We were joined at dinner by Count Frankenberg and Prince Putbus. Both wore the Iron Cross. The guests mentioned that people were very anxious in Berlin for the bombardment to begin and grumbled a great deal at its postponement. The rumour as to the influence of certain great ladies being one of the causes of the delay appears to be very widespread. “I have often told the King so,” said the Chief, “but it cannot be done; they will not have it.” “The Queen?” suggested some one. “Several queens,” corrected the Chancellor, “and princesses. I believe also that Masonic influences and scruples have helped.” He then again declared that he regarded the investment of Paris as a blunder. “I have never been in favour of it. If they had left it alone we should have made more progress, or at least we should have had a better position before Europe. We have certainly not added to our prestige by spending eight weeks outside Paris. We ought to have left Paris alone and sought the French in the open country. But otherwise the bombardment ought to have begun at once. If a thing has to be done, do it!” The conversation then turned upon the treatment of the French rural population, and Putbus related that a Bavarian officer had ordered a whole village to be burned to the ground and the wine in the cellars to be poured out into the gutter because the inhabitants of the place had acted treacherously. Some one else observed that the soldiers at some other place had given a fearful dressing to a curé who had been caught in an act of treachery. The Minister again praised the energy of the Bavarians, but said with regard to the second case: “One ought either to treat people as considerately as possible or to put it out of their power to do mischief--one or the other.” After reflecting for a moment, he added: “Be civil to the very last step of the gallows, but hang all the same. One should only be rude to a friend when one feels sure that he will not take it amiss. How rude one is to his wife, for instance! That reminds me, by the way, Herr von Keudell, will you please telegraph to Reinfeld, ‘If a letter comes from Count Bismarck hold it back, and forward it to the Poste Restante or to Berlin’? I have written various things to my wife which are not overflowing with loyal reverence. My father-in-law is an old gentleman of eighty-one, and as the Countess has now left Reinfeld, where she was on a visit to him, he would open and read the letter and show it to the pastor, who would tell his gossips about it, and presently it would get into the newspapers.”