THE GERMAN EMPEROR AND PRINCE BISMA_RCK.
WE find it difficult to believe that the German Emperor contemplates, or ever has contemplated, a prosecution of Prince Bismarck for indiscreet criticisms on his foreign policy. It is no doubt true that the Prince has of late made himself a source of irritation to the Emperor. Bored to death with country occupations—which are, of course, very useful, but to a man who has lived the Prince's life must be intolerably insipid—indignant at the official disregard for his opinions, and mortified to find how little effect his dismissal has had upon the posi- tion of the Empire, the ex-Chancellor has taken to relieving his chagrin by a dropping fire of criticism which, owing to the repute of the critic, greatly worries the new managers of German affairs. The statesmen of the old. Monarchies, even when schooled by long experience, often betray the feeling of Mohammed, who was ready to pardon everybody except poets who satirised him, but always put them to death. The statesmen and the Kings hate literary criticism, probably from an unconscious feeling that all contests should partake of the nature of duels, and that it is unfair to be struck with a weapon you cannot use,—a suggestion which explains the perfect fortitude of Frederick the Great under libellers' attacks. He thought he could hit back again if he tried, and hit much better, and was comforted by the inner scorn of a master of arms for the blows of a clumsy assailant. The Emperor, therefore, and probably General Caprivi, are exasperated by the Prince's pellets, flung at them through two local newspapers ; and. their exasperation is increased by an accidental circumstance. The pith of Prince Bismarck's criticism is, that the Emperor is exchanging influence with Russia for influence with England, and that this is a blunder ; and as the Court of St. Petersburg entirely agrees with him, an importance is given in Russia to his remark which galls his opponent to the bone. The Emperor, moreover, lives, we fancy, in fear that the ex-Chancellor, who knows everything, may, in his passionate irritability, reveal secrets of political importance, and desires to silence him not only as critic, but as depositary of dangerous knowledge both as to past secret history and as to plans secrecy about which, in certain contingencies, might become of vital importance. The Emperor, therefore, frets, and being an outspoken man, "says things," sometimes intentionally as warnings to Prince Bismarck, sometimbs, we imagine, uninten- tionally, which are eagerly caught up and repeated by the Prince's enemies,—and the Emperor's. They would dearly delight to see the two in open conflict before the Courts. All that, which is repeated on every hand, is, we suspect, quite true ; but all that does not make a prosecution pro- bable. In the first place, it is very doubtful whether such a prosecution would succeed. The Government of Prussia is armoured in statutes designed to ensure the implicit obedi- ence of its servants ; but Prince Bismarck is not in harness now, and the Prussian Judges, who are jealous for their independence, might reasonably hold that the ex-Chancel- lor's obligations were only those of any other prominent citizen, and that he was entitled to an acquittal. That would be a blow which no Government could risk, and which would. even detract from the dignity of the Throne, everybody knowing that the Emperor in all such questions governs for himself. There is, it is true, another weapon in his Majesty's hand which is irresistible ; but though its use is publicly discussed, it is inconceivable that, except under circumstances which have not occurred, such a thunderbolt should be launched. Prince Bismarck is a Major-General in the Prussian service, bound to wear his uniform on all public occasions ; and as such he could be ordered to keep silence,. or tried by court-martial for dis- respect to his commanding officer,—an offence, especially when the commanding officer is the King, of the most serious kind. There is no legal doubt, it is affirmed, of the reality of this liability, and we are quite ready to believe the affirmation; but neither is there any doubt that if the Queen ordered the Duke of Cambridge to march from London to Balmoral, the "Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief " must obey or be cashiered.; and one order is just as probable as the other. There are plenty of reserved powers even in military law which can- not be exercised ; and the power to order a great statesman who happens to hold a commission, but who is also a Peer of Parliament, to abstain from criticising affairs of State, under penalty of a court-martial, may fairly be reckoned, even in Prussia, as included in that list. The very officers forming the tribunal would be ashamed of their inevitable verdict, and every man in uniform would feel that a new and. severe burden had been added. to all those inherent in a military career. The real truth is, that Prince Bismarck out of office is a great citizen, or a great Member of the House of Peers—either description will do—and that, unless he reveals secrets palpably dangerous to the State or personally insults the Sovereign, the Emperor must put up with his criticisms with as muck fortitude as he can muster. It is very annoying, of course, especially as foreign commentators repeat and exaggerate everything Prince Bismarck says, until his words seem to Berliners to reverberate through Europe ; but a GermanEm- peror has compensations, and will very speedily find that the weight of his present Chancellor's despatches to St. Peters- burg is not impaired by anything that General Caprivi's pre- decessor can say, or that he can authorise either the Hamburg News or the Munich Gazette to say on his behalf. There is no official whose sentences derive so much of their force from his position as the Foreign Secretary ; and Prince Bismarck out of office will speedily find. that his words are no longer acts.
In England, the whole of this affair is held. to be a little ridiculous, or rather, held to indicate that personal govern- ment always tends to become tyrannical government; but we are not sure that this view is altogether correct. The im- possibility of conducting negotiations in public, and there- fore of discussing them in public, is frankly admitted by statesmen of distinctly Liberal temper. The American Con- stitution, though it allows discussion on anything, and con- tains no provision to punish the betrayal of official secrets, carefully relegates serious discussion on foreign affairs to a Committee of the Senate, which practically sits with closed doors and only announces its decisions. English states- men have always allowed. the plea that a discussion on special foreign affairs would be "contrary to the interests of the State," and even when discussion was imperative, have been exceedingly careful to keep it within limits. Mr. Gladstone is not a reticent man, and politically does not love Lord Salisbury; but he is delighted to be able to say that in foreign politics the Government seems to him blameless, and so avoid, as he has, with most creditable patriotism, for four years avoided, inconvenient and dangerous discussion. A peremptory constitutional rule prohibits a retiring Cabinet Minister from revealing any foreign secret he may- have learned during his term of office, and though a breach of the rule is not punishable by law, it would never be forgiven, either by the offender's colleagues or by the Crown, which, when Ministries are forming, can often, when a reason is producible, ostracise any individual except the Premier. Moreover, though there is no law on the subject, an inexorable etiquette insists that the papers of a deceased. Minister shall not be published, so far as they affect foreign affairs, without the consent of the reigning Sovereign. On the Continent, the etiquette is even more stringent, is embodied usually in service regulations, and is supported everywhere by the exceptional law—valid even in France and Switzerland—that the Head of the State may seal up the papers of a deceased statesman until satis- fied that they include nothing which in the interests of the State it is advisable to conceal. Prince Bismarck himself enforced this system with jealous vigilance—witness the Arnim trial—and is bound, therefore, by rules to which he has himself assented, not only to take care that his utterances do the State no harm, but that they do not impede the policy then in progress. This is the precise charge brought against him at this moment ; and if our readers will think, it would also be brought against an English ex-Minister who did not instantly accept the assurance that his intended speech or motion or ques- tion would be opposed to the interests of the country. Whether the charge is true, we cannot quite decide, because Prince Bismarck keeps touching on something hitherto kept secret ; but we fancy that as regards Russia it is true, and that, to speak plainly, the Russian Emperor is being hardened in some particular course distasteful to the German Government by what he believes to be Prince Bismarck's approval. If that is so—and if it is not, the stir of the last few days is unintelligible— Prince Bismarck has allowed his soreness to get the better of his sense of duty, and is bound by his own etiquettes to keep silence on that subject for a time. He has been momentarily betrayed into a false position, and should acknowledge it ; but to punish him by a prosecu- tion would be a dangerous blunder. Even the course re- solved On, as is said, by the Cabinet, is not wise. He is to be answered, we are told, in the Beieltsanzeiger, whenever he makes erroneous statements ; but to answer a man in a newspaper is to invite precisely that public discussion which it is the object of Governments when dealing with foreign affairs to avoid. Prince Bismarck is sure to be irritated by some statement or other into rejoinder ; and with argument, answer, rejoinder, and surrejoinder, all pro- duced in public, there is public debate. The telegraphic agencies will rejoice, but we do not know. that anybody else will, and certainly the German Government will not attain its end.
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