e think awhile. Is war the only
alternative? They blame me for not talking out. Fools, they don't know
where they stand. At home and abroad, difficulty. Our workmen
emigrating; the Irish irreconcilable, (curse that word!) nothing
cheerful that side.

"France can rock _her_ irreconcilables to sleep to the war lullaby of
that man we have so trusted only to betray us; _our_ irreconcilables
only wait for war to side with our enemy. Prussia, grasping bull-dog as
she is, makes capital out of it, and calls us to her side, while our
stupid people burn with a Prussian fever, which may turn to a plague
to-morrow.

"Is the Prussian whom we have helped to humble to be our only ally? Then
must we write ourselves down asses in Constantinople.

"If we had some other head besides weather-cock expediency. France has
an Emperor, Prussia a King to lead them; we have a Queen who takes walks
in the Isle of Wight; and her son--bah! a _roue_ about town. Their
marriage alliances are drag-chains, not bonds of love. Denmark does not
forget our treachery in '65. Holland is afraid of France. We are safe
from America yet. They are too much afraid of the German vote, thank
Heaven, to side with France, but "Alabama" is her watchword, and she
only waits to strangle us. LAFAYETTE and the Hessians are only memories,
they have no votes. Ah! it was a mistake to sympathize with the South.

"Our statesmen--Heaven save the mark!--are our worst enemies. D'ISRAELI,
the Jew, doubles our difficulty by showing our weakness. He would play
the part of PITT without his brains or his chances. Then we led, now we
are dragged at the tail. We may sign treaties, but we cannot write them.
BRIGHT would be friendly with both; GRANVILLE with neither, and thus
each is offended. It is ridiculous, and the only course left is to
bluster about Belgium.

"It must be the late dinner. There are all sorts of threatening shadows
around, and but one light; that is a war flame. Let me sleep. To-morrow
the gaping thousands will ask a sign. It may come, but it shall be
hoisted on the Rhine, and, helpless tide waiters, we cannot tell from
which side it shall come. Ah! 'Uneasy sits the man on the ministerial
bench,' as SHAKESPEARE would say to-day, for the crown that he spoke of
is an ornament in the tower."

REPORTER

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Magnetic

Polish soldiers should choose the needle gun. The needle is always
true to the Pole.

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