PRINCE BISMARCK'S FOREIGN POLICY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 315, 12 March 1875, Page 3

PRINCE BISMARCK'S FOREIGN POLICY.

(From the ' Saturday Review.')

As the decision of the Court before which Count Arnim is being tried has not yet been made known, any discussion of the case as presented to the tribunal would be premature. It is true that his conduct as a diplomatist is not technically before the Court; but it is not much comfort or protection to a person accused if outsiders tell him that they cannot gay whether he is legally guilty, but that his general line of conduct has been morally deplorable and professionally discreditable. During the course of the proceedings, however, some important and interesting despatches from Prince Bismarck have been published which are a very valuable contribution to the recent history of Europe. Prince Bismarck's views as to the course to be taken in order to secure the payment of the indemnity must necessarily be taken in conjunction with his views as to non-interference with Fiance. For Count Arnim thought that to interfere in the internal affairs of France was the secret of getting the indemnity paid, lie urged that Germany, while its troops were still holding the territory, could practically decide what the form of Government in France should be, and that while any Government would be willing to pay the indemnity if it could, yet the superior solidity of a monarchial Government would most surely enable France to find the requisite money ; while its affinity with the form of Government established in Ger many wculd conduce to the maintenance of friendly relations between the two countries, and would tend to repress whatever elements of democratic disaffection might exist in Germany. He was not much inclined to one monarchial party more than to another, and after he saw the chances of the Bourbons dwindling away, he was for extending favor to the Bonapartes. Of M. Thiers he expressed a hearty dislike and distrust, regarding him as the main obstacle in the way of the consolidation of that form of Government which he considered most advantageous to Germany Prince Bismarck, en -

tirely dissented frois' this view, ife saidthat M. Thiers might be trusted to ; ay the indemnity, but that it was by no means clear that the same could be said of a monarch seated on a very shaky throne. Prince Bismarck, who always looked on European politics as a whole, which Count Arnim never did, asked himself what would happen if a French monarch were placed on the throm. Vienna would begin at once to bestir itself, and possibly St. Petersburg might take the same line Friendly, unpleasantly friendly, entreaties would be made to show the new monarchy a little reasonable indulgence, to give it time, and not press too rigidly for any money that might be due. Germany, if it insisted on its pound of flesh, might thus find itself under the disagreeable necessity of having to deny the requests of Powers with which it wished to stand well. Nor did Prince Bismarck at all agree with Count Arnim in thinking it of importance to the German monarchy that France should be under a monarchy tod. The Germans were not affected by what othe countries might choose to do. They saw the advantage of a monarchy for themselves, and recent events had only made them more attached to it. Experience had shown that every French Government, whether monoarchial or not, had tried to coquet with democracy in other nations, and a French monarch would be as ready to profit,, if he could, by the internal differences of Germans as the President of a French Republic. The only French Government that could do any real harm to Germany ivas a Legitimist one, as it would strengthen the Ultramontane enemies of the German Empire. But Prince Bismarck entirely declined to interfere with. France'even if it chose to take back Henry V. The French might do as they pleased about their Government provided that they paid the money they owed, and M. Thiers was the man on whom the greatest reliance for the payment of the money cou'd be placed. Events have abundantly justified Prince Bismarck M. Thiers did manage to get the indemnity paid, and get it paid Jong befure ~the final instalments were due. That lie, and he alone, could have done this, was the opinion of the French Assembly and of the French nation; and it was only when he had done this indispensible work that his enemies took measures to show their gratitude by turning him out of office. For the preservation of peace. Prince Bismarck trusted to his alliance with Aus - tria and .Russia. lie wished neither to meddle nor to permit meddling in little things which might lead to a rapture That the French would equally under every Government try their luck in a war of revenge, was, he held, too clear to admit of any reasonable doubt. Rut as long as France was without allies she was not at all formidable. The true w y to k ,j ep the French quiet was to make them feel that Germany was too strong for them to .attack single-hanJfii. o<ls£ 'mt.dwn ..me- , fuant ivas Prince Bismarck's simple maxim. He entreated, or, perhapa it ought to be said, ordered, Count Arnim to attend to great things, and to make little of small tlrngs. The greatest of things to attend to was the Russian alliance, and in dealing with Prince Orloff, the new Russian Ambassador at Paris, Prince Bismarck thought that Count Arnim should bear in mind that Prince Orl>iff, " being a patriot," would never forget the importance of the alliance of Germany to Russia, and that Count Arnim might therefore view with indifference the arts and manosuvres of Fiench society to make Prince Orlnft seem specially friendly to France. It was (inly those who could grasp the true foreign policy of Germany in its widest bearings that were competent to have anything to do with it, and Prince Bismarck accordingly expressed great surprise at Count Arnim's inquiring whether the minor States of Germany would be r< presented diplomatically abroad. They had the right to such representation, if they pleased to claim it; but ever}* one who could really appreciate the interests and situation of the German Empire must know that nothing could be more inconvenit-nt in practice. Small diplomatic meddling was not at all lik«-ly to conduce to the maintenance of peace based on the alliance of the three Eastern Empires. Nor would Prince Bismarck encourage any great sensitiveness on the part of Germans to the discourtesy shown them by the French. A' good kind lady like the German Empress might loudly hnp ; that all ill-feeling would die away directly peace was concluded, but experienced men could b ■ under no such lelusion. Prince Bismarck had verv little pity for German tradesmen and' artisans who chose to go to France after the war in order ..to make mcney, and then complained that they were not well received. If there was anything of which formal notice could 'betaken, Prince Bismarck wished that a very decided line should be adopted, and he was even more decided than Count Arnim himself in desiring reparation to be made for a discourtesy said to have been shown at the President's table by Madame de Rothschild to Count mini. That any such discourtesy was • ver shown is not to be fur a moment assumed. Tt is best not to believe anything that Germans or Frenchmen say of each other. If ever there was a point as to which all French observers agreed, it was that the German officers habitually beat their private soldiers during the war , but we understand that Germans of the highest respectability, and with ample means of knowing the truth, deny that anything of the sort ever took place except very rarely, and that then the officers were made to apologise before the regi<oent. Whether Count Arnim was insulted, or only imagined himself to be so, at any rate Prince Bismarck was for taking up warmly a case of positive annoyance ; but he strongly aavi-ed Count Arnim, if fine ladies and gentlemen merely cut him, to hear it with indifference. Nor would he give any countenance to a suggestion that the policy of France towards Ttaly should be watched with a jealous eye. Prince Bismarck had not the slightest objection to Italy and France being on

the best terms possible. "Unfriendliness between them might leal to a war, arid a war between France and Italy would be a mi .fortune to Germany, as Germany could not afford to B_ee Italy crushed and bo she have to go to war however, much against her will - It is. not often" that a statesman can be said to have been right throughout, but as (to the questions touched on in the despatches now published, it is not sayingv;too much to say that Prince Bismarck was right throughout in the main lines of policy. He got his money, he allowed France to nurse itself into a neutral nondescript-sort of Government which is. exceedingly inoffensive to neighboring Powers, and| he has kept the peace of Europe unimpaired. So far as can he seen, not one. of tllese objects would have been at tained if Count Arnim had had the direction of German affairs, and if the policy of Count Arnim had prevailed.