THE PEACEMAKER OF GERMANY: PRINCE BERNHARD VON BÜLOW
I.
In the year of grace 1878, after the great Turkish-Russian war, a
young and unknown Prussian diplomat of twenty-nine years of age called
Bernhard von Bülow found himself, as assistant to his father, the
Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, suddenly summoned to
co-operate in the making of a new Europe. In the same year, on the
same arena, an equally unknown young Scotch politician called Arthur
James Balfour, born in the same year, 1849, also found himself, as
assistant to his uncle, Lord Salisbury, Foreign Secretary of the
United Kingdom, unexpectedly chosen to play the identical part of an
international peacemaker. And now, after a lapse of thirty-eight
years, the two erstwhile Secretaries of the Congress of Berlin, to-day
the only surviving statesmen of that momentous crisis, Prince von
Bülow and Mr. Arthur James Balfour, are about to meet in another
European Congress, and be called upon once more to recast the map of
the world. But this time the Scotsman and the German will meet no more
as Allies working out a common policy. They will meet as the leading
champions of hostile and irreconcilable world policies, united only in
a joint endeavour to undo the evil work of Bismarck and Beaconsfield
which claimed to bring to Europe "peace with honour," and which
ultimately brought Europe nothing but war with dishonour.
II.
Prince von Bülow's whole career has been one steady and rapid ascent
to high office and exalted honour. Before his fall he had earned the
well-deserved nickname of "Bernhard the Lucky." He seemed to have
found in his cradle all the gifts of the fairies. His most striking
characteristic is an amazing and totally un-German versatility and
resourcefulness. As a soldier he volunteered in the Franco-German War,
and retired from service as a Prussian Lieutenant. As a diplomat he
has occupied responsible positions in every capital of Europe except
London, and the exception, by the way, is probably the reason why he
has always been less familiar with the English mind than with the
Continental mind. An unrivalled Parliamentary tactician as well as a
persuasive Parliamentary orator, he managed with even more than the
skill of Mr. Asquith or Mr. Balfour the most unmanageable
representative assembly of the Continent, and for twelve years he
played off one against the other the ten or more parties of the
Reichstag. As Fourth Chancellor of the New German Empire he has been
associated with all the leading measures of the "new course," and he
succeeded for ten years in retaining the confidence and affectionate
regard of the most fickle and most despotic of masters. A man of the
world and a patron of learning and art, he has enlisted all the graces
and amenities of social life in the service of his ambition.
III.
Like most of the men who have built up the Prussian power; like Stein,
who came from Nassau; like Moltke, who came from Denmark; like
Treitschke, who came from Saxony, Prince von Bülow is not a Prussian.
Like Blücher, his family originates from the Grand Duchy of
Mecklenburg, that strange paradise of a medieval and feudal
Junkerthum. But, like most of the naturalized servants of the
Hohenzollern, von Bülow proved even more Prussian than any native of
Pomerania or Brandenburg. The son of one of Bismarck's trusted
lieutenants, he always remained a loyal pupil of the Iron Chancellor.
It is significant that the first visit which Bülow paid on his
accession to power was a visit to the fallen statesman. He was brought
up on Bismarckian traditions and ideals. He is not a creative genius
like the hermit of Friedrichsruhe. He has been accused of being a
trimmer, but he was a trimmer like the great Lord Burleigh, always
keeping in mind the final goal to be reached. He had to work with
different materials and under conditions entirely different from those
which prevailed under Bismarck. He had to embark on a _Weltpolitik_,
whereas Bismarck was content with a Continental policy. He had to
initiate the colonial and naval policy of William, while Bismarck
systematically kept clear of colonial ventures. But as far as
circumstances permitted, the "new course" of Bülow was but the
continuation of the old course of Bismarck. Like Bismarck, he fought
the Socialists. Like Bismarck, he in turn fought and conciliated the
Clericals. Like Bismarck, he enforced in Poland the inexorable policy
of expropriation and appropriation. Like Bismarck, he remained true to
the Austrian alliance. Like Bismarck, he tried to work in close
co-operation with Russia, and tried to build up again the reactionary
alliance of the three Central Empires. And in these many difficult
tasks, which had become much more difficult even than in the
'seventies or 'eighties, Bülow was as little hampered as his
predecessor by any moral principles or scruples. He proved even more
Machiavellian than his predecessor, adhering as steadfastly to the
same implacable realism.
IV.
But, if Prince von Bülow has revealed the same aims and is imbued with
the same political philosophy as Bismarck, he has tried to attain his
end by very different means. He has none of the cynical sincerity of
his master. Bismarck carried into diplomacy the directness and
brutality of the soldier. Bülow introduced into politics the tortuous
practices of Italy. He reminds one of Cavour much more than of the
master-builder of German unity. Whilst Bismarck won his spurs in the
embassies of Germany and Russia, Bülow received his main training as
Ambassador in Latin countries. He served for five years in Paris. In
Bucharest he imbibed the Byzantine influences of the East. He spent
six years in the Eternal City, which for three thousand years has been
the centre of statecraft, and which even to-day remains the best
training-school of diplomacy. His marriage with an Italian Princess is
another indication of the natural affinities of his temperament, and
an additional proof that he constitutionally preferred the subtle
methods of Rome to the more brutal methods of Brandenburg. Bismarck
was always using threats which he had no intention of carrying out.
Bülow is equally fond of using promises which he is as little disposed
to fulfil. Bismarck was always showing the mailed fist. Bülow prefers
to show the velvet glove. Bismarck wielded the sword of the berserker.
Bülow prefers the rapier of the fencer. Bismarck was stern, irascible,
uncontrolled, titanic, and his whole career was one long and hard
struggle against bitter enemies. Bülow was ever amiable, courteous,
smiling, suave, patient, elusive. He managed equally to conciliate the
Kaiser and Bismarck, Herr Harden and the _Kölnische Volkszeitung_, the
Catholics and the Jews, the industrials and the agrarians. When the
hour of disfavour came, Bismarck retired with his mastiffs among the
pine-woods of Lauenburg, nursing his rancour and revenge. Bülow
retired with quiet and graceful dignity among the statues and the
flowers of the Villa Malta.
V.
In no other aspect of his versatile career did Prince von Bülow show
more resourcefulness than in his skilful handling of the Press. He was
the first German statesman who knew how to discipline and to exploit
public opinion in the interests of Imperial policy. It is true that
already Bismarck had made frequent use of the Press as an instrument
of government, as is abundantly shown by his close association with
Lothar Bucher, with his famulus Moritz Busch, and with Maximilian
Harden. But Bismarck, whilst using the journalists, profoundly
despised them, with the result that "Bismarck's Reptile Press" became
a byword in Europe. Under Bülow's régime the humble pressman rose to
influence and affluence and basked in Ministerial favour. With the
assistance of Mr. Hammann, Prince von Bülow made the Berlin Press
Bureau a sinister power in Europe as well as in Germany; for the
Chancellor was as anxious to conciliate the foreign journalist as the
German. M. Huret sang his praises in the _Figaro_. Even the
arch-Germanophobe Monsieur André Tardieu was coaxed into writing a
whole volume of panegyric on the irresistible Chancellor. Before the
caprice of his Imperial master sent him into premature retirement,
Bülow had succeeded in marshalling all the intellectual forces of the
German Empire. Whilst Bismarck had frittered away his energies
quarrelling with von Virchow, with Windhorst, and with the professors
of the National Liberal party, Bülow had managed to make the shining
luminaries of the Universities, the Harnacks, the Schmollers, and the
Dernburgs, into the most enthusiastic advocates of his policy.
VI.
There are few more bewildering subjects to the student of politics
than the many concatenations of events which brought about the present
world catastrophe. If that fateful interview had not been published in
the _Daily Telegraph_, there would have been no political hurricane in
Germany. If there had been no hurricane, Prince von Bülow would not
have fallen from power. If Prince von Bülow had not fallen from power,
there would probably have been no world war. It is certain that
Bülow's retirement from office in 1909 was a disaster to the German
Empire. It is equally certain that his return to office in 1914 and
his peace mission to Italy was an ominous danger to Europe. And it is
also certain that he will be even more dangerous to Europe in the
eventful days to come when he will be called back to office, and be
once more the leader and spokesman of German policy. In the future
Congress which will liquidate the world war Bülow will be the greatest
asset of the enemy. In the Congress of Berlin Bismarck, towering like
a giant, dictated his policy to subservient Europe. The day of German
hegemony is past, and no German plenipotentiary will be able again to
impose his will by the same methods. But the resources of diplomacy
will be all the more necessary to the German Empire in the future
settlement, and of the art of diplomacy Bülow is perhaps the greatest
master that the world has seen since the days of Talleyrand. It is
highly doubtful whether there is any statesman amongst the Allies who
possesses to the same extent those special characteristics which will
win victory in the international arena. If high moral ideals and
perfect political integrity were the qualities most valuable to the
diplomatist, Viscount Grey and Mr. Balfour would be more than a match
for Prince von Bülow; but if an intimate knowledge of the European
chess-board and of the psychology of European politics, if infinite
wit, if nimbleness and ingenuity, are the qualities which are likely
to decide the issue, Prince von Bülow will prove indeed a formidable
opponent. It is almost inevitable that the European Powers shall enter
the future Congress with different aims and with divergent policies.
And one needs be no prophet to predict that it will be Bülow's object
to play off one Power against another; even as for twenty years he
played off one party against another in the Reichstag, so he will play
off Serbia against Italy, and Italy against France, and Russia against
England. In those unavoidable conflicting interests of the belligerent
Powers Bülow will seek his opportunity. It will be for the Allies to
foresee and to forestall the danger. Let the Allies enter the Congress
with a clearly defined and settled policy. Let them compose their
differences before they meet their opponents. Then, but only then,
will there be no scope for the uncanny virtuosity of Prince von Bülow.
Only on those terms will Viscount Grey and Jules Cambon and Sasonov
defeat the manoeuvres of the Italianized Prussian Machiavelli and
frustrate the hopes of "Bernhard the Lucky."