one had supposed him to be. Certainly this dismissal must have
caused him much regret; all his previous life had shown that he
admired Bismarck--almost adored him. It gave evidence of a deep
purpose and a strong will. Louis XIV had gained great credit
after the death of Mazarin by declaring his intention of ruling
alone--of taking into his own hands the vast work begun by
Richelieu; but that was the merest nothing compared to this. This
was, apparently, as if Louis XIII, immediately after the triumphs
of Richelieu, had dismissed him and declared his purpose of
henceforth being his own prime minister. The young Emperor had
found himself at the parting of the ways, and had deliberately
chosen the right path, and this in spite of almost universal
outcries at home and abroad. The OLD Emperor William could let
Bismarck have his way to any extent: when his chancellor sulked
he could drive to the palace in the Wilhelmstrasse, pat his old
servant on the back, chaff him, scold him, laugh at him, and set
him going again, and no one thought less of the old monarch on
that account. But for the YOUNG Emperor William to do this would
be fatal; it would class him at once among the rois
fatneants--the mere figureheads--"the solemnly constituted
impostors," and in this lay not merely dangers to the young
monarch, but to his dynasty and to the empire.

His recognition of this fact was, and is, to me a proof that the
favorable judgments of him which I had heard expressed in Berlin
were well founded.

But this decision did much to render him unpopular in the United
States, and various other reports which flitted over increased
the unfavorable feeling. There came reports of his speeches to