THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2687, 13 September 1905, Page 70

THE SKETCHER.

BISMARCK AT HOME.* (T.P.'s Weakly.)

First let me express the admiration which this book is so well calculated to excite of that never ending subject of wonder — the ,'Prsatility of the American. The modest ard quiet gentleman whose photograph looks out 'it you from one of the pages o[ these two volumes bae filled m iife parts so diverse as university professor, university president, local politician, attache Minister to two great empires, commissioner on all kinds of great iiiquii'ks, and now, in. the calm evening ->f his days, sits down to write tbe jottings of his &ingu l arly varied and interesting career. He 'ias managed to live, as wiii be seen, ■iieveral lives ; has had as many careers as would bs held to fill sufficiently half a dozen, or even several generations ! of Luropeaccs, and, what is most extraordinary, has filled all these various occupations with distinguished credit and r>ucCfSS. j It is not want of interest in Mr White | that makes me think, however, that I j would best serve the interests of my j readers by saying little about him, and a good deal about the most remarkable man with whom his official duties brought him in contact. Mr White's portrait gallery is large, but one portrait overshadows al ; the '"e c t — the great and towenug iigure of Bismarck, — and it is with that alone 1 shall concern myself. As Ambassador for the United States in Berlin Mr White was biought into pretty constant contact with the Iron Chancellor. Tnere were many questions, some of them rather trying and delicate, between the Governments of Germany and America. As everybody knows, there is a bugs German population in the United States ; many of the&c millions have gonp to the other side of the ccean without taking out their military service, and wben they return °d to the Fatherland they*- were now and Uicn picked up by the German police anct treated as deserters. Here was the iron necessity of Germany on the one side, (.o get all she could out of her sods, and here, on the other side, was American citizenhood — a very dangerous thing to touch , — and so there were ugly moments that required good temper and tact to settle peacefully. Mr White always showed these qualities, a.nd usually Bismarck did tbe same. On the whole, then, in spite of difficulties, Mr White sawi the better and gentler sido of the German Chancellor, and the picture he. leaves of him is agreeable. n. This corresponds with what I have always heard of Bismarck from those who knew him well. These acquaintances always declared that tbe pictures oi Bismarck as a brute and a 'bully in private life were incredible to tliem ; be seemed to them always to be courtly and gentle. The truth is, of course, that he coivld be both one and the otb?r ; it all .depended on how he folt, and whether you happened to be doing exactly as ha wished or nob. Bismarck, like many another strong man, divided mankind into slaves and enemies. Mr Whits had an opportunity of seeing both phases oi the great man's character. Here "is a description of the first glimpseMr White had of Bismarck; it is a little sketch TcHich -will dwell in one's raemoa-y. "Arriving," Ti rites Mr White, at the Kissiugen, junction, we found a crowd gathered outside the barriers, and all gazing at* the railway carriage about to be attached to our train. Looking forward at this-, I recognised the face and form of the great North-German statesman. He was in the prime of life, sturdy, hearty, aad happy in Hie presence of his wife and children. The people at the station evidently knew ■what was needed, for hardly had he arrived when waiters appeared, bearing salvers covered with huge mugs of foaming beer. Thereupon Bismarck took two j - of the mugs in immediate succession ; poured their contents down bis throat, evidently ■vritli great gustc ; and a, bui'ly pet-sant just back of me, unable longer to restrain his admiration, soliloquised in a deep, slow, guttural, reverberating rumble : "A-a-a-ber er sieht sehr-r-r gut . aus." So it struck ma also; tbe watcas of Kissiugen had evidently restored the great man, amd he looked like a Titan i ready for battle. ! " in. It was some time after that, as Minister to the United' States in Berlin, Mi White began to have personal intercourse with Bismarck ; and he often had opportunities of seeing all the simplicity of bis home life. And a very simple tiling this home life was. One evening Mr White is invited to dinner. "On the invitation," says Mr White, "it was stated vhat evening dress was not to bs worn ; and on my arrival," he adds, "I found all the guests arrayed in simple afternoon costume." And then comes this delightful little glimpse of the iron mans before whom a whole continent trembled, a*s he was in his oTifii home: The table had a patriarchal character. At the- bead sat tbe Prince; at his side, in tbe next seat but one, his wife ; while between them was the seat assigned to me, so that I enjoyed to the full the conversation of both. The other seats at the head of the table wore occupied by various guests ; and then, scattered along down, were members of the family and some personages in the chancery who stood nearest the chief. IV. Here is another notable passage. It touches on our own country and our own institutions, and is well worth reproducing: ! Hp spoke English co perfectly that I asked him how much time he had spent in England. He said: "Very little — in fact, only two or three days." He had made but two ehorfc visits, one of them mms. rears a^;c— l ibink lie said an

1842 — the o f her Giiring Uie exposition of 1852. Be soomed giratly struck with the heauly oi England, and said that if his lot had been cast there he would have been very happy as an English counti y gentleman; that he could not understand how En^lishmeii are so pi on© to live outside their own country. Ec spoke of varioiis Englishmen, and referred to Lord Dufr'erin, who had dined with him tli- day before, as one of the most abstemious men he had ever seen, drinking only a little claret and water. Upon my speaking of the gi eat improvement which I had noted in England during the last quarter of a, century, so that the whole country was becoming more and more like a garden, h,c said that such a statement was-. .hardly likely to please thinking Englishmen ; that they oould hardly bo glad that England should become more amd more like a garden; '"for," he said, ''feeding a great nation from a, garden is like provisioning an army with plum cake.'' Bismarck, it must be added, was, like Mr Chamberlain, a great Protectionist. V. I pass from these high political themes to another and very different topic: a little exchange of jokes between Bismarck and his wife. Bismarck announced, doubtless to his astounded guests, that his father had desired him to become a clergyman: that there was a. pastor's living, worth, if I remember lightly, about 1500 thalers a year, which his father thought should be kept in the family. Tliis, led to some amusing conversation between him anrl the Princrso on what hiss life would have been under such circumstances, ending by his saying jocosely to hex 1 , "YoU probably think that if I had become a pastor I would hia^e been a bettei man." To this she an&wered that tliis she would - not f.ay; that it would not be polite. "But," sly continued, "I will say this : you would have been a happier man." VI. Bismarck wps very hiumn and very German in Ms devotion to tine pleasures of Ibe ialrle, and I have little doubt that ! the attacks of neirves, and, 'above all, of ! sleeplessness, from whidh he so constantly suffered were largely due to carelessness in eating, and still more in drinking. This ; side of his character we see in several passages in Mr White's book. Ons day tbe American Minister hears that the great man is so ill that h'B> has had to take to his bed; he viks Rudolf yon Gneiist — who had been an intimate of Bismarck— what was the matter. "Oh," said Gmeist, "be ■'las eaten too many plover's eggs" (Ach, er hat zit viel liibitzeier gegessen). This had reference to the fact that certain admirers of tba Chancellor in the neighbourhood of the North Sea were accustomed to send liim, each year,, a large basket of plovers' eggs, of which be was very fond ; and. this diet has never been considered favourable to digestion. Here is another anecdote of Bismarck as a trencherman. Rudolf yon Gneistis at a thanksgiving dinner given to him by Mr White, and at his side is a bottle of Hermitage, "Rather a heavy, heady wine," says Mr White ; which leads Yon Gneist to the following reflections: That is some of the wine I sent to Bismarck, and it did not turn out well. "How was that?" I asked. "Well," hesaid, "one day I met Bismarck and asked MIU about his hieaith. He answered: 'It is wretched ; I can nedther eat nor sleep.' I replied : 'Let me. send you something that will help you. I have just received a lot of Hermitage, and ; will send you a dozen bottles. If you take a couple of glasses each day with, your dinner it will be> the best possible tonic, and will do you great goo-ri.' Some time afterward," continued Gneist, 'if met him again, and asked him how the wine agreed with him. 'Oh,' said Bismarck, 'not at all; it made m® worse than exer.' 'Why,' said I, 'how did you take it?' 'Just as you told me," replied Bismarck ; 'a couple of bottks each day ! with my dinner.' " I Which anecdote must be taken in con- ', neotion with, that -vs-hidi follows ; it shows j bow Nature took her revenge for hei out- j raged laws on even so gigantic a physique as Bismarck's. "He once asked me," writes Mr White, "how I managed to sleep in Berlin," and on my answering him, he said : "Well, I can never sleep in Berlin at night when it is quiet ; but as soon as the noise begins, about 4 o'clock in the morning, I can sleep a little — get my rest for the day." What, a pity the German | Chancellor never tried teetotalism; and how strange it is that he who could j conquer all the world could not conquer | himself. — * vn. There is a very striking description of Bismarck as a speaker, which I must qvote. It gives on.o a very good idea ot the merits and the. defects of him as an orator belter than almost any description I have rend. Here it is : — He was always clothed in the undress uniform of a Prussian general ; and as he rose his bulk made him imposing. His lirst utterances, were disappointing. He seemed wheezy, rambling, incoherent, with a scrt of burdensome self-conscious-ness checking his ideas and clogging his words. His manner was fidgety, Jiris ai-nis behig thrown uneasily about, and his finaers fumbling his moustache or nis clothing or the papers on bis desk. He puffed, snorted, and floundered ; seemed to make assprtions without proof and phrases without point : when suddenly he would utter a statement so pregnant as to 'lear up a whole policy, or a sentence so audacious as to paralyse a whole line of his opponents, or a phrase so vivid as to run through the nation and electrify it. Then, perhaps, after more rumbling and rambling, came a clean, clear, historical illustration carrying conviction; then, very likely, "a simple and strong argument, not infrequently ended by some heavy missile in thfi shajie oj <%n accusation or taunt

hurled into the fao^s of his adversaries % {hen, perlnps, at considerable length, a mixture of ciustic criticism and personal reminiscence, in which sparkled those wonderful sayings whioh have gone through the Empire and settled deeply into tlie German heart. I "have known many clever speakf-rs and some very powerful orators, but, I have never known one capable in tbe same degree of overwhelming his enemies and carryino- his whole country with him. Nor was his eloquence in his oratory alone. There was something in his bearing, as be sat at life ministerial desk and at times looked up from it to listen to a speaker, which was very impressive. vin. Finally, here is a delightful little scene in which Bismarck figures good-naturedly. "The most curious example of the eloquence of bilence in Bismarck's case," says Air White, "which I noted was when his strongest opponent Windthorot, as the re- ! praseYitative of the combination of Roman Catholics and others generally m opposition, but who at that particular tima seemed to have made a sort of agreement to support some of Bismarck's measures, went to the tribune and began a long and very earnest speech." Windthor&t was a man of diminutiva Mature, smaller even than Thiers— almost a dwarf— and his first words on this occasion had a comical effect. He said, in substance. "I am told that if we enter into a combination with tbe Chancellor in this matter we are sure to come oufc second best." At this Bismarck raised his head, turned, and looked at th» orator, the attention of the whole audience being fastened upon both. But, continued Windthorst, "the Chancellor will have to get up very early in the morning to outwit us in this matter. i There was a general outburst of laughter as the two leaders eyed each other. It reminded one of no'thrhg so much as a sturdy mastiff contemplating a snappish terrier. IX. j But, as I have said, Mr White gives ! glimpses of the rough as well as. of tbe gentle Bismarck. Here is such an example Bismarck was usually "cordial and hearty," says Mr White ; "but that he could take a different tone was found out by one of his colleagues shortly after my arrival." This colleague was Herr yon Rudhardt, the diplomatic and parliamentary repre- : sentative of Bavaria. I remember him well as a large, genial man ; and the beauty and cordial manner of his wife 1 attracted general admiration. One day this gentleman made a speech or cast a vote which displeased Bismarck, and shortly afterwards went to one l of tbe ; Chancellor's receptions. As he, with his ! wife leaning on his arm, approached his i host, the latter broke out into a storm of reproaches, denouncing the Minister's conduct, and threatening to complain of it to bis royal master. Thereupon tbe diplomatist simply bowed, made no, a!newer, returned home at once, and sent' his resignation to his Government. All the efforts of the Emperor William were unable to appease him, . and he was shortly afterwards sent to St. Petersburg as Minister at that Court. But the scene which separated him from Berlin seemed to give him a fatal shock ; he shortly afterwards lost his reason, and at last' accounts wps living in an insane asylum. Let me- wind up \>y giving one final glimpse of the better and gentler Bisinareb. "As to his relations with his family," says Mi White, "nothing could be more hearty, simple, and kindly." He was beautifully devoted to his wife, and evidently gloried in his two stalwart sons, Prince Herbert and "Count Bill," and in his daughter, Countess yon Rantzau ; and they, in return, showed a devotion to him not less touching. N« matter bow severe the conflicts which raged outside, within bis family tba stern Chancellor -of "blood and iron" seemed to disappear : and in his place came the kindly, genial husband, father, and host. And so, for the moment, farewell to Bismarck. — T. P.