Royalist party in the event--not an improbable one--of France being
suddenly left without a ruler.

'Your unmeasured praise of Louis Napoleon and your unmeasured abuse of
the Bourbons are, to a certain degree, the interference in our politics
which you professedly disclaim. I admit the anti-English prejudices
of the Bourbons, and I admit that they are not likely to be abated by
your alliance with a Bonaparte. But the opinions of a constitutional
sovereign do not, like those of a despot, decide the conduct of his
country. The country is anxious for peace, and, above all, peace with
you--for more than peace, for mutual good-feeling. The Bourbons cannot
return except with a constitution. It has become the tradition of the
family, it is their title to the throne. There is not a _vieille
marquise_ in the Faubourg St.-Germain who believes in divine right.

'The higher classes in France are Bourbonists because they are
Constitutionalists, because they believe that constitutional monarchy is
the government best suited to France, and that the Bourbons offer us the
fairest chance of it.

'Among the middle classes there is without doubt much inclination for the
social equality of a Republic. But they are alarmed at its instability;
they have never known one live for more than a year or two, or die except
in convulsions.

'As for the lower classes, the country people think little about
politics, the sensible portion of the artizans care about nothing but
cheap and regular work; the others are Socialists, and, next to the
government of a Rouge Assembly, wish for that of a Rouge despot.'