PRINCE BISMARCK'S LAST DEFEAT.
IT seems difficult even to think of Germany without Bismarck, but it seems clear that the power of the great Chancellor, both with the Emperor and the people, is on the wane. Last year the King gave him a severe fall. The Upper House had rejected the Counties Organisation Bill, which the King was determined to carry, and Prince Bismarck came up from Varzin to Berlin full of a project for entirely remodelling the Upper House, making it a House of capaci- ties rather than of properties. The King at first hesitated, "never having been a Junker," but finally insisted on limit- ing reform to a creation of twenty Peers, sufficient to carry the Bill, and chose the most aristocratic or bureau- cratic persons he could find. Prince Bismarck, highly offended by a refusal which destroyed one ' of his great plans, surrendered his Presidency in the Prussian Cabinet, retaining only his seat as Foreign Minister, and re- tired to Varzin, his West-Prussian estate. When he returned, he found three series of great Bills on hand,—one in the Prussian Parliament for controlling the Episcopate, which he carried, another in the Lower House of the Empire for the military reorganisation of the Empire, and a third for enslaving the Press—and whether he drew them or not, presented both the latter to the Reichstag. The Press Bill raised a protest throughout Germany so fierce and furi- ous, that it disappeared in a way most difficult to trace, and is now disowned on all hands ; but the mere discussion of it in the journals had produced a feeling of discontent with Prince Bismarck, which at last blazed out in the Reichstag.
The Military Bill, which was the Emperor's pet Bill, had been lagging there, when the time for adjournment arrived ; and the Chancellor, pressed by the Court or by the taunts of General von Boon, who accused him of mismanagement, suddenly demanded that the House should not adjourn until the Bill was passed. Dr. Simson, the President, thinking this a bit of dragooning, moved that the House adjourn, and the Chancellor found his power departed. Even the National Liberals would not vote for him, and the Military Bill was postponed.
General von Boon, intensely irritated at this mischance, wrote to the Chancellor, declaring that the Bill had been prepared in time and had been ruined by his mismanagement, using in fact, it is reported, language which left the Prince no alternatives but an appeal to the King or a challenge to his assailant. He chose the former as the more decorous course, and applied to the Emperor either to dismiss Von Boon or to give to himself unlimited leave of absence from the Prussian Cabinet. The King—who, it will be remembered, before threw him over, and who was extremely irritated by the loss of his Bill—again granted his prayer for leisure, and to make the reprimand worse, sent him his leave through General von Boon, who, according to the account we are following, presented it to the Prince in the Chamber in full uniform. The Chancellor, boiling with rage, set off for Varzin, where, it is reported, he will remain some months transacting the duties of the Chancellorship, but without paying atten- tion to the Prussian Cabinet, within which, it should be noted, the conflict with the Papacy is being carried on. It follows that his influence in Germany is exceedingly impaired. He has ceased to be a Junker, and by pressing the reform of the House of Lords, has lost consideration with that great party ; he has forfeited the favour of the National Liberals, who do not want a Germany in which everyone must walk about with a respi- rator on, lest he should open his lips imprudently ; and lastly, he has broken, in part at least, with the Hohenzollern, "whose vassal I am," but who obviously prefers the General with whom and through whom he reorganised the Army. It must not be forgotten that the Emperor, though grateful for Prince Bismarck's advice, still chose him and made him, and naturally enough attributes to himself the chief merit of his suc- cess.. Kings always do that, and a Hohenzollern King has a position in which even the greatest of his subjects can exercise upon him no effective control. If he defies him in Parlia- ment he ceases to be admitted at Court,—that is, to be a Minister at all. The pivot of power is the King, and as long as his Majesty lives, and is able to work as he has always worked, there will be little change in the line of Prussian policy, unless it be that the battle with the Catholic Bishops will become a little feebler. The King has pro-Catholic counsellors very, near him, and though General von Boon is as hostile to the Vatican as his rival, his is not the brain which can cope with the subtle counsel of Rome.
Of course, we do not believe that Prince von Bismarck's career is at an end. His life at Varzin always improves his health, and he cannot be willing to quit the stage upon which he has played so great a part. But to return with effect he must return master of the situation, and he can only effect this by one of two expedients, a reconciliation with the next King, or with the National Liberal party, which, if certain conces- sions were made, would still give him a majority. We believe he will in the end accomplish both these objects, and return to power to confer on Germany some at least of the benefits she desired to achieve by the war. At present military service is more severe than ever, so severe that in some States the people are crowding away to America ; thought, at least as expressed in journals, is less free, being less protected by the multiplicity of small States ; religion is less free both for Catholics and Lutherans, and the expenses of life, more especially among the class which fills the bureaux and the Houses, are unendur- ably high. The plunder of France has made the cup of the currency run over. Germany is directly the worse off for the war which might have been terminated at Sedan with honour from all mankind, and has still hanging over her a war, in the dread of which everything becomes uncertain. It is for Prince Bismarck to amend many of these evils ; but while he lies sulking at Varzin, and his master, febrile, irritable, and persistent, works away, half sick half well, at Babelsberg and Ems, and General von Boon is Premier of Prussia, Germany has little liberty to boast of, only glory to enjoy, and an un- easy future, not the happier because it may include a desperate religious struggle.
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