THE man who made the modern German Empire needs no other tribute than the simple statement of the giant fact. History will portray Bismarck as towering head and shoulders higher than all the throng of contem

porary statesmen, the master-player of the game of statecraft on the European chessboard, kings, armies and parliaments his pieces and empires for the stakes.

Very few men have wrought such grand results with homelier

tools. Conquerors, animated by sordid ambition, have changed the faces of maps by reckless use of power and then the silent forces of time have undone their handiwork. Glory, of a sort, clings glitteringly around the crowns of these heartless tramplers on mankind's right to peace; but the glory of the destroyer is one thing, and the glory of the constructor is another. As love of one's own country is a nobler trait than hatred of others, so is patriotic devotion to the task of consolidating a nation's interests and greatness an indisputably grander title to immortal honor than all the victories of all the plotters of wars of conquest. The name of Bismarck 177

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may well be ranked high among the exemplars of patriotism. The conditions do not call for the ideal attributes of saintliness. Hair-lines are not to be drawn when the issues are vast and the field coëxtensive with empires. The strong statesman must carry a full stock of human nature, must be in all departments a very man, because politics, diplomacy and warfare are fine arts of Beelzebub, "Prince of this world." Bismarck figures as the strong man of the century, with the dominant conviction that he was born to bring about the unification of the separate German States. By dint of clear sight, common-sense methods, and resolute sticking to the work in hand, he achieved his end. As an empire-builder he has made no claim to be other than human, in either his gifts, graces or faults. His work will be gauged by its results and magnitude, and there will be no necessity to discuss the spots on his meridian sun when it shall have set forever in the gloaming of the century he has helped to make so memorable.

Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck was born in Schönhausen. on April fool's-day, in the year of Waterloo. His student-life was that of a rollicking, drinking, duelling daredevil; clever, well-liked, but well-deserving of the sobriquet by which for many years he was known, "Mad Bismarck." His shoemaker failed to keep his word, whereupon a messenger was sent to ring the shop-bell at six in the morning, and every ten minutes during the day until the shoes were finished. This simple and direct way of getting things done characterizes his whole life.

In 1847 Bismarck married Johanna von Putkammer, by whom he had three children. He became a member of the United Diet which met at Frankfort in 1847, and at once proved to be a tower of strength on the side of the king against the rising democracy. He has always shown a simple order of mind, not given to subtle refinements, holding to something like the doctrine of the divine right of kings to govern their people justly, as in the sight of God. He made a speech in the Diet in 1847, in which he said: "The words, 'by the grace of God,' which Christian sovereigns usually put after their names, are, for me, no empty words. I see in them the confession that these princes are to bear the sceptre put into their hands on

earth by God in accordance with His will." And that this was not a mere diplomatist's official belief, is seen by what he said, when with the victorious German army marching on Paris in 1870: "If I were no longer a Christian, I would not remain for an hour at my post. . . . Why should I disturb myself and work unceasingly in this world, exposing myself to all sorts of vexations, if I had not the feeling that I must do my duty for God's sake? If I did not believe in a divine. order which has destined this German nation for something good and great, I would at once give up the business of a diplomatist, or I would not have undertaken it. Orders and titles have no charm for me. . . . I owe the firmness which I have shown for ten years against all possible absurdities only to my decided faith. Take from me this faith and yon take from me my Fatherland. . . . This self-denial and devotion to duty, to the State, and to the king, is only the survival of the faith of our fathers and grandfathers transformed, indistinct, and yet active; faith—and yet faith no longer. How willingly I should be off! I delight in country life, in the woods and in nature. Take from me my relation to God, and I am the man who will pack up and be off tomorrow to Varzin to grow my oats."

The revolutionary disturbances of 1848 only strengthened Bismarck's design to work for the gathering together of the petty kingdoms-too weak to stamp out discontent-under one crown, which would bring to them all the pride of strength. Various schemes for union were proposed and rejected. Austria was irreconcilable, objecting to the obvious choice of the King of Prussia as the new emperor. There was war in Hungary, and even Vienna had to endure a bombardment. The fight with Denmark over the complicated Schleswig-Holstein question made things look hopeless. The then King of Prussia, Frederic William IV., never a strong ruler, succumbed to softening of the brain in 1858, whereupon the regency was conferred upon his brother, who, in 1861, became king. This was William I., whom Bismarck, his chosen chief minister, in the course of ten years, made German Emperor.

Bismarck had meantime served as Prussian ambassador at