ow is the great centre of the World. Such an assemblage of
sovereigns was never before gathered, and I and mine are in the midst of
the great scenes and fetes. We were honored, a few evenings ago, with
cards to a very select fete given by the emperor and empress at the
Tuilleries to the King and Queen of the Belgians, the Prince of Wales and
Prince Alfred, to the Queen of Portugal, the Grand Duchess Marie of
Russia, sister of the late Emperor Nicholas, a noble looking woman, the
Princess Metternich of Austria, and many others.

"The display was gorgeous, and as the number of guests was limited (only
one thousand!) there was more space for locomotion than at the former
gatherings at the Palace, where we were wedged in with some four
thousand. There was dancing and my daughter was solicited by one of the
gentlemen for a set in which Prince Alfred and the Turkish Ambassador
danced, the latter with an American belle, one of the Miss Beckwiths. I
allowed her to dance in this set once. The Empress is truly a beautiful
woman and of unaffected manners."

In a long letter to his brother Sidney, of June 8, he describes some of
their doings. At the Grand Review of sixty thousand troops he and his
wife and eldest son were given seats in the Imperial Tribune, a little
way behind the emperor and the King of Prussia, who were so soon to wage
a deadly war with each other. On the way back from the review the
following incident occurred:--

"After the review was over we took our carriage to return home. The
carriages and cortege of the imperial personages took the right of the
Cascade (which you know is in full view from the hippodrome of
Longchamps). We took the left side and were attracted by the report of
firearms on our left, which proceeded from persons shooting at pigeons
from a trap. Soon after we heard a loud report on our right from a
pistol, which attracted no further attention from us than the remark
which I made that I did not know that persons were allowed to use
firearms in the Bois. We passed on to our home, and in the evening were
informed of the atrocious attempt upon the Emperor of Russia's life. The
pistol report which I heard was that of the pistol of the assassin."

Farther on in this letter he describes the grand fete given by the City
of Paris to the visiting sovereigns at the Hotel de Ville. There were
thirty-five thousand applications for tickets, but only eight thousand
could be granted. Of these Morse was gr