to portion out the Decalogue. The sixth
and seventh commandments would of course
have many candidates, but the eighth is also
convenient as bringing in scenes at police
courts, and without the ninth a plot could
not be woven. The costermonger of the
In
Star might covet his neighbour's ass.
this way all ranks of life would be repre-
sented, and the joint-stock novel would be
complete in all its branches.

money.

We quite admit that this perfection may be unnecessary for Lady Caroline's present readers. They are contented with much less, and are spoiled by that little. We see by turning to the "notices to correspondCorrie, a ents" what it is they desire. brunette, aged twenty-two, of good family, but without money, would like to marry a military officer with a respectable income. Mabel May, who is eighteen, very pretty, being fair, with brown hair and blue eyes, and also respectably connected and accomplished, thinks she deserves to be married to a fine, tall gentleman with plenty of Annie who is twenty-six, handsome, cheerful, and highly educated, wants to be married to a gentleman with not less than £300 a year. Daisy and Bessy are both twenty-two and good looking, the former is fond of singing and the latter has wavy brown hair. Such is lady Caroline's public. We can see that the brains of such The girls must be very easily turned. military officers, the fine, tall gentlemen with plenty of money, the curates in full orders with dark curly hair, are all taken bodily out of the novels which fill the other These poor girls, pages of the paper. "lone sitting on the shores of old romance," are neglecting their daily duties and passing by the best opportunities, because they are taught by Lady Caroline & Co. that the earth is full of handsome young men with good incomes, who will marry them privately. A sort of semi-Mormonism is inculcated by the universal prevalence of bigamy in sensation novels. We seem to be on a journey to a new colony of St. Ives, on Salt Lake principles. Every husband has two wives, every wife has two lovers, every loyer has two mistresses, every mistress has two masters; masters, mistresses, lovers, wives, how many go to a house at St. Ives? For an answer to this riddle we must refer to the works of Miss Braddon.

From Il Diritto Forence, Feb. 24th.

FRANCE, ITALY, AND THE POPE.

AFTER the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome the Roman question has been considered in Italy with much greater calmness than formerly, and this is easily explained by many reasons.

We do not wish now to provoke an agitation which we should think inopportune and dangerous in so far as it might make people suppose that Italy is not disposed to maintain But, on the other her treaty engagements. hand, it would not be less perilous to allow an illusion to continue which others endeavour to keep up, and which consists in believing that France, having retired from Rome, has grown quite disinterested in the Roman question, and disposed to allow the temporal power of the Pope to fall, when this may happen without the violation of treaties on the part of the Italian Government.

It is all the more necessary to combat this allusion, because the Roman question still remaining the first and most important of our political questions, which sooner or later must be settled in the national sense, repreit is proper that the electors at the time when they are about to choose their sentatives in Parliament should have a just idea of the state of the question, in order to use it as a guide in their choice.

Now, whoever does not wish to obstinately shut his eyes to the light must admit that France has not only not grown disinterested in the Roman question, but now more than ever considers herself the special protectress of the temporal power of the Pope, whose preservation she wishes for at any price.

The speech of Napoleon III. at the opening of the Corps Législatif ought to have been sufficient to remove all doubt as to this. The "Blue Book," the principal part of which we have published, gives a fresh confirmation of the precise and explicit declaration of the Imperial Speech; and, lastly, the "Yellow Book" explains and confirms the other two documents.

The despatch of M. Moustier to M. Sartiges, bearing the date of 11th of December, begins with the declaration that the Emperor has always wished for the independence of Italy, and the independence of the Holy See, and that the independence of the Kingdom of Italy, having been constituted the principal object of France, ought to be henceforth the consolidation of the Papal Power; and it ends with the formal assurance given to the Pontiff, that France having

MR. J. G. BENNET, JUN., AND PRINCE ALFRED. 127

withdrawn her troops has by no means abandoned the great interests protected by her for seventeen years.

The other despatches which we find in "The Yellow Book" relative to the Roman question, and which we have not space to reproduce now, are all conceived in the same spirit.

From the 15th of October M. Moustier declares to the French Minister at Florence that, peace having been concluded between Austria and Italy, the relations between the latter and the Holy See must take the first place in the preoccupations of France. He explains afterwards in what way France considers the question, manifesting his desire that the Italian Government will remain faithful to the letter and the spirit of the September treaty, opposing irresistible arguments against those who would advise it to obtain territorial aggrandisement."

From "The Blue Book" we learn, moreover, that the renewal of negotiations with the Roman Court, interrupted since the Vegezzi mission, was owing to the initiative of France. In another despatch of the 15th of October, 1866, the Marquis de Moustier writes to Baron Mellaret, "We have been much displeased to see the negotiations commenced by Signor Vegezzi with Rome interrupted last year. Could not their renewal be brought about by sending a fresh negotiation to Rome?

On the 23rd of October the French representative in Rome wrote to the Marquis de Moustier that in a conversation he had had with Pius IX., the latter had declared himself ready to receive an Italian negotia

to bring about a reconciliation between the two States, but that the French Government does not, however, wish to admit the supposition that the two States sooner or later may become one.

After the Convention of the 15th of September, France ought, with respect to the Roman question, to be in the position in which all the other Powers are, without any special pretension or right; she ought to respect the principle of non-intervention, leaving the question (provided treaties are reopened) to be settled by the parties interested. On the contrary, the Roman question continues to be treated in Paris more than in Florence, or Rome. France continues to interfere morally in our affairs, reserving the right, if need be, of interfering by force.

Such is the true state of the question, and the electors ought not to forget it, all the more when the Government endures with such singular complacency this usurpation of the national rights.

From the London Review.

MR. JAMES GORDON BENNET, JUN., AND
PRINCE ALFRED.

MR. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JUN., is decidedly a greater man than Columbus. The latter only partially discovered the greatness of America, but Mr. Bennett has at once found the weak point of England. One was dubiously received by savages, the other welcomed by princes of royal blood. There is a story that the American Government once proposed to fit out an expedition for purposes of discovery in the Mediterranean. But Mr. Bennett, jun., has done more than his Government. He has explored the Solent and the Southampton Water, and discovered houses which have never been open to Englishmen, however deserving. Honours formerly used to be gained by saving lives, but now they appear to be won by losing them. The great St. Bennet is famous for walking on the water to save a child's life, but Mr. J. G. Bennett's fame is mixed up with the drowning of six men. We have no wish to disparage the late American yacht race, but the lamentable loss of life on board the Fleetwing sadly dims the brightness of the achievement. Such a race, however, is in every way preferable to the steeple-chases and flat races which are now the rage in England. Such

128

MR. J. G. BENNET, JUN., AND PRINCE ALFRED.

a trial of skill must bring out some of the
finest qualities in our nature. Yet do not
let us make too much of the affair. The
annual race between the tea ships is, from
every point of view, a much greater test of
seamanship, and its results of far greater
practical benefit.
Yet we do not remember
to have heard that the captain of the win-
ning ship had ever been fêted by noblemen.
and princes. Nor must we, as a contempo-
rary has well observed, be led away by the
apparent smallness of the tonnage of the
three American yachts. Two hundred tons
by American tonnage amount to nearly
three hundred by English measurement.
Lastly, the Yachts were specially fitted out
for the voyage. It is well to turn back a
page or two of history, and to remember the
three poor ill-fitted tubs with which Colum-
bus sailed from Palos, all three of them to-
gether, probably, not amounting to the ton-
nage of the Henrietta. Pluck has been
shown a hundred times greater than Mr.
Bennett's, but it has certainly never met
with so handsome a recognition. However
our business just now is not with the race
itself. We readily take for granted all that
has been said about the sea-going qualities
of the Henrietta, and believe that, like the
"chocolat Menier," she "defies all honest
competition." Our concern is with the
wonderful correspondence which has taken
place between Mr. Bennett and Prince Al-
fred. It reads more like the letters in some
wild romance. In fact, a romance might
be constructed out of them. The chapters,
in fact, arrange themselves. Their head-
ings would probably stand somewhat in this
fashion. Chapter I. would be, "The Hen-
rietta Laying-to in the Mid-Atlantic." Here
the novelist would be able to paint the reg-
ular storm-scene, without which no novel is
now perfect, and in the midst of it, Mr.
James Gordon Bennett calmly pacing the
deck and resolving in his mind to make a
present of his yacht to Prince Alfred, "In
case he should win the ocean race." Chap-
ter II. would, of course, be headed, "A
Little Dinner at Lord Lennox's." Here
would be an opportunity for the novelist to
show his knowledge of aristocratic life. We
do not remember to have read any novel in
which a real live prince figures. Such an
addition to the ordinary stock of characters
would certainly make any author's fame

and his publisher's fortune. Chapter_III. would be headed, " Mr. James Gordon Bennett, jun., in his Study." And here the novelist would find the materials all ready to hand. For we are bound to say that no novelist could possibly hope to improve upon Mr. Bennett's style of letter-writing. There is only one fault we can discover that it appears that Mr. Bennett, long before he had enjoyed the hospitality of which he speaks, had determined to make his yacht a present to Prince Alfred, yet wished also to make it an acknowledgment of that hospitality. This is certainly a happy way of bringing down two birds with one stone. Chapter IV. would, of course, be, "Prince A in his study." Here, too, the novelist would find all the materials ready.at hand. Next to dialogue, letter-writing is the most difficult part of a novel. We shall not, indeed, here say a word about the Prince's composition, for the critic is lost in the patriot. The concluding chapter and dénouement would be entitled, "Mr. James Gordon Bennett's Feelings." Over them, however, we shall draw a veil.

The whole affair is so pre-eminently ridiculous, that it simply deserves to be laughed at. Yet some of the traits of American character which peep out are so characteristic, that we think it worth while to notice them. The grounds upon which Mr. Bennett determined to make his yacht a present to Prince Alfred are nowhere stated except in the after-thought about hospitality. Prince Alfred seems to be in luck's way. The Greeks, or somebody, offered him not long ago a crown. There may have been some valid reason for this. But why Mr. Bennett should offer him a yacht seems inexplicable. Certainly people do strange things. A man not long ago left somewhere near a quarter of a million to the Queen. Persons, however, will put their own construction on the offer of a present which could by no possibility be accepted. But the truly ridiculous part of the matter is the publication of the letters. They were actually, we believe, sent to America by electric telegraph. Not even the Henrietta herself could sail fast enough with so precious a freight. Nothing, we should say, but vanity could prompt their publication. Vanity, in our opinion, is at the beginning, middle, and end of the whole affair.

No. 1194. Fourth Series, No. 55. 20 April, 1867.

POETRY: Nemesis, 130. Subjects of Song, 130. Artemus Ward, 177.

SPEECH OF RICHARD H. DANA, Jr., on the USURY LAWS-in the House of Representatives, Massachusetts.

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY

LITTELL & GAY, BOSTON.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.

FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the Living Age will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year; nor where we have to pay a commission for forwarding the money.

Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars.

Second "
Third

20

50

The Complete work

88 "

220

Any Volume Bound, 3 dollars; Unbound, 2 dollars. The sets, or volumes, will be sent at the expense

of the publishers.