Prussians were not Frenchmen, and instead of thinking of Louis XVI. he should remember Charles I., who died for his honour and his rights. If he were to be beheaded, he would also die for his honour and his rights. So far as I was concerned I too would willingly suffer death in case it were necessary. There I had caught him by the sword-knot and appealed to him as to a King and an officer. He became more cheerful, and by the time we reached Berlin he was again quite reasonable. In the evening he joined a large company, and was in excellent spirits. This time when I asked to resign he did not wish me to do so But in acting in this way he only pities himself--what should he do then?--and has no pity for me. I have yielded--for the present--but before I come back I will put my conditions.” I said: “And they must agree to them. They cannot get on without you. That would only lead to follies and blunders and misfortunes, and they would have to crawl to you on their knees to beg you to return.” He then came back to the subject of the Empress, and said: “She also interferes in foreign politics, having taken it into her head that it is her vocation to plead everywhere in favour of peace--to be an Angel of Peace. She therefore writes letters to foreign Sovereigns, to the Queen of England for instance, which she afterwards mentions to her consort, who, however, says nothing about them to me. Part of this correspondence is carried on through one of the minor officials of the household. Schleinitz, the Minister of the Household, after having proved his utter incapacity in foreign affairs, has obtained his present post through her Majesty’s favour. But there, also, his success leaves much to be desired. As he knows nothing of the administration of property he only manages to secure very insignificant revenues from the Royal estates. But as he has always been a member of the Court opposition, of the _Bonbonnière_, he is in high favour with Augusta. In 1866 his salon was the gathering place of the Austrians, and in 1870 the French were constantly at his house, and made it their rendezvous. Whenever an intrigue against me was on foot he was certain to be in it. Gruner is another member of the clique, a man who is not only incapable but passionate. She obtained his promotion on the Emperor’s birthday by a mere written note without the counter-signature of a Minister as a reward for his hostility to me. Then we have Stillfried, Count Goltz and Nesselrode, who all belong to the _Bonbonnière_, and intrigue with Augusta against me and my policy, and seek to turn our Most Gracious against me. Goltz, a general of cavalry, is a brother of the former Prussian Minister in Paris, whose legacy of hatred he has entered upon without any _beneficium inventarii_. Nesselrode, the Master of the Household, is a well-known Ultramontane, whose relations with Gehlsen’s _Reichsglocke_ came to light on the prosecution of the