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
Page 3. “There is no conflict of duties, as the first of these
duties is self-imposed. It rests with the King, and not with the
Crown Prince, to provide for the future of Prussia, and the future
will show whether ‘mistakes’ have been made, and on which side. In
cases where the ‘judgment’ of his Majesty is opposed to that of the
Crown Prince, the former must always be preponderant, and there
is therefore no conflict. H.R.H. himself recognises that in our
Constitution there is ‘no place for the opposition of the heir to the
throne.’ Opposition within the Council does not exclude obedience to
his Majesty once a matter has been decided. Ministers also oppose
when they hold different views, but they nevertheless obey” (The last
three words are underlined in pencil by the King, who added on the
margin: ‘When it is not opposed to their consciences,’) “the will
of the King, although it may be part of their duty to carry into
execution the measures they opposed.”
Page 4. “If H.R.H. knows that the Ministers act in accordance with
the will of the King, he cannot fail to see that the opposition of
the heir to the throne is directed against the reigning King himself.”
Page 5. “The Crown Prince has no call and no justification to enter
upon a ‘struggle’ (Kampf) against the will of the King, for the
precise reason that his Royal Highness has no official status. Each
Prince of the Royal House would be equally justified in ‘laying
claim’ to the duty of offering public opposition to the King, where
his views differed from those of the sovereign, and thus defending
the eventual rights of ‘himself and his children’ against the effects
of alleged mistakes by the Government of the King, that is to say, in
order to secure the succession, after the manner of Louis Philippe,
if the King were to be deposed by a revolution.”
Page 6. “The Minister President is to give a more detailed
explanation of the words used by him at Gastein.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account