came.

serving, amusing himself, without occupation, till the great downfall His account of the turn of the popular tide in the expectant and excited city, is, we think, taken from a very original point of view.

"To the day of the battle of Paris, after the imperial troops had gone away, there succeeded a quiet evening under a clear sky-an evening of silence which I passed idly, a fantasticare on a balcony, as I shall never forget if I lived a hundred years. In the morning early I met certain of the Bourbon party still uncertain upon the Place Vendôme. At mid-day they breakfasted tranquilly at Tortoni's like true Parisian idlers expectanttill Europe should enter to avenge herself. It is true that when breakfast was over, these elegants got on horseback, collected some others of the same mettle about them, and finally put on the white cockade and began to wave their handkerchiefs, and to cry

Vive le roi! But I don't believe that they were the first to do so. The first to my thinking were two girls dressed in mourning, who coming out of a shop where ribbons were sold called the Père de famille, holding some white ribbons in their hands, made for themselves two cockades, which they pinned on their breasts, and then set out silently walking arm in arm, trembling lest they should meet the derision and insults of the passersby, till they were lost in the crowd. May they be blessed! perhaps they were sisters or wives wearing mourning for some among so many fallen for the sovereign devourer of men, and feeling and judging as women, like women turned against him at the first moment possible, and that not without daring or danger. I believe that this feminine feeling told for much in that day, and that ninety out of a hundred of the white veils and handkerchiefs waved by white hands from the balconies of the Boulevards which dazzled the eyes of the chivalrous Alexander, were waved spontaneously without pledge or design, by feminine impetuosity, revenge, and sorrowing love. The troop of men was small and ridiculous in comparison. When I returned to the Boulevards I saw a paper at

tached to the tree at the corner of Tortoni's, and reading it, found that it was the true fall of Napoleon, a French. Many relate of Alexander, promise almost a present to the boasting of them, those services to the new masters and treason to the old, which everybody was guilty of in these few hours; and many have claimed the authorship of this piece of paper signed 'Alexander,' attributing to it a considerable influence upon his facile mind. I, a spectator on the Boulevards during that day, do not differ very much from them in attributing the principal influence to the Boulevards themselves-that is to say, kerchiefs which impressed the eyes and to the waving white hands and handsusceptible heart of Alexander. I do not believe in small causes, but I do in the small occasions of great events. True causes are always great, but the appointed moment only comes when the vase is so full that a single drop will make it run over. However it happened, Napoleon had fallen. was more than the passing of a kingdom to another, more than that of one order of things to an opposite,-it was a great age of human different age which began." progress which ended, a

It

new and

This curious picture forms, we think, an interesting illustration of a great historical event; and the two silent women in mourning, walking away timidly into the crowd with the white Bourbon favours on their breasts,-silent representatives of the sorrowful indignation risen to the height of despair of those mothers and sisters whom Napoleon's ambition had made desolate, is as impressive an image as could be found of the voiceless depth of popular opinion, so profound as to be beyond question or denial-very different, indeed, from the superficial fury of the flaneurs, the boulevardists, who

come to the surface at such a moment, and of whom Balbo relates that a foolish band of them, gathering all the cab-horses they could

collect, made a ridiculous attempt to drag down Napoleon's statue from the column in the Place Vendôme, by means of a rope round the neck of the figure. "Fortunately, the Napoleon of bronze stood firmer than him of flesh and blood," says the historian. Thus it would appear that history repeats itself; and the vulgar, whether they be royalist or communist, hit upon the same symbols of revenge and triumph.

With this ends the chapter of the life of Cesare Balbo which has the highest interest. He proceeds to relate his career "under our princes restored; " but neither was this a successful one, nor did these restored princes at first show the magnanimity, or the power of rising to higher conceptions and purposes, which had been hoped from them. They ignored the services which the elder Balbo had rendered to his country in the interim, by his devotion to education; and endeavoured for a time, though vainly, to conduct the new administration by means of those "purists" who had retired to Sardinia with the Court, instead of affording to Piedmont the service of such work as was possible, even under the conqueror. Finding himself thus uncongenial to the restored rulers, Balbo, at this moment only five-and-twenty, changed his peaceful profession for that of the sword, having always had, as he tells us, "a sort of envy" of the military profession, feeling it to be a career more splendid, more elegant, more juvenile" than any other, an appreciation which had been increased by the sight of a great army even in retreat. Looking back upon this step, however, in the wisdom of maturity, he disapproved of it. "It is always better," he says, "to continue in the career given us either by choice or by Providence. Change in such a point is, or seems

66

to be, levity." It did not, however, as a matter of fact, make much difference to himself personally, since he felt that under his native prince, as under Napoleon, his advancement would have been checked by his opinions. His story and himself become involved after this in a historical maze, which is one of the most difficult which recent times have afforded us. The disappointment and dismay of the enlightened Italians, who had hoped at Napoleon's death to find means of establishing themselves as a united nation: the alarm of the wise and far-sighted Piedmontese statesmen, already foreseeing what might be made of their position, at the ill-timed and hopeless sollevazione of their less fortunate neighbours: the irritation of the other states, who found themselves handed over once more to the tightening bonds of rulers restored, little less foreign, and far less illustrious and commanding than Napoleon: and all the long chapter of Italian struggles, mistakes, and persistent effort,-form a portion of history far too intricate and difficult to be entered upon here.

Balbo's experiences afford little guide to us through that labyrinth. His many efforts towards the attainment of the great national purpose had to be made, like those of so many other illustrious Italians, chiefly from foreign soil. He left the Piedmontese army after a short service, with a tribute which is remarkable. Though my experience of the military career was small," he says, "it is the only one which I hold in grateful memory, for the company which I found there, more good and virtuous than in any other. Contrary to the vulgar opinion, the military career seems to me the most wholesome of all for youthful minds."

It was not, however, in this way that he was to attain reputation.

Already possessed by the idea of Italian unity, to act as a puller down of the hopeless and foolish little insurrections which testified to the feverish condition of Italy, and with which he could not but sympathise even while he disapproved, would have been impossible. Like his cousin Massimo d'Azeglio, he made of history itself an ally in the great fight for Italy, and brought forth the story of Dante like a battalion, in the

secret but noble war against all that was petty in the popular sentiment. Of these after-labours, however, he has left no record; but the early chapter of his official life as an instrument of the great Napoleonic organisation, is curious and perfect in its way, as showing how that organisation worked, and how the moving impulse penetrated to the very extremities of the most extraordinary governmental mechanism of modern times.

In the palmy days of Beau Brummell's social autocracy, a merry story used to circulate that a visitor, going to call upon him, was encountered on the staircase by his servant encumbered by an armful of slightly crumpled white neckcloths; and that in answer to a question as to the meaning of such an apparition, the valet replied, "If you please, sir, these are our failures." Looking back upon the four sessions of this Parliament, more especially on that just terminated, we should pity the Treasury messenger who was charged to remove from Downing Street the blue-books, white papers, protocols, and Hansard's Debates, in which are recorded the failures legislative, administrative, diplomatic, and financial-of Mr Gladstone's Government.

Foremost among the legislative failures stands their Irish legislation-the first result of which was the secession of the Duke of Argyll, Mr Forster, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Cowper, and Lord Zetland a not inconsiderable price to pay, even if the legislation were successful. But whether we consider the Land Act or the Peace Preservation Act, it is clear that

the results which were confidently anticipated from them have not been realised, and that Mr Forster was hustled out of office in consequence of a pitiful intrigue with Mr Parnell, incarcerated in Kilmainham under the provisions of the latter. The valuable evidence and report of the Lords' Committee on the operation of the Land Act demonstrate its complete failure to secure the main objects aimed at by its projectors: they were the rehabilitation of the Bright Purchase sections of the original Land Act of 1870, the provision of a modus vivendi for a short time until that object had been gained, and the relief of certain congested districts by assisted and regulated emigration, the machinery by which these principal ends were to be obtained being the revision by a legal tribunal of rents which Parliament was assured by the highest authorities would only be lowered in a small minority of instances. All these objects have failed: at an expense very far exceeding the original estimate, that result against which the Ministers in charge of the

measure guaranteed Parliament is being accomplished, and the rental of Ireland is being cut

down by about 23 per cent. But by those who do not know that country it will be said, "Ah, that money so saved to the tenantry of Ireland will be invested by them in the improved cultivation of the soil, and so contribute to the wealth and prosperity of the country." Alas! it would be more correct to say that it has been the fund out of which the proprietors have hitherto supported the large class of daylabourers in works useful or ornamental, and which, diverted from that employment, will, in the main, be expended in whisky, porter, and marriage portions for sons and daughters.

Ireland, in this manner directly, and by the frightening away of English and Scotch capital, indirectly, will be permanently the poorer for this mischievous legislation, which, productive of ill-feeling, injustice, deteriorated cultivation, and drunkenness, is, and will remain, for all the beneficent results so freely promised, conspicuously a failure.

Whether, as some wicked cynics suggest, in addition to all the avowed benefits of this legislation, Government expected to reap a harvest of political advantages, we will not presume to say; but unquestionably they did not anticipate the actual political results exemplified in the Monaghan, Sligo, and other recent elections. The Land Act has, no doubt, crippled the resources, and enfeebled the social, economical, and political power of the landlords; but it has annihilated the Liberal party. Henceforward a Whig or Liberal, as distinguished from a Repealer, can only hope to succeed for borough or county by the active help and support of its Tory electors.

The vigorous administration of the Crimes Act by Lord Spencer and Mr Trevelyan has procured a temporary lull in the career of

open disaffection and outrage; but it needs no great penetration to foresee a renewal of the worst features of the recent agitation when its provisions expire; and experience forbids the hope that their re-enactment will be permitted by the composite party now in power, even should the present Government be in office and propose it. On the other hand, should a change of Government have taken place meanwhile, we know the bitterness with which any proposals of the kind would be encountered by Mr Chamberlain and his followers. Failure, therefore, past, present, and prospective, is written large on Mr Gladstone's Irish legislation.

If we turn to the session of 1880, when the Government and their majority were intact and omnipotent, we doubt whether the measures that were then placed on the statutebook would now be designated as successes by their non-official supporters. Take the first and last great permanent legislative achievement of Sir William Harcourt― the Ground Game Bill. It has turned out to be what its most judicious critics prophesied it would be, practically a dead letter, and has excited among the English and Scotch tenantry no more political gratitude than the Land Act has produced among that class in Ireland. In Scotland, indeed, it is denounced as a failure by Sir A. Gordon and his congeners, because it does not sufficiently define -a rabbit hole! Similarly, the great measure for appeasing and rewarding the political dissenters of England and Wales is now discovered by the organs of dissent to be imperfect and unsatisfactory because it did not deal with cemeteries. It is of course too soon to express any opinion upon the legislative outcome of the recent session, and all Conservatives heart

ily wish that the Bankruptcy and Agricultural Holdings Acts may realise the anticipations of their promoters, and call for no additional legislation in future sessions. It is curious that the one considerable measure of this Parliament which is admitted consensu omnium, except Mr A. Arnold, to be an undoubted success, is Lord Cairns's Settled Land Acta measure which was delayed and thwarted by the Government until the demand for it became irresistible.

Pass we now to the administrative failures of this extra-capable Administration. Owing, primarily, to Mr Gladstone's extraordinary inability to understand human nature as exhibited in the House of Commons, the arrangement and conduct of business there have been one continuous failure. The fact is admitted by everybody; the explanation sought to be given of it by Ministerialists-obstruction, concealed or open-is ludicrously false, and the true one is to be found in the fact that, while Mr Gladstone can move, charm, frighten, fascinate the House of Commons, he cannot manage it, nor arrange its business successfully. No Minister ever relied so confidently on being able to carry out a complicated programme, dependent on every hour being devoted to its particular subject, and yet no Minister ever took so little pains to secure the attendance of colleagues and followers, or so frequently allowed his own emotions and idiosyncrasies to interfere with and defeat his settled plan of campaign. A history of the countsout during the last two sessions would be an instructive chapter in the life of Mr Gladstone's present Administration, and a curious commentary on the oft-lamented backwardness of Supply, and the disarrangement of Government busi

ness. The slack attendance of official members at nine o'clock on the Tuesdays and Fridays, the mornings of which had been appropriated by the Government, contrasts most unfavourably with the attendance of their predecessors under similar circumstances; and more than one instance has occurred during the past session when, owing to this cause, an opportunity of forwarding Supply has been lost on Friday night. The influence exercised by Mr Gladstone's idiosyncrasies in retarding public business was signally exhibited in his treatment of the miserable Bradlaugh business from first to last, and in his petulant but abortive attempt to frustrate the legitimate action of the House of Lords in instituting an inquiry into the working of the Irish Land Act. In the first matter, affecting deeply and exclusively the rules, rights, and privileges of the House of Commons, the extraordinary spectacle was presented of its nominal leader twiddling idly his stick and gloves, while he committed the duty of vindicating its authority and effecting its deliberate purpose to the leader of the Opposition. It is impossible to doubt that, had Sir Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, or Lord Beaconsfield been in Mr Gladstone's place, the decision of the House, once arrived at, would have been firmly upheld by its leader, and the pitiable loss of time occasioned by Mr Gladstone's feminine spitefulness and chagrin avoided. So with respect to the censure on the House of Lords, can any one conceive either Lord Palmerston or Sir Robert Peel interrupting important Government business at a critical period of the session for the purpose of launching a brutum fulmen at the head of the other House of Parliament? Nor is mismanagement and consequent failure less conspicuous in the division of