at one time. It possessed the due elements of
mischief in abundance; it was infidel and hungry; but it
wanted the great requisites,--determination and courage. The
example must come from the Continent, and, in one respect,
it is so much the better. Your home disturbers would be
necessarily the enemies of the Anglican Church, whereas
_our_ anarchists here are inseparably associated with
Protestantism. This _coup_ required some cleverness, but we
at last accomplished it. Ronge's movement of secession gave
the first opportunity; the Swiss troubles offered the
second; a little more, and the _Bonnet rouge_ will be the
symbol of the Protestant faith. Mark the advantage of this;
see the distrust with which every nation of the Continent
will regard England and her constitution mongering; look how
they will be induced to associate her printed cottons with
her Church, and connect the spread of her trade with the
treacherous dissemination of her doctrines. So far, so good.
And then, remember, that to all this anarchy and ruin the
Church of the true faith alone offers any effectual
opposition,--the 'Platoon' for the hour of conflict; but to
the priest must they come to consolidate the shattered
edifice,--to rebuild the tottering fabric of society. Men do
not see this yet; and there is but one way to teach it,--a
tremendous lesson of blood and anarchy. This is in store for
them, believe me.

"My great difficulty is to persuade these people to
patience. They will not wait, as Napoleon did for the
Prussians, till they were _'en flagrant delit;_' and yet, if
they do not, the whole experiment goes for nothing. With all
their hordes of horse, foot, and dragoons, their grape and
canister, their grenades and rocket-batteries, they have not
the courage of a poor priest His Holiness is, however,
doing better. He has taken the whole _au serieux_; he has
brought himself to believe that moderate reforms--what are
they?--will satisfy the wishes of demagogue ambition, and
that when he has lashed popular fury into full speed, he can
check it at will. Of course you guess what will follow, and
you already see what a busy time is before us. Oh, my dear
Michel, I can stop here, and, closing my eyes, revel in the
glorious future that must succeed! I see t