-I turned the conversation on the
political condition of the country, avowing frankly that I had been for
some years absent, and was ignorant of what had occurred meantime.

"'Twas that same I was thinking, sir," said he, replying to the first
and not the latter part of my remark. "When I saw your honor's face, and
the beard you wore, I said to myself you wor a Frenchman."

"You mistook there, then; I am your countryman, but have passed a good
many years in France."

"Fighting for Boney?" said he, as his eyes opened wide with surprise to
behold one actually before him who might have served under Napoleon.

"Yes, my good friend, even so; I was in the army of the Emperor."

"Tare an ages! then, are they coming over here now?" cried he, almost
gasping in his eagerness.

"No, no," replied I, gravely; "and be thankful, too, for it, for your
own and your children's sakes, that you see not a war raging in the
fields and cities of your native land. Be assured, whatever wrongs you
suffer,--I will not dispute their existence, for, as I told you, I am
ignorant of the condition of the country,--but whatever they may be, you
can pay too dearly for their remedy."

"But sure they 'd be on our side, would n't they?"

"Of course they would; but think you that they 'd fight your battles
without their price? Do you believe that Frenchmen so love you here
that they would come to shed their blood in your cause without their own
prospect of advantage?"

"They hate the English, I'm tould, as bad as we do ourselves."

"They do so, and with more of justice for their hate. But that dislike
might suffice to cause a war; it never would reward it. No, no; I know
something of the spirit of French conquest. I glory in the bravery and
the heroism that accomplished it; but I never wish to see my own country
at the mercy of France. Whose soldier would you become if the Emperor
Napoleon landed here to-morrow?--his. Whose uniform would you wear,
whose musket carry, whose pay receive, whose orders obey?--his, and his
only. And how long, think you, would your services be limited to home?
What should prevent your being sent away to Egypt, to Poland, or to
Russia? How much favor would an Irish deserter receive from a French
court-martial, think you? No, good friend; while you have this warm roof
to shelter you, and that broad sea is open for your industry and toil,
never wish for foreign aid to assist you."

I saw that the poor fellow was discoura