572 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-VI 



sustained without guy-ropes. Of course it was easy to 

 show him that while in the first of our great suspension- 

 bridges that at Niagara guy-ropes were admissible, at 

 Brooklyn they were not : since ships of war as well as mer 

 chant vessels of the largest size must pass beneath it ; and 

 I could only add that Koebling, who built it, was a man of 

 such skill and forethought that undoubtedly, with the 

 weight he was putting into it and the system of trusses 

 he was placing upon it, no guy-ropes would be needed. 



On many occasions the prince showed thoughtful kind 

 ness to members of my family as well as to myself, and 

 the news of his death gave me real sorrow. It was a vast 

 loss to his country; no modern monarch has shown so 

 striking a likeness to Marcus Aurelius. 



Hardly less hearty and kindly was the Emperor then 

 reigning William I. Naturally enough, he remembered, 

 above all who had preceded me, Mr. Bancroft. His 

 first question at court generally was, &quot;How goes it 

 with your predecessor! (Wie geht es mil Ihrem Vor- 

 ganger?) &quot; and I always knew that by my &quot; predecessor &quot; 

 he meant Bancroft. When I once told him that Mr. Ban 

 croft, who was not far from the old Kaiser s age, had 

 bought a new horse and was riding assiduously every 

 day, the old monarch laughed heartily and dwelt on his 

 recollections of my predecessor, with his long white beard, 

 riding through the Thiergarten. 



Pleasant to me was the last interview, on the presenta 

 tion of my letter of recall. It was at Babelsberg, the 

 Emperor s country-seat at Potsdam; and he detained me 

 long, talking over a multitude of subjects in a way which 

 showed much kindly feeling. Among other things, he 

 asked where my family had been staying through the 

 summer. My answer was that we had been at a hotel near 

 the park or palace of Wilhelmshohe above Cassel; and 

 that we all agreed that he had been very magnanimous in 

 assigning to the Emperor Napoleon III so splendid a 

 prison and such beautiful surroundings. To this he an 

 swered quite earnestly, &quot;Yes; and he was very grateful 



