"He went there immediately after your Excellency had given him an audience; his imperial majesty had commanded apartments to be prepared for him."

"Has the emperor seen him yet?" asked the prince.

"No, your Excellency," replied von Hamburger; "you requested the emperor not to receive him until you had spoken to General Manteuffel."

"True," replied the prince, thoughtfully; "the emperor feels great sympathy for the King of Hanover, but I would rather that he did not enter into any engagement. We could do little alone; the only thing would be for the emperor to use his personal influence with the King of Prussia to dissuade him from a policy of annexation. It is, however, highly important to proceed most cautiously in this affair; before taking each step his majesty must be perfectly clear as to its results and consequences."

A groom of the chambers entered and announced,--

"General von Manteuffel."

The secretary rose, and withdrew by a side door leading from the cabinet.

The prince stood up.

Every trace of displeasure had vanished from his countenance, there was nothing to be seen but calm and complete courtesy.

General von Manteuffel entered. He wore the full uniform of an adjutant-general of the King of Prussia, the blue enamelled cross of the Order of Merit around his neck, upon his breast the stars of the Russian orders of Alexander Nevsky and of the White Eagle, with the broad ribbon of the first, and the star of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle.

The general's sharply-marked features, with the thick bushy hair growing low down upon the forehead, and the full beard only slightly cut away at the chin, had not the severe, almost gloomy expression which they were accustomed to wear. He approached the Russian minister with great cordiality and easy politeness, as if he were about to pay a simple visit of courtesy; but the quick, animated grey eyes glanced searchingly from beneath their thick brows, and were fixed with an expression of restless expectation upon the prince.

The prince held out his hand to the general, and invited him by a courteous movement to place himself in an easy chair near the writing-table.

"I rejoice," he said, "to welcome your Excellency to St. Petersburg, and I beg you to excuse me," he added, with a hasty glance at the general's full uniform, "for receiving you in my morning dress. I expected a private and friendly conversation."

"I have to deliver a letter from my gracious sovereign to his majesty the emperor," replied the general, "and I wished to be ready to appear before his majesty at any moment, of course after I have spoken with your Excellency upon the object of my mission."

The prince bowed slightly.

"The object of your mission is explained in the royal letter?" he inquired.

"It simply accredits me," replied the general, "and refers to my personal explanations of its contents. The political situation is so peculiar that it is impossible for an amba.s.sador to proceed entirely by written instructions."

"Count Redern imparted this to me," said Prince Gortschakoff, "when he informed me of the honour of your visit."

And leaning lightly on the arm of his chair, he looked at the general with an expression of polite attention.

"The king has commanded me," said General Manteuffel, "to lay before your Excellency and his majesty the emperor the principles that must at the present moment govern the Prussian policy in Germany and in Europe, with the perfect candour and the complete confidence demanded by the close connection between the two royal families, and the friendly relations between the governments."

The prince bowed.

"The success of the Prussian arms," proceeded the general, "the sacrifices which the government and the people have made to attain this success, impose upon Prussia the duty of providing for its own advantage, and also of securing on a firm and lasting basis the new formation of Germany and its national unity. Before all things the recurrence of those difficulties which have just been overcome must be rendered impossible."

The prince was silent, his eyes only expressed courteous attention.

"The king," continued General von Manteuffel, "has accepted the conditions of peace proposed by the French mediation; they are already known to your Excellency, at the same time he has declared that one of the principles which I just now mentioned renders the increase of Prussia's power by territorial acquisitions absolutely imperative, and Austria has already consented to such extension of Prussia in the north."

A half compa.s.sionate, half contemptuous smile appeared for a moment on the prince's lips, then his features resumed their expression of calm attention.

"The king," added General Manteuffel, fixing his gaze immoveably upon the eyes of the prince, "the king has now decided that the extension of power necessary for Prussia and Germany will be obtained by the incorporation of Hanover, Hesse Ca.s.sel, Na.s.sau, and the town of Frankfort."

The general was silent, as if awaiting a remark from the minister.

Not a feature of the prince's face moved. His eyes looked cordially at the general through his gold spectacles, and those eyes plainly said: "I hear."

General von Manteuffel calmly proceeded.

"The king is deeply and painfully touched by this necessity of causing princely families related to him to undergo the hard lot of the vanquished; his majesty would have struggled against it longer, had not his duty to Prussia and to Germany been victorious in his royal heart over his natural clemency and his regard to family ties."

Again the general appeared to expect an answer, or at least a remark from the prince, but his countenance remained as quiet and unchanged as a portrait, and there was still only one expression visible in it--a firm determination to listen with the most respectful and polite attention to everything that might be said to him.

General von Manteuffel continued:

"The events which have just taken place necessitate various alterations in the European relations prescribed by the treaty of Vienna, and the king therefore holds it needful to lay before his majesty the emperor the constraining principles upon which he acted, and upon which he must continue to act; he especially desires that these principles should find full and complete justification from this government, who in common with Prussia is almost alone in Europe in adhering to the intentions of that treaty."

The prince bowed slightly.

"The treaty of Vienna," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "is scarcely ever spoken of in modern diplomacy."

"His majesty the king," proceeded General von Manteuffel, "is so penetrated by the justice of the principles laid down by that treaty and by the Holy Alliance; he has so deeply complained of Austria's renunciation of that treaty and that alliance, the Prussian policy in the year 1855 testified so strongly to her faithfulness to that treaty, that my most gracious sovereign most ardently desires his majesty the emperor should be convinced that only absolute necessity could induce him to decide on the approaching alterations in Germany, or to permit royal families related to him to feel the hard consequences of war."

"We are acquainted with the consequences that war brings upon the vanquished," said the prince, with quiet courtesy, "for ten years we have borne those consequences on the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea."

"A misfortune in which Prussia is free from blame," replied General von Manteuffel, "which we have always deeply deplored, the removal of which we should welcome with joy."

The prince was silent, but a slight gleam in his eye showed the watchful general that his words were well received.

He continued:--

"His majesty would deeply regret that the necessities of German policy should in any way alter the bands of friendship, and the perfect confidence subsisting between the courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg.

He rather hopes, not only that these will continue to unite Prussia and the newly const.i.tuted Germany with Russia, but also that a new, and politically a still stronger basis of alliance between these two powers may in the nature of things be formed."

The prince cast down his eyes for a moment. Then he said in a calm conversational tone:--

"Here we feel--and I a.s.sure you the emperor, my most gracious sovereign, feels most of all, the great importance of close and true friendship with Prussia--and I do not doubt," he added, courteously, "that under any circ.u.mstances this friendship would ensure an active alliance. Only at the present moment I can scarcely discover its basis.

Russia is recovering and collecting herself," he continued, with a shade of greater animation in his voice; "and has no intention of mixing herself up in the affairs of European policy, or in the reconstruction of national groups, so long as Russian interests are not directly and unmistakeably injured. We might," he said, with an expressive look, "complain of alterations in Germany by which royal families, nearly related both to your king and to the emperor, are disinherited; in this circ.u.mstance I find it impossible to perceive a motive for more friendly policy, or the foundations for a more practical alliance. Besides, to speak candidly, I think that the new state of affairs in Germany is not calculated to strengthen the political friendship of the court of Berlin with us. You best know how inimical the German movement of 1848 was towards Russia--Germany will scarcely accept entirely the political guidance of Prussia."

"I think your Excellency is mistaken on this point," said General von Manteuffel, with some animation; "the democratic movement of 1848 only used the national ideas as its banner; it beheld in Russia the principle of reaction, and following the lead of its orators, it used hatred to Russia as one of those catch words which move the ma.s.ses--true national feeling in Germany has no enmity to Russia, and would welcome any accession to her national strength, or to her powerful position in Europe!"

The prince was silent. His features expressed doubt.

General von Manteuffel continued:--

"Permit me, your Excellency, to explain the views which his majesty the king, my master, entertains on this matter, and which, as I need hardly say, are thoroughly shared by the Minister President Count Bismarck."

The prince slightly inclined his head, and listened with the utmost attention.

The general's features kindled, and he spoke in a voice full of conviction.