156 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



may assist you in forming your opinion in full know- 

 ledge of all the facts. 



" The results already obtained by the ultimate alli- 

 ance of France and England show very clearly how 

 advantageous their union is in the interests of the 

 equilibrium of Europe and of civilisation. It con- 

 cerns, therefore, the future and the happiness of all 

 the nations of the universe to maintain intact, and to 

 preserve from any shock, a state of things which, to 

 the lasting honour of the governments which have 

 brought it about, can alone, with the aid of time, 

 ensure to humanity the blessings of progress and of 

 peace. Hence follows the necessity of getting rid, 

 without delay, of any possible cause of rupture or 

 even of coolness between the two peoples. Hence, in 

 consequence, it was our bounden duty, with a view 

 to future contingencies, to search out what are the 

 circumstances calculated to awaken the secular feel- 

 ings of antagonism, and to provoke, either upon the 

 one side or the other, any of those emotions against 

 the force of which the wisest of governments is 

 powerless to contend. The motives of hostile rivalry 

 show a tendency gradually to give way to that 

 generous emulation which engenders great achieve- 

 ments. 



"To look at the situation from a general point of 

 view, one fails to see upon what ground, and a propos 

 of what, the struggles which have so long caused the 

 world to reek with blood, are likely to be renewed. 



