In spite of all pacific assurances the thunder-clouds, black and ominous, were gathering. War was imminent; Prince Napoleon went so far as to express the opinion that it would break out in the spring; he was wrong by some eighteen months. Much was to happen before what was an anxiety should be crystallized into a storm ending in a tragedy such as the world had seldom or never seen. There was a Cretan conference; a whole web of intrigue about the Luxemburg railway, and the Belgian question threatening the peace of Europe; a proposal for a conference on international postage, until Lavalette told Lord Lyons that the country was sick of the very name of the thing; and in spite of conferences and pacific talk, trouble was brewing in every direction. Meanwhile Lord Lyons was subjected to an annoyance personal to himself, but none the less real. In the month of June, 1869, Lord Lyons was requested by Lord Clarendon to return to England to vote on the Irish Church Bill. He strongly objected to doing so on the very proper ground that an Ambassador ought to abstain from taking a hand in party politics. Lord Clarendon, however, urged by Mr. Gladstone, returned to the charge, and in such pointed terms that he could not refuse. How sorely it went against the grain with him is plain from a letter which two years later he addressed to Lord Granville, when the latter begged him to come once more and vote on the Army Purchase Bill. That Lord Lyons was right in maintaining that it was inexpedient for an ambassador to vote on party questions must be manifest. Diplomatists, like other permanent civil servants, are bound to serve ministers of whatever party may be in office. If they assume the attitude of party men it is not in human nature that they should command that intimate confidence which is essential to their relations with the members of the Government which they have helped to oppose. It is a wise and cardinal rule of the English public service that its members are neutral. The higher the position the greater the obligation in this sense. Lord Lyons was deeply penetrated with the importance of a principle which it is a matter of surprise to find two such large-minded statesmen as Lord Clarendon and Lord Granville eager to set aside for party purposes. It seems worth while to call attention to these two incidents, because they show what was the opinion of one of the most sagacious and prudent of men. Mr. Gladstone’s idea that the Government had a right to call upon an ambassador for his vote needs no refuting.