“The opposition of Count Arnim, whom many newspapers puff by heading their articles, ‘Arnim and Bismarck,’ recalls the condition of things which prevailed under Frederick William III. and Frederick William IV., and which was believed to have entirely passed away to the great benefit of the country. Although it is a popular error to think that the title of Minister Plenipotentiary, which is borne by our Ambassadors, puts them on an equality with the Minister of State, yet, as a matter of fact, Prussian diplomatists have in the past not infrequently behaved as if they were the colleagues of their Chief, and carried on discussions with him such as take place between two Councillors of a Government or members of the bench of Judges. Prussian diplomacy was noted for its lack of discipline. Cases are known in which an envoy returned to Berlin without asking leave, in order to advocate his own views at Court, and to secure support for them in the newspapers. It was not his love of power which led the Imperial Chancellor to set aside a number of Excellencies of that old school, but rather the recognition that such a method of doing business might have suited a time when Prussia was a fifth wheel to the coach of European politics, but was entirely incompatible with the execution of the programme which Herr von Bismarck brought with him in 1862, and has already carried out in a way that will immortalise him long after the names of the malcontent Excellencies may have ceased to figure even in an encyclopædia. It is said that Herr von Blankenburg, a military writer, descended from a Pomeranian family with which Count Arnim is related on the mother’s side, makes insinuations in the _Schlesische Zeitung_ against Bismarck’s character as a colleague. Our representatives abroad are not the colleagues of the Minister, but rather his agents. In their reports they have sufficient opportunity for expressing their views, but when a decision has been arrived at they have to carry out their instructions in a willing spirit. In a Cabinet (Collegium) any differences can be easily settled without damage to the interests of the country by putting the question to the vote. But when a difference arises between a Minister in authority and a subordinate who does not follow the instructions of his departmental chief it is difficult to find any other solution in a well-ordered State than the retirement of one or other of them from the service. This may possibly now be the case, and in the interests of the service it may be regretted that it did not occur before.” Shortly afterwards followed a translation of the final passage of an article in the _Hour_, which it may be taken for granted was either written by Bucher or at least inspired by him. It ran:--