r which he wrote in 1861 to Sir Henry Layard, then Political
Under-Secretary of State.[44] It contained a masterly analysis of the
character and upbringing of King William, showing how his intellectual
narrowness had hampered Liberal Governments, while his professional
training in the army had made him a most efficient instrument in
promoting the aims of Junker politicians and ministers of war.

[Note 44: _Memoirs of Sir Robert Morier_, 1826-76, by his daughter,
Lady Rosslyn Wemyss, vol. i, p. 303 (Edward Arnold, 1911).]

On Schleswig-Holstein, above all, Morier exerted himself to convey a
right view of the question to those who guided opinion in London,
whether newspaper editors or responsible ministers. He appealed to the
same principle which had won support for the Lombards against Austria.
The inhabitants of the disputed Duchies were for the most part Germans,
and the Danish Government had done violence to their national sentiment.
If England could have extended its sympathy to its northern kinsmen in
time, the question might have been settled peacefully before 1862, and
Bismarck could never have availed himself of such a lever to overthrow
his Liberal opponents. As it was, Prussia ignored the Danish sympathies
displayed abroad, especially in the English press, went her own way and
invaded the Duchies, dragging in her train Austria, her confederate and
her dupe. Palmerston, who controlled our foreign policy at the time,
waited till the last moment, blustered, found himself impotent to move
without French support, and left Denmark smarting with a sense of
betrayal which lasted till 1914. By such bungling Morier knew that we
were incurring enmity on both sides and lowering our reputation for
courage as well as for statesmanship.

In 1865 he was chosen as one of the Special Commissioners to negotiate a
treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Austria. He had always
been a Free-trader, and he was convinced that such economic agreements
could do much to improve the world and to strengthen the bonds of peace.
So he was ready and willing to do hard work in this sphere, and finding
a congenial colleague in Sir Louis Mallet, one of the best economists of
the day, he spent some months at Vienna in fruitful activity and won the
good opinion of all associated with him. For his services he received
the C.B. and high commendation from London.

This same year brought promotion in rank, though for long it was
uncertain where