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 diplomatic service in 1851; ambassador at St. Petersburg, 1859; also at Paris in 1863; receiving from the Emperor Napoleon the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor; made a count in 1865, receiving from the King of Prussia a valuable estate in Luxemburg; 1867, organized the North German Confederation of twenty-two States and twenty-nine million people; 1869, became its Foreign Minister; 1870, accompanied the King in the war with France; 1871, dictated terms of peace after the capitulation of Paris; same year appointed Chancellor; 1873, raised to the rank of Prince; 1873, reappointed Premier; 1878, President of the Berlin Congress of the Great Powers to discuss treaty of San Stefano. The New York World says of him: "A small man completes his education before he is twenty-five. A great man is a man who, like Bismarck, never does complete his education at all; he goes on learning all his life, from every one he meets; from everything he sees; from everything he does himself, or that any one else does. No one is too small to act as tutor for a really great mind; as no one is too great to be unintelligible to the always growing powers of such a mind. It is because he had such a mind as this—not because of his university education—that Bismarck became the leader of the Germanic race. He was not remarkable for exemplary conduct or diligence at college. Indeed, it is seriously asserted that his initials are still to be seen on the wall of the lock-up of Göttingen, where he was imprisoned for cause during his wild student days. He has a vein of ready wit and loves a joke, even if it is rough, and at his own expense. When he peremptorily ordered his medical adviser, Dr. Schweninger, not to ask so many questions, the latter told him that he should go and consult a horse doctor, who would not ask any questions at all. Then Bismarck knew that he had met his match; and surrendered."

Some idea of the body of this giant—"he of the iron hand and lion heart"—and of his combativeness, may be gathered from the fact that during this time (his university life at Göttingen) he fought no fewer than twenty-eight duels; in each of which, being tall and keen of sight, he drew blood from his opponent; while only once did he receive a scar, still visible on the left cheek, by the accidental breaking of his adversary's blade.