nd very interesting subject of political observation and
speculation for those who have the means of investigating it
closely.

[7] [M. Thiers came into power for the first time as
Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the Government
on the 22nd of February, 1836. He had boasted that he
should be able to engage the King in a more active
intervention in Spain in favour of the young Queen--'Nous
entrainerons le Roi' was his expression--but in
this he was deceived, and his Administration came to a
speedy termination. Lord Palmerston proposed on the
14th of March that some of the ports on the coast of
Biscay should be occupied by British seamen and
marines, and that Passages, Fontarabia, and the valley
of Bartan should be occupied by the French. This scheme
was strenuously opposed by the King, though M. Thiers
was willing to assent to it. The Revolution of La
Granja in August only increased the repugnance of Louis
Philippe to interfere actively in Spain, and early in
September the Thiers Cabinet was dissolved. Mr.
Villiers's narrative of the revolution of La Granja is
alluded to in the passage next following.]

September 7th, 1836 {p.365}

[Page Head: GEORGE VILLIERS'S DESPATCHES.]

Mrs. Villiers sent me to-day the copies of two despatches of
George Villiers's to Palmerston, containing a narrative of the
events which took place at St. Ildefonso on the 12th, 13th, and
14th of last month; these he sent to her, because he had not time
to write the details all over again. Nothing can be more curious,
nothing more interesting, nothing more admirably described, all
the details given with great simplicity, extreme clearness, and
inimitable liveliness of narration. It reminds one of the scenes
enacted during the French Revolution; but as these despatches
will probably be published, I shall not be at the pains to give
an analysis of them here. It is remarkable how courageously and
prudently the Queen seems to have behaved. What energies a
difficult crisis called forth! How her spirit and self-possession
bore up in the midst of danger and insult, and how she contrived
to preserve her dignity even while compelled to make the most
humiliating concessions! No romance was ever more interesting
than this narrative. George Villiers's corresponden