hat his letters from England announced smooth
water between Whigs and Radicals, and that the latter were coming
up to support the Government in good humour. The event here in
these last days has been the acquittal of the Strasburg
prisoners, of military men taken in the commission of overt acts
of mutiny and high treason.[3] By the law, when military men and
civilians are indicted for the same offence, the former cannot be
brought before a court-martial, but must be tried by a jury; the
jury decide according to their feelings or their prejudices, and
appear to care nothing for the law, and an Alsatian jury is said
to be republican. These men were therefore acquitted against the
clearest and most undoubted evidence, and their acquittal was
hailed as a triumph. It produces considerable annoyance and
surprise, but not so great a sensation as I should have expected.

[3] [These were the accomplices of Prince Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte in his first attempt made at Strasburg on the
30th of November 1836. The Prince himself was sent off
to the United States in a French frigate. His
accomplices were tried at Colmar in the ordinary course
of law, and acquitted by the jury, who refused to
convict them when the head of the conspiracy was not
brought to trial.]

There appears to be something rotten in the state of this
country; the system stands on unstable foundations, the people
are demoralised, in vain we look for fixed principles or deep
convictions. Some are indifferent to the fate of the monarchy
because they hate the monarch, others rejoice at attempts on the
monarch from aversion to monarchy, and as far as my cursory
observation and casual observation instruct me, I see only a
confusion and caprice of passions, prejudices, and opinions,
which are only reduced to anything like order by the strong sober
sense and the firmness of the King, who is by far the ablest man
among them.

January 25th, 1836 {p.382}

On the 24th I walked about Paris, dined at the Embassy, and went
to Court at night; about fifty English, forty Americans, and
several other foreigners were presented. The Palace is very
magnificent; the present King has built a new staircase, which
makes the suite of rooms continuous, and the whole has been
regilt and painted. We were arranged in the throne-room by
nations, the English first, and at a quarter before nine the
doors of the ro