The manuscript is an autograph letter containing a poem ‘l’Arbre et l’Oiseau’. The poem, counting 61 lines, engages with the themes of protection, shelter, respite and help. This thematic motif concerning the solace in protection resonates throughout the body of the letter. Here, the sender emphasises his gratitude for Voltaire’s protection, offering editorial assistance in return by proposing to correct Les épreuves de votre Brutus (Mort de César). Remuneration for this editorial service was meant to be issued by Nicolas Claude Thieriot (see D951). According to T. D. N. Besterman, the manuscript’s foliation is 96.

The entries for the year 1824.5 and 6 are short, but those for 1827-32 provide a full account of those years. There is much material on his own career and his decision to give up his ambassadorship to Berlin in 1827; on the Canning and Goderich administrations; on Roman Catholic Emancipation; and on the Reform Bill crisis of 1831-2; as well as accounts of his travels abroad, with particularly full account of a trip in Scandinavia in the summer of 1828. The entries are written on one side of the page, until the last page of the volume, p.129, whereupon the volume is turned upside down and begun again, the entries being on the reverse side of the page.
‘Nov. 1828 Vienna[…] It is asserted that not only Pahlen found the greatest difficulty in getting the Grand Dukes to consent, but that he never mentioned [? unvedu] as any part of the plan, under any contingency. Indeed, Russians tell you that the murder was an impromptu, as they had not expected that a man of such doubtful courage would have been so intractable. But Constantine once told Rasumoffsky, that Paul had come to his room on the evening preceding the murder, and had thrashed the valet because he could not tell him where the Grand Duke then was, and (added C.’s) it was a lucky chance that P. did not examine the room, for on the table lay a quarto volume of Voltaire, opened at the passage in which Brutus justifies to Cassius the murder of Caesar. ‘Et ne crois-tu pas a ton caractere donner demente, Si tu sents en balance une vie a la patrie.'[…]

On p.99, Lord Clanwilliam notes ‘p.99 Constantine once told my uncle, that Paul had come to look for him in his room, and had thrashed the valet because he could not tell Paul where Constantine just then was, and, added the Grand Duke, it was a lucky chance that Paul did not examine the room. He would have found a quarto volume of Voltaire open at the passage, where Brutus justifies to Cassius the murder of Caesar: “Eh, ne crois-tu pas à ton charactère donner démenti, Si tu mets en balance une vie a la patrie”. (It is but fair to say, that the Grand Duke C. was always ready to boast of his French literature; did so to me at Karlsbad.) Kutaisoff was Paul’s valet, and had been ennobled, and made Master of the Horse. He kept a Mlle Chevalier, and adjourned to his mistress, changing his dress as soon as Paul was in bed.’ This is the same anecdote told in D3044/F/4.