orms his Continental clients that
"on and after the present month the following alterations will take
place in the opening of letters:"--

Letters

Posted at Opened at

9 A.M. 10 A.M.
10 A.M. 11 A.M.
12 A.M. 2 P.M.
2 P.M. 4 P.M.
4 P.M. 6 P.M.

Of course, this was all very unfair and savagely amusing, but much was
forgiven for the cleverness of the hits, and the liberty-loving notions
that inspired them.

The "railway mania," which had been developing during these years, had
from the first been viewed with alarm by _Punch_, who, with his
customary level-headedness, foresaw the crash and the reaction that were
soon to follow. And when they came, in 1849, he pointed solemnly to the
truth of his teaching, and to the sadness of the moral, with the picture
of "King Hudson off the Line." Nothing could represent the situation
more eloquently or more concisely.

A noteworthy incident occurred in connection with the Greek question of
1850, when the English fleet threatened to blockade the Piraeus. _Punch_
was indignant at this high-handed show of strength towards the little
kingdom, and taking the mean-looking, grovelling British Lion by the ear
(in his cartoon) asks him, "Why don't you hit someone of your own size?"
With the exception of the occasion when he disrespectfully represented
the noble beast as stuffed and moth-eaten, this is the only "big cut"
wherein the Lion has been unworthily treated, or on which, in foreign
politics, _Punch_ has failed to back up his own Government.

[Illustration: THE ANTI-GRAHAM WAFERS.

(_Designed by H. G. Hine._)]

When Kossuth visited London in 1851, _Punch's_ heart, like that of the
rest of England, went out to the patriot. "It was not Louis Kossuth
whom the thousands gazed upon and cheered," wrote _Punch_. "It was
Hungary--bound and bleeding, but still hopeful, resolute, defying
Hungary;" and it may be observed that for many years _Punch_ sided, for
one reason or another, with Austria's successive adversaries.

It was in the same year that Lord Palmerston first appeared on _Punch's_
scene, and then in his own selected _role_ of "Judicious Bottle-holder."
He was represented as officiating thus at the little affair between
"Nick the Bear" and "Young Europe." From that time forward he always
appeared as a sporting character, and rather gained than lost in popular
favour by the treatment. An