MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK-1879-1881 587 



forts of the Emperor William were unable to appease 

 him, and he was shortly afterward sent to St. Petersburg 

 as minister at that court. But the scene which separated 

 him from Berlin seemed to give him a fatal shock; he 

 shortly afterward lost his reason, and at last accounts was 

 living in an insane asylum. 



On another occasion I had an opportunity to see how 

 the chancellor, so kind in his general dealings with men 

 whom he liked, could act toward those who crossed his 

 path. 



Being one evening at a reception given by the Duke of 

 Ratibor, president of the Prussian House of Lords, he 

 said to me: "I saw you this afternoon in the diplomatic 

 box. Our proceedings must have seemed very stupid. ' ' I 

 answered that they had interested me much. On this he 

 put his lips to my ear and whispered : l ' Come to-morrow 

 at the same hour, and you will hear something of real in- 

 terest." Of course, when the time arrived, I was in my 

 seat, wondering what the matter of interest could be. 

 Soon I began to suspect that the duke had made some mis- 

 take, for business seemed following the ordinary routine ; 

 but presently a bill was brought in by one of the leading 

 Prussian ministers, a member of one of the most eminent 

 families in Germany, a man of the most attractive man- 

 ners, and greatly in favor with the Emperor William and 

 the crown prince, afterward the Emperor Frederick. The 

 bill was understood to give a slight extension of suffrage 

 in the choice of certain leading elected officials. The ques- 

 tion being asked by some one on the floor whether the head 

 of the ministry, Prince Bismarck, approved the bill, this 

 leading minister, who had introduced it, answered in the 

 affirmative, and said that, though Prince Bismarck had 

 been kept away by illness from the sessions in which it had 

 been discussed, he had again and again shown that he was 

 not opposed to it, and there could be no question on the 

 subject. At this a member rose and solemnly denied the 

 correctness of this statement ; declared that he was in pos- 

 session of information to the very opposite effect; and 



