_April 6th._--On the Chief’s birthday Prince William, now the Crown Prince, while offering his congratulations in person, invited himself to dine with the Chancellor. During dinner, according to the newspapers, he proposed a toast to the following effect: “The Empire is like an army corps that has lost its commander-in-chief in the field, while the officer who stands next to him in rank lies severely wounded. At this critical moment forty-six million loyal German hearts turn with solicitude and hope towards the standard and the standard bearer in whom all their expectations are centred. The standard bearer is our illustrious Prince, our great Chancellor. Let him lead us. We will follow him. Long may he live!” Coming from a member of the reigning house such language should mean a great deal. “Our great Chancellor”--words already used a short time ago by his Imperial and Royal Highness--“let him lead us; we will follow him!” What high appreciation and what modest self-suppression and honourable subordination on the part of the future Emperor! May God reward him for it, and grant him victory under that standard! But what does his mother think of it? Yesterday a Vienna telegram in the _Kölnische Zeitung_, which was greeted with scarcely concealed satisfaction by the Progressist newspapers, reported that Bismarck intended to retire. This leads one to think of the “Englishwoman” on the throne of the Hohenzollerns, and of “Friedrich der Britte” (Frederick the Briton) who is to govern according to her views. Has the toast of the 1st instant given offence to Guelphish self-conceit? Or has the Chief again advised against the suitor with the Bulgarian kalpak, who may have pressed his suit again and with a better prospect of success after the death of the Emperor William? At 10.45 A.M. this morning I handed the following letter to the porter at the palace to be immediately forwarded to the Chief: “In presence of the extraordinary report of the _Kölnische Zeitung_, which is now being circulated in the newspapers, I would beg your Serene Highness kindly to remember that in the future as in the past I hold myself absolutely and unconditionally at your disposal, and shall always continue to do so.”