PRINCE BISMARCK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 964, 8 June 1883, Page 4

PRINCE BISMARCK.

■The Berlin correspp^d^t, jOf - ; an Australian contemporary, writing of the Chancellor of the German Empire, says:—lt seems that the idea of State Spcialistp as the only governing nostrum suitable to Germany’s complaint, has grown upon Prince Bismarck to such an extent that he can think and talk of nothing Slse. I have heard this lately from persons who have to do with him daily, and their accounts of his present “ view ” are curiously confirmed by the circumstance that the deutsthe Allgemeine r Zeitung, a semiofficial journal".'receivinginspiration direct fron/himself, selected' his birthday morning to publish a “ first leader,” printed in what is here' called “fat type/’ settidg-forth iSocialism as the only possible principle upon which to base a righteous and durable regime, and signalising tbeHohenzqllerp family motto, “ Suum cuiqui ttibuito” as the device of all'others which Socialists should, pnUlilJilftrgi^r^TH^pfr-r% embl6mati£ usCHs jjacafeexaUed-, order orcnivalry, and'ftbm that distinguished position,’' ;tthes’ -German Chancellor’s journalistic mouthpiece would transfer it to the flag of the Coramun--•ards. Such an anomaly is. sufficiently startling especially during the .“off” political season, and I am bound to say that it does so. The “humor ot it” is that Prince Bismarck all the while is at heart the staunchest of l ories. His enthusiasm for Socialism is entirely due to a conviction on his part tha r t Bocialfsm, dexterously * manipulated by his own master-hand, may be utilised as an instrument of power. To dominate this *emngly, untame, able monster — German empire has any need to fear—break it in, harness it, so to speak, 0 to th*d State coach, and drjve it-whithersoever he pleases, is teeming with temptations for so dajrjng-a, poli T tical entrepreneur as the German Chancellor, and anyone well acquainted wtthhim ijqadily understand his-; under-: taking it. But 1 cannot bring myself to ,it as anything moye than an not answer his expectations, he will one day get weary. He. has tried :so; raaqy, and not one, as yet, has even enabled him to secure a majority (in the German House of Commons) upon which he could reckon, to pass .three successive Government measures in one session ! Nor is there the least probability that* he will achieve this 1 particular disideratum by the aid of the Socialist faction, which eyery other Parliamentary party In Germany, including even the Progressionists, looks upon as the common foe —hostis humani generis. But his temporary adoption of Socialism as a “ governing principle ” may turn out a successful bid for popularity, and is at least an ingenious expedient for propitiating the disciples of Petroleum and Dynamite, who are alarmingly (i td the Iront” just now throughout Europe.. One cannot help feeling a little curious to know what the good old Kaiser—one of the few Sovereigns living who still believes in rule by Divine right—thinks of it all. Perhaps nobody tells him anything likely to annoy him, in which case,-as he never by any chance reads the papers himself, he may be ..entirely unaware that his trusted 'Ministers Press organ has been making hot propaganda ibr. a political creed, which proposes, as a primary observance »of. itsl tenets, to. abolish monmctfsp property; religion/ and family ties. I cannot help thinking that it ,woald «bmewhat < surprise l His Majesty to,learn this, well as to hear , that was regarded by the JBeparck-inspired journal as an. admirably terse and complete experience of the Sociil-Democratic articles of faith.