well enough with Thun ; when he was recalled two
years later Bismarck spoke of him with much
warmth. " I like him personall}^ and should be
glad to have him for a neighbour at Schonhausen."
It is however important to notice that the first
impression made on him by diplomatic work was
that of wanton and ineffective deceit. Those who
accuse him, as is so often done, of lowering the stand-
ard of political morality which prevails in Europe,
* This trait is confirmed by Busch, wiio in his record of the conver-
sations of Bismarck observes that with one or two exceptions he
seldom had a good word to say for his colleagues.
92 Bismarck. [1851-
know little of politics as they were at the time when
Schwarzenberg was the leading statesman.
It was his fate at once to be brought in close con -
tact with the most disagreeable side of political life.
In all diplomatic work there must be a good deal of
espionage and underhand dealing. This was a part
of his duties which Bismarck had soon to learn. He
was entrusted with the management of the Press.
This consisted of two parts : first of all, he had to
procure the insertion of articles in influential papers
in a sense agreeable to the plans of the Prussian
Government ; secondly, when hostile articles ap-
peared, or inconvenient information was published,
he had to trace the authors of it, — find out by whom
the obnoxious paper had been inspired, or who had
conveyed the secret information. This is a form of
activity of which it is of course not possible to give
any full account ; it seems, however, clear that in
a remarkably short time Bismarck shewed great apti-
tude for his new duties. His letters to Manteuffel
are full of curious information as to the intrigues of
those who are hostile to Prussia. He soon learns to
distrust the information supplied by the police ; all
through his life he had little respect for this depart-
ment of the Prussian State. He soon had agents of
his own. We find him gaining secret information as
to the plans of the Ultramontane party in Baden from
a compositor at Freiburg who was in his pay. On
other occasions, when a Court official at Berlin had
conveyed to the newspapers private information, Bis-
marck was soon able to trace him out. We get the
impression, both from his letters and from what
1857] Frankfort. 93
other information we possess, that all the diplomat-
ists of Germany were constantly occupied in calumni-
ating one another through anonymous contributions
to a venal Press.
It is characteristic of the customs of the time that
he had to warn his wife that all her letters to him
would be read in the post-ofifice before he received
them. It was not only the Austrians who used
these methods ; each of the Prussian Ministers would
have his own organ which he would use for his own
purposes, and only too probably to attack his own col-
leagues. It was at this time that a curious fact came
to light with regard to Herr von Prokesch-Osten,
the Austrian Ambassador at Berlin. He had been
transferred from Berlin to Frankfort, and on leaving
his house sold some of his furniture. In a chest of
drawers was found a large bundle of papers consist-
ing of newspaper articles in his handwriting, which
had been communicated to different papers, attack-
ing the Prussian Government, to which he at the
time was accredited. Of Prokesch it is that Bis-
marck once writes : " As to his statements I do not
know how much you will find to be Prokesch, and
how much to be true." On another occasion, before
many witnesses, Bismarck had disputed some state-
ment he made. ** If it is not true," cried Prokesch,
" then I should have lied in the name of the Royal
and Imperial Government." " Certainly," answered
Bismarck. There was a dead pause in the conversa-
tion. Prokesch afterwards of^cially admitted that
the statement had been incorrect.
This association with the Press formed in him a
94 Bismarck. [1851-
habit of mind which he never lost: the proper use
of newspapers seemed to him, as to most German
statesmen, to be not the expression of pubHc opinion
but the support of the Government ; if a paper is
opposed to the Government, the assumption seems
to be that it is bribed by some other State.
" The whole country would rejoice if some of the
papers which are supported by foreign sources were
suppressed, with the express recognition of their unpa-
triotic attitude. There may be opposition in the inter-
nal affairs, but a paper which in Prussia takes part
against the policy of the King on behalf of foreign
countries, must be regarded as dishonoured and treated
as such."
Politically his position was very difficult ; the
Diet had been restored by Austria against the will
of Prussia ; the very presence of a Prussian Envoy
in Frankfort was a sign of her humiliation. He had
indeed gone there full of friendly dispositions to-
wards Austria ; he was instructed to take up again the
policy which had been pursued before 1848, when
all questions of importance had been discussed by
the two great Powers before they were laid before
the Diet. Bismarck, however, quickly found that
this was no longer the intention of Austria ; the
Austria which he had so chivalrously defended at
Berlin did not exist ; he had expected to find a
warm and faithful friend — he found a cunning and
arrogant enemy. Schwarzenberg had spared Prus-
sia but he intended to humble her; he wished to
use the Diet as a means of permanently asserting
1857] Frankfort. 95
the supremacy of Austria, and he would not be con-
tent until Prussia had been forced like Saxony or
Bavaria to acquiesce in the position of a vassal
State. The task might not seem impossible, for
Prussia appeared to be on the downward path.
Of course the Diet of Frankfort was the place
where the plan had to be carried out ; it seemed an
admirable opportunity that Prussia was represented
there by a young and untried man. Count Thun
and his successors used every means to make it
appear as though Prussia was a State not of equal
rank with Austria. They carried the war into soci-
ety and, as diplomatists always will, used the out-
ward forms of social intercourse as a means for
obtaining political ends. On this field, Bismarck
was quite capable of meeting them. He has told
many stories of their conflicts.
As President of the Diet, Thun claimed privileges
for himself which others did not dare to dispute.
*' In the sittings of the military commission when
Rochow was Prussian envoy, Austria alone smoked.
Rochow, who was a passionate smoker, would also have
gladly done so, but did not venture. When I came I
did not see any reason against it ; and asked for a light
from the Presiding State ; this seemed to be noticed
with astonishment and displeasure by him and the other
gentlemen ; it was obviously an event for them. This
time only Austria and Prussia smoked. But the others
obviously held it so important that they sent home a
report on it. Someone must have written about it to
Berlin, as a question from the late King arrived ; he
did not smoke himself and probably did not find the
96 Bismarck. [1851-
affair to his taste. It required much consideration at
the smaller Courts, and for quite half a year only the
two great Powers smoked. Then Schrenk, the Bavarian
envoy, began to maintain the dignity of his position by
smoking. The Saxon Nostitz would doubtless have
liked to begin too, but I suppose he had not yet received
permission from his Minister. But when next time he
saw that Bothmer, the Hanoverian, allowed himself a
cigar, he must have come to an understanding with his
neighbour (he was a good Austrian, and had sons in
the Austrian army), for he brought out his pouch and lit
up. There remained only the Wiirtemberger and the
Darmstadter, and they did not smoke at all, but the
honour and the importance of their States required it,
and so on the following day the Wiirtemberger really
brought out his cigar. I can see him with it now, a long,
thin, yellow thing, the colour of rye-straw, — and with
sulky determination, as a sacrifice for his Swabian
fatherland, he smoked at least half of it. Hesse-Darm-
stadt alone refrained."
On another occasion Thun received Bismarck in
his shirt sleeves: "You are quite right," said Bis-
marck, " it is very hot," and took off his own coat.
In the transaction of business he found the same
thing. The plan seemed to be deliberately to adopt
a policy disadvantageous to Prussia, to procure the
votes of a majority of the States, thereby to cause
Prussia to be outvoted, and to leave her in the di-
lemma of accepting a decision which was harmful to
herself or of openly breaking with the Federation.
On every matter which came up the same scenes re-
peated themselves; now it was the disposal of the
1857] Frankfort. 97
fleet, which had to a great extent been provided for
and maintained by Prussian money ; Austria de-
manded that it should be regarded as the property
of the Confederation even though most of the States
had never paid their contribution. Then it was the
question of the Customs' Union ; a strong effort was
made by the anti-Prussian party to overthrow the
union which Prussia had estabHshed and thereby
ruin the one great work which she had achieved.
Against these and similar attempts Bismarck had con-
stantly to be on the defensive. Another time it was
the publication of the proceedings of the Diet which
the Austrians tried to make a weapon against Prus-
sia. The. whole intercourse became nothing but a
series of disputes, sometimes serious, sometimes
trivial.
Bismarck was soon able to hold his own ; poor
Count Thun, whose nerves were not strong, after a
serious discussion with him used to go to bed at iive
o'clock in the afternoon ; he complained that his
health would not allow him to hold his post if there
were to be continuous quarrels. When his successor,
Herr v. Prokesch, left Frankfort for Constantinople,
he said that " it would be like an Eastern dream of
the blessed to converse with the wise Ali instead of
Bismarck."
As soon as the first strangeness had passed off
Bismarck became reconciled to his position. His
wife and children joined him, he made himself a com-
fortable home, and his house soon became one of the
most popular in the town ; he and his wife were
genial and hospitable and he used his position to ex-
98 Bismarck. [1851-
tend his own influence and that of his country. His
old friend, Motley, visited him there in 1855 ^"d
wrote to his wife:
" Frankfort,
"Monday, July 30, 1855.
". . . The Bismarcks are as kind as ever — nothing
can be more frank and cordial than her manners. I am
there all day long. It is one of those houses where every-
one does what he likes. The show apartments where
they receive formal company are on the front of the
house. Their living rooms, however, are a salon and
dining-room at the back, opening upon the garden. Here
there are young and old, grandparents and children and
dogs all at once, eating, drinking, smoking, piano-play-
ing, and pistol-firing (in the garden), all going on at the
same time. It is one of those establishments where every
earthly thing that can be eaten or drunk is offered you ;
porter, soda water, small beer, champagne, burgundy, or
claret are about all the time, and everybody is smoking
the best Havana cigars every minute."
He had plenty of society, much of it congenial to
him. He had given up playing since his marriage,
and was one of the few diplomatists who was not
found at the Homburg gaming-tables, but he had a
sufficiency of sport and joined with the British envoy,
Sir Alexander Malet, in taking some shooting. A
couple of years later in contradicting one of the fre-
quent newspaper reports, that he aimed at supplant-
ing the Minister, he says:
" My castle in the air is to spend three to five years
longer at Frankfort, then perhaps the same time in
1857] Frankfort. 99
Vienna or Paris, then ten years with glory as Minister,
then die as a country gentleman."
A prospect which has been more nearly fulfilled than
such wishes generally are.
He was for the first year still a member of the
Second Chamber and occasionally appeared in it ; his
interest in his diplomatic work had, however, begun
to overshadow his pleasure in Parliamentary debate.
" I am thoroughly tired of my life here," he writes in
May, 1853, to his wife from Berlin, " and long for the day
of my departure. I find the intrigues of the House im-
measurably shallow and undignified ; if one always lives
among them, one deceives oneself and considers them
something wonderful. When I come here from Frank-
fort and see them as they really are, I feel like a sober
man who has fallen among drunkards. There is some-
thing very demoralising in the air of the Chambers ; it
makes the best people vain without their knowing it."
So quickly has he outgrown his feelings of a year
ago : then it was the intrigues of diplomatists that
had seemed to him useless and demoralising. Now
it was Parliamentary debates ; in the opinion he
formed at this time he never wavered.
His distaste for Parliamentary life was probably
increased by an event which took place about this
time. As so often before in the course of debate he
had a sharp passage of words with Vincke ; the latter
referred contemptuously to Bismarck's diplomatic
achievements. "All I know of them is the famous
lighted cigar."
Bismarck answered with some angry words and
TOO Bismarck. [1851-
at the close of the sitting sent a challenge. Four
days later a duel with pistols took place — the only-
one he ever fought. Neither was injured. It seems
that Vincke, who had the first shot, seeing that Bis-
marck (who had received the sacrament the night
before) was praying, missed on purpose ; Bismarck
then shot into the air.
For these reasons he did not stand for re-election
when the Chamber was dissolved in 1852, although
the King was very much displeased with his deter-
mination. He was shortly afterwards appointed
member of the newly constituted House of Lords,
but though he occasionally voted, as in duty bound,
for Government measures, he never spoke ; he was
not to be heard again in the Parliament until he ap-
peared there as President of the Ministry. He was
glad to be freed from a tie which had interfered with
his duties at Frankfort ; to these he devoted himself
with an extraordinary energy ; all his old repugnance
to of^cial life had disappeared ; he did not confine
himself to the mere routine of his duties, or to carry-
ing out the instructions sent to him from Berlin.
His power of work was marvellous: there passed
through his hands a constant series of most import-
ant and complicated negotiations ; up to this time
he had no experience or practice in sedentary literary
work, now he seems to go out of the way to make
fresh labours for himself. He writes long and care-
ful despatches to his Minister on matters of general
policy ; some of them so carefully thought out and
so clearly expressed that they may still be looked
on as models. He is entirely free from that circum-
1857] Frankfort. loi
locution and involved style which makes so much
diplomatic correspondence almost worthless. His
arguments are always clear, complete, concise. He
used to work long into the night, and then, when
in the early morning the post to Berlin had gone, he
would mount his horse and ride out into the country.
It was in these years that he formed those habits
to which the breakdown of his health in later years
was due ; but now his physical and intellectual vigour
seemed inexhaustible.
He never feared to press his own views as to the
policy which should be pursued. He also kept up
a constant correspondence with Gerlach, and many
of these letters were laid before the King, so that
even when absent he continued as before to influence
both the ofificial and unofficial advisers. He soon
became the chief adviser on German affairs and was
often summoned to Berlin that his advice might be
taken ; within two years after his appointment he
was sent on a special mission to Vienna to try and
bring about an agreement as to the rivalry concern-
ing the Customs' Union. He failed, but he had
gained a knowledge of persons and opinions at the
Austrian Court which was to be of much use to him.
During these years, indeed, he acquired a most
remarkable knowledge of Germany ; before, he had
lived entirely in Prussia, now he was at the centre of
the German political system, continually engaged in
important negotiations with the other Courts ; after
a few years there was not a man of importance in
German public life whose character and opinions he
had not gauged.
I02 Bismarck.
[1851-
Further experience only confirmed in him the ob-
servations he had made at the beginning, that it was
impossible to maintain a good understanding with
Austria. The tone of his letters soon changes from
doubt and disappointment to settled and determined
hostility. In other matters also he found that the
world was not the same place it had seemed to him ;
he had been accustomed to regard the Revolution
as the chief danger to be met ; at Frankfort he was
in the home of it ; here for nearly a year the German
Assembly had held its meetings ; in the neighbour-
ing States of Baden, Hesse, and in the Palatinate,
the Republican element was strong ; he found them
as revolutionary as ever, but he soon learnt to despise
rather than fear them :
" The population here would be a political volcano if
revolutions were made with the mouth ; so long as it
requires blood and strength they will obe)^ anyone who
has courage to command and, if necessary, to draw the
sword ; they would be dangerous only under cowardly
governments.
" I have never seen two men fighting in all the two years
I have been here. This cowardice does not prevent the
people, who are completely devoid of all inner Christian-
ity and all respect for authority, from sympathising with
the Revolution."
His observations on the character of the South
Germans only increased his admiration for the Prus-
sian people and his confidence in the Prussian State.
He had not been at Frankfort a year before he
had learnt to look on this hostility of Austria as
unsurmountable. As soon as he had convinced him-
1857]
Frankfort. 103
self of this, he did not bewail and bemoan the de-
sertion of their ally ; he at once accustomed himself
to the new position and considered in what way the
Government ought to act. His argument was simple.
Austria is now our enemy ; we must be prepared to
meet this enmity either by diplomacy or war ; we
are not strong enough to do so alone ; therefore we
must have allies. There was no sure alliance to be
had in Germany ; he despised the other German
States. If there were to be a war he would rather
have them against him than on his side. He must
find help abroad ; Austria had overcome Prussia by
the alliance with Russia. Surely the only thing to
be done was to seek support where it could be got,
either with Russia or with France, if possible with
both. In this he was only reverting to the old
policy of Prussia ; the alliance with Austria had only
begun in 18 13. From now until 1866 his whole
policy was ceaselessly devoted to bringing about
such a disposition of the forces of Europe that
Austria might be left without allies and Prussia be
able to regain the upper hand in German affairs.
The change was in his circumstances, not in his
character; as before he was moved by a consuming
passion of patriotism ; something there was too of
personal feeling, — his own pride, his own ambitions
were engaged, though this was as nothing compared
to love of his country and loyalty to the King. He
was a soldier of the Prussian Crown : at Berlin he
had to defend it against internal enemies ; now the
danger had shifted, the power of the Government
was established, why waste time in fighting with
I04 Bismarck. [1851-
Liberalism? Other enemies were pressing on. When
Jellachich and Windischgratz had stood victorious
by the blood-stained altar of St. Stephen's, the Aus-
trian army had destroyed the common foe ; now it
was the same Austrian army and Austrian statesmen
who desired to put a limit to Prussian ambition.
Bismarck threw himself into the conflict of diplomacy
with the same courage and relentless persistence
that he had shewn in Parliamentary debates. He
had already begun to divine that the time might
come when the Prussian Crown would find an ally in
Italian patriots and Hungarian rebels.
It was the Eastern complications which first en-
abled him to shew his diplomatic abilities in the
larger field of European politics. The plans for the
dismemberment of the Turkish Empire which were
entertained by the Czar were opposed by England,
France, and Austria; Prussia, though not immedi-
ately concerned, also at first gave her assent to the
various notes and protests of the Powers ; so that
the ambition of the Czar was confronted by the
unanimous voice of Europe.
Bismarck from the beginning regarded the situa-
tion with apprehension ; he saw that Prussia was
being entangled in a struggle in which she had much
to lose and nothing to gain. If she continued to
support the Western Powers she would incur the
hatred of Russia ; then, perhaps, by a sudden change
of policy on the part of Napoleon, she would be left
helpless and exposed to Russian vengeance. If war
were to break out, and Prussia took part in the war,
then the struggle between France and Russia would
1857] Frankfort. 105
be fought out on German soil, and, whoever was
victorious, Germany would be the loser. What in-
terests of theirs were at stake that they should incur
this danger? why should Prussia sacrifice herself to
preserve English influence in the Mediterranean, or
the interests of Austria on the Danube ? He wished
for exactly the opposite policy ; the embarrassment
of Austria must be the opportunity of Prussia; now
was the time to recover the lost position in Germany.
The dangerous friendship of Austria and Russia was
dissolved ; if Prussia came to an understanding with
the Czar, it was now Austria that would be isolated.
The other German States would not desire to be
dragged into a war to support Austrian dominion in
the East. Let Prussia be firm and they would turn
to her for support, and she would once more be able
to command a majority of the Diet.
For these reasons he recommended his Govern-
ment to preserve an armed neutrality, in union, if
possible, with the other German States. If they
were to take sides, he preferred it should not be with
the Western Powers, for, as he said, —
" We must look abroad for allies, and among the
European Powers Russia is to be had on the cheapest
terms ; it wishes only to grow in the East, the two others
at our expense."
It shews the advance he had made in diplomacy
that throughout his correspondence he never refers
to the actual cause of dispute ; others might dis-
cuss the condition of the Christians in Turkey or
the Holy Places of Jerusalem ; he thinks only of the
io6 Bisinarck.
[1851-
strength and weakness of his own State. The open-
ing of the Black Sea, the dismemberment of Turkey,
the control of the Mediterranean, the fate of the
Danubian Principalities — for all this he cared nothing,
for in them Prussia had no interests ; they only ex-
isted for him so far as the new combinations among
the Powers might for good or evil affect Prusfeia.
The crisis came in 1854 : a Russian army occupied
Moldavia and Wallachia ; England and France sent
their fleets to the Black Sea; they determined on
war and they wished for the alliance of Austria.
Austria was inclined to join, for the presence of
Russian troops on the Danube was a menace to her ;
she did not dare to move unless supported by Prussia
and Germany ; she appealed to the Confederacy and
urged that her demands might be supported by the
armies of her allies ; but the German States were lit-
tle inclined to send the levies of their men for the
Eastern interests of the Emperor. If they were en-
couraged by Prussia, they would refuse ; the result
in Germany, as in Europe, depended on the action
of Prussia, and the decision lay with the King.
Was Prussia to take part with Russia or the
Western Powers? That was the question which for
many months was debated at Berlin.
The public opinion of the nation was strong for
the Western Powers ; they feared the influence of
Russia on the internal affairs of Germany ; they had
not forgotten or forgiven the part which the Czar