The Sovereigns are learning to write. The Czar's Mani- festo
in favour of peace was admirably worded, and had a note in it of real personal feeling. The Proclamations of the young Queen of Holland, which she is said to have written without assistance, are models of dignified yet cordial senti- ment ; and the Rescript addressed on Sunday to Count Thun by the Emperor Francis Joseph is touching to others than his subjects. His horror at the fate of his wife, of whom he truly says that "her heart knew not hate," is excellently expressed ; and no litteratenr, however accomplished, could have turned a better sentence than this :—" While I humbly bow beneath the divine dispensation which bears so heavily and inscrutably upon me, I must express my gratitude to Providence for the great good which is still spared to me, for the love and fealty of the millions who in the hour of sorrow surround me and mine. In a thousand ways, from far and near, from high and low, have grief and sorrow been expressed for the Empress-Queen, whom God has taken to himself If the festive peals which should have greeted this year must remain dumb, there yet remains to me the memory of in- numerable proofs of loyalty and deep sympathy, the most precious gift which could be bestowed upon me. Our common grief weaves a new and intimate bond between Throne and Fatherland." The Kings are right in occasionally addressing their peoples, though William II. does it too fre- quently. They become better understood.
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