a standing army and navy,—­where there exists a Church establishment, which bestows on learning and parts an interest combined with that of religion and the state;—­in a country where such things exist, wealth, new in its acquisition, and precarious in its duration, can never rank first, or even near the first:  though wealth has its natural weight further than as it is balanced and even preponderated amongst us, as amongst other nations, by artificial institutions and opinions growing out of them.  At no period in the history of England have so few peers been taken out of trade or from families newly created by commerce.  In no period has so small a number of noble families entered into the counting-house.  I can call to mind but one in all England, and his is of near fifty years’ standing.  Be that as it may, it appears plain to me, from my best observation, that envy and ambition may, by art, management, and disposition, be as much excited amongst these descriptions of men in England as in any other country, and that they are just as capable of acting a part in any great change.

[Sidenote:  Progress of the French spirit.—­Its course.]

What direction the French spirit of proselytism is likely to take, and in what order it is likely to prevail in the several parts of Europe, it is not easy to determine.  The seeds are sown almost everywhere, chiefly by newspaper circulations, infinitely more efficacious and extensive than ever they were.  And they are a more important instrument than generally is imagined.  They are a part of the reading of all; they are the whole of the reading of the far greater number.  There are thirty of them in Paris alone.  The language diffuses them more widely than the English,—­though the English, too, are much read.  The writers of these papers, indeed, for the greater part, are either unknown or in contempt, but they are like a battery, in which the stroke of any one ball produces no great effect, but the amount of continual repetition is decisive.  Let us only suffer any person to tell us his story, morning and evening, but for one twelvemonth, and he will become our master.

All those countries in which several states are comprehended under some general geographical description, and loosely united by some federal constitution,—­countries of which the members are small, and greatly diversified in their forms of government, and in the titles by which they are held,—­these countries, as it might be well expected, are the principal objects of their hopes and machinations.  Of these, the chief are Germany and Switzerland; after them, Italy has its place, as in circumstances somewhat similar.

[Sidenote:  Germany.]