"Since I am in a confidential mood, noble viscount, I wish to tell you what I would not insert in an official dispatch, but what has been urged upon me by some personal observations and also by some opinions from persons who know the ground well upon which you are placed. Has it not already occurred to you that one must be mindful, with the English Ministry, of certain effects of jealousy and temper which it is always ready to conceive at direct marks of favour with the King and of credit in society? You must tell me if you have not happened to observe some traces of this." Through whom had the complaints of my "credit" with the King and in "society" (meaning, I suppose, with the Marchioness Conyngham) reached the Vicomte de Montmorency? I do not know. [Sidenote: Letter from M. de Villèle.] Foreseeing, through this private dispatch, that my game was lost with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I addressed myself to M. de Villèle, then my friend, who did not lean much towards his colleague. In his letter of the 5th of May 1822, he at first replied with a favourable word: "PARIS, 5 _May_ 1822. "I thank you," he said, "for all that you have done for us in London; the determination of the Court there on the subject of the Spanish Colonies can have no influence on ours; the position is very different; we must above all avoid being prevented by a war with Spain from acting elsewhere, as we must, if affairs in the East brought about new political combinations in Europe. "We will not allow the French Government to be disgraced through a failure to participate in the events which may result from the present situation of the world; others may intervene with more advantage, none with more courage or loyalty. "People are greatly mistaken, I think, both as to the real means of our country and as to the power which the King's Government is still able to exercise within the forms which it has laid down for itself; they offer more resources than appears to be believed, and I hope that, when the time comes, we shall know how to prove it. "You will help us, my dear friend, in these great circumstances, if they offer themselves. We know it and rely upon it; the honour will be for all, and it is not a question at present of that partition which will be made according to the services rendered; let us all vie in zeal as to who shall render the most signal services. "I do not know, indeed, if this will turn to a congress; but, in any case, I shall not forget what you have told me. "JH. DE VILLÈLE." At this first word of good understanding, I brought pressure on the Minister of Finance through Madame la Duchesse de Duras; she had already lent me the support of her friendship against the forgetfulness of the Court in 1814. She soon received this note from M. de Villèle: