MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 599 



nneasily about, and his fingers fumbling his mustache 

 or his clothing or the papers on his desk. He puffed, 

 snorted, and floundered ; seemed to make assertions with 

 out proof and phrases without point; when suddenly he 

 would utter a statement so pregnant as to clear up a whole 

 policy, or a sentence so audacious as to paralyze a whole 

 line of his opponents, or a phrase so vivid as to run 

 through the nation and electrify it. Then, perhaps after 

 more rumbling and rambling, came a clean, clear, histori 

 cal illustration carrying conviction; then, very likely, a 

 simple and strong argument, not infrequently ended by 

 some heavy missile in the shape of an accusation or taunt 

 hurled into the faces of his adversaries ; then, perhaps at 

 considerable length, a mixture of caustic criticism and 

 personal reminiscence, in which sparkled those wonderful 

 sayings which have gone through the empire and settled 

 deeply into the German heart. I have known many clever 

 speakers and some very powerful orators; but I have 

 never known one capable, in the same degree, of over 

 whelming his enemies and carrying his whole country with 

 him. Nor was his eloquence in his oratory alone. There 

 was something in his bearing, as he sat at his ministerial 

 desk and at times looked up from it to listen to a speaker, 

 which was very impressive. 



Twice I heard Moltke speak, and each time on the army 

 estimates. Nothing could be more simple and straight 

 forward than the great soldier s manner. As he rose, he 

 looked like a tall, thin, kindly New England schoolmaster. 

 His seat was among the representatives, very nearly in 

 front of that which Bismarck occupied on the estrade. On 

 one of these occasions I heard him make his famous decla 

 ration that for the next fifty years Germany must be in 

 constant readiness for an attack from France. He spoke 

 very rarely, was always brief and to the point, saying with 

 calm strength just what he thought it a duty to say nei 

 ther more nor less. So Caesar might have spoken. Bis 

 marck, I observed, always laid down his large pencil and 

 listened intently to every word. 



