The final separation between these two men, each so self-willed and confident in his own strength, was not to be completed by ceremonious discussions on constitutional forms.  It was during an audience at the castle, that the Emperor had explained his views, Bismarck his objections; the Emperor insisted that his will must be carried out, if not by Bismarck, then by another.  “Then I am to understand, your Majesty,” said Bismarck, speaking in English; “that I am in your way?” “Yes,” was the answer.  This was enough; he took his leave and returned home to draw up the formal document in which he tendered his resignation.  This, which was to be the conclusion of his public life, had to be composed with care; he did not intend to be hurried; but the Emperor was impatient, and his impatience was increased when he was informed that Windthorst, the leader of the Centre, had called on Bismarck at his residence.  He feared lest there was some intrigue, and that Bismarck proposed to secure his position by an alliance with the Parliamentary opposition.  He sent an urgent verbal message requiring the resignation immediately, a command with which Bismarck was not likely to comply.  Early next morning, the Emperor drove round himself to his house, and Bismarck was summoned from his bed to meet the angry sovereign.  The Emperor asked what had taken place at the interview with Windthorst, and stated that Ministers were not to enter on political discussions with Parliamentary leaders without his permission.  Bismarck denied that there had been any political discussion, and answered that he could not allow any supervision over the guests he chose to receive in his private house.

“Not if I order it as your sovereign?” asked the Emperor.

“No.  The commands of my King cease in my wife’s drawing-room,” answered Bismarck.  The Emperor had forgotten that Bismarck was a gentleman before he was a Minister, and that a Prussian nobleman could not be treated like a Russian boyar.[14]

No reconciliation or accommodation was now possible.  The Emperor did all he could to make it appear that the resignation was voluntary and friendly.  He conferred on the retiring Chancellor the highest honours:  he raised him to the rank of Field Marshal and created him Duke of Lauenburg, and publicly stated his intention of presenting him with a copy of his own portrait.  As a soldier, Bismarck obediently accepted the military honour; the new title he requested to be allowed not to use; he had never been asked whether he desired it.

No outward honours could recompense him for the affront he had received.  What profited it him that the Princes and people of Germany joined in unanimous expression of affection and esteem, that he could scarcely set foot outside his house for the enthusiastic crowd who cheered and followed him through the streets of Berlin?  For twenty-four years he had been Prussian Minister and now he was told he was in the