Thursday, March 2nd.—Favre arrived this morning at 7.30 A.M., and wished to be shown in to the Chief. Wollmann declined to wake him, however, at which the Parisian Excellency was very indignant. Favre wanted to inform the Chancellor of the news he had received during the night that the National Assembly at Bordeaux had ratified the preliminaries of peace, and thereupon to ask that Paris and the forts on the left bank of the Seine should be evacuated. This request was submitted in a letter which he left behind him.
Sunday, March 5th.—We leave to-morrow, first going to Lagny and thence to Metz. The Chief is present at dinner. The conversation first turned upon our landlady, Madame Jesse, who put in an appearance either to-day or yesterday and made a variety of complaints to the Minister as to the damage we are supposed to have done to her property. He replied that was the way in war, particularly when people deserted their homes. Besides she had reasons to be thankful that she had got off so easily. The little table on which the Treaty of Peace was signed is to be taken with us to Germany. Taglioni, who is to remain behind a few days with the King, is instructed to have it replaced by an exactly similar piece of furniture. In speaking of the preparations for our departure the Chief says: “Kühnel thinks we ought not to travel by night, as Lorraine will be haunted, and they might lay something on the rails.” I replied, “Then I will travel incognito as the Duke of Coburg. Nobody owes him a grudge. He is regarded as perfectly innocent—and with justice.”
Monday, March 6th.—A lovely morning. Thrushes and finches warble the signal for our departure. At 1 o’clock the carriages get under way, and with light hearts we drive off towards the gate that we entered five months ago, and passed Villa Coublay, Villeneuve Saint Georges, Charenton, and La Fasanerie to Lagny, where we take up our quarters for the night.
We leave here next day by a special train for Metz, where we arrive late at night. We put up at an hotel, while the Chief stays with Count Henckel at the Prefecture. Next morning we stroll through the town, visit the cathedral, and survey the neighbourhood from the bastions of the fortress. Shortly before 11 o’clock we are again in the train, and travel by Saarbrücken and Kreuznach to Mainz, and thence to Frankfurt.
The Chief has an enthusiastic reception everywhere along the line and particularly at Saarbrücken and Mainz. Frankfurt is the only exception. We arrive there at a late hour, and start again in the night. At 7.30 on the following morning we reach Berlin, after exactly seven months’ absence. All things considered, everything has been done during those seven months which it was possible to do.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Strictly speaking, almost complete, as some passages must still be omitted for the present.
[2] The despatch was understood to contain a sentence to the effect that Rome should take care not to challenge Europe, and that whatever the Church might say, the Austrian Courts of Justice would not allow themselves to be influenced into according any indulgence towards those who broke the laws or instigated others to do so.
[3] At that time it had only been accepted by the Committee of the House of Commons,—without any important amendments however, and its adoption on a third reading was assured. It is true, objections were raised. Gladstone very characteristically observed that the law now only empowered the Administration to proceed against incitements to treasonable action; it was, however, necessary to provide for the punishment of attempts by the press to create a “treasonable state of mind” amongst the people. The sole concession made by the Government was that the threatened measures should not be put into execution until warning (once only) had been given.
[4] The loyal Hanoverian circles did not tell the truth in this matter. Stoffel’s reports were, on the whole, good, and he himself was a man of respectable character.