In January 1854, Gobineau was sent as First Secretary to the French legation at the Free City of Frankfurt.[54] Of the Federal Convention of the German Confederation that sat in Frankfurt—also known as the "Confederation Diet"—Gobineau wrote: "The Diet is a business office for the German bureaucracy—it is very far from being a real political body".[54][55] Gobineau hated the Prussian representative at the Diet, Prince Otto von Bismarck, because of his advances towards Madame Gobineau.[56] By contrast, the Austrian representative, General Anton von Prokesch-Osten became one of Gobineau's best friends.[54] He was a reactionary Austrian soldier and diplomat who hated democracy and saw himself as a historian and orientalist, and for all these reasons Gobineau bonded with him.[56] It was during these periods that Gobineau began to write less often to his old liberal friend Tocqueville and more often to his new conservative friend Prokesch-Osten.[56]