the revival of the empire, would also lead to a revival of
the old imperial attitude of France to England,--that of menace and
ambition. The policy pursued by the British government was, however, so
conciliatory and fair, that no opportunity was left for France to make
a quarrel. It was moreover the interest of the French president to
court alliance with England, to prevent the possibility of a continental
coalition against him, which he knew would never dare the power of
France while England was her ally. The discussions connected with the
outrage committed upon Erskine Mather, Esq., at Florence, by Austrian
officers, alone agitated the country in connection with foreign
politics. The progress of that event was laid fully before the reader
in the last chapter. During the debates about it in parliament and the
press, in 1852, a strong public sentiment was evoked against the Duke
of Tuscany, and the Austrian government and army. Much sympathy was felt
towards the young Englishman who had so well maintained his country's
honour, and to his father, by whom he was sustained in the manly and
patriotic course which he had adopted. The procedure of the diplomatic
agents of the English government, of the English government itself, and
of the foreign minister, Lord Malmesbury most especially, excited the
indignation of the people, and tended much to weaken the cabinet of
which Lord Malmesbury was so prominent a member: probably the apathy and
want of manly spirit and patriotism displayed by the British government
and its _employes_ in the Florence affair, did more to shake the
confidence of the people in the administration than all the party
attacks to which in its short existence it was exposed.

Among the home events of the year which excited general interest were a
series of earthquakes, which spread alarm over a large portion of Great
Britain. Such rare phenomena in this island naturally attracted the
attention of the philosophical, and affected the multitude with awe.
On the 4th of November the inhabitants of the northwestern districts of
England felt the shocks usually characteristic of earthquake. The chief
force of the subterranean commotion seemed to be beneath Liverpool and
the districts that surround it. In Manchester the shock was felt more
severely than in most other districts. On the opposite coast of Ireland,
especially in the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, the vibrations of the
earth were nearly as remarkable as