made people in England believe that we were all very popular in France, and that there was not an alliance so much desired by Frenchmen as that with England. ry and stupidity was a fine stroke On our side our natural obtuseness, and a dash of that national conceit that never deserts us, made us almost sincere. We certainly believed a great deal of the French flattery that was extended to us. It is so natural to Bull to fancy he is so honest, so straightforward, so downright, and so truthful, that he believes he has only to be known to be loved by the foreigner. It is a very comfortable conviction, all the more that it is not easily shaken. In fact we have more or less measured the progress of civilisation in France by the amount of respect and regard Frenchmen have When one only thinks of the vouchsafed to England, and at adroitness with which the Whigs every fresh instance of their imita- have contrived to speculate on the tion of us, we have all exclaimed, various changes to which the pubHow they are advancing in France! lic mind of England would come, what progress France is making! just by the mere course of events Few men know England and the following in a certain track, one English temperament better than is reminded of those clever specuthe French Emperor. He studied lators who buy up the land in the us in the best of all schools, in his vicinity of some contemplated line days of adversity, and he learned of railroad, and wait patiently for to gauge the national vanity with the time when the swamp shall be a nicety that very few, if any, of needed for a station or the bush be our own statesmen could pretend occupied by a village. They have to rival. So long as it was his ad- done this with consummate cunvantage to trade on this, the great- ning and no small profit to themest weakness of the national char- selves. That the popular mind acter, he did so with more or less would take an immense reaction effect. In the days when the in favour of France was a thing Empire was new, there was no- to be expected, and it was easy thing to be done with Russia. enough to convert this sentiment That fierce old aristocrat, Nicholas, into the semblance of a policy, and would not condescend to any terms to say, See what we have done of intimacy with a parvenu. It for you: we have got you the was of great moment to the new friendship of that wise Prince, Empire to be recognised by Eng- who knows more than us all and is land, and that alliance which we greater than his uncle, for though called a policy was in truth a ne- he is as desperate a gambler he cessity. never plays without what Yankees call the "advantages." They might add too, that they got for us also the Crimean War-the most gigantic blunder and the most conspicuous swindle of the age. There is no cry the Whig party have traded on with more success, than that of the ignorance of our ancestors. To undo the past on the grounds that all statesmanship hitherto has been steeped in bigot And where are we now, after all the humiliations we have submitted to for the sake of this alliance for more than a dozen years? Have we even secured that friendship for which we have submitted to insult and endured offence? Is France with us everywhere? There are but two questions which touch us closely in the Old World. There are but two matters on which if pressed we cannot help but fightBelgium and Turkey. Prussia may invade South Germany, push her frontier down to the Italian Tyrol, and secure a seaport on the Adriatic. France may take the Rhine, or declare by a vote of the Chamber that there are no more the Pyrenees. Russia may sweep down upon Gallicia and threaten Austria in her capital, and we shall bear all these as quietly as though they were small wars in Ecuador, and troubles in an Argentine Republic; but if France menace an occupation of the Scheldt, or Russia move on Constantinople, we have no escape -we must, as Jonathan says, roll up our sleeves and go in, whatever the cost may be. I remember once talking with one of our most distinguished-I might perhaps say, the most distinguished-of our English diplomatists, and now an ex-ambassador, on the character of the Emperor, whom he had known well in his days of exile. I was curious to hear what amount of faith he reposed in his own future, and how far he believed in that star of destiny that pointed to an empire. My friend assured me that his belief never wavered, that his conviction that he was to replace his uncle on the throne of France was implicit and unvarying. I remember, said my friend, one evening when we sat over the fire together in my room, in a country house where we both chanced to be visitors, as much to indulge Louis Napoleon's passion for a favourite theme as to dispense myself from the labour of talk, I asked him what he would do when he became Em peror. At this time, I ought to mention, the prospects of the Orleans family were at their very brightest. I shall not readily forget the tone and manner of his reply,-there was no heat, no excitement about it-nothing that indicated a mind over-stimulated by an over-brilliant future: he spoke calmly, collectedly, and with a force of expression that implied confidence in his own words; he detailed all that France needed to be done, and carefully went over whatever he thought possible. The finances of the State were to be his first charge, and in these great reform and some reductions were possible. The whole system of secret service, grown to a fearful extent under Louis Philippe, was to be abolished at once. The plans of family and dynastic ambition, which in a measure instituted this organisation, no longer existing, it might be abandoned as useless. The navy should be reconstructed: France must be at least the equal, if not the superior, of England at sea, and, having no distant possessions or far-away interest to protect, she might reasonably hope to be a match for England on the waters of Europe. The creation of a great fleet would be a work of time and cost, but France would feel all the pride of being able to cope with her old rival on the element she had once called her own. As for the army, it was an easy task to revive the spirit of French glory, so lamentably depressed by the reign of the Orleans family. Next, he sketched out French projects in the East. The first Emperor's designs on Egypt were to be carried out, but in a different way. French commercial enterprise and her missionary influence must be the pioneers of French conquest. We must prepare these people to accept us as deliverers, was the expression he employed. He then adverted to the extension of France by colonial possessions, and clearly sketched the contest that must come between the Latin and the Teutonic races. Wars in Europe there must be, and it would be to the advantage of France to revive, as she was sure to do, the prestige of the First Empire. Every legacy of ambition that his great uncle had bequeathed was to be paid in full. France was to be supreme over the whole south of Europe, and Germany was to stand in awe of her in the north. Meanwhile, matters at home were not to be neglected. Municipalities were to be encouraged to beautify and adorn the various cities of the land, not only to give employment to labour but to serve as a counterpoise to that spirit of centralisation in the government, which an absolute rule needed and could not dispense with. And at last, said he, drawing a long breath, but only at last, when policy when necessity will demand it, we war with you in England. There are but two questions on which you will fight, but on these you must, or be reduced to a position which neither the ambition nor the interest of France need be concerned to diminish. This was the programme detailed calmly, deliberately, over a fire about ten o'clock at night, as they sat in that confidential mood in which each could speak his mind unguardedly. I know well enough the incredibility this story of mine will be met by. I can well believe the scornful rejection this statement will receive from many who read me, but I am not the less convinced that such a peril as I speak of impends over us. This same journey of the Prince Napoleon to Berlin has a strange significance when taken in conjunction with the altered spirit of French agents towards Turkey and the ever-widening breach with England on the Eastern question. The troubles in Belgium, too, are not meaningless, though to dwell upon them as matters indicative of coming danger would of course be called gobemoucherie. I accept the sarcasm by anticipation, for I do not profess to know more-though I own frankly I fear more-than my neighbours. Of course, with an Established Church to destroy to-day, and a House of Lords to uproot tomorrow, we have enough on our hands without bothering ourselves with Turks and Mussulmans; but it may be that foreign difficulties will come upon us at the moment when we shall be little prepared to meet them, and they who are sanguine enough to feel confident about the issue are certainly of a more hopeful turn than CORNELIUS O'Dowd. BARON BEUST'S VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. If we could only wait for the result of Baron Beust's experiments in Austria, it would be a great assistance and a great guide to us in home legislation. The par of similarity between the legislative union of England and Ireland, and that of Austria and Hungary to give us an especial interest in the problem which Baron Beust has He is doing at this moment a set himself to solve. great many things which O'Connell ties could not live together in was accustomed to advise in our own peace, and he has determined to Parliament. He is a "repealer" of accord them a verdict of separation. the purest water, and it would be So far so well. The real puzzle, most instructive if we could only however, is this-they each prowait and see what success will fol- fess to have certain objects in comlow his efforts. mon. There is that thing which There are quite enough of points they call the Empire to be cared for by both, and why they should be better enabled to serve its cause, watch over its interests, and defend its honour, while dealing apart and taking counsel separately, than by a united and consentaneous action, is one of those things which Lord Dundreary might include in his difficulties. It is intelligible enough that when people only meet to quarrel they should see as little of each other as need be; but that, when every chance of agreement between them is hopeless, when at each occasion of intercourse they only exchange reproach and recrimination, it should be imagined that the mere fact of following each a separate path should lead them to the same goal, seems far more like an Irish bull than the project of a statesman. Hungary has sued for a separate maintenance and got it. Her sovereign is to be a King, not an Emperor; her Legislature is to sit in Pesth; she is to have her own flag, and she asks for, and not improbably will obtain, her own army; and if she include Fiume within her boundaries, will in all likelihood have her own fleet; and having all these conditions of a separate identity, she is to be more strongly kneaded to Austria, more deeply involved in Austrian interests, and a more earnest supporter of the Imperial House, than ever she has been before. Her plea is that all these concessions were her rights, that everything now yielded she had just claim to, and that nothing short of them would content her. She maintained that her people supplied the flower of the imperial armythat they possessed every element of a distinct nationality. They had a lineage, a language, and a literature of their own, and they more than hinted that they thought themselves a finer, braver, and more civilised people than those who assumed to govern them,-in fact, the whole statement of grievances on one side and injuries on the other made one doubt whether he was not reading the case of Ireland versus England, and not the record of Hungary against Austria. Of course the argument in favour of the present policy is, Hungary will be content, and therefore loyal. I do not for a moment desire to undervalue the force of this conclusion. It is doubtless the object of Austria, as it is of every other State, to possess a united people. Contentment is the test of good government-the surest and the best test but the question arises, Whether, having conceded all these elements of a separate existence, you can stop short and refuse absolute independence, or whether you will have the power to do so if you should wish? When Ireland had her Parliament she was not always like-minded with England. They differed upon some matters of minor policy; and at length there came a question of moment-that of the Regencyon which they held adverse opinions. The same sort of difficulty may arise in Austria. It is true they have a common House of Legislation, as they call it, where they are to discuss imperial questions; but why should not nationalities display themselves in their character, and either rule as conquerors or accede as conquered, with this additional difficulty, that they fall back upon a people prepared to resist, already supplied with all the resources for the assertion of her own opinions, with a flag to rally round and an army to defend it? These are the sort of trials Baron Beust may look out for. Whether he be the pilot to weather the storm-whether any skill of pilotage will avail amid such shoals and quicksands-is the matter that much concerns us to know; and as he is now preceding us in these unknown waters, it would be of incalculable benefit to us to be able to wait for the result of his experimental voyage, and see whether Beust's soundings and Beust's sur vey might encourage us to a similar feat of seamanship. Will a contented Hungary be a strong Austria? or will, in other words, the yielding of every demand to eight millions secure the undivided allegiance of some thirty odd millions, to whom no concessions are to be made, who are to be the recipients of no favours, the objects of no benefits? Hungary, of course, says Yes. Hungary declares that when Honveds are happy the world goes well. I remember an old Irish farmer who once rode from Athlone to Dublin, some sixty odd Irish miles, in one day, on the same wretched borse. He never halted to feed his beast, nor gave her corn or water during the journey, but stopping at his last stage, Maynooth, he tossed off a glass of whisky for his own refreshment, saying as he remounted, "Let us see if ye won't go after that!" Isn't this very like what the Hungarians are now saying to Austria, with the applause of all Europe, and the hearty "Godspeeds" of the whole press of England to encourage them? Whether Baron Beust has hocussed the "dram," and knows that the effect will pass off with the liquor, is more than I can say. I only wish we could await the result and see what will come of it. "SIX POUNDS A-WEEK." I never open a newspaper without reading how a certain Provident Assurance Company guarantees to all persons paying a small annual sum the handsome bonus of six pounds per week, when laid up by injury of any sort. Now, I am no lawyer, nor am I a commercial traveller, and I am, therefore, while not fully able to determine the exact signification which attaches to the words in question, not specially interested in the class of accidents to which particularly the advertisement is addressed. I believe that the Company in question interests itself mainly for those who travel by rail; and it is significant of our English rail-travelling that such an institution should only exist amongst ourselves, and that the perils of foreign lines have not yet called forth such an institution. At all events, though the wording of the announcement includes any accidents of any kind, yet, as the Company is styled "The Railway Passengers Assurance," I am led to suppose that the provisions only extend to those who have incurred disaster by the rail, and that the sweeping phrase "of any kind" was a short way of in cluding the various species of mutilations, smashings, and scaldings attendant on these accidents. If, however, I be in error, and if this benevolent institution is more catholic than I have believed it, I am ready to declare that I think it about the most truly philanthropic association that the ingenuity of money-getting has ever originated. Six pounds a-week when disabled in any shape," and all for the payment, if I remember right, of three pounds a year. Six pounds aweek roughly means three hundred a-year; and with three hundred ayear, even in these dear times, a man may live and even contribute to Abyssinian expeditions without making an outcry about bloated armaments. To obtain this relief, however, requires that one must be disabled by an accident, a proviso that certainly detracts from the enjoyment, and mars the general prospect of the pleasure the bonus is meant to bestow; and were it not for the qualifying words "of any kind," I should be disposed to say, better a whole skin and unsmashed vertebræ even than bank-notes. But these words are very suggestive, and I am led to think there are dis |