Our Chancellor: Sketches for a Historical Picture, Volume 1Macmillan and Company, 1884 - Europe |
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affairs Alliance amongst army Arnim Austria Bavaria become believe Bennigsen Berlin Beust Bund Catholic Chancellor CHAP Christian circumstances compelled Conservative Constitution Count Buol Court Customs declared Deputies despatch diplomatic diplomatists Duchies Duchy of Lauenburg duty electors Emperor Empire endeavour Envoy existence expressed favour Federal Assembly Federal Diet feeling foreign France Frankfort French Gastein Gastein Convention gentlemen German Confederation German Dualism German Empire Government Herr Holstein honour Imperial influence interests Jews Junker Junkerdom King King of Prussia laws legislation Liberal Lower House Majesty majority Manteuffel matter means ment Minister Ministry monarchical negotiations North German Confederation object observed obtain official opinion Parliament Parliamentary party peace political position Prince Bismarck proposal Prussia question recognise regard Reichstag relations remarked representatives respect Saxony Schleswig sort Sovereign speech things tion Treaty Upper House utterances Varzin Vienna Vienna Cabinet Western Powers whilst words СНАР
Popular passages
Page 115 - gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely.
Page 51 - From the very beginning of my career my sole guiding-star has been how to unify Germany, and, that being achieved, how to strengthen, complete, and so constitute her unification that it may be preserved enduringly and with the goodwill of all concerned in it.
Page 120 - Nach drüben ist die Aussicht uns verrannt; Tor, wer dorthin die Augen blinzelnd richtet, Sich über Wolken seinesgleichen dichtet! Er stehe fest und sehe hier sich um; Dem Tüchtigen ist diese Welt nicht stumm. Was braucht er in die Ewigkeit zu schweifen! Was er erkennt, läßt sich ergreifen. Er wandle so den Erdentag entlang; Wenn Geister spuken, geh er seinen Gang, Im Weiterschreiten find er Qual und Glück, Er, unbefriedigt jeden Augenblick!
Page 112 - The will of God be done ! Everything here is only a question of time — races and individuals, folly and wisdom, war and peace, come and go like waves, but the sea remains still." (This image, if not borrowed from a psalm, or from one of the Scriptural prophets, is probably an echo of his Spinozistical studies.) " There is nothing upon this earth but hypocrisy and juggling ; and whether this mask of flesh be torn from us by fever or grapeshot, fall it must, sooner or later. When it does, a resemblance...
Page 119 - I say that for him who does not share that conviction the joys of this life must possess so high a value that I could almost envy him the sensations they must procure him." Or these: "Twenty years hence, or at most thirty, we shall be past the troubles of this life, whilst our children will have reached our present standpoint, and will discover with astonishment that their existence, but now so brightly begun, has turned the corner and is going down hill.
Page 127 - Why should I incessantly worry myself and labour in this world, exposing myself to embarrassments, annoyances, and evil treatment, if I did not feel bound to do my duty on behalf of God ? Did I not believe in a Divine ordinance, which has...
Page 114 - ... which most impressively brings before us the tragic grandeur and the portentous issues of Bismarck's career. It was twilight at Varzin, and the Chancellor, as was his wont after dinner, was sitting by the stove in the large back drawing-room. After having sat silent for a while, gazing straight before him, and feeding the fire now and anon with fir-cones, he suddenly began to complain that his political activity had brought him but little satisfaction and few friends. Nobody loved him for what...
Page 118 - For him who does not believe — as I do from the bottom of my heart — that death is a transition from one existence to another, and that we are justified in holding out to the worst of criminals in his dying hour the comforting assurance, mors janua...
Page 124 - Im Innern ist ein Universum auch ; Daher der Völker löblicher Gebrauch, Daß jeglicher das Beste, was er kennt, Er Gott, ja seinen Gott benennt, Ihm Himmel und Erden übergibt, Ihn fürchtet und wo möglich liebt.
Page 128 - Politician. [CHAF. having done so, I would long since have given it up. I know not whence I should derive my sense of duty, if not from God. Orders and titles have no charms for me ; I firmly believe in a Life after Death, and that is why I am a Royalist ; by nature I am disposed to be a Republican.