He was glad to be freed from a tie which had interfered with his duties at Frankfort; to these he devoted himself with an extraordinary energy; all his old repugnance to official life had disappeared; he did not confine himself to the mere routine of his duties, or to carrying out the instructions sent to him from Berlin.
His power of work was marvellous: there passed through his hands a constant series of most important and complicated negotiations; up to this time he had no experience or practice in sedentary literary work, now he seems to go out of the way to make fresh labours for himself.

He writes long and careful despatches to his Minister on matters of general policy; some of them so carefully thought out and so clearly expressed that they may still be looked on as models.

He is entirely free from that circumlocution and involved style which makes so much diplomatic correspondence almost worthless.

His arguments are always clear, complete, concise.

He used to work long into the night, and then, when in the early morning the post to Berlin had gone, he would mount his horse and ride out into the country.