Bismarck says in so many words that it was against the wish of the Emperor of Russia that Gortchakoff took part in the Congress of Berlin, and that although, as Chancellor of the Empire, he nominally had precedence, it was Schuvaloff, officially his subordinate, who was the real and only plenipotentiary for Russia, but Bismarck’s opinion of him, formed during his embassy at St. Petersburg, is evident from the following passage in the “Gedanken.” “Peter Schuvaloff, the most far-seeing brain with which I came into contact there, a man who only needed industry to play a leading part” (Vol, II., p. 244). It is disappointing to find Lord Beaconsfield hardly mentioned in Bismarck’s reminiscences. He had found his match and there was, perhaps, a slight unwillingness (great men are not always above small vanities), to allude to the man who, far more than himself, was master of the situation during the Congress; but Berlin has not yet forgotten the historic words with which he summed up his impressions of that famous meeting: “Der alte Jude ist der Mann”—“The old Jew is the man.” It was a great, if involuntary, tribute! The ordering of the special train, which brought Bismarck post-haste to “the old Jew’s” quarters and forced England’s views upon the panic-stricken Congress, was a volcanic triumph such as has rarely, if ever, been equalled in diplomacy. That is how peace with honour was carried back to England, to be proclaimed to the eager crowd from a window in Downing Street. There was one amusing incident in connection with the Berlin Congress: one day it was announced that on the morrow Lord Beaconsfield was to address the assembled statesmen and that he would speak in French. Lord Odo Russell, who was a master of tongues, heard this with no little alarm, for it was well known that Lord Beaconsfield’s French was very much of the Stratford-atte-Bowe type. Lord Odo, always clever, went to him and adroitly turned the conversation on to the next day’s conference. Lord Beaconsfield announced his intention of speaking. “In what language do you propose to speak?” asked Lord Odo. “In French,” was the answer. “I am afraid that will be a very great disappointment to the colleagues,” said Lord Odo. “You see, they know that they have here in you the greatest living master of English oratory, and of course they are longing to hear you.” The great man smiled his pleasure, and the speech was delivered in English. Lord Odo was wont to declare that he never knew whether he took the hint or accepted the compliment.