2 8o The Soverane Herbe 



so. When I came in I also felt that I wanted to 

 smoke, and as I did not see in the least why I should 

 not, I asked the presiding Power for a light, which 

 appeared to be regarded both by it and the other 

 Powers with equal wonder and displeasure. Obvi- 

 ously it was an event for them all. Upon that occa- 

 sion, therefore, only Austria and Prussia smoked, but 

 the other gentlemen considered it such a momentous 

 matter that they reported upon it home to their 

 respective Governments. The affair demanded the 

 gravest consideration, and fully six months elapsed, 

 during which only the two Great Powers smoked. 

 Then Schrenk, the Bavarian envoy, began to vindi- 

 cate the dignity of his position by smoking. Nostitz, 

 the Saxon, yearned to do so too, but he had not as 

 yet received permission from his Minister ; but as at 

 the next meeting he saw that Bothmer, the Hano- 

 verian, lit a cigar, he (who had strong Austrian pro- 

 clivities and some of his sons in the Austrian army) 

 came to an understanding with Rechberg, for he also 

 drew a weed from its leathern scabbard, and blew a 

 cloud. The ohly ones now remaining were the 

 Wiirtemberger and the Darmstadter, neither of them 

 smokers. But the honour and importance of their 

 respective States imperatively demanded that they 

 should smoke, and so at the very next meeting the 

 Wiirtemberger brought out a cigar — I can see it now, 

 a long, thin, light yellow thing — and smoked at least 

 half of it as a burnt-off"ering for his Fatherland.' 



The introduction of tobacco into the political arena 

 would undoubtedly work for peace and progress, and 

 greatly reduce the number and length of speeches. 



