We have just heard that there has been an action in Ireland in which some of the insurgents have been killed; fifty Police dispersed four thousand people. Smith O'Brien is, however, not yet taken.
Footnote 34: See Introductory Note for the year, ante, [p. 141].
Footnote 35: The Frankfort Assembly, in pursuance of the policy of German consolidation, had placed the central executive power in the hands of a Reichsverweser, or Vicar of the Empire. The Archduke John, uncle of the Emperor of Austria, was elected to this position, and the Queen's half-brother Charles, Prince of Leiningen, was entrusted with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston.
AN AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE
Osborne, 8th August 1848.
... The Queen has attentively perused the statement of Lord Palmerston in favour of accrediting an Ambassador at Paris. As the proposed arrangement for the present is to be only a provisional one, the Queen thinks that the appointment of a Minister now will leave it quite open to have an Ambassador hereafter, if it should be found necessary or advantageous, whilst it would set that matter at rest for the moment. Withdrawing an Ambassador and substituting a Minister hereafter, would be much more difficult. The French Republic would no doubt like to have an Ambassador here, and perhaps take immediate steps to secure that object if Lord Normanby were accredited Ambassador at Paris, against which we would be secured in having only a Minister there.... Lord Normanby's acquaintance with the public men at Paris is as much an inconvenience as it may be a convenience in some respects; his having been the great admirer and friend of M. Lamartine, for instance, etc., etc. The possibility of mixing freely with persons of various kinds, which Lord Palmerston adduces as an important consideration will, in the Queen's opinion, be more easy for a Minister than for a person of the high rank of Ambassador. All things considered therefore, the Queen will prefer to have temporarily a Minister accredited at Paris.
M. de Tallenay the Queen would receive in London on Tuesday next at six o'clock, when the Queen will be in Town.