eat deeds--is the Prussian "Kreis"
and "Provinzial-Ordnung," first introduced in 1874. No more logical
deduction was possible than this commencement of decentralization within
the Prussian monarchy. Before that date provincial diets had existed for
fifty years, and a kind of assembly had also managed certain affairs for
the Kreis, an administrative unit smaller than an English county, and
averaging about one hundred thousand inhabitants. In the same proportion
as German unity made progress, it was believed that self-government
ought to become more extensively introduced, and the "tendency of the
blood toward the head" or capital, be obviated. The example of home rule
presented by the "Kreis" and the provinces of Prussia since this reform,
is not assuredly of a nature to frighten weak nerves. But much money is
now usefully spent within and by the provinces independently of any
decree from a central authority; and as regards willingness to work on
provincial and (so to say) county boards, it is said to be beyond all
praise. An English public man of high standing assured me, some years
ago, that these Prussian beginnings of home rule had attracted the
serious notice of Mr. Gladstone. I do not wonder at it.

Another permanent good for which Germany seems indebted to Bismarck, and
the last I will mention, is of quite modern date--I mean his colonial
policy. Individual Germans have, at all times and in immense numbers,
found their way across the sea. On the Baltic and North Sea coast,
German ports, though few in number, yet command a very large trade.
Next to the English, German traders form the most numerous community in
every place, however remote, where business of any kind can be
transacted. But to convert the inland Philistines--that vast majority of
Germans who have never sniffed sea-air--into enthusiasts for a colonial
empire required all Bismarck's ability and prestige. No doubt he
descried in the movement a chance for a diversion of the public mind
from obnoxious topics. It was useful to him to produce an impression as
if the export trade, stagnating as it must under the baneful effects of
modern protection, could rally under the influence of colonial
enterprise. These considerations would not, however, suffice to explain
his long-considered, cautious proceedings in this matter. To comprehend
his motives fully, it will be necessary to admit that his prescient mind
would consider the time, apparently not very far dista