p of chocolate.

If they be studious men, or men of action, sent for a specific object,
charged to unravel certain mysteries, or to support certain
principles, their conversion will be undertaken in due form.

I have seen officers, bold, frank, off-hand men, nowise suspected of
Jesuitism, who have allowed themselves to be gently carried away into
the by-paths of reaction by an invisible influence, until they have
been heard swearing, like pagans, against the enemies of the Pope.
Even our own generals, less easy to be caught, are sometimes laid hold
of. The Government cajoles them without loving them.

No effort is spared to persuade them that all is for the best. The
Roman princes, who think themselves superior to all men, treat them
upon a footing of perfect equality. The Cardinals caress them. These
men in petticoats possess marvellous seductions, and are irresistible
in the art of wheedling. The Holy Father himself converses now with
one, now with the other, and addresses each as "My dear General!" A
soldier must be very ungrateful, very badly taught, and have fallen
off sadly from the old French chivalry, if he refuses to let himself
be killed at the gates of the Vatican where his vanity has been so
charmingly tickled.

Our ambassadors, too, are resident foreigners, exposed to the personal
flatteries of Roman society. Poor Count de Rayneval! He was so petted,
and cajoled, and deceived, that he ended by penning the _Note_ of the
14th of May, 1856.

His successor, the Duke de Gramont, is not only an accomplished
gentleman, but a man of talent, with a highly cultivated mind. The
Emperor sent him from Turin to Rome, so it was to be expected that the
Pontifical Government would appear to him doubly detestable, first,
from its own defects, and then by comparison with what he had just
quitted. I had the honour of conversing with this brilliant young
diplomatist, shortly after his arrival, when the Roman people expected
a great deal of him. I found him opposed to the ideas of the Count de
Rayneval, and very far from disposed to countersign the _Note_ of the
14th of May. Nevertheless, he was beginning to judge the
administration of the Cardinals, and the grievances of the people,
with something more than diplomatic impartiality. If I were to express
what appeared to be his opinion, in common parlance, I should say he
would have put the governors and the governed in a bag together. I
would wager that, three months after