W. B.'s proclamation, and on the ground of the Genoese hatred of Piedmont.
I again referred to this the first night of the session.

I broke through my rule of never attending funerals yesterday. The last
time I broke it was my dear friend Follett; this time it was Tocqueville. I
should have been the only member of the Institute, but Ampere had set out
from Rome on receiving T.'s letter, and arrived the day after his death. He
is carried to Tocqueville--near Cherbourg, as you know; one of his brothers
and a nephew accompany it. Mme. T. is not nearly so ill as was believed. It
is bronchitis, not lungs; so she expects to go by slow journeys in a few
days.

_April 22nd_.--Since I wrote yesterday I have received an account which,
whether true or not, shows the opinion they have in Italy of our great
ally. A man who had stood his friend and prevented the King of Holland from
disinheriting him, has lately been at Paris, and was kindly received by
him. So far is certain, and his kindness to those who befriended him
formerly is a good quality he really possesses. But it is added that he
told him to tell his nation not to be disheartened by the congress, because
care would be taken to make proposals which must be rejected, and that he
was as ready as ever. I really believe there is nothing too base in the
way of perfidy he would scruple to do, if his resolution was fixed and it
appeared clearly to be his interest. There has, however, been a change in
him of late, as to determination. He is more easily swayed by others than
he was, and he falters more when left alone. Altogether, it is a cruel
calamity for the world to have such a person to depend upon. I wish someone
would show how much he appeals to the multitude--the mere _mob_. He is
still a socialist in practice; and if anyone will read the Robespierre
papers, he will see that there is a deliberate design to make the poor--the
persons without property--rule. One man whom I afterwards knew (Julien de