Prince Bismarck has made two remarkable confessions this week to
some visitors from Leipsic. He had never, he said, been a happy man, the struggle of his early life having been -too incessant, and the cares which accompanied his success, too grave to allow of happiness. The few minutes of real happi- ness he had enjoyed, would not, if all counted together, exceed twenty-four hours. The statement is of course an exaggeration, -the Prince counting only the hours of conscious happiness, which are few for any one; but the statement coming from a man who has achieved such grand successes, is note- worthy. Did he ever care enough for a cause to be delighted when he had won it P The other confession is that he and his old master, the Emperor William, both preferred truth, but sometimes had to diverge publicly from it. "How hard that was for the old Emperor. He invariably blushed on such occasions, and I could not look at him, and turned quickly away." The Prince does not even allege that lie blushed, holding, we fancy, as he once avowed, that lying is part of the duty of a diplomatist. One does not blush when performing an executive duty !
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