The Times startled the public on Saturday by a leader
announc- ing that the Emperor of Austria had decided to withdraw Count Carolyi from Berlin, that the Prussian Ambassador was about to leave Vienna, and that orders had been sent to the Austrian bri- gade in Holstein to retreat through Hanover. There was no truth in any part of the statement, and on Monday the Times ex- plained its delusion. The editor had received a letter, signed by Lord Clarendon's private secretary, Mr. Lister, enclosed in a Foreign-Ofs^e envelope, franked apparently in Lord Clarendon's own hand, d containing just the information in the article. The letter was r irgery, committed either by some one who was specu- lating in I 'ian bonds or Austrian metalliques, or from a wish to take in the fimes. In either case it was inexcusable, but the Times cannot be entirely acquitted of carelessness. The last two lines contained a quiet hint as to the line the writer hoped the Times would take, which no Minister would send except in a private note, and letters of importance from the Foreign Office are invariably despatched by messenger.
