At Mr. ——’s request, I returned the next day, the 13th, but was no more successful than the previous day, so that Mr. —— left Paris without being able to comply with the letter which your Majesty had the kindness to write him, and in which your Majesty expressed the wish that he should spend the 12th with M. Rouher. He wished to know to-day what he ought to do.
M. de ——, an intimate friend of a relation of mine, has sent me a booklet, which I enclose for your Majesty. He is the author of it, and he would be glad, when publishing another edition shortly, to insert any rectification which might be pointed out.
During my stay in Paris my business in connection with railways brought me into contact with influential persons of all countries, and I was convinced that solid progress had been made in favour of our cause, and that people were looking forward to the future. A crisis is believed to be inevitable in connection with the interest on the loans,[145] and this is thought to be the rock which will wreck M. Thiers’s boat.
The propaganda against the Empire is prosecuted at Paris, and as for us, we do not seem to have any organization.
(Signed) A. de La Chapelle.
“Fully Subscribed.”
To His Majesty the Emperor.
September 17, 1872.
Sire,
Mr. —— gives orders by this evening’s post to pay to-morrow a sum of 50,000 francs [£2,000] at M. Rouher’s, and in a few days’ time he will pay 200,000 francs [£8,000]; the remainder of the subscription will be paid as soon as his business with the “Era” is terminated.