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for our little girl. She knows that the sentiments you so well express are of such long standing, that they are sincere and lasting, and she also attaches, as you know, the highest value to your friendship. For myself I set the greatest store upon every fresh mark of your Majesty's confidence; this feeling on my part has never varied since the first time we met at Boulogne. It has been cherished amid all the difficulties through which we have passed; and this cordiality of intercourse has been of undeniable benefit to the country.'

After congratulating the Emperor on the successful results of His Majesty's efforts to bring about a settlement of the Neuchâtel question, the Prince continues:

'As to the journey of the Grand Duke Constantine, I thoroughly appreciate what your Majesty says on this subject, and I regret no less than yourself, Sire, the interpretation sought to be put on this visit by our press. Your Majesty does well to cultivate the friendship of all the reigning families in Europe, and of the peoples over whom they rule. The greatest good may result from relations of this kind ; and our alliance would be a veritable bondage if from jealous motives it asked you to renounce for its sake every other friendship. It is a sincere pleasure to the Queen and to myself that your Majesty should be more known and understood. But the impression which this interchange of courtesies with Russia may produce, both upon Russia herself and upon the rest of the European public, is quite another matter, and is well worthy of consideration. First, as regards Russia, one may ask if she will not be led by it to conceive hopes and designs which your Majesty has nevertheless no intention to encourage; or if she will not flatter herself with the idea of being able in this way to undermine the Anglo-French Alliance, which is certainly the most intelligible aim and most natural object of her policy? As regards the European public, it can only judge of things by external appearances; but the opinion which is begotten by these appearances exercises a great influence on men's minds, and produces in the long run a kind of general sentiment, which frequently prevents a government from remaining master of its action so thoroughly as it started with the intention of being. This certainly is the case in a country so free as England, where everything is inquired into and

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discussed without restraint. But even in France, where discussion is more limited, where the press is a less active agent, a rapid and animated public opinion is formed, of which no one is more skilled than your Majesty in noting the birth, the growth, and the force, and in accordance with which you have yourself to regulate your line of political conduct, as witness the conclusion of the war and the general tenor of the negotiations for peace.

'In the present case, what renders the English public and press more sensitive is the fact that, possessing as they do great political knowledge and experience, they probe to their foundation the bases of our Alliance; they study the causes which render it so desirable, and so work with all the greater ardour to preserve it. Now they find that the alliance is based upon the two nations being on the same level of civilisation-upon a mutual desire to develop as much as possible sciences, art, letters, commerce, &c., &c.-upon our close vicinity to each other, which makes a good understanding necessary-and upon the well-being and the happiness of the two countries, which are bound so intimately together.

'If, on the other hand, they ask what might be the basis of an alliance with Russia, they find that there is a complete dissimilitude of views, of feelings, and of ideas; that in the eyes of Russia, Western civilisation, far from having any title to be encouraged, is the enemy that ought above all others to be resisted; and that there exists between the two such an absence of mutual interests that, in truth, if the one ceased to exist, the other would scarcely be affected. Thus they conclude that if, notwithstanding these fundamental differences, the Russian Alliance is desired or sought for, this Alliance can have for its basis nothing but an external and purely political motive. Immediately all Europe sets to work to reflect, and asks itself what this motive is; confidence is shaken; England naturally is the first to take the alarm, which is soon shared equally by the rest of the world. The Queen and myself personally are convinced that your Majesty has no intention of this kind, and, so far as we are concerned, the fresh assurances on this subject which your Majesty has been pleased to give in your last letter were superfluous. At the same time I have thought it well to explain the cause of the susceptibility of the public and the press, which, in my judgment, has its origin in the very idea which is at the bottom of our Alliance.

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'Your Majesty will find the Grand Duke Constantine a very agreeable man. It is some years since I saw him, but he then struck me as able, intelligent, thoroughly educated, and full of zeal and ardour in everything which he undertakes. Above all, what left the deepest impression on me was his eminently and exclusively Russian characteristics. For him Holy Russia, its beliefs, its prejudices, its errors and its faults, the Paganism of its religion, the barbarism of its populations, are objects of the most profound veneration. He adores them with a blind and ardent faith. In a word, he appeared to me, in all the conversations which I had with him, so profoundly Oriental in all his views and aspirations, that it struck me as impossible to make him comprehend the ideas and the sentiments of the West, or to get him to appreciate and still less to like them. I should be curious to learn, if he is still the same man I found him, and what impression he makes upon your Majesty.

'I shall not close this long and friendly chat, without begging you to accept the expression of our warmest good wishes for your Majesty, for the Empress, and the young Prince Imperial. The Queen, who has been greatly touched by your message to her, is in a state of health so satisfactory, that we hope soon to be able to go to the Isle of Wight; but you will be sorry to hear, that the illness of the good Duchess of Gloucester is causing us at this moment the most serious anxiety. I have the honour to be, Sire, your Imperial Majesty's good brother and friend,

'ALBERT.'

This letter, before being despatched, was submitted in the usual way to the consideration of the Prime Minister and Lord Clarendon. By them it was pronounced 'most excellent.' It ought, Lord Clarendon wrote to the Prince, ‘to open the Emperor's eyes to the consequences of his adulation of Russia, and above all to put him on his guard against that extremely well veneered gentleman, the Grand Duke Constantine.'

The Emperor of the French took the Prince's letter in good part, and it was doubtless not forgotten, at least for the time, in his relations with those who were pressing the Russian alliance upon him. 'Your reflections,' he wrote to the Prince (1st May), 'appear to me most just, but I answer them by this simple remark. When one is following a plain

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straightforward course, when without making advances one is simply meeting civilities with civilities (de bons procédés par procédés équivalents), why disquiet oneself about the mistakes of public opinion? And besides, how are they to be prevented, if they exist, although one's conduct gives no kind of warrant for them?'

This was no doubt written in all sincerity. But it is nevertheless certain, that, unconsciously it may be to the Emperor himself, the flattering advances of Russia, which continued to be persevered in under every discouragement, were not without influence in the end upon his subsequent policy.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

Manchester Fine Arts Exhibition opened by the Prince-Delivers Addresses at Manchester-Meeting of New Parliament-Vote of Dowry to Crown Princess-Uneasiness throughout Europe-Its Causes-The Danubian Principalities-Conciliatory Attitude of Russia-The Emperor of the French proposes to visit the Queen at Osborne.

On the 5th of May, the Prince opened the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition. It had been feared that his intention to do so might have been abandoned in consequence of the death of the Duchess of Gloucester. But no private grief or conventional decorum was ever allowed by the Prince to interfere with the call of a public duty, and there was yet another reason for his going, which was gracefully expressed by himself in replying to the address of condolence presented to him by the General Council of the Exhibition :—

'If I have thought it my duty,' he said, 'to attend here to-day, although her mortal remains have not yet been carried to their last place of rest, my decision has been rendered easy by the conviction that, could her own opinions and wishes have been known, she would, with that sense of duty and patriotic feeling which so much distinguished her and the generation to which she belonged, have been anxious that I should not on her account, or from private feelings, disturb an arrangement intended for the public good.'

Not the less was the Prince's decision felt to be a crowning kindness to the active help which he had given towards making this Exhibition the great success which it was by this time known to be in itself, and which it ultimately proved to be financially. Early in 1856, the appeal made to him by its projectors, to aid them by procuring pictures and other works of art from the Royal Collections, had been most cordially answered by the Queen and by himself. When the arrangements were more advanced, a deputation from the General Committee explained to the Prince, at Buckingham Palace, on the 2nd of July, 1856, their views as to the nature and character of the collection which they proposed to bring