There were many sneers at the appointment of a man to this diplomatic post whose manners were brusque and overbearing, and who had spent the most of his time, after leaving the university, among horses, cattle, and dogs; who was only a lieutenant of militia, with a single decoration, and who was unacquainted with what is called diplomacy.  But the king knew his man, and the man was conscious of his powers.

Bismarck found life at Frankfort intolerably dull.  He had a contempt for his diplomatic associates generally, and made fun of them to his few intimate friends.  He took them in almost at a glance, for he had an intuitive knowledge of character; he weighed them in his balance, and found them wanting.  In a letter to his wife, he writes:  “Nothing but miserable trifles do these people trouble themselves about.  They strike me as infinitely more ridiculous with their important ponderosity concerning the gathered rags of gossip, than even a member of the Second Chamber of Berlin in the full consciousness of his dignity....  The men of the minor States are mostly mere caricatures of periwig diplomatists, who at once put on their official visage if I merely beg of them a light to my cigar.”

His extraordinary merits were however soon apparent to the king, and even to his chief, old General Rochow, who was soon transferred to St. Petersburg to make way for the secretary.  The king’s brother William, Prince of Prussia, when at Frankfort, was much impressed by the young Prussian envoy to the Bund, and there was laid the foundation of the friendship between the future soldier-king and the future chancellor, between whom there always existed a warm confidence and esteem.  Soon after, Bismarck made the acquaintance of Metternich, who had ruled for so long a time both the Diet and the Empire.  The old statesman, now retired, invited the young diplomatist to his castle at Johannisberg.  They had different aims, but similar sympathies.  The Austrian statesman sought to preserve the existing state of things; the Prussian, to make his country dominant over Germany.  Both were aristocrats, and both were conservative; but Metternich was as bland and polished as Bismarck was rough and brusque.

Nothing escaped the watchful eye of Bismarck at Frankfort as the ambassador of Prussia.  He took note of everything, both great and small, and communicated it to Berlin as if he were a newspaper correspondent.  In everything he showed his sympathy with absolutism, and hence recommended renewed shackles on the Press and on the universities,—­at that time the hotbed of revolutionary ideas.  His central aim and constant thought was the ascendency of Prussia,—­first in royal strength at home, then throughout Germany as the rival of Austria.  Bismarck was not only a keen observer, but he soon learned to disguise his thoughts.  Nobody could read him.  He was frank when his opponents were full of lies, knowing that he would not be believed.  He became a perfect