a.) TO M. OHEVALIER. 641

Ivasion,’ IT was denounced by nearly every London news-Paper,
 and at present I am in pretty nearly the same pre- Zr. 6L
licament respecting my opinions upon the war. But is it
"0b possible that two or three years may produce in my
"PPonents the same change upon the one question that has
"ndoubtedly been effected on the other? Depend on it
here ig 4 good deal of unreasoning passion and pecuniary
Selfishness on the part of the people and the Press of this
"ountry in the present warlike clamour.
“I know proprietors of newspapers (the ———
~ for example) who have pocketed 80007. or 40001
: Year through the war, as directly as if the money had
%%n voted to them in the Parliamentary estimates. It
S not likely, unless they are very disinterested specimens
of human nature, that they will oppose a policy so profitbls
 to themselves. But the people, who have no interest
2 being misled, will probably become satiated with monoto-0US
 appeals to their combative passions, and then tbe
Papers will change. The moment this reaction of feeling
hows itself in considerable force, there are all the most
ble statesmen of this country ready to head the party of
Peace, For it is a remarkable fact, that whilst the mass of
boliticiang appear to be so warlike, their leaders are all in
‘heir hearts opposed to a continuance of the war. I do not
Course, include Lord Palmerston amongst the number of
®aders, for it is a notorious fact that he never possessed the
“onfidence of a dozen members of the House, and was there
ore never at the head of a party. It is only because all the
Parliamentary chiefs shrink from the responsibility of con-Muing
 the war that he has been enabled to seize the reins.
Al men of the age of seventy-two, with unsatisfied ambilon,
 are desperadoes ; and Lord Palmerston, in addition to
‘hig qualification, having had the experience of nearly half a
“tury of Parliamentary life, having continued to persuade
Tt

1855.