The political world in France is labourin g under a fit
of dyspepsia, and throwing up bilious pamphlets. The last con- tains a fierce attack upon England for spreading her empire so wide—a process which must end in weakness—and some inconsequent advice to the French to go and do likewise. France, says the pamphleteer, should seize Madagascar, and extend her empire in Algeria without asking permission from anybody. As she has already occupied New Caledonia, and invaded Cochin China without even a remark from Great Britain, this warmth seems a little unnecessary; but there is an uneasy feeling in French society, a conviction that all this restlessness portends some new effort to maintain French in- terests, rectify French frontiers, and propagate French ideas. The people are talking too much of monetary distress and the price of corn, and the Government is supposed to be pre- paring a spectacle in order to turn their thoughts.
