to what is
absolutely necessary that they can hardly be regarded as an equivalent
for the five thousand florins which his Highness Duke William
contributes to his salary.

The Mecklenburg envoy, Herr von Oertzen, justifies in all respects the
reputation of an honorable man which I had heard attributed to him
before he assumed his present position. In the period immediately
following the reopening of the Federal Diet, he, like a large number of
his fellow-countrymen, showed an unmistakable leaning to Austria; but
it seems to me indubitable that his observation for two years of the
methods which Austrian policy employs here through the organ of the
Chair has aroused in Herr von Oertzen's loyal nature, in spite of the
fact that he too has a son in the Austrian army, a reaction which
permits me to count fully upon him as far as his personal attitude is
concerned, and upon his political support as far as his instructions--of
the character of which, on the whole, I cannot complain--in any wise
permit. In any case I can depend upon his pursuing, under all
circumstances, an open and honorable course.... His attitude in the
debates is always tranquil, and in favor of compromise....

The representative of the Fifteenth Curia is Herr von Eisendecher, a man
whose ready sociability, united with wit and vivacity in conversation,
prepossesses one in his favor. He was formerly an advanced Gothaite, and
it seems that this tendency of his has shaded over into a lively
sympathy for the development of the Confederation as a strong, unified,
central power; since in this way, and with the help of Austria, he
thinks that a substitute will be discovered for the unsuccessful efforts
towards unity in the Prussian sense. The Curia, it is reported, is so
organized that the two Anhalts and the two Schwarzburgs, if they are
united among themselves, outvote Oldenburg.

It is in a simpler way and without stating his reasons that the
representative of the Sixteenth Curia, Baron von Holzhausen, throws his
influence on the Austrian side of the scales. It is said of him that in
most cases he draws up his own instructions, even when he has ample time
to send for them, and that he meets any protest raised by his principals
by holding his peace, or by an adroit use of the large number of members
of his Curia and the lack of connection between them. To this it is to
be added that the majority of the little princes are not disposed to
spend upon their feder