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他终其一生都是保皇党，他的立足点是君主制。他宣称自己对国王的忠诚是他信仰上帝的结果，然而这种信仰的表现形式是怪异的。他是清教徒，极其务实，理性主义的世界观根深蒂固。在很多年里，直到去世那天，他的床头柜上始终放着一本祈祷书，而书里却夹着一些空白页，上面记下了夜里出现在他脑海的政治思想：这真是俾斯麦特有的虔诚。
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然而，这些超验主义的理念并未使俾斯麦对其他贵族有任何敬意，特别是德国贵族，尽管他们也自以为是靠神授的权力进行统治。恰相反，俾斯麦对他们极尽蔑视讽刺。对所有的普鲁士国王，他无一爱戴，包括对弗雷德里克一世。对他所侍奉的统治者们，更是不屑一顾。但有一条世代相传的封建关系纽带，把他和他们联结起来，这也只有血统能够解释了。贵族理当效忠国王，臣下理当效忠贵族。然而，在俾斯麦的革命个性中对自由的热爱是多么强烈。
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俾斯麦与国王之间的关系基本上是平等的。尽管他一贯遵循礼节，话表指称自己为“卑微的”或“顺从的”，但是，他对主人的行为是持怀疑态度的，一旦感到制压束缚时，他也会咬断主人给他戴上的金链子。
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最后，他甚至还咬了主人的手。没有什么能比俾斯麦挺身对抗他唯一承认的权威——国王——能更充分地暴露他潜在的革命倾向。重要的不是他做了，而是他做的方式。当这位魁梧的老人受召遵从一位无能的年轻君主骄横的指令时，他反抗了。这次反抗的每一细节都反映出他性格中的骄傲、强硬以及完全的独立自主。俾斯麦继承的贵族血统，不允许他行事站在德国人民的立场，而非普鲁士国王的立场。然而，没有什么——即使是他津津乐道的信仰也不行——能阻止他性情中的另一种高贵挺身反抗这个上帝钦点的王子，让这个年轻的白痴受到应得的教训。
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过去，俾斯麦会当面谨慎地向国王谏言，或者关起门来表达反对意见，通常都有臣下在场。但是这次，他就像被激怒的獒犬一样，对主人不公平的对待大发雷霆。俾斯麦的失控，是他被继承的行为准则多年来所压抑的冲动的一次宣泄。有两个原因使这次强烈的冲突能够被掩饰过去：第一，缺少一个与俾斯麦旗鼓相当的对手；第二，据说俾斯麦与国王出于某种原因和解了。
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然而，即使现在，俾斯麦也绝不想公开造反。是因为这位七十五岁的老人缺少了当年勇吗？或者他的保皇政治倾向依然是不可跨越的障碍？无论如何，他没有越界，最多就是在辞职演讲中，对国王和贵族们进行了尖锐抨击。最后他愤怒地离朝归野，丢出的石块砸到摇摇欲坠的皇宫建筑上，噼啪作响。
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然而建筑依然屹立不倒。俾斯麦执政了二十八年。在他离去二十八年之后，旧的王朝制度才崩溃。德国的敌人终于看到了皇室的坍塌。
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但它并没有土崩瓦解！除了敌人抽掉的石头，没有一块石头离开原来的位置。是啊，在国难当头的时刻，能工巧匠努力让这些柱石比之前更坚不可摧。而现在显而易见的是，德国人一直视为帝国基石并尊崇有加的皇室，不过徒有其表，不堪一击。
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王国的幸存充分表明，俾斯麦在其政治方略中赋予王室的重要角色，纯粹是对他所属阶级的让步——甚至可以说他是软弱的。因为当王室败落，帝国幸存之时，俾斯麦防患于未然的方略，尽管不无传统的历史包袱，结果证明是合理的。当大风暴过去，人们环顾四周，发现俾斯麦比他自己所希望的要更有前瞻性。
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当凡尔赛帝国建立的时候，在胜利的炮声中，凡尔赛宫玻璃画廊的金色镜子所映照的都是好战贵族的形象；勤劳的民众无处可觅。四十八年后仍然是在凡尔赛宫，帝国失败被判赔偿，金色镜子里不再有一个王室人物。欧洲最后的三个帝王，不是被砍头就是被废黜。历经二十二朝的德国王室丧失了权力，并非迫于外界强制，亦非来自内部压力，而是由于自身的腐败，由于时代的衰落，它已经完成了历史使命，正走向寿终正寝。
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然而，两位平民在那一历史时刻被迫签字的文件，毁掉的只是威廉二世的工作，而非俾斯麦的政绩。正是威廉二世制定的那些政策，最终使德国卷入战争，而这正是俾斯麦反对的。典型的例子是，这位缔国者不主张建立外国殖民地和海军。是俾斯麦把帝国推向了胜利之巅吗？他不是仅仅将战争作为手段，为的是阻止欧洲干涉德国统一吗？之后二十年，不正是俾斯麦抵制帝国主义的倾向以及军事扩张的诱惑吗？不正是俾斯麦在尼科尔斯堡顶着国王和所有将军们的愤怒，签订了现代和平条约：没有割让领土，没有赔偿，只是表明了与敌人尽快恢复友好关系的愿望。所以，俾斯麦真的过时了吗？
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尽管宣称效忠王室，他直到生命尽头依然愤懑不平，过着孤独的流亡生活。在他将近八十岁的时候，人们劝他平静下来，安享晚年，他从浓密的眉毛下抬眼问道：“我为什么要平静？”他与外界打交道时是坚硬的，而把全部的温情都倾注在了过世的妻子身上。这个妇人曾是他温暖的港湾。在她的身上，集中了俾斯麦对静谧、森林和家的全部渴望，这种渴望对他烦躁而纠结的性格是一种折磨；他也同样热爱行政事务和政治组织，总是忙于处理国家事务。他的政治生涯越是动荡，他的婚姻就越需要平静——它也确实是平静的。
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俾斯麦的批判性头脑，让他很自然地转向了历史和文学创作。他天生热爱森林和打猎，是个厌恶官场的乡下人。年轻时他无所追求，逗留乡村，到了晚年，他更是长期居住在乡下。只有在这里他能够积蓄力量，然后在宰相官邸、城堡议事厅和他所蔑视的议会大厅里呼吸。在他身处的环境和他心灵的愿景之间，对峙从未停止；最终在他能够终日享受森林寂静之时，他又渴望回到他诅咒多年的混乱之中。
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这是他的宿命。俾斯麦天性纠结，他清楚这一点。
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他接受生活的安排，以最大的努力去工作；在六十岁时实现了三十岁时的愿景；担当欧洲大陆的仲裁者整整十年。然而，他总有一种挥之不去的恐惧，担心他一离开，所有这一切会在一夜之间消失。在他弥留的最后几个星期里，他的女儿听到他在大声为德国的未来祈祷。
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最后，人们看到他穿着长风衣，戴着宽礼帽，像众神之王沃旦那样，表情严肃地凝视前方，在家乡古老的橡树林中独自漫步，走在两只獒犬之间。
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（苗菊 译）
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西南联大英文课（英汉双语版） 38 THE RIDDLE OF HITLER
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By Stephen H. Roberts
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THE RIDDLE OF HITLER, by Stephen H. Roberts, in Harper’s Magazine, February, 1938, pp. 253, 254.
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Life in the new Germany has been described as “mythology brought to life.” Stephen H. Roberts’s “The Riddle to Hitler” is an attempt to get inside the godhead of this mythology. Dr. Roberts is an Australian, professor of Modern History at Sydney University, and is regarded as an authority on international affairs. Some time ago he determined to investigate the Nazi régime as thoroughly as possible. He went to Germany and was able to secure unusual privileges from the Foreign Office and the Ribbentrop Bureau. Using these privileges to the full, he spent sixteen months combing the country and amassing material. From this material Dr. Roberts has compiled a book soon to be published under the title The House that Hitler Built , and in that book this short sketch will appear.
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A strange man, this Adolf Hitler. He is infinitely polite and courteous in his interviews, pausing perceptibly after every statement in case there is something his questioner wishes to add. He is punctilious to the point of quixotism in acknowledging the salutes of his men and in himself saluting the standards. The odd feature is that he never seems at ease in formal gatherings or when being spoken to. He seems a hunted being and is always ready to find refuge in making a miniature speech, even when one asks him a question that could be answered by a single word. In making a speech he is at least on firm ground. There he does not have to think, for he has said it all thousands of times and will keep on saying it until he dies.
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One fundamental fact is that Hitler never has any real personal contacts. The charming pictures one sees, in which he is taking bouquets from tiny tots or grasping the horny hands of picturesque old peasants, are all arranged. They are triumphs of the photographic skill of his old friend Hoffmann: Hoffmann blots out the surrounding guards and we see the result. The Führer is never alone.The giant Bruckner is always with him, and his “suicide-brigade” of special guards surround him everywhere. He goes out in his enormous Mercedès car （specially constructed so that he can stand up in front and receive support so that he is not wearied）, and it is always preceded and followed by motor cyclists and a whole fleet of cars with S. S. men. He lives in an unnatural detachment that makes his disease of being a godhead batten on itself: the most balanced of human beings could not stand this kind of life without losing a sense of realities, and nobody would call Hitler emotionally balanced at the best of times. Most commentators make a great fuss about his diet or his celibacy; what seems to me far more important is his lack of ordinary human contacts. Abnormal himself, the constant adulation makes him pathological. He receives only the thrice-distilled views of the fanatics, intriguers, and genuine patriots round him. Nobody can tell him anything or speak frankly, still less criticize his policy or himself. He lives in a mental world of his own, more aloof than any Sun-King, and he has only the narrow mental equipment and experience of an agitator to guide him. Unless one accepts the prevalent German view that he gets his inspiration direct from God （one of the most powerful Nazis once said he had a private line to heaven! ）, one must conclude that the future of Germany and the peace of the world rest on the tangled working of the mind of one man whom not even his friends would call normal. It is the most extraordinary comment on human evolution that, in this age of scicnce and progress, the fate of mankind rests on the whimsy of an abnormal mind, infinitely more so than in the days of the old despots whom we criticize so much.
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