the sovereign will of the many. Napoleon
III. enjoyed proclaiming himself the great champion of universal
suffrage, although what his _plebiscites_ really were the caustic
pen of Kinglake has told us. The other day the French imperialists
celebrated at Chiselhurst the fete of the late emperor; and there
Prince Louis had the audacity to say: "Planting myself as an exile
near the tomb of the emperor, I represent his teachings, which may be
summarized in the motto, 'Govern for the people, by the people.'"
The motto was a double plagiarism--a plagiarism in idea from the
republican theory, and a plagiarism in expression from the immortal
phrase, "government of the people, by the people, and for the people,"
pronounced by Lincoln at Gettysburg.
* * * * *
The most sensible, manly and independent address made to the shah
during his European tour was, we think, the speech of welcome
delivered by the president of the Swiss Confederation. We may premise
that the shah is the first sovereign who, as such, has become the
guest of Switzerland since the meeting of the Council of Constance in
the fifteenth century. Still, the Swiss people did not show themselves
overcome, but received their guest with a sober and dignified
cordiality--a sail, a dinner without speeches, and a magnificent
illumination of Geneva and the lake providing the entertainment. On
arriving at the railroad station the shah was greeted by the Swiss
president in words which we render literally as follows: "Royal
Majesty: I welcome you in the name of the authorities of the Swiss
Confederation. You do not expect to find here the sumptuous greeting
of the great nations which surround us. We have to show you neither a
standing army nor the splendors of a fleet. You come into the midst of
a people that owes to liberty and to labor the place that it has made
for itself in Europe, and it is in the name of this free people that
the Federal Council offers you hospitality." The severe simplicity of
this address is the more tasteful since its strength and manliness
do not rob it of a tithe of its courtesy, which last quality becomes
indeed all the more striking from the absence of that Oriental
profusion of epithets and compliments which the shah had received at
every previous step in his European travels.
LITERATURE OF THE DAY.
The Intellectual Life. By Philip Gilbert Hamerton. Boston: Roberts
Brothers.
A man of fair culture
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