The Comte de Saint-Priest, in an excellent article in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, has rightly shown that the party crushed by Cardinal Richelieu had nothing in common with feudalism or the great aristocratic methods of government. Montmorency, Cinq-Mars, and Marillac tried to overthrow the State merely in order to obtain favour and office for themselves. The great Cardinal was quite innocent of the “murder of the French nobility,” with which he has been so often reproached. Footnote 18: A. von Humboldt, _Examen critique de l’histoire de la géographie du nouveau continent_, vol. ii, pp. 129–30. Footnote 19: See the articles of Gustave d’Alaux in the _Revue des deux Mondes_. Footnote 20: The colony of San Domingo, before its emancipation, was one of the places where the luxury and refinement of wealth had reached its highest point. It was, to a superior degree, what Havana has become through its commercial activity. The slaves are now free and have set their own house in order. This is the result! Footnote 21: Consult, on this subject, Prichard, d’Orbigny, A. von Humboldt, &c. Footnote 22: _See above_, p. 38. Footnote 23: Compare Carus, _Über ungleiche Befähigung der verschiedenen Menschheitstämme für höhere geistige Entwickelung_ (Leipzig, 1849), p. 96 _et passim_. Footnote 24: Prichard, “Natural History of Man,” sec. 37. _See also_ Squier, “Observations on the Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.” Footnote 25: The special construction of these tumuli and the numerous instruments and utensils they contain are occupying the attention of many eminent American antiquaries. It is impossible to doubt the great age of these monuments. Squier is perfectly right in finding a proof of this in the mere fact that the skeletons discovered in the tumuli fall to pieces when brought into the slightest contact with the air, although the conditions for their preservation are excellent, so far as the quality of the soil is concerned. On the other hand, the bodies which lay buried under the cromlechs of Brittany, and which are at least 1800 years old, are perfectly firm. Hence we may easily imagine that there is no relation between these ancient inhabitants of the land and the tribes of the present day—the Lenni-Lenapes and others. I must not end this note without praising the industry and resource shown by American scholars in the study of the antiquities of their continent. Finding their labours greatly hindered by the extreme brittleness of the skulls they had exhumed, they discovered, after many abortive attempts, a way of pouring a preparation of bitumen into the bodies, which solidifies at once and keeps the bones from crumbling. This delicate process, which requires infinite care and quickness, seems, as a rule, to be entirely successful. Footnote 26: