A story is circulating on the Continent that the heads
of the different parties of French Monarchists, who have been re- conciled by the intervention of the Empress Eugenie, intend to hold a great conference in August, and that shortly after some great coup will be struck, the Pretender, if successful, agreeing to submit the claims of all candidates to a free plebiscite. Considerable sums of money have been contri- buted by the Empress and the Due d'Aumale, and it may be presumed that the agitators rely upon some sort of support within the Army. There is evidence enough of the reconciliation to justify us in mentioning the story, but for ourselves we doubt its authenticity altogether. What could any Pretender actually do that would not leave him in a ridiculous position ? The French Army has always acted en mane, and where is the evidence that the civil population is tired of the Republic ? If any Pretender could show that the Russian Alliance depended upon his election, he might have some feeble chance; but though the Romanoffs are necessarily Monarchists, they are not so fond either of Bourbons or Bonapartes as to modify the policy of Russia on an essential point for the sake of their future. The love of dynasties for each other is cupboard-love.
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