n with which my permission was accompanied, viz.:
that everything was to be submitted to my approval, and subject to my
satisfaction. On this condition I have placed the proofs in the hands of
several persons not less distinguished than your friend, [Footnote: Mr.
Croker, with Mr. B. Disraeli's knowledge, revised the proofs.] and
superior even in rank and recent office. Their papers are on my table,
and I shall be happy to show them to you. I will mention one: the
chapter on Belgium was originally written by the Plenipotentiary of the
King of Holland to the Conference, Baron Van Zuylen. Scarcely a line of
the original composition remains, although a very able one, because it
did not accord with the main design of the book.

With regard to the omission, pp. 12, 13, I acknowledge its felicity; but
it is totally at variance with every other notice of M. de Talleyrand in
the work, and entirely dissonant with the elaborate mention of him in
the last chapter. When the reviser introduced this pungent remark, he
had never even read the work he was revising.

With regard to the authorship of this work, I should never be ashamed of
being considered the author, I should be _proud to be_; but I am not. It
is written by Legion, but I am one of them, and I bear the
responsibility. If it be supposed to be written by a Frenchman, all its
good effects must be marred, as it seeks to command attention and
interest by its purely British spirit.

I have no desire to thrust my acquaintance on your critic. More than
once, I have had an opportunity to form that acquaintance, and more than
once I have declined it, but I am ready to bear the _brunt of
explanation_, if you desire me.

It is quite impossible that anything adverse to the general measure of
Reform can issue from my pen or from anything to which I contribute.
Within these four months I have declined being returned for a Tory
borough, and almost within these four hours, to mention slight affairs,
I have refused to inscribe myself a member of "The Conservative Club." I
cannot believe that you will place your critic's feelings for a few
erased passages against my permanent interest.

But in fact these have nothing to do with the question. To convenience
you, I have no objection to wash my hands of the whole business, and put
you in direct communication with my coadjutors. I can assure you that it
is from no regard for my situation that Reform was omitted, but because
they are of op