He was silent, and looked at the prince inquiringly.
He said in a calm tone, with a slight sigh:
"Alas! the sad result of the Crimean war has placed an insurmountable barrier in the path, which your Excellency so brilliantly describes; and----"
"We too," cried Manteuffel, "have been often and long delayed upon our path; nevertheless we never forsook it,--we never gave up the hope of reaching the goal."
The prince was silent a moment. Then he said slowly:
"I agree with your Excellency, that the interests of Prussia, even of the new Prussia and Germany, will not jostle those of Russia. I will not doubt, too, what your Excellency tells me, that the national movement in the Germany of to-day does not inherit the hatred to Russia by which the democratic movement of 1848 was actuated. I regard these assurances with satisfaction, as a guarantee that no cloud will arise between us. Yet with the same candour with which your Excellency has spoken to me, I must say that I cannot perceive how the present situation and (if the lawful claims of treaties are regarded, the lamentable) alterations in the European balance of power can form a stronger political connection--can offer a firmer basis of eventual alliance in the future. You pursue your path with victorious success,--our own is closed for a long time, perhaps for ever."
"Permit me, your Excellency," said General von Manteuffel quickly, "to express myself on this point with the reckless freedom which," he added, laughingly, "you must expect in a soldier fresh from the camp, who only dabbles in diplomacy."
The prince's eyes half closed, and he looked at the general with an expression of good-natured satire.
Manteuffel passed his hand lightly over his moustache, and said:
"The Emperor Napoleon desires compensation for his consent to the new acquisitions of Prussia and the new constitution of Germany."