to most of the great events that have made the history of nations
during the last fifty years. Here are a few out of many examples which
might be quoted.

The introduction of adhesive stamps for the prepayment of postage
found France a Republic. A provisional government had just been
established on the ruins of the monarchy which had been swept out of
existence in the revolution of 1848. As a consequence, the first
postage stamp issued by France, on New Year's Day of 1849, bore the
head of Ceres, emblematic of Liberty. Three years later Louis Napoleon
seized the post of power, and, as President of the Republic, his head
figures on a stamp issued in 1851, under the inscription "REPUB.
FRANC." Two years later the Empire was re-established, and the words
"REPUB. FRANC." were changed to "EMPIRE FRANC." over the same head. In
1863 the customary laurel wreath, to indicate the first victories of
the reign, won in the war with Austria, was added to the Emperor's
head. In 1870 the Franco-German War resulted in the downfall of the
monarchy, and the head of Liberty reappears on a series of postage
stamps issued in Paris during its investment by the German army. The
issue of the stamps of Alsace and Lorraine in 1870 marks the
annexation of the conquered territory.

Italy in 1850 was a land of many petty states, each more or less a law
unto itself, and each, in the fifties, issuing its own separate series
of postage stamps. The stamps of the Pontifical States are made
familiar by their typical design of a tiara and keys, and pompous King
Bomba ordered the best engraver to be found to immortalise him in a
portrait for a series of stamps. The other states had each its own
heraldic design till the foundations of the Kingdom of Italy were
laid, in 1859-60, by the union of the Lombardo-Venetian States, the