CHAPTER CXXXIII.

A THRONE SURROUNDED BY REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS.

The entertainment was of the most splendid description--worthy of the

hospitality and taste of the noble host and hostess.

The Prince of Montoni was dressed in plain clothes: but on his breast

gleamed the star denoting his rank; and on his left leg he wore the

English Garter, his Royal Highness having been admitted on the previous

day a member of that illustrious Order.

He was seated on the right of the Countess of Ellingham, Lady Frances

being next to him, and Charles Hatfield occupying the place immediately

following. In addition to these personages and the Earl of Ellingham,

Mr. Hatfield, and Lady Georgiana there were Sir John Lascelles,

Clarence Villiers and Adelais, and the select few who had been invited

to the banquet on this occasion.

The Prince was naturally of a modest and unassuming

disposition,--though endowed with ample dignity to maintain his lofty

rank and honourably fill his high position,--yet bearing himself so

condescendingly and affably, that every one felt completely at ease in

his presence. Even Sir John Lascelles, who had grown somewhat morose,

and difficult to please in his old age, was quite delighted with the

youthful hero, whose conversation was characterised by so much sound

sense and such a total absence of obtrusiveness.

Charles Hatfield was delighted at the thought of being once more in

company with the object of his worship; and he seemed to hang upon

every word that fell from the lips of the Prince of Montoni, as if he

were listening to a demigod.

[Illustration]

When the ladies had retired, the conversation turned upon political

matters; and the Earl of Ellingham questioned the Prince relative to

the condition of the Castelcicalans, whom report, newspapers, and

books represented to be in the highest possible state of civilisation

prosperity, and happiness.

“His Sovereign Highness, my revered father-in-law,” said the Prince,

“has exerted himself in all possible ways to render his people

contented and flourishing. The task may seem to be difficult for a

monarch to undertake; but it really is not so. Honourable, upright,

and liberal-minded Ministers are to be found in all countries, if

the sovereign have but the discrimination to select them: indeed, a

Chamber of Deputies, rightly constituted, will be sure to indicate the

most efficient and trust-worthy men to whom the responsibilities of

government may be safely confided. Every man in Castelcicala, having a

habitation in which he may be said to be settled,--no matter whether it

be a house of his own, or a mere lodging,--has the right of suffrage.

The elections take place by ballot; and thus, considering that all save

absolute mendicants have the power of voting, and seeing likewise the

immense number of voters that there are, bribery is almost impossible.

But to ensure, as much as mortal means can, the purity of election,

any attempt at bribery or intimidation is counted a misdemeanor, and

is punished by a fine, imprisonment, and the loss of civil rights for

a period of seven years. Under these circumstances our elections take

place in an orderly, quiet, and honest manner: the people conduct

themselves with propriety, because they recognise the generous

confidence reposed in them by their sovereign, and endeavour to render

themselves worthy of it.”

“When your Royal Highness liberated Castelcicala and opened the way for

the Grand Duke Alberto to the throne,” said Sir John Lascelles, who had

listened attentively to the Prince’s observations, “the Castelcicalans

were in a state of abject slavery. Were these boons of consummate

freedom conferred upon them in a moment?--and if so, were the people

prepared in any way to receive them?”

“A nation in slavery, Sir John,” answered the Prince, “is like a body

in a condition of deep disease. Now, would you restore that body to

perfect health all in a moment, if you had the power?--or would you

only effect the restoration by slow and almost imperceptible degrees?”

“As a conscientious and an honest man, I should of course adopt the

mode of instantaneous cure,” replied the physician.

“Then, Sir John, your question whether the Castelcicalans were prepared

to receive the consummation of their freedom in a moment, is answered,”

said the Prince, smiling. “Believe me, those statesmen who talk of the

necessity of gradual reform are either weak and timid, or else in their

hearts opposed to the interests of the people. Freedom is a nation’s

right; and a right cannot be recognised too suddenly nor too frankly.

Were your fortune in the grasp of a rapacious monarch, should you be

contented by receiving it in small instalments according to his caprice

and good pleasure? No: certainly not! You would demand and expect to

receive the whole at once--and would consider yourself the victim of a

monstrous tyranny, were your claims refused, or ridiculed, or set at

naught. Yes, Sir John--the Castelcicalans obtained in a moment, as it

were, their emancipation from tyranny and oppression. Immediately after

His Sovereign Highness ascended the throne of that powerful State, he

promulgated a decree, not merely conceding universal suffrage as a

boon, but at once proclaiming it as the recognised right of the people.

He did not say, ‘_I give it to you_:’ but he said, ‘_I do not for an

instant attempt to withhold it_.’ The people saw that they were not

treated as children, but as a free and enlightened nation; and they

generously proffered gratitude, and testified their admiration and

respect for their monarch. The Chambers assembled in due time--both

Senators and Deputies being elected, and the principle of an hereditary

Peerage being totally eschewed. Not even is the President of the

Senate appointed by the Grand Duke: he is chosen by his compeers, as

is the President of the Chamber of Deputies. The Grand Duke pledged

himself to retain in power or to nominate only those Ministers whom

the parliamentary majority pointed out; and, accordingly, the Cabinet

which I had the honour to appoint during the period when I exercised

the functions of Regent, immediately after the battle of Montoni, has

remained in office ever since that time--because it is supported by

the majority. There is an Opposition in both Chambers,--an Opposition

consisting of the Aristocracy of the Old School, High Churchmen, and

a few very wealthy landowners; and indeed an Opposition is necessary

to all good government, because were measures passed by universal

acclamation, there would be no sifting of all their details to the very

bottom. The Progressist Ministry in Castelcicala is therefore rather

thankful to the Opposition than otherwise;--but the popular voice is

entirely in favour of the Ministerial party.”

“The Grand Duke is therefore almost a cypher in Castelcicala?” observed

Sir John Lascelles.

“Not so,” returned the Prince, mildly but firmly. “There must be

a chief magistrate--an executive--in every State; and he is that

chief magistrate. Do you suppose that the task of discriminating and

rewarding merit,--in patronising the arts and sciences,--in raising the

humble but deserving individual,--and in performing all the various

services to a country which the supreme ruler must ever have the

opportunity of doing,--do you not suppose, Sir John Lascelles, that

these are duties which render a good Prince any thing but a cypher?

It is true that Castelcicala has a Throne: but it is surrounded by

Republican Institutions;--and it matters very little whether Alberto be

called President, Grand Duke, Emperor, or King. There is nothing in the

name of the office: all that merits our attention is the extent of the

privileges of that office.”

“But the sovereignty of Castelcicala is hereditary,” said Sir John

Lascelles; “and yet your Royal Highness is an opponent to the

hereditary peerage. If the principle be objectionable in the one

case----”

“Pardon me for interrupting you, sir,” exclaimed the Prince: “but you

are arguing on a false premise. The hereditary principle is abolished

even in respect to the sovereignty. Alberto voluntarily abdicated this

dynastic privilege; and one of his first acts was to place his diadem

at the disposal of the Chambers. He told them that he was willing to

obey the sovereign will of the people. The Chambers confirmed him in

his high office; and of their own accord they honoured me by naming

me the heir-apparent to the throne. But the hereditary principle

is virtually annihilated; because one generation cannot bind its

successor; and the law which thus appointed me as the heir-apparent,

may be repealed by a new Chamber. It is monstrous to suppose that the

hereditary principle can be tolerated by a nation knowing its own power

and appreciating its own interests: for that principle may give you a

good sovereign to-day, and a tyrant, an idiot, or a degraded sensualist

to-morrow.”

“I admit the force of your Royal Highness’s argument,” said Lascelles;

“and if I object, it is rather to seek information on these subjects

than to question the excellence of the system of government introduced

into Castelcicala. I would now deferentially seek to learn how far that

system has benefitted the people of your Highness’s adopted country?”

“In the first place, Sir John,” returned the Prince, “the people have

the elections entirely in their own hands, and return to Parliament

representatives who do not buy their seats, but who are chosen on

account of their merits. At least, this observation applies to the

great majority of the Senators and Deputies. The elections take place

every two years; so that ample opportunity is allowed the constituents

of getting rid of persons who may chance to deceive them or prove

incapable; while a sufficient space of time is afforded for giving the

representatives a fair trial. The result of these arrangements is,

that the majority of the representatives legislate for the interests

of the mass--and not of the few. Good measures are the consequence;

and the happiness of the people is promoted, while civilisation

progresses rapidly, and the prosperity of the country increases daily.

My lord,” continued the Prince, turning towards the Earl of Ellingham,

“history has recorded the memorable speech which your lordship

delivered nineteen years ago in the House of Lords--the speech that

first introduced your lordship to the world as the generous defender,

vindicator, and champion of the People;--and it rejoices me unfeignedly

to be enabled to inform you, my noble friend--for so you will permit

me to call you--that the speech I allude to, and all your subsequent

orations on the same subject have been studied, weighed, and debated

upon in the Councils of the Sovereign of Castelcicala.”

The Earl acknowledged the compliment in befitting terms; and the Prince

of Montoni continued in the following manner:--

“To prove to your lordship that it is no idle flattery--of which,

indeed, I am incapable--that I am now addressing to you, I will at

once inform you that every suggestion which your lordship’s first

and grandest oration contained, has been carried out with complete

success in Castelcicala. Anticipating the pleasure of being enabled

this evening to give your lordship some account of the condition of the

Castelcicalans, I had furnished myself with a copy of the memorable

speech to which I have already several times alluded; and I will now

explain in detail the results of your lordship’s views, as exemplified

in their application to the Grand Duchy.”

The Prince produced a manuscript; and, spreading it before him, his

Royal Highness continued in the ensuing terms,--addressing himself to a

most attentive and delighted audience:--

“Your lordship stated that it was too frequently alleged that the

industrious classes are thoughtless, improvident, ungrateful, and

intellectually dull: but this assertion you emphatically denied; and

you proceeded to reason thus:--‘Despair, produced by their unhappy

condition, naturally led to dissipation in many instances; but were

the working man placed in a position so that his livelihood should be

rendered less precarious than it now was--were his labour adequately

remunerated--were he more fairly paid by the representatives of

property--were a scale of wages established, having a fixed minimum,

but no fixed maximum, the increased comfort thus ensured to him would

naturally remove from his mind those cares which drove him to the

public-house.’--Well, my lord and gentlemen,” continued the Prince,

“the suggestion has been adopted in Castelcicala: a fixed minimum for

wages has been established--the lowest amount of payment ensuring

a sum sufficient to enable the working man to maintain himself and

his family in respectability. The results may almost be said to have

been instantaneous. Crime diminished rapidly: statistical returns

soon proved that intemperance experienced a remarkable decrease;

and such was the falling off in the consumption of spirituous

liquors, beer, and tobacco, that the Government found it necessary

to grant a compensation to the licensed victuallers, publicans, and

tobacconists who suffered by this change in the habits of the people.

Even _employers_ speedily began to recognise the advantage of the

new state of things in the improved condition of their _employed_,

the increase and the excellence of the labour they obtained, and the

superiority of their agriculture or their manufactures. No _maximum_

of wages has been fixed in Castelcicala; and when I left the country

a month ago, those wages were higher than ever they were known to be

before. The demand for labour has greatly increased; and, though the

territory be densely populated, employment may be found for all. If a

man be now a pauper or mendicant in Castelcicala, it must be either

through physical infirmity, or through his unwillingness to work. Of

this latter, however, we have comparatively few examples--emulation

and patriotism acting powerfully in a country where so much happiness

and such prosperity prevail. Now, with a slight alteration in your

lordship’s speech, one of the most remarkable passages in that speech

reads thus when applied to Castelcicala:--‘There is no fixed _maximum_

of wages, because wages are always to be increased in proportion to

the value of productive labour to employers: but there is a _minimum_

established, to obviate the cruel and disastrous effects of those

periods when labour exceeds the demand in the market. This is not

considered unfair towards employers, because when the markets are

brisk and trade is flourishing, they (the employers) reap the greatest

benefit from that activity, and enrich themselves in a very short

time; therefore, when markets are dull and trade is stagnant, they are

still compelled to pay such wages as enable their employed to live

comfortably. The profits gained during prosperous seasons not only

enable employers to enjoy handsome incomes, but also to accumulate

considerable savings; and as the best wages scarcely enable the

employed to make any thing like an adequate provision for periods of

distress, it is not deemed fair that the representatives of property

should use the labour of the working classes just when it suits them,

and discard it or only use it on a miserable recompense when it does

not so well suit them. For the labour of the employed not only makes

annual incomes for the employers, but also permanent fortunes; and

the value of that labour is not calculated as lasting only just as

long as it is available for the purpose of producing large profits.

Labour is recognised in Castelcicala and positively stated to be the

working man’s _capital_, and bears constant interest, as well as money

placed in the funds--that interest of course increasing in proportion

to the briskness of markets; but never depreciating below a standard

value--much less being discarded as valueless altogether, in times of

depression. A thousand pounds always obtains three per cent. interest,

under any circumstances; and, at particular periods, is worth six or

seven per cent. Labour is considered by the Castelcicalans in the

same light. Stagnant markets diminish the profits of employers, but

do not ruin them: if they do not obtain profit enough to live upon,

they have the accumulations of good seasons to fall back upon. But how

different used to be the case with the employed! To them stagnation

of business was ruin--starvation--death;--the breaking up of their

little homes--the sudden check of their children’s education--the cause

of demoralisation and degradation--and the necessity of applying to

the parish! All these terrible evils have been completely annihilated

by the system introduced into Castelcicala. The supply and demand of

labour are necessarily unequal at many times, and in many districts;

and the Government has therefore adopted measures to prevent those

frightful fluctuations in wages which carry desolation into the homes

of thousands of hard-working, industrious, and deserving families.

In fact, a law has been passed to ensure the working-man against the

casualty of being employed at a price below remuneration.’--Thus, my

lord, you perceive that so far your views have been most successfully

carried out: they are no longer a theory--I have seen them reduced to

positive practice; and I pledge myself most solemnly and sacredly to

the admirable working of this enlightened reformatory system.”

“Would that I could see my own fellow-countrymen rendered thus

happy--raised thus high in the social sphere--and thus tenderly cared

for by their rulers!” exclaimed Lord Ellingham, in the impassioned tone

of the most earnest and heart-felt sincerity.

“The day must come,” observed the Prince of Montoni, “when the English

people will recognise all the grand truths which you enunciated

nineteen years ago from your place in the House of Lords. And, if in

England you have failed to convince the aristocracy and the landowners

of the wickedness of the course they are pursuing,--are not your

labours in some degree rewarded by the knowledge that your lordship’s

plans have been carried out to the very letter in the Grand Duchy of

Castelcicala,--yes, and carried out too with such unequivocal success?”

“The information which your Royal Highness now imparts, gives me the

most unfeigned pleasure,” said the Earl. “I had indeed read and heard

of the recent grand improvements which had taken place in that Italian

State where there is a Throne surrounded by Republican Institutions:

but I was not aware--indeed, the loftiest flights of vanity never

could have suggested to me that my views and theories had in any way

contributed to the prosperity of the MODEL STATE, as the Liberals in

England now denominate Castelcicala.”

“To convince you, my lord, how far your ideas have been applied to

the elevation of Castelcicala to its present proud eminence,” said

the Prince, “I will again refer to a passage in your lordship’s ever

memorable speech, and point a few contrasts. ‘In England the poor

are not allowed to have a stake in the country:’ I have shown you

that the very reverse is the case in the Grand Duchy. ‘In England

there are no small properties: the land is in the possession of a few

individuals comparatively; and thus the landed interest constitutes

a tremendous monopoly, most unjust and oppressive to the industrious

classes.’--In Castelcicala the law of primogeniture is annihilated;

there no man can leave his estate solely to his eldest son; it must

be divided amongst all his male children equally, a charge being

fixed upon it for the support of his daughters. Thus the territory is

rapidly undergoing a process of sub-division, which admits thousands

to the enjoyment of a real stake in the country, and breaks down the

tremendous monopoly of the landed interest. In Castelcicala, moreover,

‘property is compelled to maintain labour as long as labour seeks

for employment and occupation.’ What now, then, is the condition of

the Castelcicalan people? Being well treated, rendered free, and

having every possible avenue opened to them for the attainment of

real property, ‘the working-classes are not driven by their cares and

troubles to the excessive use of alcoholic liquors; they do not become

demoralized by being compelled to migrate from place to place in search

of employment--they are not forced to go upon the tramp, sleeping

in hideous dens of vice, where numbers are forced to herd together

without reference to age or sex: they are not unsettled in all their

little arrangements to bring up their children creditably and with due

reference to instruction;--they are not made discontented, anxious for

any change no matter what, vindictive towards a society which renders

them outcasts, and sullen or reckless in their general conduct.’--On

the contrary, they feel settled in their condition; they know that the

cottage which constitutes their home, is not held upon a precarious

tenure: they never feel the sickening conviction that if they have

bread and meat to-day, they may have only bread to-morrow, and no food

at all the day after. The industrious classes in Castelcicala are no

longer the mere slaves and tools of the wealthy classes: they are no

longer retained in bondage--no longer kept in absolute serfdom by an

oligarchy. I now pass to another subject,” said the Prince: “and here

again I refer to the speech of the Earl of Ellingham--applying to

Castelcicala the observations which he used in reference to England.

The Castelcicalan industrious classes, then, ‘were ground down by

indirect taxes, in which shape they actually contributed more to

the revenue, in proportion to their means, than the rich. The only

luxuries which the poor enjoyed, and which had become as it were

necessaries--namely, tea, sugar, tobacco, beer, and spirits,--were

the most productive sources of revenue. If aristocrats reproached the

poor for dirty habits, as he well knew that it was their custom to do,

he would ask them why soap was made an article subject to so heavy a

tax? It was a contemptible fallacy to suppose that because the poor

contributed little or nothing in the shape of direct taxation to the

revenue, they were positively untaxed. The real fact was that the poor

paid more in direct taxes than the rich did in both direct and in

indirect ways, when the relative means of the two parties were taken

into consideration.’--Such was the state of the industrious classes of

Castelcicala until their voice was heard in the legislative assemblies;

and all taxes upon the necessaries of life were speedily removed.

Luxuries alone were left to bear the weight of taxation--the duties

upon carriages, livery servants, armorial bearings, hunters, racers,

hounds, and foreign wines being doubled.”

The Prince of Montoni paused; and the Earl of Ellingham exchanged

a rapid but significant glance with Mr. Hatfield--for they both

remembered the time when, nineteen years previously, and when the

latter lay on the bed in Old Death’s house, they had conversed upon the

best means of ameliorating the condition of the suffering millions.

His Royal Highness, finding that his auditors were most anxious that

he should continue his explanations, and perceiving that Sir John

Lascelles had become especially interested therein, resumed his subject

in the following manner:--

“The inequality of the laws, and their incongruity, severity, and

injustice towards the poor, long constituted a crying evil in

Castelcicala. ‘Every advantage was given to the rich in the way of

procuring bail in those cases where security for personal appearance

was required; but no poor man could possibly give such security.

He must go to prison, and there herd with felons of the blackest

dye. Perhaps on trial his innocence would transpire; and then what

recompense had he for his long incarceration--his home broken up during

his absence--and his ruined family? It was possible--nay, it often

happened that a man would lie thus in prison for four or five months

previously to trial; and during that period it would be strange indeed

if he escaped gaol contamination.’--In order to remedy these evils,

vast facilities were afforded in respect to bail, the respectability

and not the monied qualifications of the sureties being considered.

Thus a working man may be bailed by any two of his associates who can

obtain a good character from their employer: this of course applies

to charges of a lighter kind, heavier responsibility being required

where a serious accusation is involved. But even should an accused

have to go to prison until his trial, he is not placed in a felons’

gaol: he is not, while still untried, subjected to that indignity

and contamination. He is confined in a building having no connexion

with a prison, and termed _A House of Detention_. Again, the judges

have the power to order a compensation to every one whose innocence

transpires on trial; and I must inform you that the trial may take

place as soon after committal as the individual chooses. All depends

on the speed which he makes in getting up his defence. When committed,

he is asked if he have the means of retaining counsel: if he prove to

the magistrate that he is poor, a barrister is immediately provided

for him. The trial may come on the very next day; for there are local

Courts throughout the Grand Duchy, and these courts have no recess--no

holiday. Were I, on my return to Castelcicala, to inform a person not

well acquainted with English laws and customs, that in this very same

enlightened England a man may languish several months in a common gaol

awaiting his trial, I should scarcely be believed.”

“And what is the nature of the punishments inflicted in the country of

your Royal Highness’s adoption?” enquired Sir John Lascelles.

“I will tell you,” said the Prince. “In the first place we have

abolished the punishment of death, as barbarian, un-Christian, and

demoralizing. Murder is punished by imprisonment for life; and

imprisonment, fine, confiscation of property in the cases of single

men having no persons dependent on them, and the loss of civil

rights--these are the penalties used amongst us. The individual who is

condemned to imprisonment, is not on that account rendered an useless

member of society. Every criminal gaol is an assemblage of workshops

where all trades and manufactures are carried on; and each prisoner

must work at his own trade, or be taught one. If he have a family

out-of-doors, his earnings go to support that family: if he have none,

they accumulate until the day of his release. Should he refuse to work,

he is put upon bread and water; and this fare soon compels him to adopt

habits of industry in order to obtain plentiful and wholesome meals.

Castelcicalan prisons resemble vast factories rather than gaols; and

so admirable--so salutary--so reformatory is the discipline maintained

in them, that a prisoner on his emancipation finds no difficulty in

obtaining work again. Employers consider, in such a case, that he has

expiated an offence which should not be remembered to his prejudice;

and he begins the world again with a new character. He has, as it

were, passed through a criminal bankruptcy court, and obtained his

certificate. Should he, however, experience any difficulty in finding

employment, the local authorities are bound to supply him with work at

the average rate of wages. The results of all these arrangements are

striking. In the first place, a Castelcicalan prison is reformatory

instead of being a sink of contaminating iniquity: secondly, a man on

leaving a criminal gaol, is not forced back into the ways of vice. If

he relapse, it must be through determined wickedness: but relapses are

very, very rare in the Grand Duchy--for happily those individuals are

few who remain in the ways of crime for crime’s sake! And now, my lord,

you will perceive how far the framers of all these salutary enactments

respecting prisoners and prison discipline, were indebted to the

following passage in your speech:--‘The criminal laws of England are

only calculated to produce widely spread demoralization--to propagate

vice--to render crime terribly prolific. A man no matter what his

offence may have been--should be deemed innocent and untainted again,

when he has paid the penalty of his misdeeds; because to brand a human

being eternally, is to fly in the face of the Almighty and assert that

there should be no such thing as forgiveness, and that there is no such

thing as repentance. But the nature of punishments in England is so to

brand the individual, and so to dare the majesty of heaven. For the

gaols are perfect nests of infamy--sinks of iniquity, imprisonment in

which necessarily fastens an indelible stigma upon the individual. He

either comes forth tainted; or else it is supposed that he must be so.

Under these circumstances, he vainly endeavours to obtain employment;

and, utterly failing in his attempt to earn an honest livelihood, he

is compelled perforce to relapse into habits of crime and lawlessness.

This fact accounts for an immense amount of the demoralization which

the Bishops so much deplore, but the true causes of which they

obstinately refuse to acknowledge. The criminal gaols are moral

pest-houses, in which no cures are effected, but where the contagious

malady becomes more virulent. Society should not immure offenders

solely for the sake of punishment--but with a view to reformation of

character.’”

“Castelcicala has the honour of having taken the initiative in all the

great and glorious reforms which you suggested,” said Mr. Hatfield,

turning with admiration towards the Earl of Effingham. “In England

reform is much talked of; and when a small concession is made--for a

_concession_ it is in this country, to all intents and purposes--the

people congratulate themselves as if their complete emancipation were

at hand.”

“There is a passage in the Earl’s speech,” resumed the Prince, “which

particularly struck the Grand Duke and the Ministers when they were

deliberating upon the proposed reforms and ameliorations to be

introduced to the Chambers. That passage ran thus:--‘When a poor man

is oppressed by a rich one, it is vain and ludicrous to assert that

the Courts of Law are open to him: law is a luxury in which only those

who possess ample means can indulge. In a case where some grievous

injury is sustained by a poor man--the seduction of his wife or

daughter, for instance--redress or recompense is impossible, unless

some attorney takes up the case on speculation; and this is a practice

most demoralizing and pernicious. But if left entirely unassisted in

that respect, the poor man can no more go to Westminster Hall than he

can afford to dine at Long’s Hotel.’--Now in Castelcicala, a plan has

been adopted which seems to meet the difficulties set forth in the

Earl of Ellingham’s speech, and which does not involve the additional

danger of rendering law so cheap as to encourage litigation in every

paltry quarrel. To every Local Court are attached officers denominated

the _Peoples’ Attorneys-General_; and any poor man having a ground

of complaint against a neighbour, addresses himself to one of those

officers, who immediately examines into the affair, and if he see

that the plaint be well founded, he prosecutes on behalf of the poor

man. These officers are paid fixed salaries by the Government, and

dare not take fees. They are selected with care, and are as incapable

of bribery as the judges themselves;--and thus every means is taken

to guarantee the poor man justice. Seduction and adultery are not

made mere pecuniary matters in Castelcicala: they are punished by

imprisonment;--and the penalty is very heavy in a case where a rich

man debauches a poor man’s daughter. I now pass on to the subject

of Education; and your treatment of this subject, my dear Earl, in

your speech, is not the least remarkable portion of the oration.

You declared that ‘it was positively shocking to think that such

care should be taken to convert negroes to Christianity thousands of

miles off, while the most deplorable ignorance prevailed at home.

The Church enjoys revenues the amount of which actually bring the

ministers of the gospel into discredit, as evidencing their avaricious

and grasping disposition;--while the people remain as uneducated as

if not a single shilling were devoted to spiritual pastors or lay

instructors.’ You boldly ‘accused both houses of Parliament and the

upper classes generally of being anxious to keep the masses in a

state of ignorance. Where instruction is imparted gratuitously, it

is entirely of a sectarian nature; just as if men required to study

grammar, history, arithmetic, or astronomy on Church of England

principles. The whole land is over-run by clergymen, who live upon the

fat of it--Universities and public schools have been richly endowed for

the purpose of propagating knowledge and encouraging learning,--and

yet the people are lamentably ignorant. It is a wicked and impudent

falsehood to declare that they are intellectually dull or averse to

mental improvement. Common sense--that best of sense--is the special

characteristic of the working classes; and those who can read are

absolutely greedy in their anxiety to procure books, newspapers, and

cheap publications for perusal. The fact is, that the mind of the

industrious population is a rich soil, wherein all good seed will

speedily take root, shoot up, and bring forth fruit to perfection:

but the apprehensions or narrow prejudices of the upper classes--the

oligarchy--will not permit the seed to be sown. Now as the soil must

naturally produce something, even of its own accord, it too often gives

birth to rank weeds; and this is made a matter of scorn, reviling,

and reproach. But the real objects of that scorn--that reviling--and

that reproach, are those who obstinately and wickedly neglect to

put the good soil to the full test of fertilisation.’--All these

observations,” continued his Royal Highness, “were as applicable to

Castelcicala a short time back as they have ever been and still are in

England. But the reforms in the Church and in the Educational System

were not the least important of those which characterised the new

order of things. The two institutions were separated, and rendered

entirely independent of each other, the Church being abandoned entirely

to the voluntary principle, and the duty of educating the people

being attached to the State, a Minister of Public Instruction being

appointed. All sectarianism in education is now abolished: the system

is entirely secular. The schoolmasters are appointed by the municipal

corporations in the various localities, and their salaries are paid by

the State. They are all laymen; for it is now a principle established

in the Grand Duchy that parents shall train up their children in the

creed which they may prefer. Thus Protestants, Catholics, and Jews

all receive the blessings and benefits of the secular education; no

tampering with religious opinions--no proselytism being permitted. The

whole scheme is on the broadest basis of liberality; and the people

are delighted with its working. As for the Church, it is entirely

separated from the State; and the order of Bishops has been suppressed.

The Catholic religion is still that of the great majority: but it is

shorn of its pomp; and ecclesiastical ostentation and vain display

have received a blow which they will never recover. The result is,

that the Christian creed has been restored to something resembling its

primitive simplicity, and such as its Divine Founder intended. I have

now, my lord and gentlemen, given you a hasty, but I hope intelligible

sketch of the condition of Castelcicala at the present day; and it only

remains for me to sum up the reforms which have been accomplished,

and which completely carry out the views and the theories so ably

propounded by you, my dear Earl, nineteen years ago. In the first

place, there is a Throne surrounded by Republican Institutions; and

the hereditary principle as well as the law of primogeniture have been

annihilated--never to be revived. Then, we have adopted ‘a _minimum_

rate of wages, to prevent the sudden fluctuation of such wages, and to

compel property to give constant employment to labour:--indirect taxes

upon the necessaries of life have been abolished;--the laws and their

administration are equitably proportioned to the relative conditions

of the rich and the poor;--a general system of national education

has been established, and intrusted to laymen, totally distinct from

religious instruction and sectarian tenets;--a complete reformation in

the system of prison discipline has taken place; and establishments

have been founded for the purpose of affording work to persons upon

leaving criminal gaols, as a means of their obtaining an honest

livelihood and retrieving their characters prior to seeking employment

for themselves;--and the franchise has been so extended as to give

every man who earns his own bread by the sweat of his brow, a stake and

interest in the country’s welfare.’”

The Prince ceased speaking; and those who had been his auditors

expressed their sincerest thanks for the gratifying explanations he

had given them with so much readiness and affability. Nor less were

they charmed to find that a truly liberal and enlightened system

of policy would stand such remarkable tests, and work so well. The

question, whether the nations of Europe are civilised enough to receive

Republican Institutions, was completely solved, to their satisfaction;

and even Sir John Lascelles, who was somewhat tainted with the

doctrines of the Old School, acknowledged himself to be a convert.

The party then joined the ladies in the drawing-room where political

subjects gave way to discourse upon less serious topics;--and when the

company took their departure, the inmates of the lordly mansion did

not separate to retire to their respective chambers until they had

exchanged many enthusiastic comments upon the character, disposition,

talents, and bearing of his Royal Highness, the Prince of Montoni.