"10 Circus Road, S. John's Wood,
"_5th May_, 1859.

* * * * *

"I dare say you read Louis Napoleon's Manifesto in yesterday's papers. I
wonder what you think of it. I find myself at variance with most of my
friends, and with nearly all the newspapers _that I see_; but the _Morning
Chronicle_ and the _Daily News_, of which I have only seen _one_ article
for a long time back, appeared to be maintaining what I hold. That we
ought to be strictly neutral (not armed and threatening neutrals) seems to
be an axiom; but at the same time I look at the crisis with much hope and
little or no fear. To declaim against L. N.'s treachery is only a way of
playing into the wrong hands, i.e. supporting Austria. He has pledged
himself to expel her from Italy and not to seek dominion in Italy for
France. If he fails he shatters his own power in Paris: so much the
better, I suppose. If he succeeds, Italy is a certain gainer, and Europe
through Italy. I say a certain gainer, because the existing oppression
(testified by Gladstone and Clarendon) rests upon the aid of Austria, and
is far worse than war, and worse than a transitory dictatorship of France;
and the mischief of Austria has been that her power has been confirmed by
European diplomacy; but if France proves treacherous, it will be against
the protest of Europe, and her rule _cannot_ be permanent. Besides, L. N.
must almost of necessity give some aggrandizement to Sardinia. Lombardy,
Tuscany, and Parma seem inevitably to rush into Victor Emmanuel's arms, if
not also Venice, if the Confederates are victorious. Hence a stout power
is interposed between France and Southern Italy. And is it not stupid to
think that because L. N. is a bad, unscrupulous man, therefore he covets
nothing but _territory_? He covets _stability_ and the glory of liberating
Italy; and acting with heroic moderation is the obvious way of winning to