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30 - Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Headlam-Morley · Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

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Speaker 1: Section thirty or Pismuck and the Foundation of the German
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Speaker 1: Empire by James Hedlum. This livery box recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Esis Kim Soul, South Korea,
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Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen Retirement and Death, eighteen eighty seven to eighteen
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Speaker 1: ninety eight, Part two. In the first month of the
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Speaker 1: new reign, some of Bismack's old enemies attempted to undermine
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Speaker 1: his influence by spreading reports of his differences with the Emperor.
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Speaker 1: Frederick and Professor Gefkin even went so far as to
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Speaker 1: publish from the manuscript some of the most confidential portions
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Speaker 1: of the Emperor's diary in order to show that but
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Speaker 1: for him, Pismock would not have created the new Empire.
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Speaker 1: The attempt failed, for rightly read the passages which were
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Speaker 1: to endure Pismuck's reputation, all he solved to show how
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Speaker 1: much greater than Mentot had been, the difficulties with which
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Speaker 1: he had had to contend, and the wisdom with it
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Speaker 1: he had to dealt with them. From the very beginning,
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Speaker 1: there were differences of opinion. The old and the new
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Speaker 1: did not think or feel alike. Pismack looked with the
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Speaker 1: disapproval on the constant journies of the Emperor. He feared
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Speaker 1: that he was compromising his dignity. Mortke and others of
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Speaker 1: the older generation retired from the posts they filled. Pismuck
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Speaker 1: with growing misgivings, stayed on his promises to his old master.
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Speaker 1: His love or power, his distrust of the capacity of others,
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Speaker 1: all made it hard for him to withdraw when he
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Speaker 1: still might have done so with dignity. We cannot doubt
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Speaker 1: that hissence was orgisome to his master. His influence and
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Speaker 1: authority were too great before them, even the majesty of
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Speaker 1: the throne was deemed. The minister was a greater man
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Speaker 1: than the sovereign. If he had to understand what happened,
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Speaker 1: we must remember how exceptional was the position which Bismarck
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Speaker 1: now occupied. He had repeatedly defied the power of Parliament
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Speaker 1: and shown that he was superior to the rakistaff. There
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Speaker 1: were none among his colleagues who could approach him in
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Speaker 1: age or experienced. The Prussian ministers were as much his
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Speaker 1: nominees as were the officials of the Empire. He himself
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Speaker 1: was Chancellor, Minister, President, Foreign Minister, and Minister of Trade.
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Speaker 1: His son was at the head of the Foreign Office
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Speaker 1: and was used for the more important diplomatic missions. His
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Speaker 1: cousin was Minister of the Interior. The management of the
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Speaker 1: most critical affairs he depended upon the assistance of his
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Speaker 1: own family and secretaries. He had twice been able, against
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Speaker 1: the will of his colleagues, to reverse the whole policy
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Speaker 1: of the state. The government was in his hands, and
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Speaker 1: man had learned to look to him rather than to
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Speaker 1: the emperor. Was it to be expected that a young
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Speaker 1: man ambitious, full of spirit and self confidence, who had
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Speaker 1: learned from Bismuck himself or high regard for his monarchical duties,
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Speaker 1: would occurs in this system? Nay more, was it right
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Speaker 1: that he should. It was a fitting conclusion to his
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Speaker 1: career that the man who had restored the monarchical curritu
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Speaker 1: of the Prussian state should himself show that before the
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Speaker 1: will of the king, he, as every other subject, must bow.
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Speaker 1: Bismack had spent the window of eighteen eighty nine at
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Speaker 1: Fridrick's rule. When he returned to Berlin at the end
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Speaker 1: of January, he found that his influence and authority had
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Speaker 1: been on the mind. Not only was the Emperor influenced
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Speaker 1: by other advisers, but even the ministry showed on independence
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Speaker 1: to which he was not accustomed. The cheap causes of
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Speaker 1: difference arose regarding the prolongation of the law against the Socialists.
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Speaker 1: This expired in eighteen ninety, and it was proposed to
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Speaker 1: bring in a bill making it permanent. Pismarck wished even
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Speaker 1: more than this, to intensify the singency of its provisions.
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Speaker 1: Apparently the Emperor did not believe that this was necessary.
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Speaker 1: He hoped that it would be possible to remove the
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Speaker 1: disaffection of the working man by remedial measures, and in
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Speaker 1: order to discuss this he summoned the European Congress, which
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Speaker 1: would meet in Berlin. Here then there was a fundamental
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Speaker 1: difference of opinion between the King of Prussia and his minister.
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Speaker 1: The result was that Pismack did not consider himself able
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Speaker 1: to defend the Socialist law before the Raki Staff, for
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Speaker 1: he could not any longer give full expression to his
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Speaker 1: own views. The Parliament was left without direction from the government,
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Speaker 1: and eventually a coalition between the extreme conservatives, the radicals
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Speaker 1: and the socialists rejected the bill altogether. A bitterly contested
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Speaker 1: general election followed in each the name and the new
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Speaker 1: policy of the Emperor were freely used, and it resulted
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Speaker 1: in a mojority opposed to the parties who were accustomed
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Speaker 1: to support Pismack. These events made it obvious that matters
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Speaker 1: of internal policy or permanent agreement between the Emperor and
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Speaker 1: the Chancellor was impossible. It seems that Bismarck therefore offered
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Speaker 1: to resign his post as Minister President, maintaining only the
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Speaker 1: general control of foreign affairs, but this proposition did not
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Speaker 1: meet with the approval of the Emperor. There were, however,
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Speaker 1: other grounds of differences connected even with foreign affairs. The
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Speaker 1: Emperor was drawing closer to England and thereby separating from Russia.
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Speaker 1: By the middle of March, matters had come to a crisis.
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Speaker 1: The actual cause for the final difference was an important
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Speaker 1: matter of constitutional principle. Bismarck found that the Emperor had,
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Speaker 1: on several occasions discussed questions of administration with some of
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Speaker 1: his colleagues without informing him. Moreover, important projects of law
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Speaker 1: had been devised without his knowledge. He therefore drew the
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Speaker 1: attention of the Emperor to the principle of the German
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Speaker 1: and Prussian constitutions. By the German Constitution. As we have seen,
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Speaker 1: the Chancellor was responsible for all acts of the ministers
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Speaker 1: and secretaries of States, who held office as his deputies
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Speaker 1: and subordinates. He therefore claimed that he could require to
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Speaker 1: be consulted on every matter of any importance which concerned
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Speaker 1: any of these departments. The same right as regards persian
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Speaker 1: affairs had been explicitly secured to the Minister President by
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Speaker 1: a Cabinet Order of eighteen fifty two, which was passed
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Speaker 1: in order to give to the President that complete control
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Speaker 1: which was necessary if he was to be responsible for
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Speaker 1: the whole policy of the government. The Emperor answered by
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Speaker 1: a command that he should draw off a new order
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Speaker 1: reversing this degree. This Pismuck refused to do. The Emperor
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Speaker 1: repeated his instructions. It was a fundamental point on which
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Speaker 1: no compromise was possible. The Emperor proposed to take away
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Speaker 1: from the Chancellor that supreme position he had so long enjoyed,
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Speaker 1: to recall into his own hands that immediate control of
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Speaker 1: all departments, which in old days the Kings of Prussia
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Speaker 1: had exercised, and, as Bismuck said to be on his
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Speaker 1: Prime minister. In this degradation of his position, Bismack would
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Speaker 1: not occur. He had no alternative but to resign. The
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Speaker 1: final separation between these two men, each so self willed
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Speaker 1: and confident in his own strengths, was not to be
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Speaker 1: completed by ceremonious discussions on constitutional forms. It was drawing
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Speaker 1: an audience at the castle that the Emperor had explained
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Speaker 1: his views. Pismock his objections. The Emperor insisted that his
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Speaker 1: will must be carried out, if not by Bismarck, then
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Speaker 1: by another. Then I am to understand your majesty, said Pismuck,
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Speaker 1: speaking in English, that I'm in your way. Yes, was
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Speaker 1: the answer. This was enough. He took his leave and
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Speaker 1: returned home to draw up the formal documents in which
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Speaker 1: he tended his resignation. This, which was to be the
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Speaker 1: conclusion of his public life, had to be composed with care.
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Speaker 1: He did not intend to be hurried, But the Emperor
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Speaker 1: was impatient, and his impatience was increased when he was
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Speaker 1: informed that Ventralst, the leader of the Center, had called
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Speaker 1: on Bismarck at his residence. He feared lest there was
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Speaker 1: some intrigue, and that Bismarck proposed to secure his position
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Speaker 1: by an alliance with the parliamentary opposition. He sent an
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Speaker 1: urgent vowel message requiring the resignation immediately, accommand with which
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Speaker 1: Bismarck was not likely to comply. Early next morning, the
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Speaker 1: Emperor drove round himself to his house, and Bismarck was
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Speaker 1: summoned from his bed to meet the angry sovereign. The
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Speaker 1: Emperor asked what had taken place at the interview with Pinturst,
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Speaker 1: and stated that ministers were not to enter on political
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Speaker 1: discussions with parliamentary leaders without his permission. Bismarck denied that
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Speaker 1: there had been any political discussion and answered that he
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Speaker 1: could not allow any supervision over the guests he chose
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Speaker 1: to receive in his private house, not if I ordered
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Speaker 1: it as a sovereign as the Emperor. No, the commands
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Speaker 1: of my king sees in my wife's drawing room, and
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Speaker 1: so Piasmarck. The Emperor had forgotten that Pismarck was a
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Speaker 1: gentleman before he was minister, and that a Prussian nobleman
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Speaker 1: could not be treated like Russian boyard. No reconcilation or
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Speaker 1: accommodation was now possible. The Emperor did all he could
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Speaker 1: to make it appear that the resignation was voluntary and friendly.
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Speaker 1: He conferred on the retiring Chancellor the highest honors. He
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Speaker 1: raised him to the rank of Field Marshal and created
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Speaker 1: him Duke of Lauenburg, and publicly stated his intention of
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Speaker 1: presenting him with a copy of his own portrait as
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Speaker 1: a soldier. Bismarck obediently accepted the military honor. The new
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Speaker 1: title he re casced it to be allowed not to use.
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Speaker 1: He had never been asked whether he desired it. No
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Speaker 1: outward honors could recompense him for the affront he had received.
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Speaker 1: What profited it him that the princes and people of
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Speaker 1: Germany joined in unanimous expresses of faction and esteem, that
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Speaker 1: he could scarcely set foot outside his house for the
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Speaker 1: enthusiastic crowd who cheered and followed him through the streets
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Speaker 1: of Berlin. For twenty four years he had been Prussian Minister,
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Speaker 1: and now he was told he was in the way.
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Speaker 1: His successor was already in office. He was himself driven
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Speaker 1: in haste from the house which so long had been
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Speaker 1: his home. A final visit to the Princess of the
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Speaker 1: Royal House, or last audience with the Emperor, A hasty
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Speaker 1: leave taken from his friends and colleagues, and then the
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Speaker 1: last farewell, when in the early morning he drove to
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Speaker 1: Charlottenburg and alone went down into the mausoleum where his
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Speaker 1: old master slept to lay a rose upon his tomb.
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Speaker 1: The rest he had so often longed had come, but
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Speaker 1: it was too late. Forty years he had passed in
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Speaker 1: public life, and he could not now take up again
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Speaker 1: the interest and occupations of his youth. Agriculture had no
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Speaker 1: more chance for him. He was too informed for sport.
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Speaker 1: He could not, like his father, pass his old age
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Speaker 1: in the busy endolence of a country gentleman's life. Nor
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Speaker 1: could he, as some statesmen have done, suit his declining
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Speaker 1: years by harmless and amiable literary deletantism. His religion was
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Speaker 1: not of dead complexion that he could find in contemplation
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Speaker 1: and in preparation for another life, consolation for the trials
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Speaker 1: of this one. As seventy five years of age, his
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Speaker 1: intellect was as vigorous and his energy as unexhausted as
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Speaker 1: they had been twenty years before. His health was improved,
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Speaker 1: for he had found in that to Schweninger, a physician
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Speaker 1: who was not only able to his complaints but could
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Speaker 1: also compel his patient to obey his orders. He still
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Speaker 1: felt within himself full power to continue his public work,
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Speaker 1: and now he was relegated to importance and obscurity. Whether
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Speaker 1: in vat scene of Frederic's rule, his eyes were always
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Speaker 1: fixed on Berlin. He saw the state which he had made,
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Speaker 1: and which he loved as a father, subjected to the
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Speaker 1: experiment of young and inexperienced control. He saw overdrawn that
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Speaker 1: carefully planned system by which the peace of Europe was
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Speaker 1: made to depend upon the prosperity of Germany. Changes were
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Speaker 1: made in the working of that constitution, which it seemed
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Speaker 1: presumption for anyone but him to touch. His policy was deserted,
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Speaker 1: His old enemies were taken into favor. Kenny wondered that
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Speaker 1: he could not restrain his impatience. He felt like a
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Speaker 1: man who sees his heir ruling in his own house
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Speaker 1: during his lifetime, cutting down his oots and dismissing his
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Speaker 1: old servants, or as if he saw a careless and
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Speaker 1: clumsy rider mounted on his favorite horse. From all parts
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Speaker 1: of Germany, deputations from towns and newspaper writers came to
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Speaker 1: visit him. He received them with his customary courtesy and
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Speaker 1: spoke with his usual frankness. He did not disguise his chagrin.
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Speaker 1: He had, he said, not been treated with the consideration
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Speaker 1: which he deserved. He had never been accustomed to hide
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Speaker 1: his feelings or to disguise his opinions. Nothing that his
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Speaker 1: successors did seem to him good. They made a treaty
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Speaker 1: with England for the arrangement of conflicting questions in Africa.
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Speaker 1: Men looked to Bismarck to hear what he would say
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Speaker 1: before they formed their opinion. Never have signed the treaty,
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Speaker 1: he declared. He quickly tripped into formal opposition to government.
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Speaker 1: He even made arrangements with one of the humbook papers
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Speaker 1: that he should represent his opinions. He seemed to have
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Speaker 1: forgotten his own principle that when foreign affairs, at least
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Speaker 1: on opposition to the policy of the government, should not
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Speaker 1: be permitted. He claimed the privilege which as minister he
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Speaker 1: would never have allowed to another. He defied the governments.
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Speaker 1: They shall that silence me, he said. It seemed as
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Speaker 1: though he was determined to undo the work of his life.
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Speaker 1: Under the pretext that he was attacking the policy of
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Speaker 1: the ministers, he was undermining the royalty of the people.
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Speaker 1: For few could doubt that it was the Emperor at
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Speaker 1: whom the criticisms were aimed. In his isolation and retirement,
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Speaker 1: the uncompromising spirit of his ancestors once more awoke in him.
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Speaker 1: He had been loyal to the crown who more soon,
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Speaker 1: but his loyalty had limits. His long service had been
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Speaker 1: one of personal and voluntary affection. He was not a
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Speaker 1: valid that his services could be handed on from generation
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Speaker 1: to generation among the assets of the crown. After all,
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Speaker 1: he would ask, who are these who intolerance? My family
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Speaker 1: is as good as theirs, who have been here longer
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Speaker 1: than they have. Like his ancestors who stood out against
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Speaker 1: the rule of the great elector, he was putting personal
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Speaker 1: feelings above public duty, even if the action of the
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Speaker 1: new government was not always wise. He himself had made
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Speaker 1: Germany strong enough to support for fears of weak ministry.
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Speaker 1: More than this, he was attempting to destroy the confidence
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Speaker 1: of the people in the moral justice and necessity of
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Speaker 1: the measures by which he had founded the Empire. They
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Speaker 1: had always been taught that, in eighteen seventy their country
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Speaker 1: had been the object of treacherous and unprovoked attack Bismarck,
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Speaker 1: who was always living over again the great scenes in
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Speaker 1: which he had been the leading actor, boasted that but
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Speaker 1: for him, there would never have been a war with France.
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Speaker 1: He referred to the alteration in the Ams telegram, which
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Speaker 1: we have already narrated, and the government was forced to
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Speaker 1: publish the original documents. The conclusions drawn from these disclosures
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Speaker 1: and others which filwood were exaggerated. But the naive and
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Speaker 1: simple belief of the people was irretrievably destroyed. Where they
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Speaker 1: had been taught to see the will of God, they
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Speaker 1: found only the machinations of the In the country, where
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Speaker 1: patriotism had already taken the place of religion, the last
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Speaker 1: illusion had been dispelled. Almost the last barrier was broken
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Speaker 1: down which stood between the nation and moder skepticism. Pismack's
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Speaker 1: criticism was very embarrassing to the government. By enduring the
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Speaker 1: reputation of the ministry, he impaired the influence of the nation.
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Speaker 1: It was difficult to keep silence and ignore the attack,
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Speaker 1: but the attempts at defense occurred, and unwise General Caprivi
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Speaker 1: attempted to defend the treaty with England by reading out
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Speaker 1: confidential minutes addressed by Pismack to the Secretary of the
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Speaker 1: Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which he had written that
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Speaker 1: the Frendish of England and the support of Lord Salisbury
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Speaker 1: was more important than Zanziba or the whole of Africa.
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Speaker 1: He addressed the circular dispatched to Prussian invoys to inform
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Speaker 1: them that the utterances of Prince Bismarck were without any
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Speaker 1: actual importance, as he was now only a private man.
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Speaker 1: This only made matters worse, for the substance of the
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Speaker 1: dispatch quickly became known, another instance of the laxed countrol
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Speaker 1: over important state documents which we saw often notice in
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Speaker 1: dealing with German affairs, and only increased the bitterness of Pismack,
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Speaker 1: which was shared by his friends and supporters. For more
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Speaker 1: than two years. The miserable color continued. Bismarck was now
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Speaker 1: the public and avowed enemy of the Court and the Ministry.
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Speaker 1: Mortigue died and he, alone of the great men of
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Speaker 1: the country, was absent from the funeral ceremony, but in
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Speaker 1: his very absence he overshadowed all who were there. His
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Speaker 1: public popularity only increased. In eighteen ninety two, he traveled
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Speaker 1: across Germany to visit Vienna for his son's wedding. His
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Speaker 1: journey was a triumphil progress, and though welcome was warmest
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Speaker 1: in the states of the south. In Saxony and Bavaria.
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Speaker 1: The German government, however, found it necessary to instruct the
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Speaker 1: ambassador not to be present at the wedding and to
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Speaker 1: take no notice of the Prince. He was not even
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Speaker 1: granted an audience by the Austrian Emperor. It was held
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Speaker 1: necessary also to publish the circular to which I have
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Speaker 1: already referred, and thereby officially to recognize the enmity. The
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Speaker 1: scandal of the quarrel became a great injury to the
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Speaker 1: government of the country. The serious illness of Bismuck caused
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Speaker 1: opprehension that he might die while still unreconciled. The Emperor
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Speaker 1: took the opportunity and by a kindly message opened a
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Speaker 1: way to an opparent reconciliation. Then a change of ministry
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Speaker 1: took place. General Kaprivi was made the escape court for
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Speaker 1: the failure of the new administration and retired into private life,
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Speaker 1: too loyal even to attempt to justify or defend the
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Speaker 1: acts for which he had been made responsible. The new Chancellor,
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Speaker 1: Prince johen Ler, was a friend and former colleague of Pismock,
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Speaker 1: and had in old days been leader of the National
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Speaker 1: Party in Bavaria. When Bismarck's eighties birthday was celebrated, the
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Speaker 1: Emperor was present, and once more Bismarck went to Berlin
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Speaker 1: to visit his sovereign. We may be allowed to believe
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Speaker 1: that the reconciliation was not deep. We know that he
22:53
Speaker 1: did not cease to contrast the new marks of royal
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Speaker 1: favor with the kindly courtesy of his old master, who
23:01
Speaker 1: had known so well how to allow the king to
23:04
Speaker 1: be forgotten in the friend. As the ears went on,
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Speaker 1: he became even more lonely. His wife was dead, and
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Speaker 1: his brother solitude. The curse of greatness had fallen on him.
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Speaker 1: He had no friends, for he cannot tell by the
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Speaker 1: name the man so interior to himself by whom he
23:26
Speaker 1: was surrounded, men who did not scruple to betray his
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Speaker 1: confidence and make a market of his informities. With difficulty,
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Speaker 1: could he bring himself even to systematic work on the
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Speaker 1: memoirs he proposed to leave. Old age set his mark
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Speaker 1: on him. His beard had become white. He could no longer,
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Speaker 1: as in former days, ride and walk through the woods
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Speaker 1: near his house. His interest in public affairs never reflegged,
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Speaker 1: and especially he watched with unseen vigilance every move in
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Speaker 1: the diplomatic world. His mind and spirit was still unbroken
24:07
Speaker 1: when a sudden return of his old melody overtook him,
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Speaker 1: and on the last day of July eighteen ninety eight
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Speaker 1: he died at Friedrich's rule. He lies buried not among
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Speaker 1: his ancestors and kinsfolk near the old house at Schenhausen,
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Speaker 1: nor in the Imperial city, where his work had been done,
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Speaker 1: but in a solitary tomb at Pridrick School, to which,
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Speaker 1: with scanty state and hasty ceremony, his body had been born.
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Speaker 1: End of Section thirty and of Pisbuck and the Foundation
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Speaker 1: of the German Empire by James Headlam