There were sixteen or eighteen at table, gentlemen and ladies, all English-some of the army. Certainly no merit could be claimed in treating well a gallant officer who had fallen into our hands. But it was part of a generous mind to remember it. I learned, not from himself, but others, that my predecessors in the mission to France had in like manner been recipients of his hospitality.

I close the note of my second English dinner in Paris, with the remark, that, remembering what passed at the English Embassy, about taking wine with the company, I ventured to act upon it at this agreeable dinner at the hospitable table of the distinguished and gallant general.

February 16. We are at a grand ball to-night at the Palais Elysée. Mr. and Mrs. Ridgway are of our party, and Lady Augusta Bruce. Eminent persons were there-some of the Bonapartes; the Ministers of State; the Diplomatic Corps, and distinguished foreigners. The Prince President opens the ball by dancing with his relative, the Princess Matilde Demiedoff. It was not easy to arrive or get away, owing to the crowd of carriages in the court-yard. The President's servants wore the green and gold livery of the Emperor. The President told me, in the course of the evening, that the copy I had furnished of the part of our Constitu

tion relating to the Executive veto, was very acceptable.

February 27. The anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic was celebrated on the 24th of this month. The religious part of the ceremonial was in the church of the Madeleine.

The President of the Republic and the President of the National Assembly each moved off for the church, the former from the Palais Elysée, the latter from the Legislative Chamber, at a signal gun; so that each might arrive at the church and go in at the same time. I heard that the President of the Assembly determined to pursue this course, lest the President of the Republic should have intended to enter first, thinking it his duty to stand up for the dignity of the Assembly.

There has been a conflict of authority between the Executive and the Chamber, from which the latter came out disadvantageously. This may the more have determined the President of the Chamber not to yield precedence in going into the church. The conflict was this. The President of the Republic and his Ministers urged upon the Chamber several measures of policy which they desired to see adopted. The Chamber refused to adopt them, leaving the Ministers in a minority on more than one occasion. One of the measures urged was no less important than that of dissolving the As

sembly; the Ministers alleging that its great function was fulfilled in the formation of the Constitution, and that it was proper to have a new Assembly chosen in the manner definitively settled by the Constitution. The Chamber voted otherwise, not choosing to annihilate itself. The Ministers persisted. So did the Chamber. This brought on a constitutional conflict, the first which has arisen between the two authorities. The Chamber said the Ministers ought to resign under their defeats. The Ministers answered no. The President of the Republic represents the popular will as much as the Assembly, and embodies a more recent expression of it. The Ministers kept their places, the President refusing to dismiss them. The Assembly have since shown a more acquiescing spirit; and so things stand.

I wrote an account of this conflict to my Government on the 20th of this month, venturing to express the opinion that the Executive had the best of the argument; but that we might read in this first clash the future dangers to France under an elective and representative government with but a single Legislative Chamber.

March 13. Mr. Wikoff, of Philadelphia, called on me a few days ago, to request that I would present him to the Prince President. What need of this, I ask? you have known the President longer than I

have. I had read the account of the visit he paid the latter at Ham when he was a State prisoner, and remembered the predictions it contained. He replied, that, having recently come to Paris, he would prefer, as a stranger and an American, to be reintroduced by the Minister of his country. I replied, that, although I had not been the first to suggest this, I thought he judged rightly. Accordingly, at the reception at the Palais Elysée, this evening, I presented him. In doing it, I had to watch the proper moment. The rooms were full. Others were being presented by the Foreign Ministers; and much of that ceremony was otherwise going on. I advanced nearer and nearer to where the Prince President stood, Mr. Wikoff keeping close to me. At length his turn came, and I was on the eve of doing my part, when the President, seeing who was with me, and directing his eye towards him, exclaimed, before I spoke, and in tone of cordial recognition, Mr. Wikoff! It thus became unnecessary for me to mention his name first. He then took the latter by the hand and greeted him warmly. Mr. Wikoff bore himself becomingly under a recognition so complimentary, the incident having drawn attention from all near enough to witness it.

March 26. We go to an invited party at the Prince President's. It is not large, and a con

cert. The most celebrated performers and singers in Paris make up the music. So says to me a member of the Diplomatic Corps present.

The same gentleman, who has been long here and can discriminate people, whispers to me that among the ladies of the company he does not perceive a single one belonging to a Republican family. All were of the old régime; Legitimists, Orleanists, or Bonapartes. Thiers and Count Molé were there. They might be seen in a room by themselves, talking together.

April 12. At a reception at the Palace Elysée this evening, I presented to the Prince President Mr. and Mrs. William R. Palmer, of Philadelphia. Also Mr. and Mrs. F. B. Stockton, of Washington, Mr. Stockton being of the U. S. Navy.

After presenting Mrs. Palmer, she shows me a miniature likeness of General Taylor, the newly elected President of the United States, executed on satin. I say to her that, with her permission, I will give it to the Prince President, as the likeness of a brave soldier. She consents; and I tell her that in offering it to his acceptance I shall represent myself as her ambassador, commissioned by herself. I fulfil the honorable commission I am charged with. The Prince President receives the miniature, and most courteously requests me to thank the fair donor; of whom he speaks very flatteringly.