preparing for a Bonapartist restoration, or, at least, for the accession of an Orleans or a Bourbon?

“But the Government, which has undertaken the task of delivering the contaminated soil of France from foreign hordes, should take care. In times like the present, and under the fearful conditions in which we find ourselves, it is not enough to be honest. It is also necessary to show energy, to keep a cool head, and not to allow one’s self to be drowned in a glass of water. Let the Cremieuxs, the Glais-Bizoins, and the Fourichons remember the manner in which the men of 1792 and ’93 acted! To-day we need a Danton, a Robespierre, the men of the Convention! Away with you, gentlemen! Make room for the Revolution! That alone can save us. Great crises demand great measures!”

The fatherland disappears before the Republic! Resort to the great measures adopted by Danton and Robespierre! Behead every one who differs from us in religious and political affairs, and establish the guillotine as a permanent institution. Dismiss Generals Chanzy and Bourbaki, Faidherbe and Vinoy, Ducrot and Trochu, and appoint private soldiers in their place. That is the gospel preached by the son of a Prefect in the department of Doubs, an officer of Garibaldi’s General Staff. I wonder whether these proposals will commend themselves to many of the Versailles people when they see this letter in the Moniteur one of these days?

Tuesday, December 13th.—In the morning wrote another article on the confession of faith of the cosmopolitan Republicans. The Chief’s health is somewhat better, only he feels very exhausted....

At lunch Bucher, Hatzfeldt, and Keudell declared in all seriousness that they thought the Chancellor would resign. It was jestingly suggested that he would be followed by a Ministry under Lasker, who would be “a kind of Ollivier,” and then half in joke, half in earnest, the possibility was discussed of our having for a Chancellor Delbrück,—“a very clever man, but no politician.”

I regarded it as absolutely inconceivable that the Chief could ever be allowed to resign, even if he requested to be relieved from office. They thought, nevertheless, that it was possible. I said that in such circumstances they would be obliged to recall him in less than a month. Bucher questioned whether he would come back, and said positively that so far as he knew him, if the Count once retired he would never take office again. He enjoyed himself far too well at Varzin, free from business and worry of every kind. He liked best of all to be in the woods and fields. The Countess had once said to him: “Believe me, a turnip interests him (Bismarck) more than all your politics.” That statement, however, must not be too hastily accepted, and must be limited to a temporary state of feeling.

About 1.30 P.M. I was summoned to the Chancellor. He wished me to call attention to the difficulties of the King of Holland with regard to a new Ministry, and to point to this as the result of a purely Parliamentary system under which the advisers of the Crown must retire, whatever the condition of affairs may be, when a majority of the representatives is opposed to them on any question. He observed: “I remember when I became Minister that there had been twenty or twenty-one Ministries since the introduction of the constitutional system. If the principle of Ministers retiring before a hostile majority be too strictly enforced, far too many politicians will be used up. Then mediocrities will have to be taken for the post, and finally there will be no one left who will care to devote himself to such a trade. The moral is that either the advantages of a Minister’s position must be increased, or the Parliamentary system must be applied less stringently.”

The Chief went out for a drive at 3 o’clock, after Russell had again called upon him.

He talked after dinner about his negotiations with Russell and the demands of Gortschakoff. He said amongst other things: “They do not want in London to give an unqualified approval to the proposal that the Black Sea shall be again given up to Russia and the Turks with full sovereignty over its coast. They are afraid of public opinion in England, and Russell returns again and again to the idea that some equivalent might possibly be found. He asked, for instance, whether it would not be possible for us to join in the agreement of the 16th of April, 1856. I replied that Germany had no real interest in the matter. Or whether we would bind ourselves to observe neutrality in case of a conflict some day breaking out there. I told him I was not in favour of a conjectural policy, such as his suggestion involved. It would depend altogether on circumstances. For the present we saw no reason why we should take any part in the matter. That ought to suffice for him. Besides I did not believe that gratitude had no place in politics. The present Tsar had always acted in a friendly and benevolent manner towards us. Austria, on the other hand, was up to the present little to be trusted and took up at times a very dubious attitude. Of course he knew himself how far we were indebted to England. The friendship of the Tsar was the legacy of old relations, based partly on family connections, but partly also on the recognition that our interests are not opposed to his. We did not know what those relations would be in future, and therefore it was impossible to speak about them.... Our position would now be different to what it was formerly. We should be the only Power that had reason to be satisfied; we had no call to oblige any one of whose willingness to reciprocate our services we could not altogether feel sure.... He returned again and again to the suggestion as to an equivalent, and at length asked me if I could not propose something. I spoke of making the Dardanelles and the Black Sea free to all. That would please Russia, as she could then pass from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, and Turkey also as she could have her friends, including the Americans, near her. It would remove one of the reasons why the Americans held with the Russians, namely, their desire for free navigation in all seas. He seemed to recognise the truth of that.” The Chancellor added: “As a matter of fact, the Russians should not have been so modest in their demands. They ought to have asked for more, and then the matter of the Black Sea would have been granted to them without any difficulty.” Turning to Abeken the Minister said: “Write that to Bernstorff and also to Reuss for his information. In writing to the latter, suggest that in St. Petersburg they should try to find something harmless that would look like an equivalent.”

The conversation then turned upon the four new points of international law respecting navigation—that no privateers should be fitted out, that goods should not be seized so far as they were not contraband of war, and that a blockade was only valid when effective, &c. The Chief remarked that one of these was flagrantly violated by the French in burning a German ship. He concluded the conversation on this head by saying, “We must see how we are to get rid of this rubbish.”

Wednesday, December 14th.—The German party of centralisation are still dissatisfied with the Bavarian Treaty. Treitschke writes me from Heidelberg on the subject in an almost despairing tone: “I quite understand that Count Bismarck could not have acted otherwise, but it remains a very regrettable affair all the same. Bavaria has once more clogged our feet as she did in 1813 in the Treaty of Ried. So long as we have our leading statesman we can manage to move in spite of that. But how will it be later on? I cannot feel that unquestioning confidence in the vitality of the new Empire which I had in that of the North German Confederation. I only hope that the nation will prosper, owing to its own healthy vigour, in spite of constitutional deficiencies.”

The Chief and Count Holnstein dined with us. Politics were not discussed. The Minister was very cheerful and communicative, and spoke on a variety of subjects. He said, amongst other things, that as a young man he was a swift runner and a good jumper. His sons, on the other hand, are unusually strong in the arms. He should not care to try a fall with either of them.

The Minister then sent for the gold pen that had been presented to him by Bissinger, the jeweller, and mentioned that the Countess had written to him asking about it, remarking that “doubtless it was a lie, like the story of the baby at Meaux.” We now heard for the first time that a new-born baby, the child of one of the French soldiers who had fallen in one of the recent battles, was supposed to have been smuggled into the Chief’s bed. This was, of course, a mere newspaper invention.

The conversation afterwards turned on the deputation from the Reichstag, which was already at Strassburg, and would arrive here to-morrow. The Chancellor said: “We must begin to think what we are to reply to their address. The speech-making will be a real pleasure to Simson. He has been already engaged in several affairs of the kind—in the first deputation to the Hohenzollernburg respecting the imperial dignity. He makes a good speech, loves to talk, and thoroughly enjoys himself on such occasions.”

Abeken observed that Löwe, the member of the Reichstag, said that he also had taken part in such a function, but had afterwards plenty of opportunity to think over the matter in a foreign country.

“Ah! Was he also engaged in the 1849 affair?” asked the Chief.

“Yes,” said Bucher; “he was President of the Reichstag.”

“But,” said the Chief, “he need not have left his country on account of the part he took in the proposal as to the Emperor. It must have been because of his journey to Stuttgart, which was quite a different story.”

The Minister then spoke of the Hohenzollernburg, where each branch of the family had a special suite of apartments; of an old castle in Pomerania, where all members of the family of Dewitz had a right to lodgings,—it was now reduced to a picturesque ruin, after having long served as a stone quarry for the inhabitants of the neighbouring country town; and afterwards of a landed proprietor who had a singular way of raising money. “He was always hard up, and on one occasion, when he was in desperate straits, his woods were attacked by caterpillars, then a fire broke out, and finally a number of trees were blown down by a gale. He was miserable, and thought he was bankrupt. So the timber had to be sold, and he suddenly found himself in possession of a lot of money, fifty or sixty thousand thalers, which set him on his legs again. It had never occurred to him that he could have his trees cut down.”

This story led the Chief to speak of another extraordinary gentleman, a neighbour of his. (Query, in Varzin.) “He had ten or twelve estates, but was always short of ready money, and frequently felt a desire to spend some. When he wished to invite some people to a decent lunch he usually sold an estate, so that at length he had only one or two left. Some of his own tenants bought one of the former lot from him for 35,000 thalers, paying him 5,000 thalers down. They then sold a quantity of timber for shipbuilding purposes, for 22,000 thalers, an idea which, of course, had never occurred to him.”

The Minister then referred to the Hartschiere (big tall men, chosen for the Royal Body Guard on account of their size) in Munich, who made a great impression upon him owing to their bulk and general character, and who are understood to be excellent connoisseurs of beer.

Finally it was mentioned that Count Bill was the first German to ride into Rouen. Somebody remarked that his appearance would have convinced the inhabitants of that city that our troops had not up to the present been put on short rations. This led the Chancellor to speak again of the strength of his “youngsters.” “They are unusually strong for their age,” he said, “although they have not learnt gymnastics—very much against my desire, but it is not considered the proper thing for the sons of a diplomatist.”

While enjoying his after dinner cigar the Chief asked if the members of his staff were smokers. Yes, every one of them, Abeken replied. “Well, then,” said the minister, “Engel must divide the Hamburg cigars amongst them. I have received so many that if the war were to last for twelve months I should still bring some home with me.”

Thursday, December 15th.—Count Frankenberg and Count Lehndorff joined us at dinner, Prince Pless coming in half an hour later. The Chief was in high spirits and very talkative. The conversation at first turned on the question of the day, that is to say, the commencement of the bombardment. The Minister said it might be expected within the next eight or ten days. It would possibly not be very successful during the first weeks, as the Parisians had had time to take precautions against it. Frankenberg said that in Berlin, and particularly in the Reichstag, no subject was so much discussed as the reasons why the bombardment had been postponed up to the present. Everything else gave way to that. The Chief replied; “Yes, but now that Roon has taken the matter in hand something will be done. A thousand ammunition waggons with the necessary teams are on their way here, and it is said that some of the new mortars have arrived. Now that Roon has taken it up something will at last be done.”

The manner in which the restoration of the imperial dignity in Germany had been brought before the Reichstag was then discussed, and Frankenberg as well as Prince Pless were of opinion that it might have been better managed. The Conservatives had not been informed beforehand, and the statement was actually made when they were sitting at lunch. To all appearance Windthorst was not wrong when, with his usual dexterity in seizing his opportunities, he remarked that he had expected more sympathy from the Assembly.

“Yes,” said the Chief, “there ought to have been a better stage manager for the farce. It should have had a more effective mise-en-scène,—but Delbrück does not understand that sort of thing. Some one should have got up to express his dissatisfaction with the Bavarian Treaties, which lacked this, that, and the other. Then he should have said: ‘If, however, an equivalent were found to compensate for these defects, something in which the unity of the nation would find expression, that would be different,’—and then the Emperor should have been brought forward.”... “Moreover, the Emperor is more important than many people think. I could not tell them. (that is to say, the Princes) what it all means—if I had, I certainly should not have succeeded.... I admit that the Bavarian Treaty has defects and deficiencies. That is, however, easily said when one is not responsible. How would it have been, then, if I had refused to make concessions and no treaty had been concluded? It is impossible to conceive all the difficulties that would have resulted from such a failure, and for that reason I was in mortal anxiety over the easy unconcern of centralising gentlemen in the Diet.”... “Last night, after a long interval, I had again a couple of hours of good deep sleep. At first I could not get off to sleep, worrying and pondering over all sorts of things. Then suddenly I saw Varzin before me, quite distinctly to the smallest detail like a big picture, with all the colours even—green trees, the sunshine on the stems and a blue sky above it all. I saw each single tree. I tried to get rid of it, but it came back and tormented me, and at length when it faded away it was replaced by other pictures, documents, notes, despatches, until at last towards morning I fell asleep.”

Whilst Bucher and myself were alone at tea, he told me that Delbrück, who is the “Liberal Minister,” holds with the Liberals and is “thinking of the future.” “At an early stage of his career the Chief offered him the Ministry of Commerce. Delbrück declined it, saying: ‘Yes, Excellency, but you may not remain long yourself, and I should prefer not to accept it. What should I do if you retired? I should be obliged to go too and renounce official life, and of course that would not do.’”