Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note: This is the third and final volume of a series, of which Volume 1 (eBook number 68651) and Volume 2 (eBook number 70943) have been previously published by Project Gutenberg.

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BISMARCK

SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY

BISMARCK:

SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY

BEING A DIARY KEPT BY

DR. MORITZ BUSCH

DURING TWENTY-FIVE YEARS’ OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE
INTERCOURSE WITH THE GREAT CHANCELLOR

_IN THREE VOLUMES_

VOL. III

=London=

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1898

_All rights reserved_

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited
LONDON AND BUNGAY

_Copyright in the United States of America_

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE
BUCHER, COBDEN, AND THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL--BÜLOW AND THE
COMTE DE JOLIVAR--THE HOLY DRUJINA--KEUDELL IN THE
PROGRESSIST PRESS--FOUR SECRETARIES OF STATE IN THE
FOREIGN OFFICE--KEUDELL AND HIS ARREARS OF WORK--THE CHIEF
AND THE PROGRESSIST ELECTIONEERING AGITATION--LIES IN
LAUENBURG--INSTRUCTIONS RESPECTING UNRUH’S ARTICLE IN THE
“DEUTSCHE REVUE”--WHY BENNIGSEN WAS NOT MADE MINISTER--THE
CHANCELLOR ON THILE AND THE DIEST LIBEL--BUCHER ON
HOLSTEIN--BUNSEN’S FRIENDS AND TRUTH--A MONUMENT FOR MY
SON, WHO DIED AT SEA--THILE’S OPINION OF THE CHIEF--THE
CHANCELLOR ON THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION, THE OPPOSITION TO THE
TOBACCO MONOPOLY--THE EMPEROR, THE CROWN PRINCE, AND PRINCE
WILLIAM--PHILOPATER AND ANTIPATER AT POTSDAM--BUCHER TENDERS
HIS RESIGNATION--THE CROWN PRINCE AND THE PROGRESSISTS--THE
VICE-CHANCELLORSHIP--ARTICLES AGAINST THE EMPRESS 1

CHAPTER II

BLEICHRÖDER AND GERMAN DIPLOMACY IN CONSTANTINOPLE--FURTHER
INTERVIEWS WITH THE CHANCELLOR--RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND
AUSTRIA--THE GABLENTZ MISSION--QUEEN VICTORIA--AN UNPLEASANT
EPISTLE--A SEVERE REPRIMAND--BISMARCK COLLABORATES WITH
ME--BUCHER’S JOURNEY WITH SALAZAR--A PRESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST
ENGLAND--DOCUMENTS AND ARTICLES ON SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTIONS 70

CHAPTER III

THE CHANCELLOR ON BULGARIA AND SERVIA, AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA,
THE BATTENBERGER AND THE TSAR--HIS VIEW OF THE TREATMENT OF
THE RUSSIAN BALTIC PROVINCES--A COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH
PARTIES AND OUR OWN--GERMANY AND ENGLAND IN AFRICA--THE
CHANCELLOR ON THE MILITARY QUESTION, AND THE THREATENED
CONFLICT IN THE REICHSTAG--WHAT HE SAID THERE WAS ADDRESSED
TO RUSSIA--THE TSAR’S CONFIDENCE IN THE CHANCELLOR--THE
CROWN PRINCE AND HIS CONSORT--BISMARCK AND HIS WORK--WHAT IS
GREATNESS?--THE CHIEF ON HIS OWN DEATH--INTERVIEW WITH THE
CHIEF ON THE MARRIAGE OF THE BATTENBERGER, AND INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE “GRENZBOTEN” ARTICLE, “FOREIGN INFLUENCES IN THE
EMPIRE”--BEWARE OF THE PRESS LAWS--NOT TOO VENOMOUS--A
SURVEY OF BRITISH POLICY--THE CATALOGUE OF ENGLAND’S
SINS--TWO EMPRESSES AGAINST THE CHANCELLOR--QUEEN VICTORIA AT
CHARLOTTENBURG--DEATH OF THE “INCUBUS” 147

CHAPTER IV

THE EMPEROR FREDERICK’S DIARY--THE CHIEF ON THE DIARY AND ITS
AUTHOR--THE GERMAN QUESTION DURING THE WAR OF 1870--THE
EMPEROR FREDERICK AND HIS LEANING TOWARDS ENGLAND--THE
CHIEF PRAISES THE YOUNG EMPEROR--“BETTER TOO MUCH THAN
TOO LITTLE FIRE!”--I AM TO ARRANGE THE CHIEF’S PAPERS,
AND DO SO--LETTERS FROM FREDERICK-WILLIAM IV. AND FROM
WILLIAM I.--CORRESPONDENCE WITH AND CONCERNING THE CROWN
PRINCE (FREDERICK)--LETTERS TO AND FROM ANDRASSY DURING THE
NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE AUSTRO-GERMAN ALLIANCE--LETTERS FROM
THE EMPEROR ON THE SAME SUBJECT--WILLIAM I.’S RELUCTANCE TO
DESERT RUSSIA--CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE TSAR
AT ALEXANDROWO--WILLIAM I.’S FINAL INSTRUCTIONS--BISMARCK’S
ACCOUNT OF HIS RELATIONS WITH THE EMPEROR FREDERICK 190

CHAPTER V

SIGNS OF FRICTION BETWEEN THE CHANCELLOR AND THE YOUNG
EMPEROR--WITH THE CHIEF DURING THE CRISIS--HIS ANXIETY ABOUT
HIS PAPERS--HOW TO GET THEM AWAY--HIS RETIREMENT A FACT--THE
EMPEROR WANTS TO BE RID OF HIM IN ORDER TO GOVERN ALONE WITH
HIS OWN GENIUS--COURT FLUNKEYISM--HIS RETIREMENT IS NOT DUE
TO HIS HEALTH, NOR IS IT IN ANY SENSE VOLUNTARY--LETTERS
FROM BISMARCK TO WILLIAM I.--THE CHIEF ON THE INITIATION OF
PRINCE WILLIAM INTO PUBLIC AFFAIRS--THE GRAND DUKE OF BADEN’S
ADVICE TO THE EMPEROR FREDERICK--THE CHIEF TALKS OF WRITING
HIS OWN MEMOIRS--BUREAUCRATIC INGRATITUDE--FOREIGN OFFICE
APOSTATES--ACCORDING TO BUCHER THE NOTES DICTATED FOR THE
MEMOIRS ARE MERE FRAGMENTS, SOMETIMES ERRONEOUS--THE CHIEF’S
LIFE AT FRIEDRICHSRUH--SCHWENINGER’S APPREHENSIONS 305

CHAPTER VI

I AM INVITED TO FRIEDRICHSRUH--BUCHER AND THE PROPOSED
“MEMOIRS”--HE DOUBTS WHETHER THE LATTER WILL BE
COMPLETED--THE CHIEF--“BÜSCHLEIN” AS BEFORE--THE ANGLO-GERMAN
AGREEMENT--THE EMPEROR AND RUSSIA--THREE KINGS IN THEIR
NAKEDNESS--BÜSCHLEIN WILL WRITE THE SECRET HISTORY OF OUR
TIMES--THE PRINCE GIVES ME IMPORTANT PAPERS TO EXAMINE IN
MY ROOM: HIS RESIGNATION IN 1890, A DRAFT OF A CONFIDENTIAL
STATEMENT OF THE MOTIVES OF HIS RETIREMENT AND NOTES ON THE
ATTITUDE OF THE INDIVIDUAL MINISTERS ON THAT OCCASION--STILL
ANOTHER BOOK ON BISMARCK IN VIEW; CORRESPONDENCE ON THE
SUBJECT WITH BUCHER AND THE CHIEF HIMSELF; THE PLAN
DROPPED--LAST VISIT TO BUCHER IN JANUARY, 1892--HIS
DEATH--LAST STAY AT FRIEDRICHSRUH IN MAY, 1893--“GOOD BYE,
DEAR OLD FRIEND.” 350

BISMARCK

SOME SECRET PAGES OF HIS HISTORY