occupied at the Foreign Office for many years must have provided him with sufficient connections in the home and foreign press to secure the publication of anything which he himself considers useful.” This was sufficiently plain for those who knew how to read between the lines. Nevertheless fresh indications appeared from time to time in the papers, even late in the year 1873, that Herr von Keudell had renounced none of his aspirations and endeavours in this direction. So far the materials for an estimate of the statesman in question are furnished by his friends. Let us now hear some of the opinions held in other quarters, and in connection therewith a few facts respecting his diplomatic achievements. There are diary entries reserved for this purpose, which, however, only reach up to March, 1873. Some other particulars will be found in the subsequent chapters. On the 25th of October, 1872, after 6 o’clock in the evening, in Hepke’s room, Bucher told me that Keudell (through his _protégés_ in the press, whose number was legion, particularly in South German and Austrian newspapers) gave it to be understood that he was a man of great diplomatic talent, and was designated to succeed the Imperial Chancellor. I gave vent to surprise at such boundless self-esteem. “No,” replied Bucher, “it is after all not quite impossible--in the future. He has cast his lines in the Court of the Crown Prince, and no one knows what she (the Crown Princess) may not be able to do some day. When Thile resigned, he (Keudell) greatly regretted having taken the post at Constantinople. He might have become Secretary of State. Moreover, it was not family considerations that induced Thile to go. Keudell induced him to sign something he had written which offended the Chief, so that Thile was sharply reprimanded. Keudell was the real instigator of the incident which, it seems, tripped up the future Secretary of State. It would be well to call the Chief’s attention to such manœuvres through the press. Nothing of the kind appears in the newspapers which he usually reads, nor in the extracts laid before him. Aegidi takes care of that. You know that he has been brought here in order to direct the press in Keudell’s interest, and to prevent anything that might damage him becoming known upstairs. But there is one paper which the Chief reads carefully, and which Aegidi has not yet gathered into his net. That is the _Figaro_ (he referred to the Berlin journal). If one were to send to that paper one or other of those articles, such as that of the _République Française_, for instance! It would be well to bring such things to the Chief’s notice, as I am afraid he does not yet quite understand our esteemed friend. He does, no doubt, so far as his ability is concerned, but not, I think, his ambition and capacity for intrigue; and he believes in his devotion. He has obviously given him the Constantinople post, which is not very important now, because he was no longer of any use to him here.