BISMARCK

Evening Star, Issue 19760, 10 January 1928, Page 5

BISMARCK

HERR LUDWIG'S STUDY A VIVED CHARACTER SKETCH Herr Emil Ludwig attained welldeserved celebrity Jast year with his remorseless book, x Kaiser Wilhelm 11., 5 a piece of portraiture which marked him as the natural successor of Maximilian Harden. Ho followed this success with a book on Napoleon, which, though constructed with literary skill, was necessarily compounded of material familiar to every student of the Emperor’s career, and scarcely justified the labor bestowed upon it. Indus third book, ‘ Bismarck, the Story of a Fighter’ (says the ‘Argus’). Herr Ludwig returns to a German theme, and one well worthy of his abilities as an interpreter of character. It would not be too much to say that it is a grand book about one of the strongest of modern statesmen, whoso constructive work has survived the reckless incompetence of his successors and the hurricane events of 1914-19. The'one thing which Herr Ludwig labors to make clear is that, so simple and so massive was Bismarck’s building, that it has not perished with the wreck of the monarchy. The German people were disunited for a thousand years. -Bismarck united them. Their princes failed them, and liave vanished j-.to nonentity. But “the uniky of Germany did not depart with the sovereign rulers.” The German people saved Bismarck’s work from destruction, and after thirty years “the Germans stand beside Bismarck’s, grave and lower their flags to salute him.” THE POLITICIAN. Tim danger to which an author is liable in writing a hook of this kind is that the hero-worshipper may falsify history in order to make his subject shine. It would bo a great error to idealise Bismarck. He was too great a figure to need Mich treatment. He was frequently u ta.'iipulous in the pursuit of his design -. Though a rigidly truthful man in nil the personal affairs of life, he would lie and resort to trickery to promote a policy. He was implacable in his hatreds, hut ho tould be gonial and kindly, if gruff, in his social relationship's. He professed a scorn for public opinion, but no statesman in Europe in his time was more careful to manipulate the Press. “By day and by night,” says Herr Ludwig, " his underlings had to work for the Press, preparing, suggesting, summarising, contradicting.” He pretended to have no care for what future generations might think about him; yet lie commissioned Sybcl to write an elaborate work on the foundation of the Gorman Empire, and then deputed a secretary to sift the documents which Sybel was permitted to see, and directed that the eminent historian was only to be allowed to look at tho e which wore “ not dangerous.” Hew. s, in politics, cunning, inveigling, suspicious, a layer of traps, and a perfect diplomatic cardsha.rper. He seemed to embody the collective egoism of the German nation; but when there was no political end to serve he was just a large, hearty, lusty si)Hire with a vast appetite ami companionable manners. Even his egoism was rather political than personal. After 1870 German cities began to sprout statues to Bismarck. Ho hated all of them. “ When I go for a walk in Kissingcn,” ho said, “ I find it most annoying to meet a sort of fossilised representation of myself.” When the Emperor sent him a decoration set in diamonds he growled; “ A cask of Rhenish nr a good horse would have pleased me more.” Allegorical pictures of himself made him roar with laughter. A drawing showing him as the angel of peace, with, a garland of forget-me-nots and laurels on his head, drew from him an amazed denial of the possession of any “ transcendental possibilities.” The ninny intimate personal details which Herr Ludwig has been able to gather show us a Bismarck whom the politicians of Europe did not know, the Bismarck who loved trees and birds and the solitude of great forests. Ho was angry when his forester recommended the cutting down of a large tree which had always been a favorite of his. “What do you sayp The top is withered? Tam rather parched at the top myself!”—and he took off his hat to show his bald head. A party of his guests once saw him humiliate himself before a peasant to whom ho had done an injustice. The man was suspected of being a poacher. Bismarck, in front of his guests, cursed the man up hill and down dale. When he reached home his head forester satisfied him that this man was not the offender. Bismarck, much concerned, was silent for a few minutes, and then said; “Dinner must wait for a while, and yon, gentlemen, will he good enough to drive back with me.” They all drove to the peasant’s cottage, where Bismarck entered and asked pardon for his unjust accusation. A GREAT REALIST. We do not turn 1o Herr Ludwig’s any new light upon the great policies of Bismarck’s career, or for fresh information drawn from archives a.id private diaries. Ho is a literary portrait painter, and his object is to create a vivid impression of the personality of the man of whom he writes. When we read what he has to say about the famous Ems telegram, the inauguration of the German Empire, Bismarck’s celebrated interview with Napoleon 111., his relations with William t., his enmity for the Empress Victoria, and his last great quarrel with William 11., wo find nothing in these pages that wo did not know before. But there are hundreds of personal touches which the diligent research of tlio author has brought to light, with the object of presenting a portrait of Bismarck the man, the great realist, the Machiavellian politician, the architect of the German Empire. No previous book has done so much to illuminate the character of Bismarck. A score of photographs and drawings of him, made at different periods of his life, and some specimens of his handwriting, help tho author to convey a vital picture, but wo arc rather disposed to blame him for not having included a reproduction of Leiihach’s painting of Bismarck, tho finest of all revelations of his character by an" artist, and one oi the greatest modern pieces of portraiture.