V.
Paris,
January 8, 1868.
My dear Stoffel,
You should have received through the Foreign Office my last letter, containing twelve hundred francs [£48], and informing you that another sum is being sent from the same source.[165] You will find in this envelope the bank-note [for 1,000 francs = £40] referred to, which will be, I believe, the last you will receive. The prodigality of César Romain[166] will stop there, and if we had not any other resources there would be nothing for us to do but to ask M. Plon to give us a bed in the hospital which he intends to build in memory of the conqueror of the Gauls and of his historian [Napoleon III.]....
I urged you in my last letter to send all the information which you can obtain, and not to omit using for that purpose the “crowns” you will be able to get the Embassy to advance. His Majesty would like to have to-day a complete report upon a new system of mobilization adopted by Prussia, by which she will be able to put all her troops on a war footing in nine days. Possibly you have already sent such a report; send another in more detail....