er them in strange coalition with men, who, true
to their principles, can neither welcome you as a friend, nor respect
you as an opponent; and of whom I must say, that the best and most
patriotic of them all will the least rejoice in the downfall of the
great constitutional party you have ruined, and will the most deplore
the loss of public confidence in public men!"

We may ask, are such men, speaking under such absolute conviction of the
truth, to be lightly valued or underrated? Are their opinions, because
consistent, to be treated with contempt, and consistency itself to be
sneered at as the prerogative of obstinacy and dotage? Was there no
truth, then, in the opinions which, on this point of protection, the
Premier has maintained for so many years; or, if not, is their fallacy
so very glaring, that he can expect all the world at once to detect the
error, which until now has been concealed even from his sagacious eye?
Surely there must be something very specious in doctrines to which he
has subscribed for a lifetime, and without which he never would have
been enabled to occupy his present place. We blame him not if, on mature
reflection, he is now convince of his error. It is for him to reconcile
that error with his reputation as a statesman. But we protest against
that blinding and coercing system which of late years has been unhappily
the vogue, and which, if persevered in, appears to us of all things the
most likely to sap the foundations of public confidence, in the
integrity as well as the skill of those who are at the helm of the
government.

We have given the speech of Wallenstein-let us now subjoin the reply of
Piccolomini. Mark how appropriate it is, with but the change of a single
word--

MAX.

My General; this day thou makest me
Of age to speak in my own right and person.
For till this day I have been spared the trouble
To find out my own road. _Thee have I follow'd
With most implicit, unconditional faith,
Sure of the right path if I follow'd thee._
To-day, for the first time, dost thou refer
Me to myself, and forcest me to make
Election between thee and my own heart--
_Is that a good war, which against the Empire
Thou wagest with the Empire's own array?_
O God of heaven! what a change is this!
Beseems it me to offer such persuasion
To thee, who like the fix'd star of the pole
Wert all I gazed at on life's trackless ocean;
Oh, what a rent thou makest in my heart