Thursday, August 4:
Ever-mounting pleasure in Bismarck, whose revelations show ever more clearly how wisely and at the same time how righteously he has been acting; he says he did in fact have to temporize with the French in order to enjoy at least a few years of peace. The French diplomacy, which could make such proposals to a German minister, he described as the most obtuse of diplomacies. A German minister! One hears the words for the first time, and how noble and proud does this minister appear! He has also forced England, by casting ceaseless aspersions on its actions, to stop supplying France with coal and ammunition.
How uplifting it must be for Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg to be fighting now as a German army!
Visit from Countess Bassenheim, who is nevertheless concerned about our army. The French had indeed captured Saarbrücken. How despicable do the French reports sound, praising the great effectiveness of their mitrailleuses!
In the evening we read poems by Byron.