w at them, which they know they can only do through
England and France. They would therefore willingly believe that
the political power of England is diminished, and Neumann, who
wrote in the spirit of a disappointed Tory rather than of an
impartial Foreign Minister, no doubt flattered their desires in
this respect. Last night I sat by Dedel, the Dutch Minister, who
told me he knew Neumann had given very false accounts (not
intentionally) to his Government, that Wessenberg took much
juster views, and he (Dedel) agreed with Esterhazy, who said that
nobody could understand this country who had not had long
experience of it, and that he found it impossible to make his
Government comprehend it, or give entire credit to what he said.
Dedel told me that Holland is ruined, that the day of reckoning
will come, when they will discover what a state of bankruptcy
they are in, that the spirit of the nation had been kept up by
excitement, and that therein lay the dexterity of the King and
his Government, but that this factitious enthusiasm was rapidly
passing away. They now pay fifty millions of florins interest of
debt, about four millions sterling, and their population is not
above two millions.

[Page Head: QUEEN OF PORTUGAL IN ENGLAND.]

The young Queen of Portugal goes to Windsor to-day. The King was
at first very angry at her coming to England, but when he found
that Louis Philippe had treated her with incivility, he changed
his mind, and resolved to receive her with great honours. He
hates Louis Philippe and the French with a sort of Jack Tar
animosity. The other day he gave a dinner to one of the regiments
at Windsor, and as usual he made a parcel of foolish speeches, in
one of which, after descanting upon their exploits in Spain
against the French, he went on: 'Talking of France, I must say
that whether at peace or at war with that country, I shall always
consider her as our natural enemy, and whoever may be her King or
_ruler_, I shall keep a watchful eye for the purpose of
repressing her ambitious encroachments.' If he was not such an
ass that nobody does anything but laugh at what he says, this
would be very important. Such as he is, it is nothing. 'What can
you expect' (as I forget who said) 'from a man with a head like a
pineapple?' His head is just of that shape.

The history of the French King's behaviour is that he wanted the
young Queen of Portugal to marry the Duke de Nemours, and when he
found that impossib