replied, “Oh, I am not afraid of that! He can if he likes! I have no secrets amongst them--absolutely none.” That statement, “I have no secrets,” gave me liberty, at least for a later time, to publish those State papers the contents of which I had hitherto kept secret, as he must unquestionably have known better than I or the rest of the world who may have held other views on the subject. So far respecting the essential point. That he whom I honour as the first of men sanctioned my undertaking is entirely sufficient for me. I do not ask whether others give it their blessing. The great majority of those referred to have since departed from this life and taken their places in the domain of history, where the claim for indulgent treatment is no longer valid. Those who are still with us may believe me when I assure them that in now publishing these pages I have no thought of causing them pain or of injuring them in any way. I simply consider that I am not at liberty to preserve silence on those matters which may prove unpleasant to them in view both of my own duty to tell the whole truth, and of the desire expressed by the Chancellor (to whom I still feel myself bound in obedience) that nothing should be concealed. The diplomatic world, in particular, must be represented here as it really is. In that respect this book may be described as a mirror for diplomatists. I must leave the reader to form his own opinion as to my capacity for observation and the discovery of the truth. I may, however, be allowed to say that several long journeys in America and the East, a lengthy tour in Schleswig-Holstein during the Danish rule, undertaken for the purpose of reconnoitring that country, and a period of rather confidential intercourse with the Augustenburg Court at Kiel were calculated to sharpen my wits. A mission which I filled at Hanover during the year of transition, and, above all, my position in the Foreign Office in Berlin and the intimate relations in which I stood towards its Chief during the war with France, together with the renewal of that intercourse from 1877 onwards, gave me exceptional opportunities of developing both my memory and power of observation. For several years I was acquainted with everything that went on in the Central Bureau of the German Foreign Office, and later, in addition to what I ascertained through the confidence of the Prince, I obtained not a little information from Lothar Bucher which remained a secret, not only for private persons, but often for high officials of the Ministry.