ded to the invader, and the pope, under joint French and
Austrian protection, returned to rule his reluctant people at the
Vatican. It then became necessary for France to modify and restrain the
fiery persecution which the restored pontiff visited upon his temporal
subjects, at the instigation of Austria and Naples. In this, however,
the French were not as zealous as in restoring the pontifical tyranny;
and, as in the misrule of Louis Philippe, his chief agent of corruption
and wrong was a protestant, M. Guizot, so in the agency of French
despotism at Rome, a protestant general, D'Hilliers, was the most active
instrument.

Meanwhile the socialists, under Ledru Rollin, attempted to upset the
presidential government, but were beaten by General Changarnier, at
the head of the troops and national guards, Ledru Rollin becoming a
fugitive. The president of the French republic worked his will.

The general condition of Europe was well described by M. Mauguin in
the French Assembly, as under arms from the line of the Ural to the
Atlantic. The attitude, however, which the president resolved to
maintain, was one of peace with foreign powers, and, except in the
instance of Rome, of non-interference. This exception he justified on
the grounds of the necessity of counteracting the ascendancy of Austria
in Italy, and of the Catholic feeling of the French nation, which forbid
the deposition of the head of the church.

One of the most remarkable incidents in French history during the year,
and that in which the English people undoubtedly took most interest, was
the assemblage of a Peace Congress of all nations at Paris. Deputations
from England and America were the most conspicuous persons in the
assembly, which met on the 22nd of August, in the Salle St. Cecille,
a music-hall in the Chaussee d'Antin, M. Victor Hugo in the chair. The
vice-presidents were Messrs. Cobden, Vesscheres, Coquerel, Degnore,
and Durkee. The secretaries were Messrs. Joseph Gamier, Alochin, Elihu
Burrit, the celebrated American blacksmith, editor of the _Olive Leaf_,
and Henry Richards, secretary to the English Peace Society. The two
principal speakers were the Reverend John Bennet, a congregational
minister, residing at Camberwell, near London, a very eloquent orator,
and Victor Hugo, who said he believed the object they had at heart was a
religious one, and not only desirable, but practicable and realisable:--
"Four centuries ago, the different provinces of