on to "invade" England in the character of refugee. The French army, he
declared (by the pen of Percival Leigh), would land, after suffering all
the tortures of sea-sickness, carefully watched by the Duke of
Wellington from a Martello tower. Arrived in London, the invaders would
arrest M. Jullien, lay siege to 85, Fleet Street, but raise it forthwith
on the appearance of Mr. Punch and Toby, who would follow the fugitives
in hot pursuit. Although _Punch_ ridiculed the matter thus, he yet
proposed the formation of a Volunteer Corps, to be called "_Punch's_
Rifles;" and it is to be observed that he thus forestalled by four years
the actual establishment of the Exeter Volunteers. Nevertheless, _Punch_
seriously threatened the movement when it did come with his "Brook Green
Volunteer;" yet a few years later, when the idea was revived by the
starting of Rifle Clubs, with the subsequent notion of transforming them
into regiments, _Punch_ lent his aid. He would chaff them, of
course--for it was his business so to do--but he was proud of them all
the same, and loudly applauded the spirit that inspired them. The
Volunteers, as he told the French, were "the boys who minded his shop;"
and more than one of his Staff enrolled themselves in the patriotic
cause.

Chartism, though in its programme and aspirations respected by _Punch_,
was despised for its management and mismanagement, and was made the
subject of much excellent fooling. But the stormy European outlook gave
him far more concern. In one of his cartoons all the Sovereigns are
shown in their cock-boats, storm-tossed in the Sea of Revolution, the
Pope--still in the full enjoyment of his temporal power--being the only
one really comfortable and really popular. As the Champion of Liberty
the Pontiff is at various times portrayed as pressing "a draught of a
Constitution" on the kings of Sardinia and Naples and the Duke of
Tuscany, dealing a knock-down blow to the "despotism" of Austria, and
spitting her eagle on a bayonet; altogether justifying his reputation
(for how short a time to last!) for stability, magnanimity, and love of
progress.

In this same year of 1848 Prince Louis Napoleon made his second descent
upon France, and _Punch_, mindful of the fiasco of the first, prepared
to give him a warm reception. His treatment from the beginning of the
Pretender and Prince-President was that of an unblushing adventurer and
charlatan. In course of time, as the Emperor became of i