In his letters of this period Bismarck constantly protests against the truth of these accusations.

"If I am to go to the devil," he writes, "it will at least not be a French one.

Do not take me for a Bonapartist, only for a very ambitious Prussian." It is at this time that his last letter to Gerlach was written.

They had met at the end of April, and Gerlach wrote to protest against the opinion to which Bismarck had given expression: "After the conversation which I have had with you I was particularly distressed that, by your bitterness against Austria, you had allowed yourself to be diverted from the simple attitude towards law and the Revolution.

For you an alliance with France and Piedmont is a possibility, a thought which is far from me and, dear Bismarck, ought to be far from you.