Bismarck: some secret pages of his history (Vol. 3 of 3). Being a diary kept by Dr. Moritz Busch during twenty-five years' official and private intercourse with the great ChancellorBusch, Moritz
History
Bismarck: some secret pages of his history (Vol. 3 of 3). Being a diary kept by Dr. Moritz Busch during twenty-five years' official and private intercourse with the great Chancellor
Busch, Moritz
Bismarck, Otto, Fürst von, 1815-1898
consort.” It is then stated that the Crown Princess’s most powerful
supporter is Queen Augusta, who is extremely anxious as to her own
position towards the country. They have had a memorandum drawn up by
President Camphausen on the internal situation in Prussia, attacking
the present Government, which was laid before the King. In a marginal
note the King observes that the principles therein recommended would
lead to revolution. Meyer, the Councillor of Embassy, is Augusta’s
instrument, and it is beyond question that he is associated with
the Anglo-Coburg party. The participation of Professor Duncker[17]
as also of Baron Stockmar, would appear to be less certain. The
memorandum dictated to Zitelmann is accompanied by comments in the
Chief’s handwriting--either a long letter or a _pro memoriâ_ for the
King--in which the views expressed by the Crown Prince are refuted
point by point. In the course of his criticism the writer says,
_inter alia_: “The pretension that a warning from his Royal Highness
should outweigh royal decisions, come to after serious and careful
consideration, attributes undue importance to his own position and
experience as compared to those of his sovereign and father. No one
could believe that H.R.H. had any share in these acts of personal
authority, as everybody knows that the Prince has no vote in the
Ministry.... The _démenti_ at Danzig was therefore superfluous. The
liberty of H.R.H. to form his own conclusions was not affected by
his attendance at the sittings, where he can keep himself in touch
with the affairs of State and hear the views of others and express
his own, which we hold to be the duty of the heir to the throne.
The performance of this duty, when it becomes known through the
newspapers, can only elicit on all sides approval of the diligence
and conscientiousness with which the Crown Prince prepares himself
for his high and serious vocation. The words ‘with my hands tied’
have no meaning. It is utterly impossible that the country should
identify H.R.H. with the Ministry, as the country knows that the
Crown Prince is not called upon to take any official part in its
decisions.
“Unfortunately, the attitude which H.R.H. has adopted towards the
Crown is sufficiently known in the country, and is condemned by every
father of a family, to whatever path he may belong, as a disavowal of
that paternal authority which it is an offence to our feelings and
traditions to ignore. Even now clergymen are preaching from the text
2 Samuel, ch. xv., verses 3 and 4. H.R.H. could not be more seriously
damaged in the eyes of public opinion than by the publication of this
answer.” (That of the Prince to his father’s letter.)
Page 2 (of the answer). “It is true that H.R.H.’s situation is a
thoroughly false one, because it is not the business of the heir to
the throne to raise the banner of opposition to his King and father.
He can only fulfil his ‘duty’ by retiring from that position and
again adopting a proper attitude.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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