fences became the subject of discussion, when the duke used the
following expressions, 'Look at those splendid heights all along this
coast; give me communications which admit of rapid flank movement along
those heights, and I might set anything at defiance.'"

The fears felt in England that a struggle with France would be speedily
necessitated were intensified, when, at the close of the year, the
president of the republic appealed to the universal suffrage of France,
as to whether he should assume the name and power of emperor. This
appeal was answered by 7,824,189 "ayes," and 253,143 "noes."

On the 1st of December, the senate and legislative corps met, and
proceeded to St. Cloud, to announce to the president of the republic
that he had been elected sovereign of France. He accepted the splendid
boon, and declared himself Napoleon III. The British government
recognised the title, declaring that whatever form of government the
French people chose to adopt would be acknowledged and respected by
England.

GENERAL EUROPEAN RELATIONS.

England interested herself in certain diplomatic discussions concerning
the succession to the crown of Denmark, and in the disputes which
occurred between the government of Copenhagen and the German
Confederation, connected with Schleswig Holstein.

A treaty of commerce and navigation, between her Britannic majesty and
the King of the Belgians, also signalized the year.

No other events of serious importance engaged the attention of England
in connection with Europe.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Another of the many disputes concerning territory, or rights,
perpetually occurring between Great Britain and the United States,
took place in 1852. The contest regarded the fisheries off the American
coasts; the citizens of the United States claiming the right, in virtue
of a certain convention dated 1818, to fish off the coasts, and dry fish
on the coasts, of an extensive area of British territory. The British
colonial minister, Sir J. Pakington, conceded nearly all that the
Americans demanded, to the mortification of the colonial subjects of
Great Britain. Discussions concerning Central America, and the formation
of a ship-canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific, also engaged
the diplomatic abilities of British and American ministers. Ostensible
agreements were entered into, but neither nation heartily acquiesced,
and no expectation was entertained in England that the people