some future day, take
charge of the family estate, as there was no one else who could do it.
It seemed to me, indeed, that, in all that he said, Richard was trying
to determine Ludwig to unite his fortunes with those of the Fatherland.

Ludwig, who had come by way of France, could tell us much of the great
excitement that had been produced there by the _plebiscite_.

The brothers were agreed that the expression of the popular will had
been accompanied by fearful deceit on the part of the authorities; but
they did not agree as to the object contemplated by that deceit.

"I was often obliged," said Ludwig, "to think of our old schoolmaster,
who explained the philosophic beauty of the Latin language to us by the
fact that _volo_ has no imperative; but the author of the 'Life of
Caesar' has shown us, by means of the _plebiscite_, that _volo_ has an
imperative."

Ludwig asserted that the majority of educated Frenchmen hated and
despised Napoleon; for all the large cities, with the exception of
Strasburg, which gave a small majority on the other side, had voted
_no_. At the same time, what they hated and despised in him was just
what they themselves were; for every individual Frenchman really
desires to be a Napoleon; and the _no_ that a portion of the army had
voted, simply meant, "We want war." Napoleon had undermined every sense
of duty, and the misfortune of France was that no one there believed in
the honesty or the unselfishness of another creature.

"I have also made the acquaintance of French emigrants in America. It
is, of course, unfair to judge of a nation by its emigrants; but I
could not help being struck by the fact that those whom I met had no
confidence in any one."

Richard, on the other hand, had a very good opinion of the French. He
told us that about the time he was working in the library at Paris, he
had travelled much through France, and had made the acquaintance of
Frenchmen of every station in life.

"The French are industrious and temperate, and a people of whom that
can be said, has a noble destiny awaiting it. They have a great desire
to please, which makes them agreeable, and gives all their work the
impress of good taste. They are fond of all that partakes of the
decorative, whether it be a glittering phrase or a badge. If that
which, from its very nature, ought to be general, could gain
distinction for them--if there could be an aristocracy in republican
virtue, I cannot help believing th