purchase of varzin.—the verandah.—the park.—the name of bismarck famous.—house inscriptions.—popularity of bismarck.—in an ambush of school-girls.—conclusion.
in the april of 1867 count bismarck went to see the estates of varzin (consisting of varzin, wussow, puddiger, misdow, and chomitz), near schlawe, in farther pomerania, and soon afterwards purchased them. in the autumn of that year, as we have said, he spent some weeks at varzin, but in the following year he remained there, unfortunately in great illness, from june to december. he soon made himself at home there, and is fond of varzin, as may be readily understood from its being close to the birthplace of his wife—beloved reinfeld. nothing is wanting there to his enjoyment—there are trees, and plenty of good riding and hunting. he converses with every one who meets him, in forest and field, in a friendly manner, and is fond of talking “platt” with the country people. recently he said to an old laborer known to him, who had been ill: “nu seid ihr wohl wieder ganz auf dem tüge?” (you’re all right on the main again?) “i ja,” replied the old man, “sie sollten man ok hie blieven, denn würden sie noch mal so frisch!”. (ay! oh, you’d a vast deal better ztop ’ere; yow’d be eer zo mooch vresher!) bismarck laughed. “yes—if one could be as you are, and always stop in varzin, i believe you!”
if one turn south on the c?slin-danzig road, by the large village of carwitz—recently marked as a station on the railway from c?slin to danzig—after a short drive on a good road, some three german miles, one reaches the bismarck estates with great ease. it is a very pleasant neighborhood, alternating with wooded hillocks, meadows and waters, wood and plough-land. there is nothing very magnificent about it, nothing very pretentious;[451] but it is a pleasant spot, and the countess bismarck once merrily called it, very appropriately, “a pretty little humpy countrykin.”
varzin can not be seen from the distance; it is hidden by woods. the descending road divides the mansion, to the right, from the farm-buildings on the left, forming a long parallelogram.
varzin does not look nearly so aristocratic as sch?nhausen, which bismarck calls his “old stone-heap.” a building of one story, with two wings, all painted pale yellow, surrounds a somewhat roomy courtyard, open to the road. on the principal building, on the gable, are the arms of blumenthal. the steps of the stairway are occupied by orange-trees, myrtles, and laurels. we saw a young donkey running about, who was eating the fallen laurel-leaves with a very good appetite. the possessor of varzin must feel very much flattered that laurels abound so much in his house that there are enough to feed donkeys!
on this open staircase, or rather verandah, bismarck receives his guests, like a simple country nobleman, in a green coat, white waistcoat, and yellow neckcloth, and with a hearty shake of the hand makes them free of the hospitality of his house. on this[452] verandah the countess stands with her daughter, and looks with beaming eyes and happy face after the three sportsmen who are proceeding towards the forest and wave their hands in greeting back to her. and for others—for every one—it is a pleasant sight to see count bismarck walking between his sons, his rifle over his shoulder, or riding on horseback. on this verandah also the last farewell takes place between mother and sons. after the longest possible holiday, they return to school at berlin, while bismarck himself orders the postillion to make haste, that he may not lose the mid-day train at c?slin. the honest pomeranian, with the well-fed face above his orange collar, has no idea that there exists an intimate bond between himself and the great[453] minister—that in his capacity, as chancellor of the north german confederation, he is his highest representative.
the interior of the mansion of varzin is habitable and comfortable, but there is nothing otherwise remarkable about it. to the right of the hall on which you enter, is the dining-room, which is connected with the kitchen and servants’ rooms in the left wing; to the left is the count’s room, the large centre-table of which is covered with maps. maps, especially those of a minute kind, are an old hobby of bismarck’s; if a trip is projected, or guests are departing, the road is accurately measured off beforehand on the map. this zealous study of maps has always seemed to us very characteristic of bismarck’s whole nature; he always desires to know the road he is travelling in the most accurate manner; he considers the advantages, and weighs them against the annoyance. the windows of this apartment look out on the courtyard. to the right again is the countess’s room, the windows opening on the park, and thence there is a really magnificent view: in the bright summer moonlight nights, one would think that one had, by enchantment, some fragment of early french court life, from meudon or rambouillet. on the other side of a prattling little brook, crossed by a pretty little bridge, the park, with its fine old trees—oaks and beeches—rises in terraces up the hill-side, and the white statues contrast well with the green foliage. at such a sight, one thinks of the “enchanted night” of tieck; and indeed there is somewhat of the “wondrous world of fa?rie” in the whole aspect of the scene—in its antique but eternally youthful splendor.
our readers know, from the letters we have given, how passionately bismarck loves such scenery. there is a great deal more of the romantic poet and sentimental german in the great statesman, than would appear at first sight. he sometimes recognizes this himself with a smile.
the park of varzin by moonlight has indeed a peculiar old-fashioned appearance; very little imagination is necessary to people it with gentlemen in court uniforms and swords, hats under their arms, and ladies with towering head-dresses, hoops, and high shoes. on these terraces, over the pretty flower-banks, and round the white statues, there breathes the whole inspiration of a life which, for a long time, was unjustly contemned, and afterwards[454] was properly derided, when fashion became its distinguishing trait, after the petit ma?tre style—a life we can not wish back again, but which we can not but love, it having been that of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and containing in it, with many traits of insignificance, some great and admirable features. we may laugh at it, but it contains some pretty ideas!
to return to our description. next to the countess’s drawing-room are the bedrooms, and to the right of these again is a hall, where an enormous black-oak staircase, reminding one of the other staircase at sch?nhausen, leads to the upper story. in this hall, and in the antechamber, one sees the horns of two immense moufflons, two tremendous stag-antlers, and some others of different ages. these all belong to bismarck’s hunting expedition in the park at sch?nbrunn, when he hunted there after the danish war, with his royal master, as the guest of the emperor of austria. the emperor francis joseph at that time very graciously sent these trophies to bismarck at berlin.
on the other side of this hall, by way of a small room, one passes behind the dining-room into a large garden saloon and conservatory, with a pretty pavilion. in one of the guest-chambers of the right wing, on the ground-floor, there is a picture ghastly to look upon, of the master of the house, in life-size, which, as friedrich gerst?cker, the unwearied traveller, informs us, is sold in great numbers in venezuela. a worthy transatlantic correggio, the name not yet known to fame, has depicted the count in a sky-blue miller’s coat and bright green trowsers, red neckerchief, and rosy red gloves, such as the dandies of caraccas probably wear, after a photograph. there is not a trace of likeness in the face, and yet there is something so characteristic in the attitude, that one immediately knows who one has before one—something so like that the very dogs bark at it. bismarck, it is well known, is an especial favorite among the germans in america. several new cities have been named after him; there is a bismarck on the conchos in texas, and a bismarck in missouri; the locality of a third we do not recollect. a considerable trans-oceanic trade is carried on in terribly bad photographs of the minister-president, and a german cutler has made himself a little fortune by his bismarck knives; these knives are distinguished by a very sharp and strong blade. nor has the old[455] world remained behind the new in its admiration. german vessels bear bismarck’s name and likeness, under the black and white and red flag, to the farthest shores. acute champagne-makers compete with veuve clicquot and the duc de montebello under the designation of bismarck-sch?nhausen, and from cannes, in southern france, to rügenwaldermünde, in farther pomerania, speculative hotel-keepers announce that “rooms have just been engaged here for count bismarck.” after the english style, the name of bismarck has been bestowed as a baptismal name; we ourselves know a little fr?ulein von x., named wilhelmine bismarck sadowa, born the 3d of july, 1866. in spain the lucifer-match boxes significantly bear the portraits of bismarck and his royal master.
we have been especially pleased at finding bismarck’s name in the true german household phrases. thus, a dear and lately deceased friend, the privy councillor dr. von arnim, wrote over his door:—
lang lebe und blühe k?nig wilhelm, mein held;
mit ihm soll behalten graf bismarck das feld!
long live and flourish king william, my hero; with him shall count bismarck keep the field.
several house proprietors in berlin have adopted this sentence; but still more apposite is the following inscription on the house of a master weaver:—
als wilhelm wirkt und bismarck spann,
gott hatte seine freude dran. 1866.
as william worked and bismarck spon,
god had his joy thereon. 1866.
gardeners have started a bismarck rose, and a giant bismarck strawberry, and the fashionable world attires itself in bismarck brown. at our request, the management of the bazar, the most competent house for such things, has kindly shown us fourteen shades of this color in silk, and informed us at the same time that there are many more of such bismarck shades; that bismarck foncé is not nearly so dark as bismarck courroucé. this color originally was called hanneton (may beetle), and soon drove the vert metternich from the field; while in austria a small cake (semmel), strewn with a little poppy-seed, shaped like a pigtail, holds its sway with the radetzky k?pfel. on the paraná[456] and paraguay the steamer count bismarck runs up and down the river. at alexandria the passage bismarck is full of brown and black forms. at blumberg, in the south australian colony of adelaide, the germans assemble in the bismarck hall, and to keep up their national enthusiasm over a drink, they smoke cigars “conde de bismarck.” these are considered highly elegant, but cost one hundred and thirty dollars a pound, although there is a cheaper medium bismarck cigar.
in the grand duchy of posen, by a cabinet order of the king, the four places karsy, bobry, budy, and zwierzchoslaw, in the circle of pleschen, have been, at the desire of the inhabitants, incorporated as bismarcksdorf.
in berlin the bismarck-strasse unites the roon-strasse with the moltke-strasse; while in 1865 the malice of the berlin wits wanted to change the name of the wasserthor-strasse, when the terrible fall of the houses took place there, into bismarck-strasse.
in south germany the belief that bismarck does every thing and can do every thing, down to the spanish revolution, and perhaps even directs the weather, is continually spreading. oddly enough, the ultramontane enemies of bismarck especially take care to spread the name of the minister-president. they certainly paint black over black, but they make the nation familiar with his fame, and though they may ever depict him as a sort of devil, truth will break through at last.
is bismarck really popular? this may be a curious question to ask, but it may still be legitimately put, for in the ordinary sense of the word bismarck is not popular, despite his worldwide fame. for instance, he is not popular as in our days cavour and garibaldi have been. he has not the popularity of the ruling party opinion and that of the day, but, in place of it, his is the historical popularity which will preserve his memory to a grateful posterity. a correspondent of the liberal paris paper, le temps, very excellently expresses our meaning in the following remarks:—“the chancellor of the north german confederation is not what we can call a popular man; the prussians, or at least the berlinese, entertain for him a similar feeling to that entertained by the other germans for prussia. they do not love him; they love to exercise their wit upon him, and you know how biting and salted the berlin wit is; but they acknowledge[457] him and wonder at him, showing him tolerance. they look upon him as the greatest statesman of the present day; are proud of him, although he often presses hard upon them. m. de bismarck has for the prussians an incomparable magic, particularly since he opposed the policy of napoleon. since 1866, a change has taken place which has surprised me, although there is nothing very surprising in it. before 1866, the premier in every thing he did had the world pretty much against him—to-day every impulse is expected from him, and if he gives it, almost every one is at his back.”
the question of popularity, as far as the great world is concerned, may well be left here; but in varzin and the neighboring districts it has long since been determined. only ask his farmers and laborers! and with the daring blacksmith—(or was it a miller?)—who secretly poaches on bismarck’s preserves, the minister-president is, perhaps, the most popular of any.
it is a real pleasure to see bismarck at varzin among his trees; not during those restless nocturnal wanderings in the park, to which his sleepless illness only too frequently impels him, but when he is pleasantly pointing out his favorites to his guests. it was an event when the north german chancellor, the summer before last, discovered three magnificent beeches in the midst of a thicket.
on a declivity with a beautiful view, there is a rich deer preserve. bismarck might even erect a falconry, and hunt with hawks—there are plenty in the netherlands still. but this imperial and royal amusement is for him too—reactionary.
one day bismarck thought, as he was riding to the crangener frontier, whither he had sent his gamekeeper, that he caught a glimpse of a peculiar blue animal which fled before him. but when he came up with it, it proved to be a blue parasol, and he himself had fallen into an ambuscade, for he found himself suddenly surrounded by a crowd of young ladies, who received him with songs. the pastor in crangen kept a young ladies’ school, who, having heard that bismarck was coming, thus paid their respects to him in so unexpected a way, and left him, delighted with his amiability. crangen, an ancient hunting castle of the dukes of pomerania, standing picturesquely, with its four stately towers and high gables, between three lakes and high mountains,[458] is, without doubt, the most beautiful spot in this neighborhood. it belongs to the royal major retired rank freiherr hugo von lo?n, who is bismarck’s nearest neighbor in that direction.
the long residence of bismarck at varzin during the summer before last has directed the eyes of all europe on this modest seat in farther pomerania. varzin was an old fief of the family of von zitzewitz, who possessed many estates in this neighborhood. it is said that it came per fas et nefas into the possession of the very powerful privy minister of state and war and principal president of pomerania, caspar otto von massow, who then sold it to major general adam joachim, count of podewils. count podewils and his brothers received a renewal of the fief, and it was a heritage in their family, until in this century it passed through an heiress to a von blumenthal, werner constantine von blumenthal, who was raised to a countship in 1840. bismarck purchased the varzin estates from the younger sons of this blumenthal. they form, with varzin, wussow—where the church is situated, puddiger, misdow, chomitz, and charlottenthal, a considerable property. the soil is not equal throughout; the forests are very fine and stately; the wood in good condition. the game is very plentiful—few stags, but plenty of roes, hares, and smaller game. the wipper, which falls into the baltic at rügenwaldermünde, five german miles from varzin, serpentines through the forests of the bismarck property, and in part forms the boundary of the estate, and is very useful for the transportation of the timber.
formerly there were considerable glass factories in misdow and chomitz, but they are no longer worked, nor is any spirit distilled there; but a wood factory it is said is in use—certainly a profitable business in this neighborhood, so full of wood.