On the 27th of July Bucher related to me “an anecdote illustrating the way in which the Secretary of State von Bülow carried on business.” Lasker called upon him one day to introduce a Frenchman, one Comte de Jolivar, who was going to Constantinople, and wished to have a letter of introduction to our Embassy there. Bülow had this letter prepared, and added in his own hand a few words of warm recommendation to Werther, who was our representative at the Porte at that time. The Comte proceeded on his journey with this document in his pocket, and one of the first things he did on his arrival at the Golden Horn was to swindle a German artisan out of a respectable sum of money. This was soon followed by similar operations, which speedily came to Werther’s ears, who probably had already felt surprised at the Frenchman having asked for and received recommendations from the Foreign Office in Berlin, instead of from that in Paris, or from the French Minister in Berlin. He reported these cases of swindling to the Wilhelmstrasse, and from there inquiries were addressed to the Foreign Office in Paris. The information received was to the following effect. Comte de Jolivar is not a Comte, but only a Chevalier, that is to say, _chevalier d’industrie_, who--as the police records show--has been condemned on several occasions for embezzlement and swindling, and was once prosecuted for forgery, but just managed to save his skin. “_Tableau_” in the office of our Secretary of State! Bucher praised Hatzfeldt, who has entered upon the duties of his office in succession to Bülow, as a pleasant and easy chief. Speaking of Bunsen, Bucher said that he had written for the Secessionist _Tribune_. Bucher also referred to the controversy which he had recently fought out with Bunsen, in the columns of the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_. On the 29th of July I received the following note from Bucher:-- “1. Can you get the enclosed inserted in the _Daily Telegraph_, or some other English newspaper, and send the Chief a copy? “2. Herewith the draft of an article on the commercial treaty, of which you must alter the introduction. The second edition of Bonamy Price which I have received from Baden (whence he also obtained the _Sophisms of Free Trade_, which he sent me for the ‘Characteristics of the Manchester School’) does not contain the letter from Chevalier. I have instructed Ascher to get the first edition at my expense, and to forward it to you. “Yours, Bʀ.” The enclosure mentioned in paragraph 1 ran as follows:--