I know that you are prudent, but I beg you to use your influence so that both His Majesty and his entourage may show a confident front to the world.

And again, no one will have anything to say to us if they cease to believe in our powers of resistance--and are not persuaded that our Alliance rests on a solid foundation.
It was evident that the only right tactics were to make the supremest efforts at the front and throughout the country, on the one hand, in order to hold the situation a little longer, and, on the other, to persuade the enemy that, in spite of the favourable situation, we were prepared for peace without conquest.

To appoint Hebel to the German military Commission to carry out this last procedure seemed devoid of sense.

Neither did I expect to gain much from recent intervention in the Wilhelmstrasse, and endeavoured therefore to put myself in direct touch with the German Reichstag.
One of my political friends who had numerous and excellent connections with the German Reichstag put himself into communication with different leaders in Berlin and explained to them the situation in the Monarchy.

It was understood that this gentleman was not acting for the Ministry, but presenting his own impressions and views.