“I have received your letter, and will willingly accede to your wish that I should--before its publication--look through the work which you have arranged to write. I cannot, however, as yet place what I have myself written and dictated at your disposal. It is not possible for the present to publish any part of it either directly or indirectly. Even if made public in an indirect way its accuracy would be questioned, and I should be challenged to produce my proofs. “I should be glad to receive a short provisional communication, either written or verbal, as to the plan and contents of the work. “v. Bismarck.” (Probably written by Chrysander, but signed by the Prince in his own hand. Not the most favourable answer, still the “as yet” and “for the present” leaves room for hope.) (...) On the 5th of October I paid Bucher a visit in Berlin in connection with this matter. I showed him the draft of a reply I had sent within the course of a week to the Chief, and he told me he had already been informed by Schweninger. He said I ought first to have arranged with him before writing to the Prince, and mentioning his name. As it was, Bismarck would believe that he had suggested my plan respecting the “Memoirs.” I was mistaken in thinking that Kröner had come to me about the biography with the knowledge and at the instance of the Prince. Kröner (who hoped to secure the publication of the “Memoirs”) probably thought I would enter into competition with him, and therefore decided to come to me, and thus become his own competitor. Not very clear! As publisher of the “Memoirs” that will never be completed, and which according to Bismarck’s verbal and written assurances are never to be published? It did not tally either with Bucher’s present statement that the Prince was thinking of leaving two copies of the “Memoirs,” one for the Emperor and one for his own sons. Moreover, the text of these two could not be the same. One of them would have to be first trimmed and Bowdlerised, _in usum Delphini_, as--according to Bucher’s own assertion--it contained a variety of things calculated to give offence. Referring to the differences between the Prince and the Emperor, Bucher stated that their origin was to be sought in the following incident, as well as in the demand with regard to the Order of 1852, and the steps which--according to Bismarck’s statement--had been taken in connection with Windthorst’s visit. (The Prince’s account of the Windthorst incident appeared to him, Bucher, not to be credible, at least so far as the date was concerned.) On the 15th of March, as the Emperor was returning home from a drive with Bismarck, he told the latter that he wished to inform the Tsar that he intended paying him a visit of some days’ duration at his estate--(I have forgotten the name of it). Bismarck dissuaded him on the ground that the Tsar liked to be alone there, and because the Emperor had not made a very