/28 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



Mr Ord returned Waterton's visit, and stayed at Walton Hall. The 

 friends kept up a regular correspondence on their common pursuit, 

 and the letters, which amount to several hundreds, show that the re- 

 tired life of our naturalist squire had not diminished his interest in 

 politics at home and abroad. He cordially sympathised with the 

 Irish at the time of the Repeal agitation. Writing on October 13, 

 1843, he says : " When a nation wills a thing, there is no resisting it ; 

 and I am fully of opinion that Repeal must come in the end. If 

 O'Connell can manage to keep his millions from breaking the law, 

 he will puzzle our tyrants on this side of the channel beyond all 

 manner of belief. So far his proclamation has had the desire v 

 effect ; and has sorely disappointed the huge armaments sent over to 

 massacre the poor Irish at the earliest opportunity. The affairs of 

 Ireland are now in a situation to attract the notice of the whole 

 world j and if things shall come to blows, my earnest prayer is, that 

 Ireland may humble our intolerable pride in the dust." In another 

 letter (March 5, 1848) he speaks of French affairs, "And now what 

 shall I say of the astounding revolution which has just taken place 

 in France, and upset in a few hours all that Louis Philippe had been 

 planning for a length of years to keep his offspring in possession of 

 the crown of France? Let it be a lesson to surrounding potentates 

 how they act the despot. Their day of weeping may be nearer at 

 hand than they expect. Louis imagined that the fortifying of his 

 capital would enable him to destroy his rebellious subjects, should 

 they ever dare to resist his mandates. The people got possession 

 of all his cannon in a few hours, and he himself was forced to 

 run away. Up to the present hour nobody knows where he is. 

 This stupendous affair will, in my opinion, for ever close France to 

 the Bourbons. She prefers a republic. Let her have it." Later on 

 again, Waterton was distressed at the civil war in the United States, 

 and in letter after letter he feelingly deplores the bloodshed and de- 

 struction going on there. It reminded him, he said, of the descrip- 

 tion in Lucan's Pharsalia. A letter of his to Mr Ord (Septembei 

 n, 1862) says, "As you do not allude to American politics, I can 

 easily conceive that you feel sick at heart. So I will state once for 

 ill, that I too, my dear friend, am really sick at heart, when I reflect 

 that the finest country and constitution in the whole world are 



