¶ The Prince, thunderstruck, wrote in reply two words, "Otto--Adieu!"
¶ Nor was this all. The Pope bestowed upon Bismarck the Order of Christ, for ameliorating the last of certain hard conditions against the Church, dating from the culture-struggle of years gone by.
¶ In 1871, Emperor William I had invested Bismarck with the hereditary dignity of Prince, and William II conferred on Bismarck, at the time of dismissal (1890), the title Duke of Lauenburg, together with a larger share of the Duchy of Lauenburg, an estate on which the Emperor expended $1,000,000.
¶ The old man's income was now said to be in excess of $100,000 a year; in addition he received unnumbered gifts of a princely nature, as well as priceless tokens of sentimental esteem, from patriotic Germans the world around.
¶ It was a relief to Bismarck, in his old age, to know that his family would be rich and famous. He had been deeply engrossed in politics for years, and all his ambitions had been exhausted on his beloved Germany; he not only had no time to make money, but was heavily in debt; his interest account, for loans, was said to have been, for many years, $30,000 per annum.
How he managed to keep his head above water (with all the distractions of statesmanship, to say nothing of the burdens of three great wars, and the embarrassments of his private finances) shows the man's iron constitution as well as his sagacity in practical affairs.
¶ In all, Bismarck received forty-eight orders of distinction, at the hands of monarchs; also a long list of university degrees, medals and golden keys bestowing the freedom of German cities.
¶ The immediate cause of Bismarck's dismissal had to do with an old "Order in Council," 1852, to the effect that the Prime Minister, as head of the Prussian Cabinet, had autocratic powers.
This order the Kaiser now abruptly countermanded. The decision was made following an interview between Bismarck and Dr. Windhorst, at Bismarck's house.
William II did not much like this political jockeying on the part of Bismarck; Windhorst was an enemy of the established order; therefore, that the Prussian Chancellor should hold a secret caucus with a politician objectionable to the Emperor created a crisis.