"Call it a coup d'etat, if you choose--we dare not let names frighten us--these are times in which legal forms must be disregarded. Are you willing to accept the presidency of my cabinet, so that your fair name may lend its lustre to my actions? You shall bear testimony to my love of country."
"I am willing, your Highness, to sacrifice the short span of life that is yet left me; but I am not an adept in state affairs."
"That is no matter; others will attend to that. What I require is the moral influence of your presence. Your son-in-law, Colonel Karsten, is willing to accept the portfolio of Secretary of War."
I informed the Prince that I would be obliged to insist on important conditions: not from distrust of him, but of his noble associates who had deserted us in 1848, and had used us liberals as cat's-paws.
I told him that, in my opinion, Germany would either emerge from this war as a great power, or disappear from the roll of nations.
"We hope for the best, and we must conquer, for defeat would be destruction."
As a first condition, I requested the Prince to give me a written assurance that he resigned all privileges which would interfere with German unity.
He smiled. I do not know whether it was in scorn, or whether he had not heard my last words. He rose, placed his hand on my shoulder, and said, "You are a good man."
I, too, was obliged to smile, and answered, "What else should I be, your Highness?"
"Is not what you demand of me equivalent to an abdication?"