stopped or the whole force of Germany under the King of Prussia would have attacked France on the Rhine.  The Emperor however refused to accept them; he required a guarantee not only of his possessions in Italy but also of his treaties with the other Italian princes.  Moreover, he would accept the assistance of Prussia only on condition that the Prussian army was placed under the orders of the general appointed by the Diet.  It was absurd to suppose that any Prussian statesman would allow this.  The action of Austria shewed in fact a distrust and hatred of Prussia which more than justified all that Bismarck had written during his tenure of office at Frankfort.  In the end, rather than accept Prussian assistance on the terms on which it was offered, the Emperor of Austria made peace with France; he preferred to surrender Lombardy rather than save it by Prussian help.  “Thank God,” said Cavour, “Austria by her arrogance has succeeded in uniting all the world against her.”

The spring of the year was spent by Bismarck at St. Petersburg.  He had been appointed Prussian Minister to that capital—­put out in the cold, as he expressed it.  From the point of dignity and position it was an advance, but at St. Petersburg he was away from the centre of political affairs.  Russia had not yet recovered from the effects of the Crimean War; the Czar was chiefly occupied with internal reforms and the emancipation of the serfs.  The Eastern Question was dormant, and Russia did not aim at keeping a leading part in the settlement of Italian affairs.  Bismarck’s immediate duties were not therefore important and he no longer had the opportunity of giving his advice to the Government upon the general practice.  It is improbable that Herr von Schleinitz would have welcomed advice.  He was one of the weakest of the Ministry; an amiable man of no very marked ability, who owed his position to the personal friendship of the Prince Regent and his wife.  The position which Bismarck had occupied during the last few years could not but be embarrassing to any Minister; this man still young, so full of self-confidence, so unremitting in his labours, who, while other diplomatists thought only of getting through their routine work, spent the long hours of the night in writing despatches, discussing the whole foreign policy of the country, might well cause apprehension even to the strongest Minister.

From the time of Bismarck’s departure from Frankfort our knowledge of his official despatches ceases; we lose the invaluable assistance of his letters to Manteuffel and Gerlach.  For some time he stood so much alone that there was no one to whom he could write unreservedly on political matters.