17 AUGUST 1872, Page 2

We have commented elsewhere on the existence of "suppressed lives,"—persona

in politics who are most important, yet almost un- known to the world,—and it appears that one of them is just dead, Dr. Abeken, nicknamed in Germany "Bismarck's Pen." He is described, says the Pall Mall Gazette, by the Emperor himself in a telegram to his widow as "one of my most trusty counsellors, who stood by me in the most decisive moments of my life, whose loss to me is irreparable. The country has lost in him one of its noblest and most faithful servants." Prince Bismarck is said te have consulted him on all occasions, and to have trusted him in the most secret affairs of his diplomacy. Yet outside Germany his name, all through the transactions in which he has borne so great a part, has never been mentioned.