the old faith lingered only in St. Petersburg and Berlin; but how weak and ineffective it had become!  There was no talk now of interference, there would not be another campaign of Waterloo or of Valmy; there was only a prudish reserve; they could not, they did not dare, refuse diplomatic dealings with the new Emperor, but they were determined there should be no cordiality:  the virgin purity of the Prussian Court should not be deflowered by intimacy with the man of sin.[5] If there could not be a fresh crusade against Buonapartism, at least, there should be no alliance with it.

From the beginning Bismarck had little sympathy with this point of view; he regarded the coup d’etat as necessary in a nation which had left the firm ground of legitimacy; France could not be governed except by an iron hand.  As a Prussian, however, he could not be pleased, for he saw an enemy who had been weak strengthened, but he did not believe in Napoleon’s warlike desires.  In one way it was an advantage,—­the overthrow of the Republic had broken the bond which joined the German revolutionists to France.  He did not much mind what happened in other countries so long as Prussia was safe.

There is no ground for surprise that he soon began to go farther; he warned his friends not to irritate the Emperor; on the occasion of the Emperor’s marriage the Kreuz Zeitung published a violent article, speaking of it as an insult and threat to Prussia.  Bismarck’s feelings as a gentleman were offended by this useless scolding; it seemed, moreover, dangerous.  If Prussia were to quarrel with France, they would be obliged to seek the support of the Eastern Powers:  if Russia and Austria should know this, Prussia would be in their hands.  The only effect of this attitude would be to cut off the possibility of a useful move in the game of diplomacy: 

“There is no good in giving our opposition to France the stamp of irrevocability; it would be no doubt a great misfortune if we were to unite ourselves with France, but why proclaim this to all the world?  We should do wiser to act so that Austria and Russia would have to court our friendship against France than treat us as an ally who is presented to them.”

It is a topic to which he often refers: 

“We cannot make an alliance with France without a certain degree of meanness, but very admirable people, even German princes, in the Middle Ages have used a sewer to make their escape, rather than be beaten or throttled.”

An alliance with Napoleon was, however, according to the code of honour professed, if not followed, in every German State, the sin for which there was no forgiveness.  It was but a generation ago that half the German princes had hurried to the Court of the first Napoleon to receive at his hands the estates of their neighbours and the liberties of their subjects.  No one doubted that the new Napoleon would be willing