is enough to make the most strenuous royalist lean a little
to republicanism to think that the whole question between safety and
general destruction may probably, at this most fearful conjuncture,
depend on a single man whom the accident of his birth has placed in a
situation to which certainly his own virtues or abilities would never
have raised him.

The question must come to a decision, I think, within the fortnight. In
the meantime the funds are going down, the newspapers are storming, and
the faces of men on both sides are growing day by day more gloomy and
anxious. Even during the most violent part of the contest for the Reform
Bill I do not remember to have seen so much agitation in the political
circles. I have some odd anecdotes for you, which I will tell you when
we meet. If the Parliament should be dissolved, the West Indian and East
Indian Bills are of course dropped. What is to become of the slaves?
What is to become of the tea-trade? Will the negroes, after receiving
the Resolutions of the House of Commons promising them liberty, submit
to the cart-whip? Will our merchants consent to have the trade with
China, which has just been offered to them, snatched away? The Bank
Charter, too, is suspended. But that is comparatively a trifle. After
all, what is it to me who is in or out, or whether those fools of Lords
are resolved to perish, and drag the King to perish with them in
the ruin which they have themselves made? I begin to wonder what the
fascination is which attracts men, who could sit over their tea and
their books in their own cool quiet room, to breathe bad air, hear bad
speeches, lounge up and down the long gallery, and doze uneasily on the
green benches till three in the morning. Thank God, these luxuries
are not necessary to me. My pen is sufficient for my support, and my
sister's company is sufficient for my happiness. Only let me see
her well and cheerful, and let offices in Government, and seats in
Parliament, go to those who care for them. If I were to leave public
life to-morrow, I declare that, except for the vexation which it might
give you and one or two others, the event would not be in the slightest
degree painful to me. As you boast of having a greater insight into
character than I allow to you, let me know how you explain this
philosophical disposition of mine, and how you reconcile it with my
ambitious inclinations. That is a problem for a young lady who professes
knowledge of human n