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Passion seems to have prevailed over Napoleon's cooler and better judgment. The Pope was carried off to Savona, Rome was made part of the French empire, and Aldini's project slumbered till, in after years, it has been revived, though without acknowledgement, by M. Guerroniere, in his pamphlet of Le Pape et le Congres.

But the mere fact that M. Witte could make such a speech on American soil is a clear proof that the New World is not the proper field of diplomacy. The congresses of old were gay and secret. "Le congrès," said the Prince de Ligne at Vienna, "ne marche pas; il danse." It danced, and it kept inviolate the obligation of silence.

Some days before the meeting of the Congress the old Emperor had been wounded in the arm by a nihilist, Nobiling, who Fired from a window when the Emperor was passing in an open carriage. Le Prince de Bismarck a l'honneur de prevenir Son Excellence, Monsieur Waddington, que la premiere reunion du Congres aura lieu le 13 juin a deux heures, au Palais du Chancelier de l'Empire, 77, Wilhelmstrasse.

Madame de MacMahon came up to me, saying: "Madame Waddington, Sa Majeste demande les nouvelles de M. Waddington," upon which His Majesty planted himself directly in front of me, so close that he almost touched me, and asked in a quick, abrupt manner, as if he were firing off a shot: "Ou est votre mari?" "A Berlin, Sire." "Pourquoi a Berlin?" "Comme plenipotentiaire Francais au Congres de Berlin."