Villa Coublay and the bombardment were then referred to, and the alleged impossibility of bringing up at once the necessary supply of ammunition. The Chief said: “I have already informed the august gentlemen a couple of times that we have here a whole herd of horses that must be ridden out daily merely for exercise. Why should they not be employed for once to better purpose?” It was mentioned that the Palazzo Caffarelli in Rome had been purchased for the German Embassy, and both Russell and Abeken said it was a very fine building. The Chancellor observed: “Well, we have also handsome houses elsewhere, in Paris and in London. According to Continental ideas, however, the London house is too small. Bernstorff has so little room that he has to give up his own apartments when he has a reception or any other function of the kind. His Secretary of Embassy is better off in that respect. The Embassy in Paris is handsome and well situated. Indeed, it is probably the best Embassy in Paris, and represents a considerable money value, so that it has already occurred to me whether it might not be well to sell it and give the interest on the capital to the Ambassador as an allowance for rent. The interest on two and a half million francs would be a considerable addition to his salary, which only amounts to one hundred thousand francs. But on thinking the matter over more I found that it would not do. It is not becoming, not worthy of a great State, that its Ambassador should live in a hired house, where he would be subject to notice to quit, and on leaving would have to remove the archives in a cart. We ought, and must have, our own houses everywhere.”... “Our London house is an exceptional case. It belongs to the King, and everything depends on the way in which the Ambassador knows how to look after his own interest. It may happen that the King receives no rent--that actually does occur sometimes.” The Chief spoke very highly of Napier, the former English Ambassador in Berlin. “He was very easy to get on with. Buchanan was also a good man, rather dry, perhaps, but absolutely trustworthy. Now we have Loftus. The position of an English Ambassador in Berlin has its own special duties and difficulties, if only on account of the personal relations of the two Royal families. It demands a great deal of tact and care.” (Presumably a quiet hint that Loftus does not fulfil those requirements.) The Minister then led the conversation on to Grammont. He said: “Grammont and Ollivier strike me also as a pretty pair! If that had happened to me--if I had been the cause of such disasters, I would at least have joined a regiment, or, for the matter of that, have become a franctireur, even if I had had to swing for it. A tall, strong, coarse fellow like Grammont would be exactly suited for a soldier’s life.”