blackguardism of Paris, and before it was stamped out by the Army and the Government of Versailles, terrible atrocities not unworthy of the worst days of the “Terror” had been committed by the rabble whom it had armed, and was powerless to restrain. In England the excesses of the Commune were pointed to by Conservative writers and speakers as an apt illustration of the natural and logical tendencies of Radicalism. The Queen’s domestic life during 1871 was not much disturbed by the petty demonstrations of Republican feeling which were in vogue at the beginning of the year. They did not influence either the Ministry or Parliament; and when, on the 13th of February, Mr. Gladstone proposed the vote for the Princess Louise’s dowry in the House of Commons, only three Members voted against it.[28] Mr. Disraeli, though he supported the proposal, gently tickled the sympathies of its opponents by suggesting that the system of voting Royal grants should be changed. His idea was to maintain the Crown by an estate of its own, ample enough to cover all its personal and family expenses, and that Parliament should not be called on to grant money to the Queen save for expenditure on public pageantry. When it was announced that the Queen had fixed the 21st of March for the Princess Louise’s marriage, the High Church Party were indignant that the ceremony was to be performed in Lent. They argued that when Royalty set an example contrary to the teachings of the Church, the influence of the clergy was weakened over, what the _Guardian_ newspaper called, “the large area of society which lies between the inner circle of the devout and the multitude of the unattached outside the consecrated ground.” No heed, however, was paid to these remonstrances, and the Royal wedding, when it took place at Windsor, completely diverted popular attention from the Communist Reign of Terror in Paris. The enthusiasm of the capital, it is true, was rather qualified. The West End tradesmen were sulky because of the withdrawal of the Queen from the gaieties of the London season; and the populace was annoyed because the marriage did not take place in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s. But the provinces were unusually lavish in their demonstrations of sympathy with the Sovereign, and with the wedded pair who had broken down the barrier of caste which had been so long maintained between the Royal Family and the nation.[29]