free from it; but they will not let us love them, and as soon as
it was proved to me that it was in the interest of a sound and
well-matured Prussian policy, I would let our troops fire on
French, English, Russian, or Austrian, with the same
satisfaction."

"I cannot justify sympathies and antipathies as regards Foreign
Powers and persons before my feeling of duty in the foreign
service of my country, either in myself or another; therein lies
the embryo of disloyalty against my master or my country. In my
opinion not even the King himself has the right to subordinate
the interests of his country to his own feelings of love or
hatred towards strangers; he is, however, responsible towards God
and not to me if he does so, and therefore on this point I am
silent."

This reference to the King is very characteristic. Holding, as he did,
so high an ideal of public duty himself, he naturally regarded with
great dislike the influence which, too often, family ties and domestic
affection exercised over the mind of the sovereign. The German Princes
had so long pursued a purely domestic policy that they forgot to
distinguish between the interests of their families and their land. They
were, moreover, naturally much influenced in their public decisions, not
only by their personal sympathies, but also by the sympathies and
opinions of their nearest relations. To a man like Bismarck, who
regarded duty to the State as above everything, nothing could be more
disagreeable than to see the plans of professional statesmen criticised
by irresponsible people and perhaps overthrown through some woman's
whim. He was a confirmed monarchist but he was no courtier. In his
letters at this period he sometimes refers to the strong influence which
the Princess of Prussia exercised over her husband, who was heir to the
throne. He regarded with apprehension the possible effects which the
proposed marriage of the Prince of Prussia's son to the Princess Royal
of England might have on Prussian policy. He feared it would introduced
English influence and Anglomania without their gaining any similar
influence in England. "If our future Queen remains in any degree
English, I see our Court surrounded by English influence." He was not
influenced in this by any hostility to England; almost at the same time
he had written that England was the only foreign country for which he
had any sympathy. He was only (as so often) contending for t