. The life of Bismarck, private and political;. but we think that it is necessary to be verycareful in censuring his individual political acts, even where suchunpleasant surprises occur, for actually a quite incomparable po-litical instinct has fitted him for leadership, and has caused himto discover ways and means not existing in any programme,sometimes coming into severe collision with theory, but in prac-tice either have or will have great blessings in them for thePrussian kingdom and the German people. We have depicted Bismarck in person at various ages; of lat-ter years he has altered but
. The life of Bismarck, private and political;. but we think that it is necessary to be verycareful in censuring his individual political acts, even where suchunpleasant surprises occur, for actually a quite incomparable po-litical instinct has fitted him for leadership, and has caused himto discover ways and means not existing in any programme,sometimes coming into severe collision with theory, but in prac-tice either have or will have great blessings in them for thePrussian kingdom and the German people. We have depicted Bismarck in person at various ages; of lat-ter years he has altered but little at first sight. Those who have 422 BISMAKCK AS CHANCELLOR. only seen him in the distance at the Chamber or the Diet, look-ing round with his eye-glass, looking through papers, or playingwith his pencil, will only have seen the tall form in the Kingsplain blue uniform, with a single Order—a cross hanging fromthe neck. It is necessary to draw nearer to observe that time hasdone more than pass with a friendly greeting by the Chancellor. .??,??????? of the Diet. Such years of service as those of Bismarck, in thisperiod of his life, count double, like soldiers years. Bismarck,according to this calculation, is more than fifty-four years ofage. As an orator, too, the Chancellor of the Diet is almost the sameas of old, only he has grown quieter. A member of the Diet, BISMAKCKS ORATORY. 423 Herr L. Bamberger, describes him in his book as follows:*— Count Bismarck is certainly no orator in the usual sense of theword, yet, in spite of many defects in his delivery, he commandsthe attention of his audience by the evident force with which histhoughts work within him. It seems, besides, as if the habit ofspeaking in public, and especially the certainty which is so req-uisite, and which he now possesses of obtaining the ear of his au-dience, has materially contributed of late years to the develop-ment of his parliamentary faculty. Yet in the year 1866, one ofhis admirers, who had a
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