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10th February 1853. Sra—I regret that the press of England should have thought it worth while to notice the insane ravings of M. Billet ; who is doubtless sufficiently contemptible to all Frenchmen of common sense. The English papers have probably suffered themselves to be goaded into bestowing their atten- tion and the space of their columns on an obscure madman, by the scarcely less offensive and far more mischievous declamations of a man of unques- tioned talents and ability.
As a corrective to both, allow me to send you a few words from the pen of a Frenchman of high station, honour, and intelligence. After deploring the deep humiliation of France, he continues—" England, on the contrary, is more herself than she has been for a long period. Awake to the sense of her dan- gers and her duties, that great country is more than ever (as I rejoiced to hear M. Villemain say the other day) the stay and honour of the world. Were it not for England, the stem-1.rd of political worth and intellectual nobleness would be fixed at a fearfully low point in Europe."
With such opinions as those of the author of this letter, and of the illus- trious writer and eloquent orator he quotes, in favour of England, of her political morality, and of the defensive attitude she has at length assumed, we may afford to disregard the frantic threats of M. Billet and the angry de- nunciations and taunts of Mr. Cobden.
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