RANVILLE.

[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY AND THE EMPEROR]

_Earl Cowley to Lord John Russell._
(_Submitted to the Queen._)

PARIS, _7th March 1860_.

MY DEAR LORD JOHN,--I send a messenger this evening, in order that you
may not hear from any one else of the passage of arms which took place
between the Emperor and myself yesterday evening. You will find the
account of it in the enclosed despatch. The more I reflect on it, the
less I think that I could pass over the Emperor's conduct and language
without notice. His tone and manner were really offensive, and if
I had let them pass unheeded might have been repeated on another
occasion. I must say that nothing could have been more friendly than
His Majesty's bearing after I had spoken to him. He was profuse in
his excuses, and the Empress told me later in the evening that he was
_desole_--"qu'il s'etait laisse entrainer par un mouvement d'humeur,"
etc. I, of course, said that I should think no more about it.

One good thing has been gained by it, that the Emperor has declared
that he does not mean to act in defiance of the opinion of the Great
Powers....

I wish that I had not this disagreeable history to trouble you with,
but do not attach greater importance to it than it merits. I look upon
it as at an end.

COWLEY.

[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY AND THE EMPEROR]

[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY'S REMONSTRANCE]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S _AMENDE_]

[_Enclosure._]

_Earl Cowley to Lord John Russell._
(_Submitted to the Queen._)

PARIS, _7th March 1860_.

MY LORD,--It is with extreme regret that I call your Lordship's
attention to the following occurrence.

There was a concert last night at the Tuileries, to which the Chiefs
of the Diplomatic Body were invited. On these occasions seats are
assigned to the Ambassadors according to their accidental rank, and
I was placed between the Nuntio and the Russian Ambassador. It is
customary for the Emperor, during the interval between the two
parts of the concert, to say a few words to each of the Ambassadors
individually, and it is obvious that what His Majesty says to one may
easily be overheard by that one's immediate neighbours.

Yesterday evening the Emperor, after saying a few words of no
importance to the Nuntio, addressed himself to me in a manner and
tone very unusual with him, animadverting upon the hostile sentiments
evinced towards him in the English Parliament and Press.[12] "Wishing
to avoid