of
Russia on our side, to balance against the two which will always be
opposed to us. It is, therefore, our interest to _assist_ Russia in the
object she has in view, and to keep up a firm alliance with her. It is
the interest of France to excite jealousies between Russia and this
country; and her emissaries have been but too successful, at the very
time that France has, contrary to all treaty, and exclaiming against
_Russian_ ambition, seized upon Algiers, and is now playing her game, so
as if possible to command the whole of the Mediterranean. The very
strides which France has made in that quarter should point out to us the
propriety of opening the Black Sea for Russia, so as to restore the
balance of power in that future site of contention. I repeat that we
are blind in every way to our own interests, in not uniting ourselves
firmly by an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Russia; and that by
so doing, we should be the greatest gainers; for with France we must
never expect more than a _hollow truce_, concealing for the time her
jealousy and thirst for revenge,--a truce during which her secret
efforts to undermine us, will be still carried on as indefatigably as
ever, and which must only be considered as a mere feint to recover her
breath, before she again renews her frenzied efforts to humiliate
England, and obtain universal dominion.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

London, June, 1837.

To one who has visited foreign climes, how very substantial everything
appears in England, from the child's plaything to the Duke of York's
column! To use a joiners phrase, everything abroad is comparatively
scamp-work. Talk about the Palais Royale, the Rue Richelieu, and the
splendour of the Parisian shops--why, two hundred yards of
Regent-street, commencing from Howell and James's, would buy the whole
of them, and leave a balance sufficient to buy the remainder of the
French _expositions_. But still, if more substantial and massive, we
are at the same time also heavy. We want more space, more air, more
room to breathe, in London; we are too closely packed; we want gardens
with trees to absorb the mephitic air, for what our lungs reject is
suitable to vegetation. But we cannot have all we want in this world,
so we must do without them.

What wealth is now pouring into the country! and, thank God, it is now
somewhat better expended than it was in the bubble mania, which acted
upon the plethora certainly, but bled us too