M. Waddington was the first plenipotentiary of France to the Congress of Berlin in 1878. On February 4, 1879, he became President of the Council (Premier), retiring the following December. In the winter of 1879-1880 he refused the offer of the London Embassy. In May, 1883, he was sent as Ambassador-Extraordinary to represent France at the coronation of the Czar Alexander III at Moscow, and upon his return from Russia was appointed Ambassador at the Court of St. James to succeed M. Tissot. He held this post until 1893, and died in Paris in the following year.

Mme. Waddington accompanied her husband on his missions to both England and Russia. The letters collected in this volume were written during the period of her husband's diplomatic service to describe to her sisters the personages and incidents of her official life. About a fourth part of their number have lately been published in Scribner's Magazine; with this exception, the letters are now given to the public for the first time.

Tompkins McIlvaine.

New York, April 1, 1903.

ILLUSTRATIONS
[Portrait of Madame Waddington]Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
[Colonel Benckendorff]
From a photograph by Bergamasco, St. Petersburg.		[34]
[The Emperor Crowning the Empress. Church del'Assomption][66]
[Empress Marie in her Coronation Robes][68]
[Grand Duc Wladimir]
From a photograph by Bergamasco, St. Petersburg.		[104]
[M. William Waddington]
From a copyright photograph by Russell & Son.		[142]
[The French Embassy, Albert Gate, London] [168]
[The Dining-room of the French Embassy, London, Showing its Two Famous Gobelin Tapestries][172]
[J. J. Jusserand, Counsellor of the French Embassy]
Recently appointed French Ambassador to the United States. From a photograph by Walery, Paris.		[178]
[The Duchess of Cambridge ]
From a photograph by Walery, London.		[180]
[Windsor Castle][192]
[M. and Mme. Waddington and Their Son]
From a photograph by Cesar, Paris.		[198]
[The Salon of the French Embassy in London][210]
[Lady Salisbury][216]
[Knowsley Hall]
The Earl of Derby's place at Prescot, Lancashire.		[228]
[The Late Earl of Derby]
From a photograph by Franz Baum, London.		[232]
[The Countess Fanny Karolyi, the Austrian Ambassadress]
From a photograph by Walery, London.		[240]
[Queen Victoria, in the Dress Worn During theState Jubilee Celebration, June 21, 1887]
From a photograph, copyright, by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde, England.		[250]
[The Crown Prince Frederick of Germany, in theUniform Worn by Him at the Jubilee Celebration, London, June, 1887]
From a photograph by Loescher & Petsch, Berlin.		[254]
[Comtesse de Florian]
From a photograph by Walery, London.		[262]
[Group at Hatfield House during the visit of the Shah of Persia, July 8, 1889]
From a photograph by Russell & Sons, London.		[304]
[Lord Salisbury]
From a photograph by Lambert Weston & Son, Dover.		[306]
[A Comedy for Children at the French Embassy]
From a photograph by Barker & Pragnell, London.		[320]
[The Empress Frederick, Wearing the Order of the Black Eagle]
The last portrait of the Empress by the artist Angeli.		[388]
[Entrance to the Club and Gardens, Cowes, Isle ofWight]
From a photograph by Broderick.		[392]

LETTERS OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE

PART I