blush, for, although it is quite
true that a war with Germany, especially if it should terminate
disastrously, would shake the republic to its foundations, and perhaps
topple it to the ground, this same Alsace-Lorraine difficulty is, in
home affairs, almost the only question in whose consideration all
parties unite on the common ground of patriotism. A republican orator
is sure to win the applause of the Right when he refers in eloquent
terms to the "Lost Provinces," "about which," as Gambetta said, "a
Frenchman should always think but say nothing."

My picture is full of dark colors. But I do not think that I have
exaggerated the faults and weaknesses of the third republic. But it
should be borne in mind that in this brief paper I have dealt alone on
the faults and weaknesses. If I were to go farther and examine the
merits and strong points of the present government of France, I could
easily prove that notwithstanding these faults and weaknesses, it is
highly probable that the various royal and imperial pretenders, their
children and their children's children, will, live and die without
ever being able to set up again in France the throne of the Capets or
that of the Bonapartes.

LEADERLESS MOBS.

BY H. C. BRADSBY.

Office-holding politicians who have heretofore led the people, are
leading them now, until we, the hapless voters, find ourselves
confronted with the following so-called issues, or rather
absurdities:--

Protection with reciprocity--_Republicanism._

Free trade with incidental protection--_Democracy._

The Democratic ex-President and the Republican President are in
perfect agreement on the question of remonetizing silver and many
sub-leaders and able party newspapers on both sides are in accord with
these two successors of Washington, and the sub-lieutenants pass the
word around, "Do not discuss the silver question, it is an immaterial
issue."

These are the anomalous conditions of American politics stated in all
seriousness as they appear to a layman.

A professional politician, even the man who hopes for future office,
understands that real issues are things to be avoided, because he
would rather placate than antagonize, and he needs friends and
supporters, both in the nominating convention and at the polls; and he
is in his best form when he can campaign without a real issue and help
select his adversaries "in buckram and Kendall green" to have it out
with, on the stump. He knows tha