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Rh when one is sure of being the strongest; boldness in such a case may be akin to arrogance and insolence. But it is far different when one man, to all appearances the weaker party, in the defence of what he thinks right faces powerful enemies. Bismarck has never been mean-spirited. He has not begun to talk loud and proudly and to be aggressive, since he has become a great man ; on the contrary, he has risen to what he now is because he spoke and acted boldly and proudly when he was but a very small personage. At that time he was no more afraid of his horse, of his masters, of the senior students who wanted to snub him, of drowning, of a mob, than in later years he was  afraid of a murderer firing at him, of Parliamentary majorities, of the hatred of a powerful political party, and lastly, of great nations who rose in arms agaiast his policy. He has faced every kind of danger, though he was not blind to it, with the same undaunted courage.

He was not daunted when he was called a conspirator by his countrymen, nor when they accused him of having violated the Prussian constitution; and he showed singular serenity in those eventful days when William I., by his advice, went to war first with Austria and then with France. Prussia has proved herself stronger than either of those empires; but it should be borne in mind that, when she took the field, the almost universal belief, even among her friends, was that she would be beaten. But Bismarck was gifted with that boundless optimism, verging almost on madness, without which no great deed has ever been accomplished — the optimism which gives audacity, and which be longs to all great conquerors, — to Alex ander, to Cæsar, and to Napoleon. He certainly hoped to win the game he was playing, but he could not conceal from himself that all would be over with him if he lost it. Like a man who is always willing to double his stakes, and who, though he has had for a long time an uninterrupted run of good luck, will nevertheless at each new game stake again and again his whole fortune on a single card, Bismarck has played higher and higher. What would Prince Bismarck be now if, after Duppel, Prussia had been beaten at Sadowa, or after Sadowa at Gravelotte? He thought of this, but he was never afraid. The poor gentleman-farmer, the Junker who had to contract debts in order to be able to live in town, became successively an influential politician, a Parliamentary leader, minister at Frankfurt, St. Petersburg, Paris; prime minister, chancellor, count, prince; but still remained ready to give his adversaries new chances of defeating and crushing him; and it is our firm belief that, at the present moment, when he is at the pinnacle of power, presiding, so to speak, over the destinies of the civilized world, he would take up the gauntlet if it were thrown down to him, risk all he possesses, all he has won, and fight fiercely, fearlessly, with all his might and with all weapons, as he has always done.

There is a story told of Marshal Soult, It is said that in a battle where a strong position was to be carried by some of his troops who had been repulsed several times, and were hesitating to obey a new order to attack, Soult went to the front and called out to his soldiers: "You are afraid? What have you to lose? You can only win. You are nothing and have nothing. I am a marshal of France; I have two hundred thousand francs a year; I can gain nothing but may lose all — yet I am not afraid. Forward follow me!" And he led the way and won the battle.

Such a man is Prince Bismarck. He has nothing more to gain; he can lose all he possesses, and that is immense; but he shows to the front whenever there is danger — and he is not afraid. This should be taken into account when he is judged. Fortune has not spoiled him, or, perhaps we ought rather to say, has not changed him. He has not become overbearing. He has never been the anvil — always the hammer. He is now, in that respect, what he was forty years ago; only then his will was not felt beyond Schoenhausen and Kniephof, whereas now it is felt all over the world.

A man cannot, with impunity, be raised above the great majority of his fellow-creatures. He inevitably acquires an exalted notion of his personal value, and is induced to form at the same time a rather low estimate of mankind in general. A man who has accomplished great things in spite of manifold obstacles is likely to think himself always in the right, and to consider those who oppose him as always in the wrong.

It should also be borne in mind that, as a rule, mankind has not much pride or self respect, and that most men go about begging — for bread, for money, for titles, for favors, for colored ribbon even, to be wore in the button-hole of their coat. Mendicity is even more widespread over the world than mendacity; and none have so much to suffer from it as those who, having conquered a high position for