676 Mr. Walter Frewen Lord [Marcli 11, 



Lord Castlereagli, wlio were in attendance. He presented these 

 nobles to the Duke, and referred the matter to them, glad to escape 

 unpledged from so tenacious a negotiator. 



Lord Castlereagli had a cold ; a bad cold ; a very bad cold indeed. 

 Lord Castlereagli was deeply grieved at being unable to pay his 

 respects to His Eoyal Highness the Due d'Orleans. He was most 

 distressed at being unable even to receive His Eoyal Hi<ihness in 

 bed. The fact was that Lord Castlereagh was going to Vienna in 

 the Autumn, and had no mind to discuss the situation with this 

 pertinacious young man. Lord Liverpool, however, was not going 

 to Vienna, and was not of an anxious temper. He had a long inter- 

 view with the Due d'Orleans, and took the best step towards making 

 matters clear by saying at once — 



Firstly, that Austria is bound to Murat ; 



Secondly, that England and Enssia, having had notice of the 

 treaty, and having approved of it, were equally bound, and that it 

 was useless for the Duke to deny the fact : a fact it remained ; 



But thirdly (and I think this must have been irouical), France 

 and Spain remained unpledged, and might do what they liked in the 

 matter. 



The Duke fenced a little, but Lord Liverpool drove his conclusions 

 home. If his advice were asked, he said, he would not recommend the 

 alliance of two Bourbon kings, with the object of restoring a third ; 

 that a French army entering Italy would produce a very bad im- 

 pression ; and that li Louis XVIII. allied himself with Ferdinand in 

 order to attack Murat, of course the feeling of England towards 

 Sicily would undergo a considerable change. There was a marked 

 menace in the last warning, and Louis Philippe shifted his ground 

 again. " Confess, my Lord," he said," that you hum and haw because 

 you are all afraid of Murat." Lord Liverpool laughed, there was 

 something in that. " But how would your Eoyal Highness set to 

 work if you wanted to get rid of Murat " ? "I would set Lord 

 William Bentinck at him," said Louis Philippe boldly. Whereat 

 Lord Liverpool grew very grave : Lord William, he said, had been far 

 too hasty with Murat, and had given him very just grounds of com- 

 plaint. So far Louis Philippe had not scored a point, and now 

 Lord Liverpool tried to reason him out of his position. Even if we 

 turned out Murat, he argued, there was no compensation possible for 

 him ; there was no other throne that we could offer. " W^hy a throne ? 

 then why not money " ? " By all means, if he would take it." " Oh, 

 he would take it fast enough if the British fleet were in the Bay of 

 Naples." " But then who is to pay it " ? "Why of course, my Lord, 

 those powers who have guaranteed Murat's throne." That was the 

 only point that Louis Philippe scored off Lord Liverpool. He now 

 waited on Prince Metternich, and opened up with his remark that 

 Murat was not to be depended on. But then, rejoined Metternich, 

 no more is your father-in-law, you must wait for the Congress. The 

 Due d'Orleans had been so pertinacious that Lord Castlereagh's cold 



