done by the lions and the eagles might now be done by the moles.  The worms that gnawed through the Dutch dykes did Holland more damage than she experienced from the armies of Louis XIV.  Let the French mind become possessed with the idea that the Emperor is helping Italy at the expense of France, and we may see a third Restoration in that country, or even a third Republic.  The elder Bourbons were driven out because they were as a monument in Paris to Leipzig and Vittoria and Waterloo, erected by the victors on those fatal fields.  The Orleans dynasty broke down because it had become an article in the belief of most Frenchmen that it was disgracing France by the corruption of its domestic policy and the subserviency of its foreign policy.  Napoleon III. could no more sustain himself against the belief that he was using France for the benefit of Italy than the King of the French could sustain himself against the conviction that he was abusing the country he ruled over for the advancement of his family.  He has already offended the Catholic clergy by what he has done for Italy, which they regard as having been done against their Church; and as they helped to make him, so they may be able to unmake him.  To satisfy grumblers, he took Savoy and Nice.  For some time past, rumor has been busy in attributing to him the design of demanding the island of Sardinia.  If he should ask for Sardinia, and receive it, might he not ask also for Sicily, the country of which he offered to become King in 1848, and did not receive one vote, an incident that may still weigh upon the imperial heart, no man ever forgetting a contemptuous slight?  If he should make these demands, or either of them, would the other European Powers permit the Italians to comply with them?  These are questions not to be answered hurriedly, but they closely concern the Italian question, a solution of which must soon be had, for the world’s peace.

The third act of the drama approaches, and 1861 may be a more important year to Italy than was either 1859 or 1860.  The successful antagonist of Austria she can be; but could she, without foreign aid, withstand an alliance that should be formed against her in the name of order, while her former ally should remain quiet and refuse to take any part in the war?  Austria, it has been intimated, might be induced to sell Venetia to Italy, and this is possible, though such a settlement of the question in dispute would be an extraordinary confession of weakness on the part of the aristocratical military monarchy of the Lorraines, and a proceeding of which it would be more ashamed than it would be even of a generous action.

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A VISIT TO THE ASYLUM FOR AGED AND DECAYED PUNSTERS.