any violence or ostensible disturbances or any change in external forms, this country has undergone as great a revolution as France itself, or any of the continental nations which have been torn to pieces by civil discords and contests. If we compare the condition of England at any two not very distant periods, and the manner in which power and influence have been distributed at one and at the other, this will be very apparent, and nobody can doubt that this process is still going on. We are, as Guizot says, _'dans une époque de transition ... sous l'empire des principes et des sentiments encore confus, perplexes et obscurs, mais essentiellement démocratiques, qui fermentent en Europe depuis quinze siècles et y remportent de nos jours des victoires dont personne ne saurait dire encore quel sera le vrai et dernier résultat.'_ [Sidenote: THE QUARREL WITH NAPLES.] _October 3rd._--There appears to be a general feeling of uneasiness, almost of alarm, as if something was impending to disturb the peace of the world and interrupt the prosperity of nations, though nobody can very well tell what it is they dread. The apprehension is vague, but it is general. The only political question of any consequence in which we are concerned is that of Naples, and some fancy that the Russian manifesto prognosticates a renewal of the contest with that Empire. I have no such idea, but I am quite unable to comprehend what it is the different Powers are about; there is a general impression, probably not unfounded, that France and Russia are meditating a close alliance, and if this be the truth, it is not likely that Russia should have put forth a State paper offensive to France. It is by no means impossible that Gortschakoff may have ascertained that the declaration of his Emperor's opinion would not be distasteful to the Emperor Napoleon, who probably does not enter _con amore_ into this contest with Naples and merely does it to please us.[1] When Baudin took leave of him at Paris the other day on his going to Russia, he said to him, 'Is it your Majesty's wish that I should cultivate the most friendly relations with the English Ministers at Moscow and Petersburg?' to which the Emperor replied 'Certainly,' and _'L'Angleterre avant tout.'_ In this there can be little doubt of his personal sincerity, but probably his personal disposition and the policy of his Government and the sentiments of the French people do not altogether coincide, and this places him in a somewhat false position, and will most likely lead to apparent vacillation and inconsistency in his conduct.