an immediate one,
which is instantly recognized, and one in the distance, which is not at
first perceived. These consequences often contradict each other; the
former are the results of our own limited wisdom, the latter, those of
that wisdom which endures. The providential event appears after the
human event. God rises up behind men. Deny, if you will, the supreme
counsel; disown its action; dispute about words; designate, by the term,
force of circumstances, or reason, what the vulgar call Providence; but
look to the end of an accomplished fact, and you will see that it has
always produced the contrary of what was expected from it, if it was not
established at first upon morality and justice."--_Chateaubriand's
Posthumous Memoirs_.

Government.

I wish some one would offer a prize--not of a hundred francs, but of a
million, with crowns, medals and ribbons--for a good, simple and
intelligible definition of the word "Government."

What an immense service it would confer on society!

The Government! what is it? where is it? what does it do? what ought it
to do? All we know is, that it is a mysterious personage; and,
assuredly, it is the most solicited, the most tormented, the most
overwhelmed, the most admired, the most accused, the most invoked, and
the most provoked, of any personage in the world.

I have not the pleasure of knowing my reader, but I would stake ten to
one, that for six months he has been making Utopias, and if so, that he
is looking to Government for the realization of them.

And should the reader happen to be a lady, I have no doubt that she is
sincerely desirous of seeing all the evils of suffering humanity
remedied, and that she thinks this might easily be done, if Government
would only undertake it.

But, alas! that poor unfortunate personage, like Figaro, knows not to
whom to listen, nor where to turn. The hundred thousand mouths of the
press and of the platform cry out all at once:--

"Organize labour and workmen.

"Do away with egotism.

"Repress insolence and the tyranny of capital.

"Make experiments upon manure and eggs.

"Cover the country with railways.

"Irrigate the plains.

"Plant the hills.

"Make model farms.

"Found social workshops.

"Colonize Algeria.

"Suckle children.

"Instruct the youth.

"Assist the aged.

"Send the inhabitants of towns into the country.

"Equalize the profits of all trades.

"Lend money without interest to all who wish