. The life of Bismarck, private and political;. man in place of Prussianinscribed upon our standard, when we should have become more in-timately and effectually bound up with our German fellow-country-men than ive have hitherto been ; the word loses its charm in prox-imity to the ideas of the Diet. I fear that your Excellency will interrupt me in this epistola-ry digression into the field of my former activity, with the cry,Ne sutor ultra crepidam; nor was it my intention to hold anofficial oration; I desired only to present the testimony of an ex-perienced person against the Diet. / see in ou
. The life of Bismarck, private and political;. man in place of Prussianinscribed upon our standard, when we should have become more in-timately and effectually bound up with our German fellow-country-men than ive have hitherto been ; the word loses its charm in prox-imity to the ideas of the Diet. I fear that your Excellency will interrupt me in this epistola-ry digression into the field of my former activity, with the cry,Ne sutor ultra crepidam; nor was it my intention to hold anofficial oration; I desired only to present the testimony of an ex-perienced person against the Diet. / see in our position in theDiet, a defect of Prussia, which we shall have sooner or later to heal,ferro et igni, unless we adopt in time, and at a proper season ofthe year, measures for a cure. Were the Confederation abolish-ed this very day, without substituting something in its place, Ibelieve that this negative acquisition would soon form better andmore natural relations between Prussia and her German neigh-bors, than have hitherto existed. A BALL AT BISMARCKS. PETERSBURG. 269 TO A PRUSSIAN DIPLOMATIST. Petersburg, 1st July, 1859. I thank you for your letter, and hope you -will not allow thefirst to be the last. Among the matters which interest me, theFrankfurt negotiations, next to immediate necessities, occupy thefirst place with me, and I am very much obliged for any newsfrom thence. I regard our policy, up till now, as correct; but Ilook mournfully into the future. We have armed ourselves toosoon and too strongly, and the heavy load which we have as-sumed is dragging us down an inclined plane. There will beintervention in order to occupy the Landwehr, as people do notlike simply to send them back home. We then shall not evenbe Austrias reserve, but shall sacrifice ourselves directly forjAustria, and relieve her of the stress of war. The first shot onthe Ehine brings with it a German war as the chief circumstance,from its threatening Paris. Austria will get breathing tim
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