¶ Thus, we behold Otto von Bismarck, the rude, blond, Pomeranian giant--in spite of his coarse speeches, his brawls, his political card-stacking, his enormous egotism, his passionate seeking after power--play with Shakespearian subtlety on the strings of human passion.
There is no larger character-side to our Bismarck; so study it well and reflect on its wide meaning.
¶ We are not here to say what Bismarck should or should not have done, but we make up our mind about him by what he did do.
¶ He had peculiar ideas of religion, pleasure, duty, and certainly he had his own idea of what was best for Prussia, and finally for Germany.
¶ He bartered his immortal time for a King's crown and an Emperor's glory, guns, swords, forts, marchings up and down the land.
¶ He bartered his time in angry disputes with his fellow-man, for prisons, broken homes, murders, tears for 80,000 widows and orphans.
¶ He bartered his time for magnificent spectacles such as the coronation of William I in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, a palace outrivaling any creation of man since the days of Nebuchadnezzar.
¶ He bartered his time for grand balls for aristocrats in silk coats and ladies in diamonds and satin gowns.
¶ He bartered his time that a certain space in Europe be made over to his own liking. Other kings and emperors with equal logic wished to have this space made over in a way that seemed as good as the one Bismarck had in mind, but Bismarck regarding it as a calamity that other plans should come to pass, fought bitterly with sword and cannon to back his individual opinion against all who disputed with him.
¶ He bartered his time that a certain part of the map be marked with one name instead of thirty-nine names, as had been the case when he came to power as a young man in the politics of Prussia.
¶ And finally he bartered his immortal time in a thirty-years' gladiatorial fight that in the end millions of Germans might feel the tingle of blood-brotherhood. How he faced the long, heart-breaking battle, therein we find the true measure of our great Bismarck! Thus his work, as an individual, is absorbed in the larger life of the German Empire. These National services make Bismarck one of the immortals; and his name will be remembered affectionately by Germans for thousands of years.