Bunsen tells me that in October his King was privately asked whether he was ready to destroy the Prussian Constitution—­and that he peremptorily refused.

Look at an article on the personal character of Louis Napoleon in the ‘Times’ of Monday.  It is by R——­, much built out of my conversation and Z.’s letters.

I have begged Mr. Esmeade to call on you—­you will like him.  He is a nephew of Sir John Moore.

[2]Kensington, March 19, 1852.

My dear Tocqueville,—­I was very glad to see your hand again—­though there is little in French affairs on which liberals can write with pleasure.

Ours are become very interesting.  Lord John’s declaration, at the meeting the other day in Chesham Place, that he shall introduce a larger reform, and surround himself with more advanced adherents, and Lord Derby’s, on Monday, that he is opposed to all democratic innovation, appear to me to have changed the position of parties.  The question at issue is no longer Free-trade or Protection.  Protection is abandoned.  It is dead, never to revive.  Instead of it we are to fight for Democracy, or Aristocracy.  I own that my sympathies are with Aristocracy:  I prefer it to either Monarchy or Democracy.  I know that it is incident to an aristocratic government that the highest places shall be filled by persons chosen not for their fitness but for their birth and connections, but I am ready to submit to this inconvenience for the sake of its freedom and stability.  I had rather have Malmesbury at the Foreign Office, and Lord Derby first Lord of the Treasury, than Nesselrode or Metternich, appointed by a monarch, or Cobden or Bright, whom I suppose we should have under a republic.  But above all, I am for the winning horse.  If Democracy is to prevail I shall join its ranks, in the hope of making its victory less mischievous.

I wish, however, that the contest had not been forced on.  We were very well, before Lord John brought in his Reform Bill, which nobody called for, and I am not at all sure that we shall be as well after it has passed.

As to the immediate prospects of the Ministry, the next three weeks may change much, but it seems probable that they will be forced to dissolve in April, or the beginning of May, that the new Parliament will meet in July, and that they will be turned out about the end of August.  And that this time next year we shall be discussing Lord John’s new Reform Bill.

I doubt whether our fears of invasion are exaggerated.  At this instant, without doubt, Louis Napoleon is thinking of nothing but the Empire; and is kind to Belgium, and pacific to Switzerland in the hope of our recognition.

But I heard yesterday from Lord Hardinge that 25,000 men are at Cherbourg, and that 25,000 more are going there—­and that a large sum is devoted to the navy.  We know that he governs en conspirateur, and this is likely to extend to his foreign as well as his civil relations.