epared. One remark he made
worth remembering,--"The Duke of Wellington should always be your
Minister of Foreign Affairs, no matter what the changes of party. It is
not that his great opportunities of knowing the Continent, assisted by
his unquestionable ability, alone distinguish him, but that his name
and the weight of his opinion on any disputed question exert a greater
influence than any other man's over the various sovereignties of Europe.
After the Emperor himself, he was the greatest actor in the grand drama
of the early part of the century; he made himself conspicuous in every
council, even less by the accuracy of his views than by their unerring,
unswerving rectitude. The desperate struggle in which he had taken part
had left no traces of ungenerous feeling or animosity behind, and the
pride of conquest had never disturbed the equanimity of the negotiator."

What other statesman in England had dared to ratify the Belgian
revolution, and, by his simple acknowledgment, place the fact beyond
appeal? It is with statesmen as with soldiers; the men who have been
conversant with great events maintain the prestige of their ascendancy
over all who "never smelt powder;" and Metternich wields much of his
great influence on such a tenure.

_Apropos_ of Metternich; the King told a trait of him which I have not
heard before. In one of those many stormy interviews which took place
between him and the Emperor, Napoleon, irritated at the tone of freedom
assumed by the Austrian envoy, endeavoured by an artifice to recall him
to what he deemed a recollection of their relative stations, and then,
as it were, inadvertently let fall his hat for the Prince to take it up;
instead of which Metternich moved back and bowed, leaving the Emperor to
lift it from the ground himself.

Napoleon, it would seem, was ever on the watch to detect and punish the
slightest infraction of that respect which "doth hedge a king," even
in cases when the offender had nothing further from his mind than the
intention to transgress: a rather absurd illustration was mentioned by
the King. The Emperor was one day seeking for a book in the library
at Malmaison, and at last discovered it on a shelf somewhat above his
reach. Marshal Moocey, one of the tallest men in the army, who was
present, immediately stepped forward, saying, "Permettez, Sire. Je suis
plus grand que votre Majeste!" "Vous voulez dire plus long, Marechal,"
said the Emperor, with a frown that ma