In 1792, under the First Republic, Nice was again occupied by the French, and declared a chef-lieu de departement.  By the treaty of 1814 the place was handed over to the Piedmontese, and stayed contentedly beneath the rule of the Sardinian kings until 1860, when, by the treaty of March 24, Napoleon III. annexed the county of Nice and the duchy of Savoy to his imperial possessions, in exchange for the services his army had rendered Italy at Magenta and Solferino.  How long Nice will continue French is a question somewhat difficult to answer just now.  There exists in the city and province a very strong Italian party, and during the war of 1870, Nice was declared in a state of siege, owing to the constant and very serious demonstrations of a certain part of the population.  One of the leading inhabitants, a noted banker, even went so far as to travel to Florence with the intention of proving to the Italian government that whilst the French troops were concentrated in the north those of Victor Emmanuel would find no difficulty in crossing the frontier and uniting Nice to Italy.  To the honor of the Italian government, this treacherous suggestion was rejected, but in those days the feeling between France and Italy was more cordial than it has since been.  The Italian party is so active in the city and the department that the government has difficulty in keeping note of its proceedings.  Thousands of pamphlets are secretly circulated amongst the lower orders, in which the advantages of the city’s return to Italy are vividly contrasted with the disadvantages it suffers from by remaining French.  The clergy, however, who are both numerous and influential, are French to a man, and dread the hour which will see them governed by the “jailer of Pius IX.,” and consequently prove a very great assistance to the authorities in counteracting the intrigues of the Italians.  But should ever, in future years, a war break out between either France and Italy, or between France and Italy’s new ally, Prussia, the question de Nice will be once more on the tapis, and victory alone will preserve this magnificent possession to its present owners.

Nice may well boast herself a rival in point of splendor of natural position of the most famous cities of the South—­of Lisbon, Genoa, Naples and Constantinople—­and she eclipses them in point of climate.  Built at the eastern extremity of a fine gulf—­that of Les Anges—­and backed by an amphitheatre of hills and lofty mountains, she is sheltered from cold winds in winter, and in summer the Alpine breezes temper an atmosphere which would else be unendurably sultry, owing to the prevalence of the sirocco, a hot wind which passes directly hither over the Mediterranean from the burning shores of Africa.  One can scarcely imagine a more glorious panorama than that of this city and its environs as seen from the sea or from any neighboring elevation.  Let us suppose it a fine morning late in spring, and that we stand upon