of the one ruler is tempered, or, as it may be, hampered by the voices and influence of others.  And as regards England, how seldom is it that in common society a foreigner is met who comprehends the nature of her political arrangements!  To a Frenchman—­I do not of course include great men who have made the subject a study,—­but to the ordinary intelligent Frenchman the thing is altogether incomprehensible.  Language, it may be said, has much to do with that.  But an American speaks English; and how often is an American met who has combined in his mind the idea of a monarch, so called, with that of a republic, properly so named—­a combination of ideas which I take to be necessary to the understanding of English politics!  The gentleman who scorned my wife for hugging her chains had certainly not done so, and yet he conceived that he had studied the subject.  The matter is one most difficult of comprehension.  How many Englishmen have failed to understand accurately their own constitution, or the true bearing of their own politics!  But when this knowledge has been attained, it has generally been filtered into the mind slowly, and has come from the unconscious study of many years.  An Englishman handles a newspaper for a quarter of an hour daily, and daily exchanges some few words in politics with those around him, till drop by drop the pleasant springs of his liberty creep into his mind and water his heart; and thus, earlier or later in life, according to the nature of his intelligence, he understands why it is that he is at all points a free man.  But if this be so of our own politics; if it be so rare a thing to find a foreigner who understands them in all their niceties, why is it that we are so confident in our remarks on all the niceties of those of other nations?

I hope that I may not be misunderstood as saying that we should not discuss foreign politics in our press, our parliament, our public meetings, or our private houses.  No man could be mad enough to preach such a doctrine.  As regards our parliament, that is probably the best British school of foreign politics, seeing that the subject is not there often taken up by men who are absolutely ignorant, and that mistakes when made are subject to a correction which is both rough and ready.  The press, though very liable to error, labors hard at its vocation in teaching foreign politics, and spares no expense in letting in daylight.  If the light let in be sometimes moonshine, excuse may easily be made.  Where so much is attempted, there must necessarily be some failure.  But even the moonshine does good if it be not offensive moonshine.  What I would deprecate is, that aptness at reproach which we assume; the readiness with scorn, the quiet words of insult, the instant judgment and condemnation with which we are so inclined to visit, not the great outward acts, but the smaller inward politics of our neighbors.