Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire. By James
Wycliffe Headlam. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. 5s.)—Mr. Headlam admires but does not worship his hero. His estimate, indeed, seems to us singularly judicious and candid. It may seem strange, perhaps, that an English writer should be quite so dispassionate, for Bismarck's attitude to this country was very peculiar. He was hostile, not from dislike, for he greatly admired the national character, but because he thought it to the interest of Germany that England should be weakened and depressed. Apart from our difference from the author in the point of view, we have nothing but praise for the book. Bismarck's faults are not glossed over. The_ unscrupulous methods which he used in dealing with antagonists, personal, political, or national, are plainly stated. His diplomacy shrank from nothing. He had no political con- science. He set himself, for instance, to crush Polish hopes, and made Germany follow his lead, even against its sentiment, if not against its conviction. He would use any weapon to upset an antagonist. He resented personal attacks quite as much as does the present Kaiser, and punished them in the same way. But though he had no mercy on opponents, he had a great pity for the poor. That the demos should govern seemed intolerable, but he had the strongest wish that the demos should be happy. He was thoroughly in earnest, for instance, in his anxiety to bring about a system of old-age pensions. And, as his biographer re- marks, in the field of legislation, which was strange to him, he was very rash. In diplomacy and foreign politics all his indis- cretions were calculated.
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