country
has had to sacrifice its own."

He gave a smile of supreme contempt, and replied,--

"You are but an apprentice of the trade, after all, Monsieur Gervois,
though I have often heard you called a man of tact and shrewdness. Do
you not know that we are not the agents of governments or of cabinets,
but of those who rule cabinets, dread them, and betray them? The
half-dozen crowned heads who rule Europe form a little fraternity apart
from all the world. The interests, the passions, the jealousies, and the
ambition of the several nations may involve them in wars, compel them
to stand in hostility against each other and be what is called great
enemies; but while their cannon are thundering and their cavalry
charging, while squadrons are crashing and squares are breaking, they
for whose sake the blood is shed and life poured forth are calmly
considering whether they should gain most by victory or defeat, and
how far the great cause--the subjugation of the niasses to the will of
one--can be benefited or retarded by any policy they would pursue."

I need not follow him in his reasonings,--indeed, they were more
ingenious and astute than I should be able to convey by repetition. His
theory was, that the rulers of states maintained a secret understanding
with each other; that however the casualties of fortune should fall
heavily on their countries, they themselves should be exempted from such
consequences; and that the people might fall, but dynasties should be
spared. As long as the Bourbons sat on the throne of France, the compact
was a safe and a sure one. The Revolution, however, has broken up the
sacred league, and none can tell now what people are next ripe for
revolt. As Bonaparte for the moment represents power in France,
every effort has been made by the sovereign to draw him into this
alliance,--not, of course, to found a dynasty, but to serve the cause of
the rightful one. I abstain from entering more fully into his views, or
citing the mass of proofs by which he endeavored to sustain them. If
not convinced by his arguments, I am free to own that they made a
deep impression upon me; rendered more so, perhaps, from the number of
circumstances I could myself call to mind which in my own secret service
tended to corroborate them.

I asked him whither he was then going, and he told me to Moscow.

"Russia and England meditate a war," said he, "the two cabinets are
embroiled; and I am hastening with an autograph