The action of Austria shewed in fact a distrust and hatred of Prussia which more than justified all that Bismarck had written during his tenure of office at Frankfort.

In the end, rather than accept Prussian assistance on the terms on which it was offered, the Emperor of Austria made peace with France; he preferred to surrender Lombardy rather than save it by Prussian help.

"Thank God," said Cavour, "Austria by her arrogance has succeeded in uniting all the world against her." The spring of the year was spent by Bismarck at St.Petersburg.He had been appointed Prussian Minister to that capital--put out in the cold, as he expressed it.

From the point of dignity and position it was an advance, but at St.Petersburg he was away from the centre of political affairs.

Russia had not yet recovered from the effects of the Crimean War; the Czar was chiefly occupied with internal reforms and the emancipation of the serfs.