dullest of mankind. Ridicule may
not be so powerful an agency in France to-day as it was in former times,
but still it has there a sharp sting. The Emperor may be led into war by
the force of French opinion; and he would have all Germany to contend
against, with the exception of that portion of it which belongs to the
house of Austria. The Austrians would gladly renew the war, with France
for their ally. They would forgive Solferino, to obtain vengeance for
Sadowa. What occurred among the Austrians when they heard of the French
demand for a rectification of their frontier shows how readily they
would come into any project for the humiliation of Prussia that France
might form. They supposed the French demand would be pushed, and they
evinced the utmost willingness to support it,--a fact that proves how
little they care for Germany, and also how deeply they feel their own
fall. They would have renewed the war immediately, had France given the
word. But the Emperor did not give the word. He may have hesitated
because he preferred to have Italy as an ally, or to see her occupy the
position of a neutral; whereas, had he attacked Prussia before the
conclusion of the late war, she must have adhered to the Prussian
alliance, which would have led to the deduction of a large force from
the armies of Austria and France that he would desire to have
concentrated in Germany. Or he may have been fearful of even one of the
consequences of victory; for would it not be a source of danger to him
and his family were one of his marshals so to distinguish himself in a
great war as to become the first man in France? The general of a
legitimate sovereign can never aspire to his master's throne; but the
French throne is fair prize for any man who should be able to conquer
the conquerors of Sadowa. The Emperor's health would not permit him to
lead his army in person, as he did in the Italian campaign; and that one
of his lieutenants who should, by a repetition of the Jena business,
avenge Waterloo, and regain for France, with additions, the rank she
held five months ago, would probably prove a greater enemy to the house
of Bonaparte than he had been to the house of Hohenzollern. The part of
Hazael is always abhorred in advance as much as Hazael himself abhorred
it; but Benhadad is sure to perish, and Hazael reigns in his stead.

The nation by which this great change has been wrought in Europe--a
change as extraordinary in itself as it is wonderf