Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/119

 1922 AND THE CROWN OF GREECE, 1863 111 would not be entertained by the Emperor, and notwithstanding the con- stitutional system established in the Empire and its success, there is nothing changed in the opinions of the Imperial Family on the rights of sovereigns and the principles on which government should be carried on. ... I hardly thought the Emperor would have shown so much decision in the matter, but His Majesty is evidently piqued at the proposal having been made here after its failure in other places, and he and all his family are as proud as Lucifer. He was most gracious in his reception of me, but looked very nervous until he had unburthened himself and was able to talk of other matters besides that which had called forth my request for an audience. Of one thing I have come from him convinced that he pays close attention to foreign affairs, and if he follows as carefully those of all other departments, he must be a man of no small ability and not pass much time in idleness. The British government made no further attempt to persuade Francis Joseph to change his decision, but some further corre- spondence passed between Russell and Bloomfield concerning the project. Lord Bloomfield's dispatch * no. 89 of 18 February contains an account of the interview with Count Rechberg at which he had asked for an audience of the emperor. Count Rechberg again explained that the Emperor's family relations and close connection with the House of Bavaria obliged him to decline the offer. . . . Moreover he (Rechberg) had little confidence in the honest co-operation of France in such a scheme. She would probably act as he believed her to have done when the Duke of Coburg was proposed as a candidate for the Greek throne. General Maquan had been sent to Brussels to see His Royal Highness and to express the readiness of France to support him, and at the same time M. Mocquart sent instructions to the French press to write against him ; directions were likewise forwarded to M. Bourree at Athens with a large sum of money, to create a French party and to agitate for the Due d'Aumale. He said Austria could not count on France in such a position ; and he believed she had declared her readiness to support the candidature of an archduke only because by so doing, she met the wishes of Her Majesty's Government, and did a civility by Austria, for she must have known beforehand that the proposal would be inacceptable to Vienna. Lord Bloomfield, however, goes on to say that, As far as I can judge from Count Rechberg's observations, it would seem that if the Emperor had not decided at once to reject the proposal, His Excellency might have been disposed to consider it, for he feels that notwithstanding the large sacrifice of men and money its success might necessitate, Austria would gain a strong position and one from which she could exercise a great influence in the East ; but he dreaded the unpopularity of the question in Austria, and he feared also lest an ambitious man like the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on the throne of Greece might become the signal for a change in the whole policy of Austria in the 1 Ibid. 1 : 651.