eathing-time at Monaco; the time left for
even a nominally independent existence to Monaco is short: imagine that
they find a fresh outlet at Geneva; Prussia will have represented the
public opinion of the age, against which not even the Republicanism of
Switzerland can long make a successful stand. Upon the whole, history
can never blame Prussia for such a use either of her conquests or her
influence. Say what you will, gambling is an indulgence blushed over in
England; abroad, practised as a little luxury in dissipation, it may be
pardoned as venial; habitually, however, it is a leprosy. And as it is
by habitual gamblers that these haunts are made to flourish, this alone
should reconcile the world of tourists to a deprivation which for them
must be slight; while to the class they imitate, without equalling, it
will be the prohibition of an abominable habit.'(84)

(84) Extracts from a 'leader' in the Standard of Sept. 4, 1869.

CHAPTER IX. GAMBLING IN THE UNITED STATES.

It is not surprising that a people so intensely speculative, excitable,
and eager as the Americans, should be desperately addicted to gambling.
Indeed, the spirit of gambling has incessantly pervaded all their
operations, political, commercial, and social.(85) It is but one of
the manifestations of that thorough license arrogated to itself by the
nation, finding its true expression in the American maxim recorded by Mr
Hepworth Dixon, so coarsely worded, but so significant,--'Every man has
a right to do what he _DAMNED_ pleases.'(86)

(85) In the American correspondence of the Morning Advertiser, Feb. 6,
1868, the writer says:--'It was only yesterday (Jan. 24) that an eminent
American merchant of this city (New York) said, in referring to the
state of affairs--"we are socially, politically, and commercially
demoralized."'

(86) 'Spiritual Wives.'--A work the extraordinary disclosures of which
tend to show that a similar spirit, destined, perhaps, to bring about
the greatest social changes, is gaining ground elsewhere than in
America.

Although laws similar to those of England are enacted in America against
gambling, it may be said to exist everywhere, but, of course, to the
greatest extent in the vicinity of the fashionable quarters of the large
cities. In New York there is scarcely a street without its gambling
house--'private,' of course, but well known to those who indulge in the
vice. The ordinary public game is Faro.

High and l