But we cannot forget
what was the color of English opinion down to the time when it was
demonstrated by the logic of cannon that the Prussian cause was
perfectly pure, and that it was to fly in the face of Providence to
question its excellence. If ever a man was hated in England, Count
Bismarck had the honor of being thus hated. And it was an honor; for
next to the love of a great people, their hatred is the best evidence of
a man's greatness. Napoleon in 1807 was not more detested by Englishmen
than Bismarck in 1866. The obnoxious Prussian statesman was not even
respected, for he had done nothing to command the respect of enemies.
From the tone in which he was talked of, it was plain that the English
considered him to be a mischievous, malicious, elfish sort of creature,
who could not do anything that would deserve to be considered great, but
who did his utmost to make himself and his country the nuisances of
Europe. Books have been made from English journals to show how
extraordinarily they berated this country during the Secession war,
because Americans were so brutally perverse and so selfishly silly as
not to submit their country's throat to the Southern sabre for the
benefit of Britain, which condescends to think that our national
existence is something not altogether compatible with her safety.
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