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of information, that the new court ladies have taken to trains and little pages, and that the new courtiers hunt the stag with their master in the Forest of Fontainebleau in dresses of the time of Louis XIV. and cocked hats. Good-bye! Heaven preserve you from the mistakes which lead to revolutions, and from the revolutions which lead to masquerades. A thousand kind regards. A. DE TOCQUEVILLE.

London, December 4, 1852.

My dear Tocqueville,-Your letter of November 13 is, I think, the first that I have received from you since March.

That which you addressed to me at Kensington, two months ago, Idid not reach me. I have written to you one or two; I do not know with what success.

I grieve to hear of rheumatism and pleurisy. You say nothing of Madame de Tocqueville, whence I hope that I may infer that she, at least, is well.

We have all been flourishing. We passed the vacation in Wales and Ireland, and brought back a curious journal,' which I hope to send or bring to you.

I do not think that I shall venture to Paris at Christmas, though Ellice and Thiers are trying to persuade me. I have too vivid a recollection of the fog, cold, and dirt of last year; but I fully resolve to be with you at Easter-that is, about March 24.

The present Government, with all its want of principle

Published in 1868.-ED.

1853.1

Tory Budget.

33

and truth, and with all its want of experience, is doing much better than I expected.

The law reforms are far bolder than any that my friends ever proposed, and the budget, which was brought forward last night, contains more that is good, and less that is bad, than was hoped or feared.

Its worst portion is the abolition of half the malt tax, which leaves all the expense of collection undiminished, besides being a removal of a tax on a luxury which I do not wish to see cheaper. It is probable, however, that the doubling of the house tax will be rejected, in which case Disraeli will probably retain the malt tax, and the budget will sink into a commonplace one.

The removal of certain burdens on navigation and the change in the income tax are thought good, and generally the Government has gained by the budget. I am now inclined to think that it may last for some months longer-perhaps for some years.

In the meantime we are in a state of great prosperity : high wages, great accumulation of capital, low prices of consumable articles, and high prices of stocks and land.

Ever yours,

N. W. SENIOR.

February 27, 1853.

My dear Tocqueville,-I profit by Sir H. Ellis's visit

to write, not venturing to trust the post.

We are grieved to hear that both you and Madame de Tocqueville have been suffering, We have borne

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this disagreeable winter better than perhaps we had a right to expect; but still we have suffered.

Mrs. Grote tells me that you rather complain that the English newspapers approve of the marriage;1 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.

That of the Emperor.-ED.

1853.1

New Reform Bill.

35

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 imperfectly known. But Lord John is unfavourable, and the other Ministers do not venture to control the leader of the House of Commons. There will, therefore, be no previous inquiry; at least only the indirect one which the Government can make for itself. The measure will be concocted in secrecy, will be found open to unforeseen objections; it will be thrown out in the House, and will excite no enthusiasm in the country. If the Government dissolve, the new Parliament will probably be still more opposed to it than the present Parliament will be; and the Government, being beaten again, will resign.

Such is my prophecy.

Prenez en acte, and we will talk it over in May 1854. I hope to be in Paris either for the Easter or for the Whitsun vacation-that is, either about the 24th of March or the 5th of May next—and I trust to find you and Madame de Tocqueville, if not quite flourishing, at least quite convalescent.

Ever yours,

N. W. SENIOR.

CONVERSATIONS.

Paris, May 9, 1853.—I drank tea with the Tocquevilles. Neither of them is well.

In February they were caught, on their journey from

Tocqueville to Paris, by the bitter weather of the beginning of that month. It produced rheumatism and then pleurisy with him, and inflammation of the bowels with her; and both are still suffering from the effects either of the disorder or of the remedies.

In the summer Paris will be too hot and Tocqueville too damp. So they have taken a small house at St. Cyr, about a mile from Tours, where they hope for a tolerable climate, easy access to Paris, and the use of the fine library of the cathedral. He entered eagerly on the Eastern question, and agreed on all points with Faucher; admitted the folly and rashness of the French, but deplored the over-caution which had led us to refuse interference, at least effectual interference, and to allow Turkey to sink into virtual subservience to Russia.

Paris, Tuesday, May 17.-Tocqueville and I stood on my balcony, and looked along the Rue de Rivoli and the Place de la Concorde, swarming with equipages, and on the well-dressed crowds in the gardens below. From the height in which we were placed all those apparently small objects, in incessant movement, looked like a gigantic ant-hill disturbed.

'I never,' said Tocqueville, 'have known Paris so animated or apparently so prosperous. Much is to be attributed to the saving of the four previous years. The parsimony of the Parisians ended in 1850; but the parsimony of the provinces, always great, and in unsettled times carried to actual avarice, lasted during the whole of the Republic. Commercial persons tell me that the arrival of capital which comes up for investment from

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