Chapter II (3)

He then went on to say that Bismarck misunderstood “the Declaration.” According to him, Holtz wrote to the Prince that he regretted having had a hand in it. Bismarck was greatly pleased at this, and wrote Holtz a long letter expressing his satisfaction. Andrae disapproved of the step taken by his friend Holtz, “as an individual demonstration,” and suggested that the signers of “the Declaration” should send a joint explanation of its real meaning to the Chancellor, and reject the false construction put upon it, namely, that they wished to express their approval of the articles in the _Kreuzzeitung_. They wanted to adopt this course, but Bismarck informed them, through Limburg Stirum, that he did not wish them to do so, and would prefer that they should write to him separately. In that way the idea of a collective explanation was dropped. Andrae is of opinion that the intercourse between Moritz von Blankenburg and the Prince still continues, although they only see each other on rare occasions. “There was never an absolute breach between them, as their wives continued to meet as they still do.”

We then spoke about the Kulturkampf, and Andrae expressed his surprise that Bismarck should have entered upon it, as he must have known that a struggle with a spiritual power had no prospect of success. His action was doubtless determined by the creation of the Centre party. I defended him on the lines of the statement dictated to me at Friedrichsruh.

The conversation then turned upon the relations between the Chief and the Emperor. Andrae said of the latter: “His merit lies in the creation of the new army, and in the fact that he recognised the right men and held firmly to them.” He added the following anecdote: “A Minister who could no longer endure his position by the side of Bismarck tendered his resignation to the Emperor. The latter urged him to remain. ‘We must all learn to be patient,’ he said. The Minister nevertheless resigned. The Emperor, on the other hand, did not part with Bismarck, considering it his duty to retain him.” I observed: “It was a case of necessity; it would have been impossible to get on without him.” Andrae replied: “Yes, but the Emperor’s merit was in recognising that fact.”

Andrae then talked a great deal about Hanover, saying that the clergy there “were willing to yield obedience to the authorities who had power over them.” He proceeded: “Before the war of 1866, we, the Conservatives, were divided into two parties--Gerlach and Marquart, and, on the other hand, those who considered a war with Austria inevitable. Ultimately an effort was made to bring about an understanding, and we invited Gerlach to attend a meeting, accompanied by a few others of his way of thinking, in order that he should not be alone. He agreed and came, when he made the following prophecy: ‘There are only two possible results: either we are defeated, and then it is all over with us, and there will be a partition of Prussia; or we are victorious, and then we must have a Liberal _régime_, as that is the only way in which, unification of Germany under Prussia can be brought about.’ And so it has come to pass. Bismarck demanded an indemnity, and then for many years worked in harmony with the Liberals, so far as that was possible.”

As I was leaving Andrae promised to give me further information later on in case I asked for it. “But not in writing. I frequently come to Berlin, and shall be glad to meet you again.”

I continued in regular communication with Bucher during the year 1885. I visited him on New Year’s Day; called at his house on the 11th of February to return O’Donovan’s _Oasis of Merv_, but could not see him, as he lay ill in bed; a few days later we had a short talk on the Lucia Bay question; and again on the 25th of February I had a long conversation with him at his lodgings. At first we spoke about the Chief, whose health, he said, was now thoroughly restored. He was “quite young and rosy,” and was “working fearfully hard.” The conversation then turned on Hatzfeldt, who “got sick with fear at the thought that he might have to take part in the West African Conference, and that the Chief might appoint him to represent the Foreign Office in the Reichstag, and so took a holiday.... There is really nothing the matter with him, but he has managed to obtain a long leave of absence. As Herbert is now there, it is a question whether he will return any more. And we shall not miss him, either. Business will be done as well, or better, in his absence. He would certainly have been removed from his post as Secretary of State before this if they only knew where to put him.” I said: “Keudell is probably not disposed to give up his sinecure in Rome to him.” Bucher replied: “Keudell really takes things too easy. We thought he would send in a report on the Italian expedition to the Red Sea, and he, in fact, promised one. But what was it when it came? A description of the ball recently given by him, how he danced a quadrille with the Queen, how the knights of the Order of the Annunziata danced _vis-à-vis_ to him, and other fine and important matters of the kind, all in the fullest detail. The Princess is to blame for this. The other members of the family, including the Chief, have long since been convinced of his incapacity. At the beginning, during the first few months, I myself thought there was something in him. He played the part of the mysterious, reticent thinker, occasionally speaking very well, and with far-reaching and brilliant ideas. But one soon recognised that they were not his own, but were borrowed from the Chief.”

The inhuman pair of us then rejoiced at England’s misfortunes in the Soudan, and I expressed a hope that Wolseley’s head would soon arrive in Cairo, nicely pickled and packed. This led the conversation to Central Asia. Bucher was of opinion that although the Russians would not now occupy Herat, they would take up such a position that at the next opportunity they could annex it as they had done Merv. He then referred to the intention of the English to disband the native contingents of the Indian Princes, amounting in all to 300,000 men and 1,200 field guns, and to the “demonstrative review of the Rajah of Scinde.” I then mentioned the rising of the blacks at Kitteh against their English friends, and he said: “They are threatened by a conflict with the French in Burmah.” In reply to my question: “Have we given up South Africa, or is the Lucia Bay affair still open?” he said that the matter was still under consideration. (...)

At 1.30 P.M. on the 30th of March a Chancery attendant brought me the following pencil note from Bucher:--

“His Highness would like to have an article which appeared in the _Daily Telegraph_ of the 15th of January (or a few days earlier) dealing with the question of the different aspect things would assume if an English Princess were Empress of Germany. Perhaps you have this number?

“Yours, Bʀ.”

Unfortunately I had not kept the number, as I told Bucher in a note which I sent back by the same messenger. This doubtless explains the Chief’s recent speech in answer to Richter’s allusion to the dynastic connection between England and ourselves.

On the morning of the 19th of April paid Bucher another visit. He wished me to draw a comparison between the bellicose attitude of _The Times_, and that which it observed previous to the outbreak of the Crimean War, particulars of which were to be found in Kinglake’s _Invasion of the Crimea_, Vol. III., p. 31. He believes that it is now inspired by Lord Dufferin. There can be no question of war, as England has not the necessary means at present, and Russia has for the moment no idea of seizing Herat, or even the mountain line beyond it. In the Afghan campaign of 1839 the English required for a force of 38,000 men no less than 100,000 camp followers and innumerable pack animals. Nothing of this kind is now ready. It was said that 20,000 men passed in review before Abdurrahman and Lord Dufferin at Rawal Pindi, but in reality they had only 11,000 men there altogether. The commissariat department was badly managed. Graham’s troops at Suakim had only one pair of boots each, and when an Irish regiment knelt down at mass one could see that the soles were all torn and were patched with pieces of the tin cans which had contained their preserved meats. The soldiers they have at home are for the most part too young to be employed in the tropics. The English would require four months to get from Quetta to Herat. The Russians could reach it much sooner. The ideas as to the prospects of the two parties which Münster had been hoaxed into believing were mere nonsense. Bucher put all these facts together for the Prince, who submitted them to the Emperor in the shape of a direct report. “The Crown Prince’s people,” said Bucher, “are very cross and very angry with the Chief because he will not act as mediator in St. Petersburg and help England out of her embarrassment, and because he opposes her schemes at Constantinople. The English have offered the Turks the occupation of Egypt in return for permission to pass through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The Sultan was, however, informed from Berlin and Vienna that we too had a word to say in the matter, and our officers in Stamboul would take care that the passage was stopped by torpedoes.”

On the 20th, Bucher sent me the third volume of Kinglake’s book, and I wrote the article desired by him, which appeared in No. 18 of _Grenzboten_, under the title “Prospects of Peace and _The Times_.”

On the 22nd of April I called upon Secretary of State von Thile, whom I had met on the way home a few nights before, when I announced my visit. He was very friendly and communicative, and we conversed together from 11 to 1 o’clock. (...)

Thile gave me the following particulars of the agreement with Russia in 1863: “Bismarck risked a great deal thereby. We might have got ourselves into a war with France, who would have begun by attacking us. Napoleon was furious, because he had heard nothing beforehand. Goltz wrote that he might be pacified if the treaty were communicated to him. This was done. Bismarck sent the treaty to Goltz, with instructions to read it to the Emperor alone. Even the Ministers were to know nothing of it. Napoleon was astounded at its contents, and exclaimed, ‘Why, this is worse than I had anticipated!’ It had no further consequences however.”

On Sunday, the 31st of May, I found in the _Daily Telegraph_ of the 29th a leading article on the Emperor’s indisposition, in which the alteration in the policy of Prussia which would result from the approaching change in the occupation of the throne was regarded as full of hope for England. It was asserted among other things that Prince Bismarck would no longer exercise the influence which he now did upon the Sovereign. I immediately called upon Bucher with the paper, which I handed to him in order that he might communicate the article to the Chief. He cast a glance at the principal passages underlined by me, and promised to cut out the article and send it to the Chancellor without delay, mentioning at the same time that I had brought it. He would doubtless deal with it in some way--probably get me to write an article on the subject in the _Grenzboten_. But he was going to leave Berlin on Tuesday (the 2nd of June). Bucher went on to say that it would really seem as if the Emperor were not at all well just now. I asked him what was the meaning of Lord Rosebery’s visit. He replied: “It is in the main as the newspapers represent it. He has been instructed to find out what the Chief’s views are on various questions. No negotiations have taken place. I was invited by the Prince to dine with them one day, and the conversation turned on indifferent matters, such as dogs, &c. Rosebery said nothing on the main question, namely, Afghanistan. It was the Chief who first turned the conversation on to it.” I suggested: “But the present understanding will doubtless be merely provisional?” He: “I believe the matter will come up again in about five years, when the railways are finished. The Russians expect to have the line from Kisil-Arwat to Askabad ready by 1886, and it will then be carried on to Merv and to the Oxus in the direction of Samarcand. The English are building their line from the Indus to Candahar, by a détour _viâ_ Pishin, and not through the Bolan Pass, which is the shortest route, but where it would run for twelve (German) miles through defiles which the natives would be able to block by simply rolling rocks down. But on the Pishin route also they will meet with great difficulties, and will not be ready for a long time.... Rosebery’s visit was brought about by Herbert, who, by the way, has not shown particular skill in the recent African negotiations. He can be very offensive at times, which is useful, but he has not sufficiently mastered these colonial questions. He does not understand, for instance, that colonies require a coast if they are to prosper, and so he made concessions which we are now trying to alter. He allows himself to be won over too easily. Rosebery had been particularly successful in that, and has quite mesmerised him.”

Speaking of the Emperor once more, he said: “His death will be a bad thing for us. Rottenburg believes that the Chief will not retain office under the new Emperor, and in that case it is not impossible that Keudell may become Chancellor. He is in high favour at the Crown Prince’s. They stay with him in Rome, and people believe him far more capable than he really is. He has provided for that in the press; as, for instance, through Meding, at considerable cost to his own or the Embassy funds.” (...)

At 12 o’clock (I had called on Bucher with the _Daily Telegraph_ article at 9 A.M.) a servant from the Chancellor’s palace came to my lodgings to inquire whether I could call upon the Prince at 3 o’clock. At a quarter past 3 I was shown into the Chancellor’s study, and did not leave until ten minutes past 4.

He was dressed in black with a military stock, and, as usual, sat at his writing-table. He first quieted Tiras, who sprang out and wanted to fly at me, shook hands with his accustomed friendliness, and after I had taken a seat opposite him, asked me how I was, observing: “You still look exactly the same, not a bit changed.” He mentioned that during the time he had not seen me he had been overloaded with work. “Even to-day I have been sitting here since 8 o’clock in the morning,” he continued; “and it is the same from week’s end to week’s end. The only break is at lunch time, and, as you know, I also work then, reading despatches and telegrams and giving instructions, &c. I must do almost everything myself. Hatzfeldt is an excellent ambassador, and he is also very good here at receiving the diplomatists,--clever and intelligent, but ailing and incapable of serious continuous work, impatient of routine, and in addition to that he is frivolous and has a poor memory. Busch is no longer of any use either, and must get out of harness. Bojanowski is ruined, and his Councillors are intriguing against him. My son is not yet sufficiently trained, and has much to learn.” I said: “But Busch was an excellent worker and knew the business!” “Yes,” he replied, “but that is no longer the case. The clock will no longer work. Latterly he has been constantly unwell.... Herbert is getting on very well in many things, but he must yet, as the French say, _faire ses caravanes_, or, as it is better expressed in English, ‘sow his wild oats.’ _Faire ses caravanes_, you know, originally meant to join one of the campaigns against the infidels, in which one had to take part before becoming a knight of Malta. It therefore signifies to get through one’s blundering as a beginner and to grow wise by experience.”

He then took up the _Daily Telegraph_ article which Bucher had pasted on a sheet of paper and enclosed in a letter, which also lay on the table. He said: “You have sent me this. I thank you for it.”

I: “I thought it would interest you, particularly one passage, as Bucher asked me a few weeks ago for a leader of the same kind for you, as he knows I receive the paper. I had not kept that number, but I afterwards came across it elsewhere, and the article was translated for the Emperor. I therefore thought you would be glad to see this one immediately.”

He: “Yes, and it is of interest. But it would hardly do to write anything against or upon it just now. It would have to be done very cautiously, and at the present moment in particular it would not look at all well. The old gentleman is in a very critical state, and you know it seems to me almost like the case of a woman whose husband is dangerously ill, and who talks to people about what she will do afterwards; or, more correctly, as if my wife were dying and I were to say how I should act after her death, and whether I should marry again or not. We must wait until the hour has come for a decision to be taken. It appears that the Crown Prince wishes to retain me, but I must carefully consider whether I ought to remain with him. There are many arguments against it, and many also in favour of it; but at present I am more disposed to go and have no share in his experiments. But I might look at it as Götz von Berlichingen did when he joined the peasants--it will not be so bad; and if I remain many things can be prevented or rendered less harmful. But what if I were then not to have a free hand?--to have colleagues like Forckenbeck and George Bunsen, and ceaseless worries with them; while latterly the old gentleman allowed me to do what I thought proper, and even to select Ministers and replace them by others? Besides, there is the co-regency of the Crown Princess, who influences and completely governs him. Yet what will the result be if I leave them to themselves? The entire position of the Empire depends upon the confidence which I have acquired abroad. In France, for instance, where their attitude is based exclusively upon the faith they place in my word. The King of the Belgians said recently that a written and signed contract would do less to put his mind at ease than a verbal assurance from me that such and such a course would be followed. It is the same with Russia, where the Emperor trusts entirely to me. I still remember at the Danzig meeting how he conversed with me for a long time in his cabin and listened to my opinion. The Emperor (William) was not over pleased at his taking no notice of the parade and the various celebrations; but he left us alone all the same. And the Empress--the Danish Princess--said to me: ‘Our whole confidence rests upon you. We know that you tell the plain truth, and perform what you promise.’... Of course I could retire and see how they got on without me, and then when they called me back after their experiment had failed, I could bring things back into the old course. It would then have been proved that affairs could not be conducted in that way. He doubtless would not venture upon such experiments if he had not got me in reserve. It was just the same with the new era when the King gave Liberalism a trial, because he had me to turn to eventually. But I am an old man, over seventy, and for twenty-nine years I have exhausted my strength in the service of the State, and can no longer do what I once did. I can no longer accompany the King wherever he goes--on journeys, shooting parties and to watering places. I can no longer ride to manœuvres and parades, so as to prevent his being alone with others, and to take immediate measures against the intrigues and influence of opponents. If I were to persist in that sort of work my illness would return, and I should soon be dead.”

He drew out from among the books on his right a letter from Dr. Schweninger, who had written to him that he had escaped a dangerous illness through regular diet and the greatest possible abstinence from mental exertion; but that if a recurrence of it were to be averted he must continue to follow the same course. He then said: “The Crown Princess is an Englishwoman. That is always the case with us. When our Princesses marry abroad they doff the Prussian, and identify themselves with their new country,--as for example the Queen of Bavaria, who ultimately went so far as to become a Catholic; and the lady in Darmstadt (it is obvious that this was a slip of the tongue, and that he meant Karlsruhe), as well as the consort of the Emperor Nicholas. Here, however, they bring their nationality with them, and retain it, preserving their foreign interests.... Our policy must not necessarily be anti-English, but if it were to be English it might prove to be very much against our interest, as we have always to reckon with the Continental Powers.” He further observed that the Crown Prince would be influenced in his liking for England by consideration for Queen Victoria, and (here he mimicked the act of counting money) her generosity. He has but a slight knowledge of State affairs, and little interest in them, and he lacks courage. I reminded the Chief that he, too, had had to infuse courage into his father on the railway journey from Jueterbogk to Berlin during the period of conflict. He then related that incident once more, and added: “He said that I should first come to the scaffold--at that time I was called the Prussian Strafford; but I replied: ‘What finer death could a man have than to die for his King and his right?’”

He then came to speak of the Emperor’s illness, for which--as he asserted--“the women were to blame, with their desire to give themselves importance. He was already ill, hoarse, when they talked him over into driving with them to church. And then the Grand Duchess wants to play the loving daughter before people, and so she accompanies him when he, like every one who works a great deal, would prefer to drive out alone; and at the same time she argues with him, even when the wind is in their faces, so that he catches cold if he answers her. It was only his daughter’s persuasion that induced him to go to Hatzfeldt’s dinner. He ought not to have done that. (Probably according to Lauer’s opinion.) As he sits at work, Augusta sticks her head into the room and asks in a caressing voice, ‘Do I disturb you?’ When he, always gallant in his treatment of ladies, and particularly of Princesses, replies ‘No,’ she comes in and pours out all sorts of insignificant gossip to him, and scarcely has she at last gone away than she is back again knocking at the door with her, ‘I am again disturbing you’; and so she again wastes his time chattering. Now that he is ill--you know what his complaint is--she is a real embarrassment and plague to him. She sits there with him, and when he wants to be left alone he does not venture to tell her, so that in the end he gets quite red from pain and restraint; and she notices it. That is not love, however, but pure play-acting, conventional care and affection. There is nothing natural about her--everything is artificial, inwardly as well as outwardly.”

The conversation then turned upon Brunswick, and I said: “Surely we shall soon have that now? It will shortly be Prussian?” He replied in the negative, saying: “It must remain independent, because without the two votes of the Duchy the Federal Council would no longer be of the slightest importance--Prussia would always have a safe majority. The Brunswickers, too, are anxious to retain their independence. In order to maintain the present balance of voting power in the Federal Council, I have always rejected the overtures of the small fry such as Waldeck, &c., that wanted to be absorbed in Prussia. Things can be managed as they are, and we must give the larger States no reason to mistrust us. _Their_ confidence also is part of my policy, and during recent years they have always trusted me.”

He was silent for a while and looked at me. I rose to go, and thanked him for this day’s invitation and the confidence in me which it manifested, adding that I was all the more pleased as I had been under the impression that he had been angry with me for my last book, and that I should not see him again. He clapped me on the shoulder in a friendly way and said: “No, Büschchen, everything remains as of old between us two. It is true that you contributed to my illness with your book, as it gave me a great deal of work.” I replied that nothing of the kind should occur again, and gave him my hand upon it.

On Tuesday, the 2nd of June, I went to Bucher to tell him that I had been with the Chief, and to read him my notes of the interview. He already knew that I had been called to see him. In connection with what I told him respecting the Chancellor’s resignation or retention of office under the future Sovereign, he said: “He has also given the French to understand ... that possibly the next Emperor may not continue his policy, so that in future it would be well for them in Egyptian affairs to keep their demands and actions within such limits as they thought they could, if left to themselves alone, assert and maintain against the English.” (...)

Bucher smiled at the apprehension which I now expressed that the Chief had been offended at my book. That, he said, was a mistake. With regard to the Prince’s remark that it had given him a great deal of work (he doubtless alluded chiefly to the revising of the proofs) Bucher observed: “Yes, I have had a good deal to write on the subject to Reuss, for Andrassy complained of various passages. But what he imagined he had read was not in the book at all; he had read it superficially, and we convinced him of that fact.” Finally Bucher thanked me for the account of my interview with the Chancellor, which he described as very interesting.

During the first half of June I made an excursion on foot from Dresden to North Bohemia, to Lausitz, then back to Dresden, and from there to Moritzburg and Meissen, in order to finally rid myself of a determination of blood to the head which had seriously troubled me all the winter. After my return to Berlin, I called upon Bucher on the 16th June to ask him, in the first place, what attitude should be adopted in the press towards the new Ministry in England. I observed that Gladstone had defended English interests although in an unskilful and feeble way, and that Salisbury would not suit our purposes any better, indeed, perhaps less, because they would be more energetic. He replied that Salisbury is blunt in manner, as he had himself experienced when he was in Berlin. He might, however, for the moment be more welcome to the Chief than Gladstone, who had been seeking a _rapprochement_ with Russia in favour of which there seemed to be a party in that country. Salisbury, on the other hand, had spoken too strongly against Russia to leave much prospect of an understanding at the present time between the Tories and St. Petersburg. True, one could not say what might happen in this respect later on, and the new English Ministry would also seek an understanding with France.

He then mentioned Count Herbert’s second mission to London, which had not turned out so well as the first one respecting Angra Pequena and the Fiji Islands, in which he had taken up a very strong position with good results. The second mission should have appeared, as far as the public was concerned, merely a visit to Rosebery, with whom Herbert stayed. Its object, however, was to negotiate respecting Lucia Bay and the Benue district; and Herbert, who was not sufficiently well acquainted with the maps, &c., conceded too much to Rosebery, who was very sharp, so that the result was disadvantageous to us. We lost Lucia Bay. The English Minister argued that they could not abandon it to us, as it was impossible to allow the Cape Colony to be hemmed in on both sides. On the Benue, however, they have annexed a large piece of land, well situated for their purposes.

Bucher then complained of the “gross ineptitude” displayed by Gerhard Rohlfs in his mission to Zanzibar. “He got it,” he said, “through the ‘paidocracy,’ as Busch calls it,--through the influence of the Chancellor’s sons upon their father, and he has spoilt everything. Contrary to the regulations, which require an examination to be passed first, he was appointed Consul-General without any examination, although he is not particularly well informed.... The trap had been very cleverly prepared for Sultan Burgasch. He has a sister who is married to a German, a Hamburg merchant named Reute, and lives now in Germany. Burgasch had robbed her of her inheritance, and this was to be the starting point of the scheme. She was to go out to Zanzibar and press her claim, and an accident might possibly occur to the lady,--her brother might have her strangled. In the meantime Rohlfs was also to go out, quite quietly, by way of the Red Sea, and not on board a man-of-war. He, however, induced the Chief to let him travel _viâ_ London and the Cape; and at Cape Town he talked imprudently about his mission and position to some officers of Warren’s expedition (to Bechuanaland), so that the English got wind of the matter, and were able to take their measures accordingly (this was under Gladstone’s Government, through their Consul, Kirk). And in Zanzibar itself he committed one blunder after another. When this came to the knowledge of the Chief he said in his own family circle that he would recall him. Paul Lindau, who constantly haunts the Chancellerie, got it into the newspapers, whereupon a _démenti_ was issued. Later on, however, the Prince returned to his former intention, as Rohlfs proved quite useless.”... Bucher further related that Herbert had “provided himself with a deputy Under-Secretary of State in the person of Darenthall, who was to act for himself when he was absent. Darenthall is an admirer of Keudell, with whom he spent nine years in Rome, where there is nothing to do, as everything is sent there ready prepared. He cannot have gained much experience of the world there, while others sent to various posts became acquainted with different countries and conditions of life. He did not, however, turn out badly as Consul-General in Egypt. When he comes to the office I shall take a long leave of absence in order not to lose the last trace of my self-respect.... Bill, who will shortly get married and who is going to Hanau, has also picked out a successor, von Rheinbaben. It is true that he belongs to the old nobility, but he is quite incapable,”--a statement in support of which Bucher produced sundry evidence. Finally we rejoiced that the Emperor was quite well again, and Bucher added: “Yes, and in very good humour, as may be seen from the remarks which he makes on the matters submitted to him.” (...)

On the 16th of October Bucher called at my lodgings to inform me that on Hatzfeldt’s departure as Ambassador for London, Herbert Bismarck is to be appointed Secretary of State, and that the latter has selected Holstein as Under-Secretary. The Chief had some one else in view, apparently Berghen, but Herbert would probably be able to carry out his views with regard to Holstein. He had already made up the differences between the latter and the Princess. In these circumstances he, Bucher, meant to retire. He had already asked the Prince on several occasions to arrange for his retirement on the score of ill-health. Although the Chief had, through Herbert, declined to do this, and only granted him a six months’ leave of absence, he would probably on the conclusion of that period renew his request. He intends to leave on the 1st of November, and to spend his holiday on the Lake of Geneva. On parting he said: “Adieu! I must now return to the treadmill.”