told in two
postscripts to his letter, and showed him to be so far right. "P.S. 6
o'clock afternoon. The fete going on, in great force. Not one of 'the
old party' to be seen. I went down with one to the ground before dinner,
and nothing would induce him to go within the barrier with me. Yet what
they call a revolution was nothing but a change of government.
Thirty-six thousand people, in this small canton, petitioned against the
Jesuits--God knows with good reason. The Government chose to call them
'a mob.' So, to prove that they were not, they turned the Government
out. I honour them for it. They are a genuine people, these Swiss. There
is better metal in them than in all the stars and stripes of all the
fustian banners of the so-called, and falsely called, U-nited States.
They are a thorn in the sides of European despots, and a good wholesome
people to live near Jesuit-ridden Kings on the brighter side of the
mountains." "P.P.S. August 10th. . . . The fete went off as quietly as I
supposed it would; and they danced all night."

These views had forcible illustration in a subsequent letter, where he
describes a similar revolution that occurred at Geneva before he left
the country; and nothing could better show his practical good sense in a
matter of this kind. The description will be given shortly; and
meanwhile I subjoin a comment made by him, not less worthy of attention,
upon my reply to his account of the anti-Jesuit celebration at Lausanne.
"I don't know whether I have mentioned before, that in the valley of the
Simplon hard by here, where (at the bridge of St. Maurice, over the
Rhone) this Protestant canton ends and a Catholic canton begins, you
might separate two perfectly distinct and different conditions of
humanity by drawing a line with your stick in the dust on the ground. On
the Protestant side, neatness; cheerfulness; industry; education;
continual aspiration, at least, after better things. On the Catholic
side, dirt, disease, ignorance, squalor, and misery. I have so
constantly observed the like of this, since I first came abroad, that I
have a sad misgiving that the religion of Ireland lies as deep at the
root of all its sorrows, even as English misgovernment and Tory
villainy." Almost the counterpart of this remark is to be found in one
of the later writings of Macaulay.

FOOTNOTES:

[117] "When it is very hot, it is hotter than in Italy. The over-hanging
roofs of the houses, and the quantity of woo