t it would be she. For with Dorothy so much ill, and
with no one in the world of my own but Dorothy and our boy, I had hours
of profound loneliness. In New Orleans this winter I was more lonely
than I had ever been in my life. I no longer had to strive, I had money
enough. And all the while my real estate investments in Chicago doubled
and trebled while I traveled.

There were many French in New Orleans; there was reverence there and
memory for Bonaparte. There was gladness and exultation now that Louis
Napoleon had accomplished a coup d'etat and established a throne upon
the ruins of the republic. His soldiers were in the Crimea, fighting as
desperately as if great wealth or fame could be won by their valor and
death. But it was all for the glory of the French throne! A French
monarchy again, after the struggles of Mirabeau, after the agony of
Marat, and after the rise of republican principles which Douglas had
hailed with delight! If these things could be done with honor and
applause, did Douglas deserve the hostility which was rising up against
him? Was America so immaculately free that Douglas' subordination of the
negro to the welfare of the republic at large should be so severely
dealt with?

On the bulletin boards in great headlines, the progress of the Crimean
War was heralded. The French soldiers were winning imperishable glory.
The Light Brigade had died for God and the glory of England in the
charge at Balaklava. Cavour had sent the Sardinians to help France and
England against the Russians; these were soon to fight for the liberty
of Italy. Always liberty and God! Russia had gone to war against the
Turks because of a quarrel between the Greek and Latin Christians at
Jerusalem. Then the Czar demanded of the Turk the right of a
protectorate over all Greek Christians in the Ottoman empire. It was
refused. Hence war. And England and France and Cavour's Sardinians are
fighting Russia. Perhaps the Latin church is the inspiring cause. Minds
and noses concur, and the result is conscience.

America is in a distressed condition and growing worse. Politics raves.
Malice, destroying forces are abroad. Always war with or without the
sword. The Greek Christian must be protected; but the Turk must not be
vanquished, his country taken by Russia. Louis Napoleon would win a
little glory. England needs the Turk, because she lusts for Egypt and
India. France wants Algeria and Morocco. In America the North wants
power; the So