However this may be, a gentleman of the Court, M. de Clam, aide-de-camp of the Emperor Ferdinand, the same who replaced M. d' Apel, went to the Minister of Police, M. de Sedlenitzki, and begged him to lend him this prohibited publication. On the refusal of this Minister, he declared that he would procure it, notwithstanding his opposition, and he proceeded to a bookseller, who made difficulties; but M. de Clam threatened him with never again setting foot in his house, and assured him that he had nothing to fear; so that the bookseller, finding himself placed between two fires, decided on fulfilling the wishes of M. de Clam in selling him the numbers of the " Portfolio," and, at the same time, another prohibited work, the novel of Wally by Gutzkow, against which the German Diet had launched its thunders.

A

In his delight at having outwitted the police, the aide-de-camp went in haste to M. de Sedlenitzki, and showed the numbers to the astounded Minister. The prayers, the intreaties, of the latter, that he would give the name of the bookseller entirely failed; but he had recourse to another means; he gave his word of honour that the bookseller should have nothing to fear, upon which the aide-de-camp, with the good faith of an officer, and in order to prove that it was at Vienna that he had procured the "Portfolio," conceived himself at liberty to name the bookseller. quarter of an hour afterwards, the police agents broke into the shop, seized some prohibited books, to the value of four hundred florins, exacted the fine of a thousand florins, and left the unfortunate bookseller under the ban of still graver threats. Indignant at this proceeding, he hastens to M. de Clam and recalls to him his promise; M. de Clam, equally indignant, runs to M. de Sedlenitzki to remind him of his word of honour, on which the Minister coldly replied that, in his position, he conceived himself above the obligation of a word of honour.

The following day M. de Sedlenitzki received an autograph note from the Emperor Ferdinand, in which, after having expressed to him his displeasure, His Majesty commanded him immediately to restore the books and the thousand florins. At the same time, in order to calm entirely the fears of the bookseller, the

Emperor named him publisher of the Court, a great mark of favour in Austria. Prince Metternich, apprized of what had passed, did not hesitate to make representations to the Emperor, but without success; and every thing leads to the belief that the "Portfolio," without being publicly displayed, will continue to be read in Austria.

The Cabinet of Vienna is not fond of the transmission of political correspondence to foreign countries; it would even suppress it at the Post Office. But now, that I find myself beyond the Austrian territory, I think it my duty to transmit to you these facts; and, for still further security, I no longer confide them to the ordinary post.

The English reader will perhaps be surprised that M. de Sedlenitzki, after the autograph letter, drawn up in very energetic language, should have been able or willing to retain his situation. In Austria this surprises no one. The Austrian functionaries are very immoveable. The late Emperor Francis was one day dissatisfied with his Minister of War, because the soldiers at a review passed in a disorderly manner before the Emperor, in consequence of a pool of water, which the rain had formed in the street. For this light cause, he wrote to the Minister a fulminating letter; but the Minister kept his place, and keeps it still.

I shall take another opportunity of speaking to you about the Emperor Ferdinand, and of characterising this Prince, of such simple habits, who is the object, in the European press, of such complicated commentaries. I shall limit myself to stating, on this occasion, that the Emperor has a will of his own, and that Russia would deceive herself, were she to think herself able to dictate to him orders through the channel of an Austrian minister. I dare not pretend, in so hasty a letter, to sketch the portrait of Prince Metternich: but I venture to affirm that he does not sufficiently appreciate the strength of an empire such as Austria, and that he is too forgetful of the true interests of this empire, in listening, oftentimes with a complacency which resembles obedience, to the counsels, the notes, the threats, of the Russian embassy. Perhaps the aversion of the Prince to publicity has contributed as much

as the Russian note to his order to the booksellers; but, in this particular case, does he not see himself at least exposed to having his policy misinterpreted? As regards M. de Sedlenitzki, I leave him to the reflection of the public, to think of him as they like.

It is not the first time, however, that an imperial note in Austria has afforded a remedy for the scandalous proceedings of the Russian embassy. Under the reign of Francis-the story is somewhat old, though unrecited-an aristocratic assembly used regularly to meet at this embassy, and a noble foreign lady, famous for her liaisons with an Hungarian nobleman, was the soul of the party. I do not like to engage in polemics against the fair sex, and I shall not designate this lady by name, but I shall mention that, in the midst of her acts of levity, she allowed herself to propose a raffle for a young negro, brought up with her son, and his intimate companion. The noble society bought the tickets, and the Ambassador committed the crime of making his residence the theatre of these shameful transactions, the profits of which were to enrich the lady. The Emperor heard of it. An autograph letter obliged M. de Sedlenitzki to take his measures, and they got out of the scrape by supplying the place of a negro with a statue of him imitated in chocolate.

Many of my friends were in the Rhenish provinces during the journey of the French Princes. Their highnesses the Dukes of Orleans and Nemours were too much in society and travelled too rapidly to be able to study very deeply the positions of the countries which they traversed. But they must have perceived that the Prussians on the Rhine are animated with liberal ideas; that they long for a Constitution, and that they are opposed to the Russian Alliance. I abstain from citing the proofs, for the functionaries might take advantage of them. The prisons and the fortresses on the Rhine are already too well filled.*

The French Princes conducted themselves admirably, and have distinguished themselves by a delicacy entirely French. At Coblentz, General von Borstell, commanding the 8th corps of the

* See Despatch of General von Borstell, No. 25 of the "Portfolio."

Prussian army, attached to them a superior officer to accompany them to Cologne, and to remain with them in that city. In taking leave of this officer, the Duke of Orleans said to him that he was unprepared to offer him any adequate return for his politeness, but begged his acceptance of a pencil as a token of remembrance. A short time after the departure of the Princes, when the officer showed the pencil to his brother officers, they discovered that it opened at the end, and they found there a diamond of the value of a hundred louis. The Prussians were charmed with this conduct. It was impossible to offer a present to an officer in a more delicate

manner.

CONVENTION

BETWEEN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY, HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY, THE EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS, AND THE KING OF BAVARÍA; RELATIVE TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GREECE. SIGNED AT LONDON,

7TH MAY, 1832.

The Courts of Great Britain, France, and Russia, exercising the power conveyed to them by the Greek nation, to make choice of a Sovereign for Greece, raised to the rank of an independent State, and being desirous of giving to that country a fresh proof of their friendly disposition, by the election of a Prince descended from a Royal House, the friendship and alliance of which cannot fail to be of essential service to Greece, and which has already acquired claims to her esteem and gratitude, have resolved to offer the crown of the new Greek State to the Prince Frederick Otho of Bavaria, second son of His Majesty the King of Bavaria.

His Majesty the King of Bavaria, on his part, acting in the character of guardian of the said Prince Otho during his minority, participating in the views of the three Courts, and duly appreciating the motives which have induced them to fix their choice upon a Prince of his house, has determined to accept the crown of Greece for his second son the Prince Frederick Otho of Bavaria.

In consequence of such acceptance, and for the purpose of agreeing upon the arrangements which it has rendered necessary, their Majesties the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the King of the French, and the Emperor of all the Russias, on the one part, and His Majesty the King of Bavaria, on the other, have named as their Plenipotentiaries, viz.

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry John Viscount Palmerston, Baron Temple, a Peer of Ireland, a Member of His