So Much the Worse for Zeitgeist
30
We will never get at Bismarck through a study of the interplay
of politics; suppose we state his case in terms of human
nature?
¶ From this time on, the shelves are freighted with volume after
volume of German political jargon, forming a bewildering diagonal of
forces crossing and recrossing in thousands the tangled threads.
Bismarck's presence runs throughout, but it is a long and complex
story, hard to comprehend and difficult to compress without
sacrificing important details.
¶ We find "Grand Germans" against "Petty Germans"; Grimm, the
philologist, has his say against Simson, the jurist; Arndt, the poet,
against Welcker, the publicist; the Frankfort parliament offering its
paper crown to the King of Prussia, imploring him to become a
democratic liberator and unifier; and on the other hand we hear
Bismarck in the Berlin Diet, urging the king to stand firm for the Old
Regime; arks of free-speech from Polish insurgents, also ill-advised
youth waving banners of blood; mobs in the Berlin streets, whiffs of
grapeshot here and there to clear the air; John of Austria urging
something and the Prince Consort of England advising, post-haste, the
kings of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wuertemberg; the Assembly
manufacturing Magna Chartas, after noisy clashes of opinion.
¶ "There is not enough practical sense behind all," says Bismarck, "to
build a political chicken-coop, to say nothing of an empire." Then,
the patriots, so-called, leave for America, worn out with waiting for
some new freedom set down on paper; and of the motley crew, not one is
sufficiently wise, or strong enough to make head or tail of the
complex situation. Barricades are thrown up, artillery plays upon the
mobs, and general blood-letting follows; thousands of lives are
snuffed out, to be charged up as advance sacrifices for political
cohesion. Hapsburger against Hohenzollern, Protestant against
Catholic, Ultramontanes beholding the reign of Anti-Christ; Guelphs
and Wittelsbachs, protesting their own peculiar and ancient lineage
against self-seeking latter-day upstart aristocrats!
¶ And the problem grew darker as the months went by.
* * * * *
¶ You may read till you are dizzy and then stand back and try to get a
bird's-eye view of the complicated quarrels of the Diet; the vagaries
of Frankfort or Berlin; the brawls of this poet, that student, editor,
publicist, or princeling; with soldiers of fortune hovering around
waiting, like vultures that have already a whiff of the carrion, from
afar. Instead of a bird's-eye, the incoherent mass of details comes
piecemeal, and you get the toad's-eye view;--till we apply the simple
idea that behind it all is elemental human nature, with politics as a
mere frame to the picture.
¶ Look on Bismarck at this moment as one dealing with forces of human
nature, the clash of many minds, ending by dominating over one and
all, years hence, through his own inherent sagacity as a human being
against other and weaker members of his kind--and we get at once a
significant conception of the greatness of Bismarck's mentality, also
of his innate craft, enabling him to triumph over a thousand oblique
forces, many of them firmly entrenched, and from a logical point fully
as defensible as were his own peculiar conceptions.
¶ It was not, after all, what this man or that prince or some other
ruler thought, but what Bismarck thought, that turned the balance.
A hundred instances could be offered to show that the men Bismarck was
fighting had the better part of the argument, as mere argument; but
between opinion and making that opinion stick is a wide gulf--however
logical may be the argument.
¶ Bismarck was for the ensuing twenty years pictured as a noisy
disturber, but he was shrewd, very shrewd. He could call a man "liar,"
"thief," "scoundrel," "impostor," in virile speechmaking, or could
pass him up with a shrug, all the while keeping a cold eye on the main
chance, and in the end getting his own way because he was strong
enough to get his way--and that is all the logic there is in the
situation.
31
This miracle he did indeed perform; he turned back the
political clock to feudal days and gloriously set up
"Divine-right," in the face of the intensely modern cry, "Let
the People Rule!"
¶ Bismarck's amazing career affords a classical instance of what a
strong man can do, even against the very spirit of his time!
So much the worse for that Zeitgeist! The jade had to come to him, at
last, completely subdued, as in the "Taming of the Shrew."
¶ As King's Man, Bismarck now preached "Divine-right" in an age of
democratic ideas.
Thrones were falling everywhere; the inflammatory ideas of the French
Revolution had wrested from monarchs the form, if not the substance,
of constitutional liberties for the masses.
The people were clamoring for they knew not what; at any rate for some
new experiment in the quest for happiness, which they believed could
be attained through new forms of government. Bismarck fought the new
order, and as late as A. D. 1870, restated the seemingly worn-out
doctrine of "Divine-right." How did he accomplish this political
miracle?
¶ A strong leader, by tireless repetition of some idea, finally brings
about faith in that idea. It does not follow that this leader must
necessarily be wiser than the masses. It is always his will to power,
rather than the inherent validity of his ideas.
¶ First, he stands alone with his idea, whatever it may be. Finally,
one person is convinced? This is the beginning. Well, if one, why not
two, then ten, then a hundred, or a thousand, or ten thousand?
¶ And so the wonder grows.
¶ At last, our stubborn man with the idea is believed! He now has his
long-awaited day to prove the force of his contribution to human
welfare.
¶ There is a species of religious glamour over the old man's basic
conception of respect for kings. The word king, for Bismarck, spells
faith in discipline, obedience, loyalty to chosen leader--as against
excesses sure to follow in turning over the Government to the rabble,
according to the idea of the French Revolution. There is this
condition to be made here: that Bismarck undoubtedly leaned as far in
one direction as the old-line French Revolutionists did in another;
Bismarck was an extremist no less than Danton, Marat, Robespierre. But
there is also this distinction, in Bismarck's favor: He was a great
constructive statesman and the French agitators turned out to be but
assassins and political fools.
¶ We spare no one in this analysis, neither Bismarck nor Robespierre.
Therefore, we boldly, here and now, call your attention to a certain
strange fallacy in all political ideals.
¶ The people expect some new form, or change of government, to make
them happy and free. The machinery of legislation is the thing. It is
proclaimed the great leveler.
¶ Thus men eagerly try all manner of political enterprises, believing
that ultimately in some plan of government, social equality will
result. In the light of the anomaly that in spite of our efforts, we
persist in reverence for "the good old" days, as against the
iniquities of the moment, it is clear that either we deceive
ourselves, or are forever wandering about in a fool's paradise.
* * * * *
¶ Bismarck at least does not justify cynical damnation. He was
intensely human, and so was the King of Prussia. It is playing with
race prejudice to call Prussia, after the French fashion, "That robber
Prussia."
¶ Nations act as do men individually, are swayed by forms of pride,
passion and prejudice. If every nation that robbed or stole should
return its loot of land, to whom would it ultimately go?
¶ The United States would not, at least, now be in possession of
California. But for that matter, the Spaniards stole her from the
Indians, and the Indians from the Aztecs, and the Aztecs from we know
not whom. Always then, history justifies herself with the will to
power--as manifested by the strongest!
¶ Take it by and large, this miracle he did indeed perform: He turned
back the political clock of Time to Feudal days, and gloriously set up
"Divine-right," in the face of the intensely modern cry, "Let the
people rule!"
32
Secret chamber in this strange man's heart; the master at work
for United Germany.
¶ The great Bismarck, during his long and turbulent career, as a rule
refused to remain loyal to party affiliations.
The moment a party-theory no longer seemed expedient, the Prussian
Junker reckoned neither on political friendship nor on political
antipathy.
His whole life, he was engaged in endeavoring to persuade others to
adopt his policies, regardless of the fact that opposed policies might
be supported by as much if not even by more logic. Bismarck always
justified his opportunism by saying that his sense of duty was
superior to his private feelings of love or hate; however, his
attitude was uniformly directed for or against conditions in
proportion as, to his mind, they were charged with good or evil for
his beloved Prussia.
Although one of the world's greatest among amiable despots, Bismarck
always held himself to be at once free from prejudice and under the
hand of God. Even on this high ground, it would still be easy to show
(by many startling episodes in Bismarck's career) well-nigh
innumerable changes of front that, to the average mind, must pass as
inconsistencies.
¶ Get clearly in mind, then, this giant's political attitudes of gross
contradiction, as between promise and performance--otherwise we will
miss the essence of Bismarck's genius as a statesman and his peculiar
glory as a man large enough to stand beside Cæsar.
¶ Now here is the master-key, unlocking every door in the secret
chambers of his heart: Bismarck, all his long life, kept himself in
power by his consummate knowledge of human nature.
Shakespeare dealt with men, on paper, making them march this way or
that at the behest of his immortal genius.
Bismarck dealt with men in the open arena of life, had no way of
controlling their actions except by the inspiration of his own
practical, constructive genius.
It is one thing to control a man's actions, on paper; wholly
another--and a greater triumph, is it not?--to master man's ways in
the market place, making those around you do not necessarily what they
think they ought, but do what you wish.
Thus in some senses Bismarck appears in the figure of the superman;
for there is absolutely no question that on many occasions he forced
strong men to do his bidding, squarely against their individual
preferences!
¶ This huge bulk, this deep-drinking, gluttonous Bismarck, this
world-defying voice, raged and stormed through his eighty-three years
of life--making little men's souls shrink in fear--and ever the
essence of his genius was for alignments with men, or against them,
using this human clay ultimately for his own peculiar ends, as the
potter molds the mud. He knew too that despite the old German family
and tribal feuds, the Germans are brothers; standing apart it is true
at this hour, fighting each other; yet the day is to come when
Bismarck will triumph in his Germany, one and united. It mattered not,
he would make friends with his deadly enemy, if such a step seemed
advisable to carry out that cherished plan for a free and united
Germany.
If he could not bend men to his will by logic, he tried flattery, and
if that failed he threatened war, and the war came, too, but not till
Bismarck was good and ready. He took his own time, made preparations
that defied disaster, then moved forward and swept his enemies off the
face of the earth.
¶ Thus, there was always evidences of peculiar precaution, even in
Bismarck's boldest strokes. He never forgot himself, never did things
by halves. It might take a week or a year, or ten years, that mattered
not to Bismarck; in the end, he would bring his wishes to pass. He
never courted failure by hastening with some incomplete plan; but with
the certainty of Fate, Bismarck abided his time. Obliged to surmount
tremendous obstacles, often set back, in the end he carried everything
by force before him.
¶ We are here reminded of those vast fields of snow seemingly in a
state of dead rest, in the higher Alps, through many winters still
secretly gaining bulk and encroaching inch by inch all unobserved upon
the doomed valley below; then, at the dropping of a mere pebble, the
ice begins to slide, nor does the dread avalanche pause for the sobs
of the dying. So behind Bismarck's amazing preparedness his ofttimes
long deferred but inevitable destruction of his enemies seems to be
something that he borrows from the avalanche. It is at once massive
and inexorable, the power given to but few master-spirits in the
history of the world.
¶ In political acumen, in administrative and executive capacity
Bismarck measures up with Cæsar. The smallest facts about such as
Bismarck are of more than ordinary interest. Too much time cannot be
spent on this great character, in an endeavor to understand the secret
springs of his mighty powers.
Aside from the mere biographic outlines of his career, the man
presents, in himself, a study that deserves all the thought that can
be put on it--in an effort to set forth the realism of his mighty
life.
33
Bismarck shows himself master at quelling a meeting, checking a
mob, stamping out a rebellion, and heading off a king.
¶ And after the Frankfort radicals found themselves unable to make
Bismarck pick the German crown "out of the gutter," they turned and
tried to establish--what do you think?--a republic!
By Autumn, the forces of Revolution spent themselves and Metternich
drove the rebels before him, as the hurricane blows chaff. Order was
re-established in Vienna and in the Italian states.
The uncompromising Metternich restored the "Old Diet," originally
ordered by the Congress of Vienna, 1815, as the one authentic source
of political legitimacy for the clashing German states. It was a
clever Austrian by-play.
* * * * *
¶ We now return to Berlin. In May, the blood-letting was over, but no
prospect of political reform seemed immediately possible.
Bismarck began using what might be called underground methods to head
off the demand for that long-promised democratic Constitution.
¶ Already the King began to see more clearly. It struck him that this
brazen-faced giant might be useful, later on. Had not Bismarck said in
his now widely quoted speech: "Soon or late, the God who directs the
battle will cast his iron dice!" It gave His Majesty courage!
¶ The King looked to right and left, dissolved one Diet after the
other, till he had one to suit him. Otto nudged his King. That
momentary weakness of marching with the democrats was something His
Majesty wished to forget!
¶ Bismarck's position must be clearly set forth. He was no mere
reactionary, brandishing his fists at new leaders, who favored the
common people. He knew all about this liberty, equality and fraternity
business, from across the Vosges--and he despised the cure-all.
Here is the idea in a few words: Bismarck was not fighting political
liberalism, as an end; instead, he protested with his giant's strength
at the implied destruction of the Old Regime.
¶ He laid the revolt largely to the bureaucratic system, which he
characterized as "The animal with the pen!"
He stood fast by his good old Prussian dogma, as outlined in "I am a
Prussian!" paralleling "Rule Britannia," and other national hymns.
The song is sung with wild martial vigor, akin to the furious appeal
of ancient Polish melodies:
I am a Prussian! see my colors gleaming--
The black-white standard floats before me free;
For Freedom's rights, my fathers' heart-blood streaming,
Such, mark ye, mean the black and white to me!
Shall I then prove a coward? I'll e'er be marching forward!
Though day be dull, though sun shine bright on me,
I am a Prussian, will a Prussian be!
Sixteen years later, when endeavoring with all his strength to bring
about German National unity, his "Prussians we are and Prussians we
will remain" was used against him with mocking effect.
* * * * *
¶ By October, nerves were steadied. The King sent Gen. Wangrel to
occupy Berlin and disperse the radicals--with cannon, if necessary.
That speech has the right sound; but William has before this veered
around many times, like a weather-vane, and may he not shift again?
For the instant, he stood for the Old Regime and Divine-right.
¶ The following month William appointed Brandenberg, an old-line
Prussian aristocrat, Prime Minister. The siege of Berlin was declared;
the Assembly protested but finally gave in. Along in December, without
consulting the Assembly, William invited the states to send delegates
to Berlin and made an alliance of three kings--Prussia, Saxony and
Hanover.
¶ What is going to happen next?
34
At last the people have a share in their government, but
Bismarck sees to it that the radicals are not favored.
¶ William's "Tri-regal alliance" failed as fail it must on account of
jealousies. Then Wuertemberg replied with a "quadruple" affair,
composed of herself, Hanover, Bavaria and Saxony, side by side, under
a constitution acceptable to Austria. Quite a stroke, that.
In turn, William set up his Erfurt parliament, March 20, 1850.
Bismarck was fast becoming a "practical politician." Through deft
stacking of the cards, the radical delegates drew only the low cards,
and the Kreuz-Zeitung crowd and other ultra-conservatives were well
supplied with aces and kings.
Bismarck naturally urged more concessions to the Prussian spirit; he
tried also to muzzle the press gallery, calling newspapers
"fire-bellows of democracy."
Later, he even started newspapers for his political purposes. In this
he was not inconsistent, merely logical; his attitude was based on the
fact that, at this particular time, he felt called on to fight hostile
editors; but made terms wherever it seemed worth while. Such was the
man's discriminating glance.
¶ The Erfurt "tongue tournament" Bismarck called the whole affair. He
did not oppose the King's position in this matter, because, as
Bismarck said, "it makes no difference." He spoke contemptuously of
the mystical high-flown speeches. Its "Constitution" was quickly
forgotten!
¶ Bismarck's course would have been made somewhat easier had he not
openly refused to sit with President Simpson, at the Erfurt
convention, denouncing the President as "a converted Jew!"
¶ The convention broke up, to meet again in Berlin, where a Prussian
Constitution was drawn up.
¶ Events moved rapidly. Austria now stood forth for resumption of
authority by the Old Diet, established by the Congress of Vienna,
while from Berlin one heard of a plan for a "restricted union."
Talk, talk, talk. Finally, in September, 1850, Austria invited Prussia
to a seat in the Old Diet. Prussia refused, and the cat was out of the
bag.
It meant that German Unity must come through Prussian supremacy and
Austrian humiliation--otherwise all might well be forgotten.
But Austria was by no means so easily disposed of. There was much life
and fighting blood in her yet!
¶ Bismarck's opinions during his years of preparation were, on the
whole, unchanging, though often presented in different dress. In 1848,
he bitterly objected to the King's softness in recalling his troops
from Berlin, instead of definitely crushing the March rebellions; in
'49, he stood steadily beside the King in refusing the people's crown,
from Frankfort; in 1850, he deplored the Prussian diplomatic defeat at
Olmuetz, but swallowed his mortification because he saw that Prussia
was not ready to strike; "and he thereon assisted in reconciling his
party to a policy which he deplored."
This situation convinced Bismarck that the first duty of a Prussian
statesman is to strengthen the army, "that the King's opinions can be
upheld at home; likewise backed by the mailed fist, Prussian authority
will be respected abroad."
¶ "My idea," he says in his Memoirs, "was that we ought to prepare for
war, but at the same time to send an ultimatum to Austria, either to
accept our conditions in the German question, or to look out for our
attack."
* * * * *
¶ Thus out of the Revolution of 1848, Prussia emerged with a written
Constitution, establishing a legislative assembly and giving the
people a share in their government.
¶ Bismarck's inconsistencies? Yes, by the score, but he was playing a
deep game of politics, for his King, and for his beloved German Unity.
Always, you must understand that Bismarck scorned the political
Millennium alleged to have been brought in by the French Revolution;
with the political ideas from over the Vosges Bismarck would have
nothing to do. That old war-cry "the people" made him sick! He
believed in discipline and not in mob-rule. But he would not rush
unprepared into the war.
¶ It is a fact that, in 1850, Prussia had cause for war far more just
than that on which she seized in 1866. But Bismarck made his famous
anti-war speech!
¶ "Woe to the statesman who does not look about for a reason for the
war that will be valid, when the war is over!" were his astonishing
sentiments.
¶ What he really meant was that Prussia was not just then ready to
fight; hence, he painted war as detestable; later on, however, we
shall see how he looks upon war, when Prussia is ready!
¶ Prussia, through her political endorsement of the people (1850) did
not suddenly become a Parliamentary state, despite William's new
Constitution. Broad privileges were granted, but Prussia remained an
absolute monarchy. While there was henceforth to be a certain
restricted cooperation between Crown and Crowd, the Divine-right
theory that had come down through the ages was not weakened or its
authority compromised; in short, by conciliating certain hostile
popular elements, led by fire-breathing first-cousins of the French
Revolutionists, a large part of the hated Liberal programme was done
away with, in turn consolidating the power of the Prussian kings.
¶ This situation also defines the political evolution essential before
Germany could become a Nation. Despite various historians, Germany
could not at this hour have proclaimed herself a Republic.
¶ Bismarck realized more and more, as he grew in experience and power,
that the Germans were sick unto death of political experiments; they
wanted unity, as a matter of course, but by unity they really meant a
head to the National house; a strong father, to advise, protect and
punish his children. The parallel extends to the German idea of
National rule; thoroughness, efficiency, discipline take the place of
political expediency, job-holding for the mere sake of job-holding; in
church, in state and in family life the idea of a great central
Authority alone satisfies the German mind.
¶ Thus, the German conception of a Nation is intensely practical; the
state is not merely an aggregation of office-holders, but the state is
primarily a vast institution, efficiently administered by the best
minds, and these servants of the people are instantly responsible to
the great central authority, whose power of removal for cause may be
exercised as the father corrects his children, for the good of the
family.
* * * * *
¶ To these fundamental ideas, based on the soul of the German people,
Bismarck now addressed himself for many years to come. He knew what
the German race demands; his analysis was psychologically correct,
although few patriots of '48 could see it that way.
* * * * *
¶ As his years of apprenticeship pass, Bismarck carries on his mission
in a new way: is decided to lead Prussia to the conquest of Germany;
is done with political platform-making except in so far as the
alignments of politics lend themselves to his final purpose.
¶ With political instinct for gigantic projects carried out with
realism, the King's Man now determined the bold outlines of his
National policy.
He did not worry about details: these he would fill in, as time
passed; but he would on one side hold fast to German National unity
and on the other side would sustain Prussian kingcraft as the very
voice of God for Germany; one of Bismarck's strongest ideas was that
the King of Prussia was the vicegerent of Christ on this earth. In
short, Germany must come through Prussian supremacy, and incidentally
exalt Prussian supremacy, otherwise it might not come at all.
* * * * *
¶ To clear William's Divine-right once for all, so far as our story
goes, let it be known that German historians have always laid stress
on the respect of Teutonic tribesmen, from ancient days, for the
leadership of a strong fighting man. Tacitus, the earliest writer of
importance, detailing the lives of Teutonic tribes, sets forth that it
was the custom of the German warriors in times of crises to select
their strong man and endow him with the power of rulership; looking to
him in turn to lead the tribe to war against the common enemy. This
reliance upon kings who were also powerful war lords continuing
through the centuries, satisfied the fundamental aspirations of the
Germans in their will to military power; but as the generations passed
the old story of human nature was proved anew, that is to say, what
begins as a "privilege" ends as a "demanded right." On the side of the
kings, was now proclaimed more loftily than ever that monarchy is the
voice of God.
BOOK THE FOURTH
Blood is Thicker than Water