Mrs. Grote tells me that you rather complain that the English newspapers
approve of the marriage;[5] a marriage which you all disapprove.

The fact is that we like the marriage precisely because you dislike it.
We are above all things desirous that the present tyranny should end as
quickly as possible. It can end only by the general alienation of the
French people from the tyrant; and every fault that he commits delights
us, because it is a step towards his fall. To say the truth, I wonder
that you do not take the same view, and rejoice over his follies as
leading to his destruction.

Our new Government is going on well as yet. As the Opposition has turned
law reformers, we expect law reform to go on as rapidly as is consistent
with the slowly-innovating temper of the English. Large measures
respecting charities, education, secondary punishments, and the transfer
of land are in preparation, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is at
work on the difficult--I suspect the insoluble--problem of an equitable
income tax. I foresee, however, a rock ahead.

This is reform of the constituencies. Lord John Russell, very sillily,
promised two years ago a new Reform Bill.

Still more sillily he introduced one last year, and was deservedly turned
out for it.

Still more sillily the present Government has accepted his
responsibility, and is pledged to bring in a measure of reform next year.

I have been trying to persuade them to pave the way by a Commission of
Inquiry, being certain that the facts on which we ought to agitate are