"I know from experience how tedious injuries to the shin bone are; on reckoning up my own threefold experiences of that kind I find that I spent a good six months' time on the _chaise longue_!... "I prefer to be silent about our policy--it is most unpleasant for us that the Czar of Russia should be hailed on all sides as the apostle of peace. Radowitz is said to have conducted himself passionately and without tact: his immediate transfer to Athens is discussed. I congratulate you on your successful elections; it is quite clear that the longing for material development has gained the upper hand over the empty aims of the dreamers!" _From_ THE SAME. "The excitement over the Church struggle is beginning to abate. "The blunders of the Government and the Ultramontane party mutually set each other off. It is a pity that they are not confined to one side, for then the crisis would be hastened to the general benefit. "I had an opportunity of going thoroughly into these questions with the Emperor during his visit here. He is inclined to a conciliatory attitude, but is not sufficiently informed. I have made him understand much, for which he was grateful, and which he is the readier to believe since I adhere to the basis of the May laws, but condemn the petty method of carrying them out. The Emperor was full of touching sympathy with us, asked minutely after you, and was very well pleased with the course of your policy." CHAPTER VIII THREATENING CLOUDS During the month of August 1875, the situation in Eastern Europe suddenly assumed a threatening aspect, through the outbreak of an armed insurrection against the Turkish rule in Herzegowina, actively supported by Servia, Montenegro, and Bosnia, and countenanced (at any rate in secret) by Russia. The Servians were foremost in clamouring for war, hoping by the prowess of their own army in the field of battle and the assistance of Austria and Russia to shake off finally the hated rule of the Sultan.