had by no
means an easy time. These two worthies, instead of being, as we imagined
in Paris, the best of friends, abominate each other. During the siege
Moltke would not allow Bismarck to have a seat at any council of war;
and in order to return the compliment, Bismarck has not allowed Moltke
to take any part in the negotiations respecting the armistice, except on
the points which were exclusively military. Bismarck tells the French
that had it not been for him, Paris would have been utterly destroyed,
while Moltke grumbles because it has not been destroyed; an achievement
which this talented captain somewhat singularly imagines would fittingly
crown his military career. But this is not the only domestic jar which
destroys the harmony of the happy German family at Versailles. In
Prussia it has been the habit, from time immemorial, for the heir to the
throne to coquet with the Liberals, and to be supposed to entertain
progressive opinions. The Crown Prince pursues this hereditary policy of
his family. He has surrounded himself with intelligent men, hostile to
the present state of things, and who understand that in the present age
110 country can be great and powerful, where all who are not country
gentlemen, chamberlains, or officers, are excluded from all share in its
government. Bismarck, on the other hand, is the representative, or
rather the business man, of the squirearchy and of the Vons--much in the
same way as Mr. Disraeli is of the Conservatives in England; and, like
the latter, he despises his own friends, and scoffs at the prejudices, a
pretended belief in which has served them as a stepping-stone to power.
The consequence of this divergency of opinion is, that Bismarck and "Our
Fritz" are very nearly what schoolboys call "cuts," and consequently
when the old King dies, Bismarck's power will die with him, unless he is
wise enough to withdraw beforehand from public life. "Our Fritz," I
hear, has done his best to prevent the Prussian batteries from doing any
serious damage to Paris, and has not concealed from his friends that he
considers that the bombardment was, in the words of Fouche, worse than a
crime--an error.

I find many of the Prussian officers improved by success. Those with
whom I have come in personal contact have been remarkably civil and
polite, but I confess that--speaking of course generally--the sight of
these mechanical instruments of war, brought to the highest state of
perfection in the trad