June) introduces him to the Emperor Francis Joseph and says, _inter alia_: “I am pleased that your Majesty will be able to make the acquaintance of a man who is here honoured by many and hated by others, on account of his chivalrous loyalty and his irreconcilable opposition to revolution in every form. He is my friend and loyal servant, and comes to your Majesty with the fresh and lively impress of my principles, of my line of action, of my will, and, I may add, of my love for Austria. If it be deemed worth while, he can inform your Majesty, and your Majesty’s advisers on various matters as I believe few are capable of doing, and if misunderstandings of an old date have not struck too deep a root, which God in His mercy forbid, his brief official sojourn in Vienna will truly be rich in blessings. Herr von Bismarck comes from Frankfurt, where what the middle States, with their leaning towards a Rhenish Confederation (die rheinbundschwangeren Mittelstaaten) call the weak P. of P. (Query--the weak points of Prussia) has always elicited a powerful echo and has frequently made recruits. He has watched all this and whatever was going on there with a sharp and penetrating eye. I have commanded him to answer every question that may be addressed to him by your Majesty and your Ministers as if I myself had addressed them to him. If your Majesty should be pleased to ask for an explanation of my views and my action in the matter of the Hessian Constitution, I feel sure that the course taken by me, even if it should not perhaps have the good fortune to meet with your approval, will at least secure your respect. The presence of the beloved and glorious Emperor Nicholas has been to me a real encouragement, and a certain confirmation of the strong hope that your Majesty and myself are at one in the truth that our triple, unswervingly loyal and active union can alone save Europe and the froward, yet so beloved, German Fatherland from the present crisis, fills me with gratitude to God, and increases my old and faithful affection for your Majesty. Do you also, my dearest Emperor, preserve for me your love from the days at Tegernsee, and confirm your confidence and your weighty and powerful friendship to me which are so indispensable to the common Fatherland. From the bottom of my heart I commend myself to this friendship as your Imperial Majesty’s true and most cordially devoted Uncle, Brother and Friend.” Gerlach’s letter to Bismarck of the 9th of March condemns the language used by B. in an interview with the King respecting the First Chamber, and in particular that he had not pointed out how his Majesty, “through the attitude which he had adopted, had estranged the nobility, disorganised the parties, and shaken the position of the Ministry.”--15th April. An inquiry at the instance of the King concerning the truth of the rumour that Prince Frederick of Baden was thinking of becoming a Catholic. Then an