By Blood and Iron
41
William I writes his abdication, and is about to quit in
disgust; Bismarck says, "Tear that letter up!"
¶ Along about 1857, our poor William IV lost his mind; for four years
he continued a nervous wreck; his brother, William I, was the sick
man's representative as Prussian king; and in '61, when William IV
died, William I became sovereign ruler of pugnacious Prussia.
¶ The common people welcomed William I with open arms, that is to say,
adoring a fighting man, and long disappointed by the timidity and
vacillation of kind-hearted William IV, with his church-building plans
and his Jerusalem bishoprics, it seemed as though the reactionary
character of Prussian political life might now come to an end.
Frederick's many-sidedness was in sharp contrast to William's
one-sidedness; Frederick's unfixed decision is now expressed by
William's unvarying will. Where Frederick had been brilliant and
imaginative, William was cold and solid.
¶ William was now over sixty, at which age men's lives, as a rule, are
in eclipse.
Yet this man of destiny had still in store the making of a modern
Cæsar. He was to become king of kings, ruler of an empire whose
individual units were commanded not by democrats trying new ambitions;
but instead, many monarchs were to proclaim, "William, Emperor of
United Germany!"
¶ This son of Queen Louise, mother of Prussia, was now to justify the
sacrifices of the great German foster-mother; for as she had labored
with Scharnhorst to perfect the Prussian military, and in the hour of
Prussia's extremity dared to confront even the great Napoleon himself,
likewise her son William was now to complete, years later, the
mother's ideals.
Where she scattered seed on fallow ground, the son was to reap his
abundant harvest of Prussian glory.
¶ "Whoever wishes to rule Germany must conquer it; and that cannot be
done with phrases," wrote William, 22 years before he was crowned at
Versailles.
* * * * *
¶ We have seen all manner of Hohenzollerns--robber-knight
Hohenzollerns--landscape-gardening Hohenzollerns--church-building
Hohenzollerns--and Hohenzollerns tied to a woman's apron string.
A brave, practical, common-sense Hohenzollern is now head of the
distinguished Prussian house.
William I is flatly opposed to Liberalism, but is shrewd enough to
have a moderate Liberal among his kingly advisers; for William
realizes the political weakness of further constitution-tinkering.
¶ Finally, we have before us a man as obstinate as Bismarck, but
without Bismarck's creative imagination; a Prussian King reared in the
army, who loved the army, who understood the army;--even as Bismarck
understood political intrigue. The combination was unique!
Also, we have here a William of enormous ambition, little suspected
under his rather conventional innocent-appearing German mask.
* * * * *
¶ We come now to a place where furious political torrents begin
beating down the ancestral forests of Germany; torn by flashes of
lightning and the ominous roll of thunders, the air is filled with
broken boughs, flying leaves and clouds of dust.
Bismarck, god of thunder, rides upon the furious storm.
Let us closely follow the general track of the hurricane now raging in
Prussia, more especially in the Prussian Chamber.
¶ In '59, William had appointed von Roon Minister of War; the people
objected, declaring it another evidence of William's reactionary
principles. The plan was to increase the army from 130,000 in peace
and 215,000 in war to 190,000 in peace and 450,000 in war.
It really meant universal military service for Prussia, with 63,000
recruits each year, practically doubling the service, making it
possible within a decade to call possibly 1,200,000 soldiers!
¶ The Chamber of Deputies opposed the plan, vigorously. However, the
Chamber in a patriotic moment had voted army money on condition that
the increase was only incidental, but William while saying little of
his plans acted as though his army appropriations were to be
permanent, henceforth.
¶ Over this question, a bitter controversy! The King took the ground
that it was the duty of the Deputies to raise the cash in such sums as
were required for state purposes--whatever these might be, in the
opinion of the King.
It was conceded that, in military matters, William's judgment was
good, but the Liberals did not much like these great military
expenses.
William even thought of breaking the deadlock by abolishing parliament
and ruling alone, or abdicating his throne!
He had already written out his abdication, so the story goes, and it
was lying on his desk, all signed, awaiting the moment of
proclamation.
¶ At the eleventh hour, William bethought himself of an invincible
fighting man, Otto von Bismarck, widely known for boldness and
independence.
¶ "I am willing to carry out your policy, whether Parliament is agreed
or not! I will rather perish with my King than forsake Your Majesty in
the contest with Parliamentary government!"
¶ And William tore up the abdication paper and replied, "Let's get
down to business!"
42
The four years' conflict era--Here Bismarck is at last revealed
in his true character--King's Man supreme!
¶ Ten years of rough-and-tumble fighting in the blind alleys of
political intrigue have now prepared Otto von Bismarck for great
things. In the solemn years to come, all is yet to be dignified by the
formation of an Empire, through blood and iron.
¶ The King's ambition grew on what it fed upon--a desire for Prussian
aggrandizement, at all hazards, and the ultimate solution of the
German problem through Prussian power of arms. He made up his mind,
accordingly, that he ought to reorganize the army; for this purpose he
had asked the Chamber for 12,000,000 thalers.
The cat slipped out of the bag, in spite of precautions. This
12,000,000 thalers was to be used to buy needle-guns and powder, in
the oncoming War of the Brothers.
¶ Our William I, whatever he might be, was at least no namby-pamby
sentimentalist. That honest German face, those kindly blue eyes, his
high complexion, made him look as guileless as a happy school boy; but
he had his deep desire for place and power, side by side with
Bismarck.
¶ It was a most fortunate day for this hard-headed unimaginative
William that Otto von Bismarck, in the Autumn of 1862, accepted the
Portfolio of Prussian Minister. William wanted a strong man to fight
the hostile radical deputies for that 12,000,000 thalers, for the
war-chest.
There is no use casting about for fair words to butter parsnips. The
long-deferred irrepressible War of the Brothers was determined upon;
and the Prussian dynasty was to wade through seas of blood to the
heights of glory; and the purpose was ever to end this age-old German
family strife.
¶ William I is deservedly a great German national hero. He is the true
father of his country.
¶ We see nothing to criticise. The situation is very human; and the
leading actors play their difficult parts with discrimination. In your
own life's conquests, do you do any more, and often do you not do
less? Is it not true in your own life that you have to fight for what
you achieve? Truly, the world belongs to him who seizes it. William
knew this; Bismarck certainly knew it; and in this respect the two
great men were agreed. So far, good. In broad outline the plan was to
make the Prussian dynastic government rule over territorial United
Germany; but it must come with the consent of the rulers of the
independent German states and not through decrees of people's
parliaments or the howlings of mobs.
¶ As for Bismarck, he was the one man of the hour for black
situations. His schooling in human nature had progressed amazingly.
For the past ten years, at Frankfort, at St. Petersburg, at Paris, at
Vienna, Bismarck had fallen afoul of all leading political strategists
of Europe, men gloating over the problem of annexing to their private
estates the divided German thirty-nine states: Bismarck had studied
the individual line of battle of Frenchman, Russian, Italian, Dane,
Briton, to say nothing of the ambitions of princelings, counts,
deputies, margraves, prelates, poets, and political hen-coop
makers;--knew too, how at the critical moment to block their
individual games and just when to give his own deadly knockout--either
above or below the belt!
¶ During his period of preparation, as we have seen, for twenty years
Bismarck had consistently preached "Divine-right," stood for what he
called "Christian monarchy."
For years, also, it appeared that the thing was for Prussia to enter
into a close political union with Austria, but now Bismarck was
convinced that he must fight Austria. Fight or shake hands were the
same to the giant Otto; the thing was to win, if not in one way then
in another! Otto, after his Frankfort experiences saw clearly
Austria's under-play to dominate the political situation; and in turn
felt himself called upon to check Austrian ambition in favor of his
liege lord, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the King of Prussia.
¶ Finally, Bismarck's great chance came. William asked Bismarck to
force the army bill.
Now indeed will the giant rage, snapping his teeth in the face of the
hurricane,--yes, four long years he is to rule without color of law.
43
On comes the storm--Not by speechmaking but by blood and iron
are the great questions to be decided, says Bismarck!
¶ At least, we admit that William I was a thoroughbred Hohenzollern in
innate admiration of the iron fist!
Now this was the situation: The secret war-chest against Austria had
to be filled in one way or another; but the difficulty was found in
the fact that the common people, acting under a mysterious instinct
not to be explained but very real withal, had already begun to show
unrest about an approaching War of the Brothers, as the
sentimentalists called the irrepressible conflict between Austria and
Prussia. The upshot was that Bismarck's political secrets while not
definitely understood in detail, were quite generally divined by close
students of the German problem. The Liberals were intent on their own
interests, in Prussia, and believed that their political solution
depended on hampering the King, regardless of his cause. Hence the
Liberal deputies of the Chamber spunkily stood out against William's
heavy demands for cannon and gunpowder.
¶ Bismarck, as King's Minister, had to face the political storm. He
did not dare to say that he wanted the money for war; he wanted the
money--was not that enough?
Thereupon, Bismarck proceeded to domineer over the delegates.
The Chamber was willing to do something, but how about the rumor that
these huge appropriations are to be hereafter a permanent item in the
budget? Bismarck would not make the delegates' minds easy; he wanted
money, much money, 12,000,000 thalers in fact, for the army--and the
least the delegates could do was to vote the funds. If they did not
give the cash gracefully, why he would coerce the deputies--that was
all!
¶ "It is not by speechifying and majorities," he thundered, "that the
great questions of the time will be decided--that was the great
mistake in '48 and in '49,--BUT BY BLOOD AND IRON."
¶ Members of the Chamber shrank in horror.
There were extremely powerful and learned men there, to combat
Bismarck's point of view, and our political conspirator on his
emperor-hunt had to listen to some of the most merciless rebukes he
was ever to hear, during his long and highly exciting career. But he
took them all, without a whimper.
¶ "We have too many Catalines existing among us that have an interest
in social uprisings," Bismarck thundered. "Germany considers not the
Liberalists of Prussia, but her own power. Bavaria, Wuertemberg and
Baden may flirt with liberalism, but no German would think on that
account of asking them to assume the rôle of Prussia. Prussia must
brace herself, for the fitter moment. Prussia's borders are not
favorable to the development of a healthy state."
* * * * *
¶ The giant Pomeranian King's Man with his turbulent support of his
monarch, now advanced reasons to show his side, and concluded by
mocking his hearers to do their worst.
¶ "What matter if they hang me, provided the rope binds this new
Germany more firmly to the throne?"
¶ A few days after this sensational defiance of Democratic leaders,
Bismarck announced his decision: "We shall carry on the finances of
the state without the conditions provided for in the Constitution."
¶ Bismarck was not surprised at the storms of protest. "Some
progressive journals hope to see me picking oakum for the benefit of
the state." The comic newspapers pictured Bismarck as a ballet dancer,
pirouetting over eggs marked Right, Law, Order, Reform, Constitution.
¶ The King became alarmed.
¶ "I see how this will end," said the King. "Over there, near the
opera house, in front of my windows, they will cut off your head, and
mine a little afterwards."
¶ "And after that, sire?" asked Bismarck spunkily.
¶ "After that, why we shall be dead!"
¶ "Oh, well, all must die," cut in Bismarck indifferently, "and the
question is can a man die more honorably than for his country? I am
fighting for your cause, and you are sealing with your own blood your
rights as King, by the grace of God.
¶ "Your Majesty is bound to fight! You cannot capitulate! You must,
even at the risk of bodily danger, go forth to meet any attempt at
coercion!"
¶ As Bismarck spoke, the King grew more and more animated. "He began
to assume the part of one fighting for kingdom and fatherland," wrote
Bismarck, in explaining the situation.
* * * * *
¶ The giant's very soul glowed with fiery indignation. It was not in
his nature to hesitate, as to means. He wanted these 12,000,000
thalers for the army--and was not that enough? True, he could not say
in the open that he wished to expel Austria--but must an elephant step
on your foot?
¶ He had no scruples, moral or material; such are for lesser men.
Hamlet-questioning princes, if you please, may soliloquize on life and
its inner meaning; but not your Otto von Bismarck, with his clear
view of the little lives of men and with his correct conviction that
if the intervening thirty-nine German states are to be made a unit in
a German Empire, then under Heaven or under Hell, the thirty-nine
states must be seized, even in a hurricane of bullets if necessary.
Could anything be simpler? Had not the "German problem," as it was
called, been talked to death generation after generation, and had not
lawyers, poets, preachers, philosophers and petty princes unnumbered
come and gone with their impossible enterprises looking to National
glory and political legitimacy?
¶ Bismarck was, as usual, everlastingly correct in his political
instincts; and furthermore he had the iron will to power to support
him in this great Prussian conflict; yes, and the wizardry in
manipulating human nature that, in the end, would cause even
obstinate, opposed political leaders to do our giant's bidding.
¶ What he demanded was absolute, blind, unquestioning obedience from
this Assembly; then, the Prussian army must fight like fiends; and
lastly, he would take personal responsibility for the issue. Mahommet
himself never urged war on Christian dogs with more zeal than did this
fiery Bismarck, battling with his own German kind. To shame them, to
beat them over their backs with hot irons if necessary--anything would
he do to force Prussia to fight Austria, and arouse thus with a sense
of blood-brotherhood the thirty-nine states, for Germany's great
glory. This was his religion--and do you now get the man behind it?
¶ Of course, it was all cleverly masked under the plea of Prussian
army reforms, pure and simple, and in general the fight between
Bismarck and the Chamber seemed to turn on the right of a Minister to
force appropriations for the support of the government, regardless of
parliamentary unwillingness. Bismarck held to his general principle
that the Deputies had no authority to refuse the King funds to enlarge
the army. The deputies were pledged to support the government, not to
starve or ignore it, was Bismarck's contention.
¶ The Liberals raged and stormed, called him "demented Bismarck,"
"Napoleon worshiper," "hollow braggart," "a country gentleman of
moderate political training, inconsistent, nonchalant, insolent to a
degree;--pray when did Bismarck ever express a political thought?"
King William's choice was exceedingly unpopular, but between Von Roon
and Bismarck there was now to be set up the most efficient military
instrument known to history; that is to say, an all-powerful Prussian
army of gigantic proportions, armed with the newly-invented
needle-guns. Such was to be Von Roon's contribution. Bismarck's was to
arouse at home the slumbering great "German National sentiment" that
made failure impossible, at the front. Under God, Bismarck believed in
the justness of his cause.
¶ In the interim, before the first cannon was to roar, Bismarck, the
political wizard, was to tie the hands of every other European
monarch--either by bribes, idle promises or what you will--that the
war might be fought to a finish without hazard of Allies coming to the
rescue of the Emperor on the South.
* * * * *
¶ The parliamentary debaters who thundered against Bismarck came on
with all manner of attacks. The learned v. Sybel, the great authority
on the French revolution, cried out his many historical warnings; Dr.
Virchow, known for his work on skeletons of the mammoth, battled along
other historical lines; Dr. Gneist, the very learned member, exclaimed
in a burst of moral indignation, "This army reorganization of yours
has the marks of Cain on its brow!" And to this insulting speech, von
Roon immediately replied, "That speech of yours bears the stamp of
arrogance and impudence!" Virchow challenged Bismarck to a duel, for
defamatory remarks on the doctor's scientific attainments. To this
Bismarck replied:
¶ "I am past the time of life when one takes advice from flesh and
blood, in such things as now confront us. When I stake my life for a
matter, I do so in that faith which I have strengthened by long and
severe struggling--but also in honest and humble prayer to God, a
faith which no word of man, even that of friend in Christ and servant
of his church, can overthrow!"
¶ Magnificent, magnificent you are, at this supreme moment, you big
bull-dog Bismarck, and you can whip them three to one, when the great
day comes.
¶ Bismarck gained in power as he exercised his strength. He kept
Prussia steady during the perilous times of the Crimean war; even
urged an alliance with the French--think of that!--to gain secret ends
for Prussia; but the Prussian king, who hated rulers of revolutionary
origin, was opposed to Bismarck's master-scheme; that is to say,
William held in contempt Napoleon III, hero of the trick, known as the
coup d'etat, which won a crown. But Bismarck had no such scruples.
At St. Petersburg, Bismarck won the Czar--for which the liberals hated
Otto the more. His arts of diplomacy were expanding in all directions.
Foreshadowing the war with Austria, Bismarck planned to keep Italy,
France, Russia, England and Belgium quiet by various intrigues of
politics--and how well he succeeded we shall learn later on.
44
The storm increases--Bismarck decides to defy the Chamber and
rule alone!
¶ In the general turmoil, along comes a fanatic named Cohen, who
attempts to kill Bismarck.
This was in May, 1866. The war broke within thirty days! Cohen fired
point-blank three shots, and there was a personal struggle. The giant
coolly handed the would-be murderer over to the guards, then went
home. His greeting to his wife was characteristic. "They have tried
even to kill me, my dear, but do not mind, no harm has been done. Let
us go out to dinner."
It was a time of assassins and their plots follow. Struck down by the
police, Ferd Cohen, step-son of Karl Blind, meets in the eyes of the
Democrats a martyr's death; his body is crowned with flowers, as
though the corpse were a consecration of Prussian Liberalism on the
altar of liberty.
The frenzy takes still other forms; suicide cults become notorious;
here and there, we read that some lunatic patriot "seeks voluntary
death, for the sacred cause of the people."
¶ And as for Cohen, ladies of high degree bring flowers, soldiers of
the common cause wear on their coats his picture crowned with oak
leaves. The cult of murder, with Bismarck as the arch enemy in the
centre of the picture, was indulged to prevent what was termed the War
of the Brothers.
¶ "I believe," rumbled the granite rock Bismarck, with frowning clouds
around his brow, "I do solemnly believe in victory--whether or not I
shall live to see it!" This speech was regarded as little short of
blasphemy!
¶ Bismarck now spoke more than ever of God, and of high German
convictions. There was always grave danger of ingratitude, of
insufficiency of time and place, but he certainly thought God on his
side.
¶ What lashed Bismarck into fury was the contention that the Crown and
the two Chambers were equal, in political legitimacy.
¶ "All constitutional life," roared Bismarck, "is based on
constitutional compromises."
* * * * *
¶ Day after day, Bismarck, the Prussian bull-dog, and von Roon, the
terrifying drill-master, would appear at the Chamber, on the oak bench
in full view of the angry deputies. Time and again, through political
jugglery, angry members attempted to oust the Minister, but Bismarck
was equal to every occasion. He actually ruled for four years without
a legal budget. He conceded that point, too. He set up that it was his
solemn sworn duty to support his King, and since the Chamber refused
to vote the 12,000,000 thalers, why, it became the Minister's duty to
get the money, by fair means or by foul.
¶ And get it, he did!
It was all wretchedly unconstitutional--of this there is no doubt.
Bismarck never made any pretenses on that score. After the Austrian
war, an act of "immunity" was passed, in his behalf.
¶ From quarreling about the secret war-chest, the disputants next
began a mighty wrangling about rules. Bismarck's points were always
ingenious. He averred that, as King's Minister, he was "in" the
parliament but not "of" it. "Ministers must always be listened to with
respect," he contended. Thus, he forced the unwilling Radicals to
listen to his bellowing, in behalf of the Brothers' War.
¶ Bismarck construed in his own favor every blessed rule brought up to
oust him. The Minister was exempt from the Chamber's dominations, he
insisted in a hundred ways.
Violent scenes followed. The King sent long messages endorsing his
fighting man; the Liberal press took up the cry, in support of
Parliament; and thereupon Bismarck promptly muzzled the press.
¶ Our Otto is now becoming the best-hated man not only in Prussia but
in all Europe.
The deputies were brow-beaten, legislative officials intimidated with
threats.
¶ The climax came on that day of hubbub when angry members, swarming
around Bismarck and von Roon, were sent back by von Roon's thunderous
defiance. Pointing to the gangway before his bench, he hissed, "Thus
far and no farther!"
¶ The real reason why Bismarck fought the Chamber for four long years
so desperately for the 12,000,000 thalers, to be used against Austria,
was this: On one hand he wished to nullify the importance of the
Prussian Parliament, and especially in the matter of dictation to the
King, either under the Constitution or not; also, to thrust at the
same time, Austria out of the German body of the nation.
¶ He became a fanatic on the subject of expelling Austria from
Germany! He had no scruples, stopped at nothing, paused at nothing;
and at the right moment defied the Chamber, smashed the Prussian
Constitution that would restrain the King's action in peace or
war--and ruled alone!
¶ There are few parallels in history of a stronger man.
¶ Looked at in a large way, we are forced to conclude that the German
masses were not ready to believe, at this moment, in Bismarck's Old
Testament faith in a God of Battles. To fulfil the Bismarckian
political ideal, there was essential an implied humility on part of
the people; and this attitude of submission and renunciation was a sin
against the spirit of '48. Bismarck's idea of political efficiency was
also by no means worked out in detail; it had yet to find a place for
the tailor, the shoemaker and the barber, side by side with the King
of Prussia; even that miracle was ultimately accomplished, but at the
present hour the street-bred people felt it their solemn duty to get
up and howl, and to profess to know nothing of political efficiency,
wherever kings were concerned.
¶ At all times, the speeches of the crowd in the market-place were
blatant enough, but there was also an unrecognized undercurrent of
courage and patriotism passing with the flood that was to mean much to
Germany, in days to come. The cause of the crowd was really an early
form of our vital modernist democratic movement, not to be put down
nor yet shut out; all political life was to be revalued, also all new
ideas of political happiness were to be henceforth tested by their
virility and actuality, cutting away completely bookish ideals.
¶ The part that lagged was this: leaders of the people were soon
over-engaged, so to say, with the many-sided aspects and problems of
the new political leadership; the German compatriots failed at this
time to realize their obligations to a German Empire, to be; the
people's politicians were still insular with little or no
consciousness of the great German National destiny just around the
bend of the road. Thus, Bismarck's function was to force the people to
join the National movement--do so as it were in spite of themselves;
and when Bismarck fought back and called the people fools, he did not
pause there, but stopped at nothing to lead a hitherto indifferent
people to warlike patriotism over the Austrian question--over which
they had gabbled and slept for years. Bismarck's unity of purpose for
the Fatherland deftly combined sordid as well as exalted motives.
¶ And the demands Bismarck finally made on German character were not
in vain. For years, however, he was looked upon as an ogre in the eyes
of the masses, who misread his patriotism for jingoism in behalf of
the King of Prussia.