itz, however, told him that he was to be
transferred from Russia, but did not say what post he was to have. The
next day, in obedience to a command, he hurried off to Baden-Baden; the
King wished to have his advice on many matters of policy, and instructed
him to draw up a memorandum on the German question. He used the
opportunity of trying to influence the King to adopt a bolder policy. At
the same time he attempted to win over the leaders of the Conservative
party. A general election was about to take place; the manifesto of the
Conservative party was so worded that we can hardly believe it was not
an express and intentional repudiation of the language which Bismarck
was in the habit of using; they desired

"the unity of our German fatherland, though not like the Kingdom
of Italy through 'blood and fire' [_Blut und Brand;_ almost the
words which Bismarck had used to describe the policy which must
be followed], but in the unity of its princes and peoples holding
firm to authority and law."

Bismarck, on hearing this, sent to his old friend Herr von Below, one of
the leaders of the party, a memorandum on German affairs, and
accompanied it by a letter. He repeated his old point that Prussia was
sacrificing the authority of the Crown at home to support that of other
princes in whose safety she had not the slightest interest. The
solidarity of Conservative interests was a dangerous fiction, unless it
was carried out with the fullest reciprocity; carried out by Prussia
alone it was Quixotry; it prevented King and Government from executing
their true task, the protection of Prussia from all injustice, whether
it came from home or abroad; this was the task given to the King by God.

"We make the unhistorical, the jealous, and lawless
mania for sovereignty of the German Princes the bosom
child of the Conservative party in Prussia, we are enthusiastic
for the petty sovereignties which were created
by Napoleon and protected by Metternich, and are blind
to the dangers which threaten Prussia and the independence
of Germany."

He wishes for a clear statement of their policy; a stricter
concentration of the German military forces, reform of the Customs'
Unions, and a number of common institutions to protect material
interests against the disadvantages which arise from the unnatural
configuration of the different states.

"Besides all this I do not see why we should shrink
back so bashfully from the