?i6 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY 



Powers and the de facto authorities of a foreign 

 country do not necessarily imply the recognition of 

 that authority. 



" 2nd. My instructions directed me, save in urgent 

 circumstances , to act in concert with MM. d'Harcourt 

 and de Eayneval, but they did not make it compul- 

 sory upon me to be, at all times and upon all points, 

 in agreement with them, nor to follow absolutely their 

 advice if I deemed it opposed to the aim of my mis- 

 sion, which was different from theirs. MM. d'Harcourt 

 and de Eayneval, whose competence is undeniable, 

 had quite understood this themselves. They would 

 only have had the right to be exacting in regard to 

 me if they had obtained from the Holy See something 

 in the shape of liberal declarations of policy, and if 

 their efforts had not, as M. d'Harcourt so clearly fore- 

 saw that they would, been counteracted by the reac- 

 tionary tendencies of the Papal Court. It was for 

 each of us to give his opinion to the Government, 

 with whom it remained to examine and settle the 

 question in the last resort, and give its orders accord- 

 ingly. Indeed, M. de Eayneval wrote to me on 

 May 28th : ' You have appealed to the supreme judg- 

 ment of the Government ; it is only right to await its 

 decision.' The Minister of Foreign Affairs took the 

 same view, for when I asked him, on the eve of my 

 departure from Paris, for explanations as to the pas- 

 sage in my instructions which bore upon my relations 

 with MM. d'Harcourt and de Eayneval, he replied to 



