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When Von Moltke had conquered France, his first care for the future was to protect Germany, by the seizure of the French frontier fortresses, from all danger of successful attack in time to come; yet at Belfort one gap in the line has been left in the keeping of France—­possibly, like the heel of Achilles, the point at which a hostile shaft may one day wound the German empire.  The Berlin Boersenzeitung, which claims that with Metz, Strasburg, Mayence, Coblentz and Cologne, and with the enlargement of Ulm and Ingoldstadt and the new line of Bavarian defence, “Germany has a barrier of fortresses unequaled in the world,” yet admits that the project of establishing a new German fortress near Mulhouse or Huningue, “so as to take the place of Belfort,” has now been abandoned—­a fact which seems to show that there is one little loophole in the defensive armor of Germany, otherwise invulnerable.

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“A man may steal the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in.”  It has always been a favorite device of Napoleonism to dress itself up in the garb of popular government, and to appropriate the peculiar phrases of democracy, with a view to confound the distinction between the sovereign will of one and the sovereign will of the many.  Napoleon III. enjoyed proclaiming himself the great champion of universal suffrage, although what his plebiscites really were the caustic pen of Kinglake has told us.  The other day the French imperialists celebrated at Chiselhurst the fete of the late emperor; and there Prince Louis had the audacity to say:  “Planting myself as an exile near the tomb of the emperor, I represent his teachings, which may be summarized in the motto, ‘Govern for the people, by the people.’” The motto was a double plagiarism—­a plagiarism in idea from the republican theory, and a plagiarism in expression from the immortal phrase, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” pronounced by Lincoln at Gettysburg.

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The most sensible, manly and independent address made to the shah during his European tour was, we think, the speech of welcome delivered by the president of the Swiss Confederation.  We may premise that the shah is the first sovereign who, as such, has become the guest of Switzerland since the meeting of the Council of Constance in the fifteenth century.  Still, the Swiss people did not show themselves overcome, but received their guest with a sober and dignified cordiality—­a sail, a dinner without speeches, and a magnificent illumination of Geneva and the lake providing the entertainment.  On arriving at the railroad station the shah was greeted by the Swiss president in words which we render literally as follows:  “Royal Majesty:  I welcome you in the name of the authorities of the Swiss Confederation.  You do not expect to find here the sumptuous greeting