17 NOVEMBER 1917, Page 25

BISMARCK AND TILE POPE.

ITo THE EDITOR or me " Sreerseen."3

Sie,—The appointment of Graf Beetling to the Chancellorship of the German Empire reminds me of a remark attributed to Bismarck—which I never saw in print, but which was told me in course of conversation by a very clever German woman in Darmstadt, the daughter of a former Hessian General who had seen service against Prussia in 1800—the lady in question and her son, then in the Prussian Guards, being Pan-German to the back- bone. I have added this en porenthese, because English people seem incapable of understanding that the systematic inoculation of certain ideas from Koniggretz up to August 14th has brought about tine exact results desired. To return: The remark attri- buted to Bismarck was, that going over such little errors of judgment as even the wisest-may find they have made, the Iron Chancellor regretted that he bad not at the time of the Ultramon- tone troubles offered Cologne as a residence to the Pope-thus shifting the Papal See to Germany. Those who can " figure out " the true meaning of this regret—and add the meaning to be deduced from the present appointment—may find that in every field of Aufkliirungsdienst there is distinct method in Prussian