France marches on with giant strides to confusion and ruin; Germany looks better; and there still appear to be some influences whose strength and authority are unimpaired, and the passion for reconstituting a German nationality may still save her from anarchy. It is very surprising that as yet in no country have single master-minds started forward to ride on these whirlwinds and direct the storms. In the midst of the roar of the revolutionary waters that are deluging the whole earth, it is grand to see how we stand erect and unscathed. It is the finest tribute that ever has been paid to our Constitution, the greatest test that ever has been applied to it, and there is a general feeling of confidence, and a reliance on the soundness of the public mind, though not unmixed with those doubts and apprehensions which the calmest and the most courageous may feel in the midst of such stupendous phenomena as those which surround us. Our most difficult task is to deal with Irish disaffection and Irish distress: the former has never been so bold, reckless, and insolent. Clarendon, after enduring much and allowing the agitators to go on unchecked, at last attacked them in the persons of O'Brien, Mitchell, and Meagher. The general opinion here was that they were not worth attacking, and were so contemptible, and had so entirely failed to work upon the people, that they might be let alone; but he judged otherwise, and there is a great disposition to defer to his judgement. No sooner had they been held to bail, than others of the same party not only renewed the seditious language the first had used, but broke out with far greater fury and indecency; in plain language, they called on the people to arm for the purpose of overturning the Constitution, and they said they would have no more kings or queens. I thought this must amount to high treason; but George Grey told me yesterday that the lawyers here hold that to make it treason it must be followed by some overt act. However, whether Clarendon was right or wrong in attacking the rebel Repealers, it is clear that he ought now to throw away the scabbard, and war having been declared to wage it vigorously and unflinchingly. The confidence in him is unbounded, both there and here. It is a good feature in the case that the Roman Catholic clergy have on the whole behaved exceedingly well, and Clarendon has written to Lord John Russell that something must be done for them; but the difficulties of doing this something are next to insurmountable. No amount of danger, no policy however urgent, no considerations of justice, are sufficient to overcome the testimony and bigotry of the people of England and Scotland on this question. [Sidenote: LORD PALMERSTON'S DINNER TO M. GUIZOT.]