"I read the word '_Refugies_' over the door, and it reminded me of the inscription on the gates of hell--'Leave all hope far behind.' Everyone knows that the very reason that ghosts are dreaded, is that ghosts were _never seen_. It is the same for policemen--those 'Finders out of Occasions,' as Othello styles them--those 'rough and ready' to choke ideas, as the bud is bit by the venomous worm 'ere it can spread its sweet leaves to the air.' I was about to encounter the assailing eyes of knavery. A gentleman of the administration welcomed me in. 'Sir,' I said, coldly, 'I was invited to meet the _prefect of the police_. I wish to know what is deemed an outrage to the established government of France?' "The reply, was, 'The procureur-general noticed several portions of your book; sit down and we will read them!' "I listened to several extracts, where there were allusions to _princes_, (Louis Napoleon had been formerly a prince, and this was objected to,) and remarked to them that France recognized _no princes_--that what I had written about the expedition to Italy, I had the right, as a publicist, to write. The world had universally repudiated that expedition, and the president had tacitly done the same in his letter to Colonel Ney, and in dismissing the ministers who planned the expedition. The president being quoted as authority, the agent of the executive thought it useless to hold the argument any longer, and backed out. The gentlemen of the police knew nothing of bush-fighting, and might have exclaimed with the muse in Romeo, 'Is this poultice for my aching bones?'" The upshot of the examination was, that the pamphlet was untouched, and M. Blank remained in Paris.