will not use the
canal, but I believe that a few years hence you will have no purely
sailing vessels, except for the small coasting trade. Every large ship
will have a propeller; and with propellers, to be employed occasionally,
and sails for ordinary use, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea are very
manageable. I believe that the canal will be useful, and particularly
to you. But whatever be the real merits of the scheme, for God's sake let
it be tried. Do not treat us like children, and say, "We know better what
is good for you than you do yourselves. You shall not make your canal
because you would lose money by it."'

'What did you hear,' I said, 'about the Congress?'

'I heard,' he answered, 'that Clarendon was very good, and was the best,
and that Walewski was very bad, and was the worst.'

'Can you tell me,' I said, 'the real history of the Tripartite Treaty?'

'I can,' he answered. 'There was an old engagement between the three
Powers, entered into last spring, that if they succeeded in the war, they
would unite to force Russia to perform any conditions to which she might
submit.

'This engagement had been allowed to sleep; I will not say that it was
forgotten, but no one seemed disposed to revert to it. But after the
twenty-second Protocol, when Piedmont was allowed to threaten Austria,
and neither England nor France defended her, Buol got alarmed. He feared
that Austria might be left exposed to the vengeance of Russia on the
north and east, and to that of the Italian Liberals on the South. An
alliance with France and England, though only for a specified purpose, at
least would relieve Austria from the appearance of insulation. She would
be able to talk of the two greatest Powers in Europe as her allies, and
would thus acquire a moral force which might save her from attack. He
recalled, therefore, the old engagement to the recollection of Clarendon
and Louis Napoleon, and summoned them to fulfil it. I do not believe that
either of them was pleased. But the engagement was formal, and its
performance, though open to misconstruction, and intended by Austria to
be misconstrued, was attended by some advantages, though different ones,
to France and to England. So both your Government and ours complied.'

_Tuesday, May 20_.--The Tocquevilles and Rivet drank tea with us.

I mentioned to Tocqueville the subject of my conversations with Cousin
and H.

'I agree with Cousin,' he said. 'The attempt to turn our nationa