ed States and Russia. The dynastic disputes of France, which are far
from being at an end, and the generally unsettled character of French
politics, must long prevent that country from becoming the permanent
rival of England. France is great to-day, and England acts wisely in
preparing to meet her in war; but to-morrow France may become weak, and
her voice be feeble and her weight light in Europe and the world. Three
houses claim her throne, and the Republicans may start up into active
life again, as we saw they did in 1848. Neither Austria nor Prussia can
ever furnish England cause of alarm. With Russia the case is very
different, as her government is solidly established; her resources are
vast, and in the course of steady development, and her desire to
establish her supremacy in the East is a fixed idea with both rulers and
ruled. Unchecked, she would have thrown England into the background, and
supposing that she had resolved not to allow that country a share of the
spoil of Turkey. The hard character and harsh policy of Nicholas ended
in furnishing to England an opportunity to throw Russia herself into the
background for the time, and that opportunity she made use of, but not
to the extent that she had determined upon, owing to her dependence upon
France, which became the shield of Russia after having been the sword of
England. The United States were a formidable rival of England; and, but
for the breaking out of our troubles, we should have been far ahead of
her by 1870, and perhaps have stripped her of all her American
possessions. When those troubles began, she proceeded to take the same
advantage of them that she had taken of the Czar's blunder. To sever the
American nation in twain is her object, as some of her public men have
frankly avowed; and she believes that the disintegrating process, once
commenced, would not stop with the division of the country into the
Northern Union and the Southern Confederacy. She expects, should the
South succeed, to see half a dozen republics here established, and is
not without hope that not even two States would remain together; and for
this hope she has very good foundation. The American nation destroyed,
England would become as great in the West as she is in the East, and
would hold, with far greater means at her command, the same position
that was hers in the last days of George II., when the French had been
expelled from America and India. She would have no commercial rival,