him that I shall no longer correspond with my colleagues individually. “In this manner my co-operation, so long as God does not give me better strength, will rest in your Majesty’s gracious and considerate hands. My hope and my prayer to God is that it may be soon granted to me once more to do my duty in person under your Majesty’s eyes, and to again find that peace which lies in work. “v. Bismarck.” 3. “Berlin, _December 24, 1872_. “I thank your Majesty respectfully and heartily for the beautiful Christmas present, conferring fresh distinction upon me. “My father entered the regiment of Carabineers of the Life Guard in 1783, and also had the honour, at the review, of being presented to Frederick the Great as a Junker, on which occasion the great king condescended in gracious recognition to hold up to him as a model his grandfather, Major von Bismarck (of the Schulenberg, afterwards Bayreuth, Dragoons), who fell at Czaslau. “This and many other impressive reminiscences, which my father handed down to me from the time of Frederick the Great, as reproduced in the work of art now standing before me, and which I can supplement with a well-preserved series of letters from my grandfather in the field during the Seven Years’ War, form the permanent impressions of my childhood. I have always regretted that, by the will of my parents, I was not allowed to prove my devotion to the Royal House and my enthusiasm for the greatness and renown of the Fatherland in the fighting ranks of the army, rather than behind the writing desk. Even to-day, after your Majesty has raised me to the highest honours as a statesman, I cannot entirely suppress my regret at not having been able to win similar advancement as a soldier. I beg your Majesty, as it is Christmas Eve, to forgive this expression of personal feelings in a man who is accustomed on Christian festivals to look back upon his past. I might have been, perhaps, a worthless general, but I should have preferred to win battles for your Majesty, like those generals who adorn the monument, rather than diplomatic campaigns. By the will of God, and your Majesty’s favour, I have a prospect of seeing my name recorded in books and in bronze when posterity immortalises the memory of your Majesty’s glorious reign. But, independently of the loyalty of every honourable nobleman to his sovereign, the cordial attachment which I entertain for your Majesty’s person, and the pain and anxiety which I feel at not being always able to serve your Majesty as I wish, and no longer with my whole strength, can find expression in no monument. Yet in the last resort it is only this personal feeling which makes the servant follow his monarch and the soldier his leader with uncalculating devotion on such paths as under Divine Providence Frederick II. and your Majesty have entered upon.