THE MISSION TO ROME. 99 



It is not accurate to say that General Oudinot's 

 project would have been so received, and if it had been 

 I should have broken off the negotiations instanter. 



I have more than once shown, in the course of 

 twenty-three years' service abroad, that I am neither 

 patient nor slow of speech when the honour and dignity 

 of my country are concerned. 



***** 



I have mentioned above, in reply to complaint 

 No. 5, that I had specially charged MM. de Forbin- 

 Janson and de la Tour d'Auvergne to communicate 

 to the Government the exact position of the Eoman 

 army. With regard to the latter, he was at this time 

 a debutant in diplomacy. I had taken a great liking 

 for him on account of his distinction and ability, and 

 I foretold that his career would be a brilliant one. I 

 did not see him again for twenty years, when he was 

 ambassador in London during the period of my struggle 

 with Lord Palmerston on the Suez Canal question.* 

 One evening after dinner he admitted to me that on 

 his return to Paris from Rome M. Drouyn de Lhuys 

 questioned him a good deal about me, and asked him 

 if he had not noticed that I was rather flighty. He 

 confessed, with some confusion, that he had answered 

 in the affirmative, little suspecting to what use the 



* Note of the Translator. Twenty years after 1849 would 

 bring us to 1869, the year in which the Suez Canal was opened, 

 while Lord Palmerston died in 1865. But M. de Lesseps does 

 not intend to be taken too literally. 



H2 



