512 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-IV 



from the fact that a subordinate, who had gained the con 

 fidence of our excellent commissioner-general at that post, 

 had been charged, and to all appearance justly, with 

 receiving money for assigning privileges to bar-keepers 

 and caterers. The result was that the commissioner-gen 

 eral was cruelly wounded, and that finally he and his 

 associates were ignominiously removed, and the American 

 minister to Austria put in his place until a new commis 

 sion could be formed. Of course every newspaper in Eu 

 rope hostile to republican ideas, and they were very many, 

 made the most of this catastrophe. One of them in Vienna 

 was especially virulent; it called attention to the model 

 of an American school-house in the exposition, and said 

 that &quot;it should be carefully observed as part of the ma 

 chinery which trains up such mercenary wretches as have 

 recently disgraced humanity at the exposition.&quot; 



To avoid scandals, to negotiate with the French com 

 missioners on one side, and the crowd of exhibitors on 

 the other, and especially to see that in all particulars the 

 representatives of American industry were fully recog 

 nized, was a matter of much difficulty; but happily all 

 turned out well. 



Among the duties of my position was membership of the 

 upper jury that which, in behalf of the French Repub 

 lic, awarded the highest prizes. Each day, at about nine in 

 the morning, we met, and a remarkable body it was. At 

 my right sat Meissonier, then the most eminent of French 

 painters, and beyond him Quintana, the Spanish poet. Of 

 the former of these two I possess a curious memento. He 

 was very assiduous in attendance at our sessions, and the 

 moment he took his seat he always began drawing, his 

 materials being the block of letter-paper and the pencils, 

 pens, and ink lying before him. No matter what was 

 under discussion, he kept on with his drawing. While 

 he listened, and even while he talked, his pencil or pen 

 continued moving over the paper. He seemed to. bring 

 every morning a mass of new impressions caught during 

 his walk to the exposition, which he made haste to trans- 



