_Evening._--Bucher brings me an article from the _Pester Lloyd_ of the 11th instant and says: “The blue pencil mark, and the query ‘Surely to be laid before the Chancellor?’ are by Aegidi. He thinks it will be something new for the Chief. I am, however, pretty certain that the article has been written at his suggestion. I myself have on one occasion launched something of the kind against Augusta. Just see that the article, or the best passages of it, are reproduced in some low outside print (_irgend ein entferntes Schandblatt_). I do not wish to give the black fellow my views on the origin of the article, because, as you know, I do not trust him. Keudell has also connections in Augusta’s circles.” The “best passages” from the article, which began by describing the Emperor’s speech from the throne as dry and temperate, but free from phrasemongering, and typical of the “practical character of Prussian policy,” are the following: “Although the statements contained in the speech from the throne afford little ground for comment, yet the omissions point to another aspect of the question. For some days past a singular rumour has been circulating in the newspapers to the effect that the arm which has seemed on the point of crushing the intrigues of the zealots is felt in Berlin to be already unnerved, and that an armistice is impending with the reactionary party which Prince Bismarck has just branded as the arch-enemy of the German Empire. The sudden and unexpected arrival of the Chancellor from Varzin is regarded as an indication that something is pending in the capital which renders his presence there indispensable. Others assert that the threatened expulsion from Germany of the order of Jesus has excited such serious apprehensions in Rome that the Holy Father himself directed the Episcopacy to observe a prudent and moderate attitude in order to avert the execution of that measure; thus paving the way for a _modus vivendi_, negotiations for which had been already entered upon with every prospect of success. As it is well known how unwillingly the Emperor William entered upon that campaign, and what difficulties Bismarck had with the Conservative Junkers and Pietists, the ominous silence on this point of the speech from the throne may be taken as a confirmation of the foregoing rumours.