MY RECOLLECTIONS OF BISMARCK- 1879-1881 595 



of absence, but, before starting, saw some of my diplo- 

 matic colleagues, who were wont to circulate freely and 

 talk much, stated the main features of the case to them, 

 and said that I was " going off to enjoy myself; that 

 there seemed little use for an American minister in a 

 country where precedents and agreements were so easily 

 disregarded. Next day I started for the French Riviera. 

 The journey was taken leisurely, with interesting halts 

 at Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle ; and, as I reached the 

 hotel in Paris, a telegram was handed me " Your man 

 in Alsace-Lorraine is free." It was evident that the 

 chancellor had felt better and had thought more leniently 

 of the matter, and I had never another difficulty of the sort 

 during the remainder of my stay. 



The whole weight of testimony as regards Bismarck's 

 occasional severity is to the effect that, stern and per- 

 sistent as he was, he had much tenderness of heart; but 

 as to the impossibility of any nation, government, or press 

 scaring or driving him, I noticed curious evidences during 

 my stay. It was well known that he was not unfriendly 

 to Russia; indeed, he more than once made declarations 

 which led some of the Western powers to think him too 

 ready to make concessions to Russian policy in the East; 

 but his relations to Prince Gortchakoff, the former Rus- 

 sian chancellor, were not of the best; and after the Berlin 

 Conference the disappointment of Russia led to various 

 unfriendly actions by Russian authorities and individuals 

 of all sorts, from the Czar down. There was a general 

 feeling that it was dangerous for Germany to resent 

 this, and a statesman of another mold would have depre- 

 cated these attacks, or sought to mitigate them. Not so 

 Bismarck: he determined to give as good as was sent; 

 and, for a very considerable time he lost no chance to show 

 that the day of truckling by Germany to her powerful 

 neighbor was past. This became at last so marked that 

 bitter, and even defiant, presentation of unpalatable 

 truths regarding Russia, in the press inspired from the 

 chancery, seemed the usual form in which all Russian 



