Letter from John Wilson Croker, Gosport, to Lord Henry Brougham, 1856 July 25 : autograph manuscript signed.

Concerning the appearance of Montalembert's name in the "Almanack Imperial" for the years 1852 and 1853 as "of the Legion of Honor", and noting that "in 1854 & 1855 he is shorn of his beams"; adding that "there is something in this affair that neither L.N. [i.e. Napoleon III] nor Montalembert have any desire to clear up", concluding that "L.N. had a mind to buy Montalembert & that he had no objection to being bought, but split upon the price", and wondering if Montalembert, as a "simple chevalier", might have wished to be made an officer but "threw up the first step when he found the others did not follow immediately"; agreeing with Brougham regarding the "App. Juris. mess" and stating that "for my own part I prefer the old tribunal to the proposed one", as he would prefer "a jury of peers to a corps of Chelsea-pensioners of the law."