Count Joseph Alexander Hübner

[1] His journal, an invaluable clue to the complicated intrigues of this period, was published in 1891 in French and German, under the title of Une Année de ma vie, 1848–1849.

He allowed himself, however, to be taken by surprise by Napoleon's intervention on behalf of Italian unity, of which the first public intimation was given by the French emperor's cold reception of Hübner on New Year's Day, 1859, with the famous words, "I regret that our relations with your Government are not so good as they have hitherto been.

"[1] Hübner did not return to Paris after the war, and after holding the ministry of police in the Gołuchowski cabinet from August to October 1859, lived in retirement till 1865, when he became ambassador to the Holy See.

Quitting this post in 1867, he undertook extensive travels, his descriptions of which appeared as Promenade au tour du monde, 1871 (1873; English translation by Lady Herbert, 1874) and Through the British Empire (1886).

A more serious effort was his Sixte-Quint (1870, translated into English by HEH Jerningham under the title of The Life and Times of Sixtus the Fifth, 1872), an original contribution to the history of the period, based on unpublished documents at the Vatican, Simancas and Venice.

As the last survivor of the Metternich school, he became towards the close of his life more and more out of touch with the trend of modern politics, but remained a conspicuous figure in the Upper House and at the annual delegations.