[2] At the start of 1870 August Eisenhart was plucked from the relative obscurity of the Bavarian Justice System and appointed cabinet secretary to the king.
The king was becoming ever more reluctant to see people, and often stayed away from the capital for months on end, preferring the seclusion afforded by his growing collection of opulent remotely located "modern castles".
It was potentially a highly influential position, especially since the dutiful sober minded official had little natural sympathy with the king's fantastical visions and opinions.
Von Eisenhart's own politics seem to have combined powerful monarchist instincts with a lawyerly respect for the institutions of state and an enthusiasm the enlightenment thinking which had become mainstream among intellectuals across western Europe in the aftermath of the French Revolution.
But sources insist that von Eisenhart's natural timidity and strong sense of duty meant that he never exploited his position for personal gain, nor indeed to promote any political vision of his own.
In the end the treaty of 23 November 1870 whereby the Kingdom of Bavaria entered into an "eternal union" with the North German Confederation was ratified by the king, according to one source, only "through the energetic advice" ("...das energische Zuraten...") of Cabinet Secretary von Eisenhart.
[1][5] (Other sources insist that, following the shock of defeat in 1866, Ludwig's consent was based on having reached for himself the pragmatic conclusion that Bavaria had no choice but to support the union of a "small German" state - excluding Austria and / or that large and at this stage secret cash payment arranged by Bismarck played their part.
[1] Some sources see von Eisenhart's abrupt change of career as gratuitously undignified, but it seems to have led to an outcome that suited both parties.
[1] August Eisenhart's marriage to the author Luise von Kobell was followed in due course by the births of the couple's two children, Helene and Heinrich.