“That cause is not the Prince’s condition of health, which might certainly be better than it is, but cannot at least be regarded as worse than it has generally been during recent years. Furthermore, it was not in consequence of the Stosch affair that he tendered his resignation, though it can hardly have been a matter of particular satisfaction to him. Finally--and this ought to be understood as a matter of course--Prince Bismarck does not surrender the helm in order to retire from politics and to devote himself to the occupations and pleasures of a country life, although he thoroughly appreciates them, and has during recent years sought to enjoy them as frequently as State affairs permitted. A man of his character and his past knows that he cannot follow his own inclinations, but belongs to his country and his people as long as he has the strength and the untrammelled opportunity to serve them. “These last words give a clue to the true and only cause which induced the Chancellor to ask for his release from office. It consists in the ‘friction’--emphasised by him on several occasions, both in public and in private--which has arisen out of the efforts of certain Court circles to use their influence in supporting the Ultramontanes and others, to the grave embarrassment of the Chancellor’s policy and action. This friction, exhausting as it is, could and would have been borne, were it not that it threatens from year to year to become a greater hindrance, and that it has already on several occasions prevented the Chancellor from using, as he considers essential, the authority vested in him for the welfare of the country, and in particular for the necessary measures of defence against the pretensions and intrigues of Rome. If the Prince retires, it is the Ultramontanes who will triumph most. Their success will be for us a national misfortune. I shall certainly be in agreement with all true and enlightened patriots in describing as I have the resignation of the statesman who has called New Germany into existence, and who alone appears fitted to complete the edifice he has founded. It will also be due in the main to the influence of a certain exalted lady and of certain circles with which she has so willingly allied herself for years past.