Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle, LEOPOLD R.
[Footnote 26: On the 15th of July a convention was signed in London by representatives of England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, offering an ultimatum to the Viceroy of Egypt.

The exclusion of France was hotly resented in Paris.

Guizot, then Ambassador in London, had been kept in ignorance of the project, but the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, denied that there had been any discourtesy intended, or want of consideration shown.] [Footnote 27: Louis Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877), who through the Press had contributed to the downfall of the Bourbons, had held various Cabinet offices under Louis Philippe, and, from March to October 1840, was for the second time Premier.] [Pageheading: PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON] _Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._ _7th August 1840._ (10 P.M.) Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty.

The House of Lords lasted until eight, and Lord Melbourne might by an exertion have got to the Palace to dinner, but as he had the Speech, by no means an easy one, to prepare for the consideration of the Cabinet to-morrow, he thought it better to take this evening for that purpose, and he hopes therefore that your Majesty will excuse his not coming, which is to him a great sacrifice to have made.
Your Majesty will have probably seen by this time the report from your Majesty's Consul at Boulogne of the mad attempt of Louis Bonaparte.[28] It is rather unfortunate that it should have taken place at this moment, as the violent and excited temper of the French nation will certainly lead them to attribute it to England.

It will also be highly embarrassing to the King of the French to have in his possession a member of the family of Bonaparte and so many Bonapartists who have certainly deserved death but whom it may not be prudent or politic to execute.
[Footnote 28: The Prince, afterwards the Emperor Napoleon III., descended on Boulogne with fifty-three persons, and a tame eagle which had been intended, with stage effect, to alight on the Colonne de Napoleon.