In the management of the internal affairs of the empire he cannot be said to have been as successful as was Cavour in Italy.  He was not in harmony with the spirit of the age, nor was he wise.  His persistent opposition to the freedom of the Press was as great an error as his persecution of the Catholics; and his insatiable love of power, grasping all the great offices of State, was a serious offence in the eyes of a jealous master, the present emperor, whom he did not take sufficient pains to conciliate.  The greatness of Bismarck was not as administrator of an empire, but rather as the creator of an empire, and which he raised to greatness by diplomatic skill.  His distinguishable excellence was in the management of foreign affairs; and in this power he has never been surpassed by any foreign minister.

Contrary to all calculations, this great proud man who has ruled Germany with so firm a hand for thirty years, and whose services have been unparalleled in the history of statesmen, was not too high to fall.  But he fell because a young, inexperienced, and ambitious sovereign,—­apt pupil of his own in the divine right of monarchs to govern, and yet seemingly inspired by a keen sensitiveness to his people’s wants and the spirit of the age,—­could not endure his commanding ascendency and haughty dictation, and accepted his resignation offered in a moment of pique.  He fell even as Wolsey fell before Henry VIII.,—­too great a man for a subject, yet always loyal to the principles of legitimacy and the will of his sovereign.  But he retired at the age of seventy-five, with princely estates, unexampled honors, and the admiration and gratitude of his countrymen; with the consciousness of having elevated them to the proudest position in continental Europe.  The aged Emperor William I. died in 1888, full of years and of honors.  His son the Emperor Frederick died a few months later, leaving a deep respect and a genuine sorrow.  The grandson, the present Emperor William II., has been called “a modern man, notwithstanding certain proclivities which still adhere to him, like pieces of the shell of an egg from which the bird has issued.”  He is yet an unsolved problem, but may be regarded not without hope for a wise, strong, and useful reign.

The builder of his country’s greatness, however, was too deeply enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen to remain in shadow.  After more than three years of retirement, Bismarck received from the young emperor on January 26,1894, an invitation to visit the imperial palace in Berlin.  His journey and reception in the capital were the occasion of tumultuous public rejoicings, and when the emperor met him, the reconciliation was complete.  The time-worn veteran did not again assume office, but he was the frequent recipient of appreciative mention by the kaiser in public rescripts and speeches, and on his seventy-ninth birthday, April 1,1894, he received from the emperor a greeting by letter and a steel cuirass, “as a symbol of the