Weary of so long a diplomatic career, he had at last obtained permission to seek the retirement he so ardently coveted, when a letter from the Emperor apprised him of the intended journey of a Czarewitch to London, and requested him to act as a guide to the young prince during his stay in England. This involved a degree of responsibility and of moral fatigue which shortened the life of Count Pozzo. How would the heir to the Russian throne be received by the English nation, so capricious both in their affections and their hatred? The trial terminated happily, but it may be safely asserted that the last remains of strength possessed by the ambassador sunk under the exertion. I saw him on his return to Paris: what a sad alteration from his former self! and what mere worms we are in the hand of God, who disposes at His pleasure of the mind and intellects of man! He no longer found any enjoyment or ease except in the society of his nephew, Count Pozzo di Borgo, and his amiable niece, a daughter of the noble house of Crillon. Was the old ambassador desirous of shewing that he had never ceased to be a Frenchman, by quartering his Corsican coat-of-arms with the escutcheon and honourable devices borne by the brother-in-arms of Henry IV.? M. PASQUIER. The administration of the Empire was, generally speaking, strong, full of energy and unity of purpose; it was composed of two elements, the ruins of the republican party now rallied around the dictatorship of Napoleon, and became submissive under his iron rule, such as Treilhard, Merlin, and Thibaudeau, and the pure and elevated remains of the old monarchical school, like Molé, De Fontanes, and De Narbonne. According to the custom observed in all governments possessed of any portion of strength and intelligence, Buonaparte collected around himself all the persons whose names were honourably connected with past events, or exercised any influence over the present or the past; he indulged neither in fear nor repugnance, because he had perfect confidence in his own power of restraining and managing every thing. Before the revolution of 1789, some parliamentary families existed, who transmitted the highest magisterial offices from one generation to another, forming a sanctuary in which public morals, duties, and learning, were preserved and perpetuated. There were no doubt some little party prejudices among them, together with a tendency towards the feelings of the patricians of Rome; considering themselves to have succeeded to the assemblies of the states-general. But though the parliament sometimes threw difficulties in the way of the executive government, still they maintained the spirit of liberty and probity through the lapse of ages, and people considered them as a political guarantee, upon occasions when a degree of confusion and disorder prevailed in the constitution of the country.