This morning I went to see the opening of the legislative bodies, and hear the Emperor's Speech. It was a gay and pretty sight, so full of splendour and various colours, but rather theatrical. He read his speech very well and the substance of it gave satisfaction; it was not easy to compose it, but he did it exceedingly well, and steered clear of the ticklish points with great adroitness and tact. It sounded odd to English ears to hear a Royal Speech applauded at the end of each paragraph, and the shouts of _'Vive l'Empereur'_ from the Senators and Deputies.
After Cowley came home he began talking over the state of affairs, and the peace we are going to make, about which his grief and disappointment are overflowing. He says the Emperor had the best intentions, but has been beset with men who were determined on peace for their own ends, and whom he could not resist. What he blames him for is not having at once said that he would go so far with us and no further, and not have allowed us to delude ourselves with expectations of support from him that were not to be realised. He says it is now all over, the matter decided, it will proceed rapidly, and all be finished by Easter.
[Sidenote: A DINNER AT COUNT WALEWSKI'S.]
_At night._--I have been dining with Walewski, a very handsome dinner to the Sardinians, and a party afterwards. Knowing none of the people, it was a bore; I found nobody to converse with but Cavour and Flahault; talked over the state of affairs with the latter and our discontents. He said the Emperor could not refuse, and when Clarendon came over and found His Majesty's conversation so satisfactory, he was misled by it and fancied he should obtain his support to all our demands; he owned that it would have been better if the Emperor had been more explicit. When I got home I found Cowley, who was engaged in drawing up a statement of the comparative state of Russia, as to her aggressive power against Turkey before the war and now, after peace has been made. He is doing this for Clarendon and to assist him in making his case good in Parliament when the peace is attacked, as he says it is quite certain it will be. I asked him what were the points on which the Russians made the most difficulty. He said on _all_ except Bomarsund. He is quite convinced that Walewski has played false, and that he has made known to Orloff exactly what he must give up, and when he may be stout.