Library of the Worlds Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 5 | Page 5

convince his hearers, not
to win them; his appeal was regularly to their intelligence, not to their
emotions. When the energy and warmth of his own feelings had carried
him into something like a flight of oratory, there was apt to follow, at
the next moment, some plain matter-of-fact statement that brought the
discussion back at once to its ordinary level. Such an anti-climax was
often very effective: the obvious effort of the speaker to keep his
emotions under restraint vouched for the sincerity of the preceding
outburst. It should be added that he appreciated as few Germans do the
rhetorical value of understatement.
He was undoubtedly at his literary best in conversation and in his
letters. We have several volumes of Bismarck anecdotes, Bismarck
table-talk, etc. The best known are those of Busch, which have been
translated into English--and in spite of the fact that his sayings come to
us at second hand and colored by the personality of the transmitter, we
recognize the qualities which, by the universal testimony of those who
knew him, made him one of the most fascinating of talkers. These
qualities, however, come out most clearly in a little volume of letters
('Bismarck briefe'), chiefly addressed to his wife. (These letters have
been excellently translated into English by F. Maxse.) They are
characterized throughout by vivid and graphic descriptions, a subtle
sense of humor, and real wit; and they have in the highest degree--far
more than his State papers or speeches--the literary quality, and that
indescribable something which we call style.
Bismarck furnishes, once for all, the answer to the old French question,
whether a German can possibly have esprit--witness his response to the
German prince who desired his advice regarding the offer of the crown
of one of the Balkan States:--"Accept, by all means: it will be a
charming recollection for you." He possessed also to a high degree the
power of summing up a situation or characterizing a movement in a
single phrase; and his sayings have enriched the German language with
more quotations than the spoken words of any German since Luther.

Of the numerous German biographies, Harm's gives the greatest
amount of documentary material; Hesekiel's (which has been translated
into English) is the most popular. The best French biography is by
Simon; the only important English work is that by Lowe. For
bibliography, see Schulze and Roller, (Bismarck-Literatur) (1895),
which contains about 600 titles. The Frankfort dispatches and the
speeches have been translated into French, but not into English.
[Illustration: signature of Munroe Smith]

TO FRAU VON ARNIM
SCHÖNHAUSEN, August 7th, 1850.
The fact is, this journey, and I see it more clearly the nearer it
approaches, gives me a right of reversion on the new lunatic asylum, or
at least a seat for life in the Second Chamber. I can already see myself
on the platform of the Genthiner station; then both of us packed in the
carriage, surrounded with all sorts of child's necessaries--an
embarrassing company; Johanna ashamed to suckle the baby, which
accordingly roars itself blue; then the passports, the inn; then at Stettin
railway station with both bellowing monkeys; then waiting an hour at
Angermünde for the horses; and how are we to get from Kröchlendorf
to Külz? It would be perfectly awful if we had to remain for the night at
Stettin. I did that last year with Marie and her squallings. I was in such
a state of despair yesterday over all these visions that I was positively
determined to give the whole thing up, and at last went to bed with the
resolve at least to go straight through, without stopping anywhere; but
what will one not commit for the sake of domestic peace? The young
cousins, male and female, must become acquainted, and who knows
when Johanna will see you again? She pounced upon me last night with
the boy in her arms, and with all those wiles which formerly lost us
Paradise; of course she succeeded in wringing my consent that
everything should remain as before. I feel, however, that I am as one to
whom fearful injustice is done, and I am certain that I shall have to
travel next year with three cradles, wet-nurses, long-clothes, and

counterpanes. I am now awake by six o'clock, and already in a gentle
simmer of anger; I cannot get to sleep, owing to all the visions of
traveling which my imagination paints in the darkest colors, even up to
the "picnics" on the sandhills of Stolpmünde. And then if one were only
paid for it! But to travel away the last remnants of a once handsome
fortune with sucking babies!--I am very unhappy!
Well--Wednesday, then, in Gerswalde--I should have done probably
better by driving over Passow, and you would not have had so far