western powers. Afterwards he urged a good
understanding with Napoleon, but his advice was met by the insuperable
objection of King Frederick William IV. to any alliance with a ruler of
revolutionary origin.

The change of ministry which followed the establishment of a regency in
1857 made it desirable to appoint a new envoy at Frankfort, and in 1858
Bismarck was appointed ambassador at St Petersburg, where he remained
for four years. During this period he acquired some knowledge of
Russian, and gained the warm regard of the tsar, as well as of the
dowager-empress, herself a Prussian princess. During the first two years
he had little influence on the Prussian government; the Liberal
ministers distrusted his known opinions on parliamentary government, and
the monarchical feeling of the prince regent was offended by Bismarck's
avowed readiness for alliance with the Italians and his disregard of the
rights of other princes. The failure of the ministry, and the
estrangement between King William and the Liberal party, opened to him
the way to power. Roon, who was appointed minister of war in 1861, was
an old friend of his, and through him Bismarck was thenceforward kept
closely informed of the condition of affairs in Berlin. On several
occasions the prospect of entering the ministry was open to him, but
nothing came of it, apparently because he required a free hand in
foreign affairs, and this the king was not prepared to give him. When an
acute crisis arose out of the refusal of parliament, in 1862, to vote
the money required for the reorganization of the army, which the king
and Roon had carried through, he was summoned to Berlin; but the king
was still unable to make up his mind to appoint him, although he felt
that Bismarck was the only man who had the courage and capacity for
conducting the struggle with parliament. He was, therefore, in June,
made ambassador at Paris as a temporary expedient. There he had the
opportunity for renewing the good understanding with Napoleon which had
been begun in 1857. He also paid a short visit to England, but it does
not appear that this had any political results. In September the
parliament, by a large majority, threw out the budget, and the king,
having nowhere else to turn for help, at Roon's advice summoned Bismarck
to Berlin and appointed him minister president and foreign minister.

Ministry.

Bismarck's duty as minister was to carry on the government against the
wishes of