M. Hollydorf, after reading the secretary’s letter, would have suppressed the autographic missive; but the Dosch called his attention to it,—laughingly adding, that he had been advised of the contents by a third party, who was present during the process of dictation. Observing the flush that mounted to M. Hollydorf’s face, he said, “I perceive that our system of espionage is not fully sanctioned by your thoughts. But as our object is devoid of instinctive curiosity and malice, and solely devoted to the emancipation of your race from the impositions of selfishness, you will upon mature consideration approve of our course. We are fully aware of the difficulty you experience in divesting yourselves of the reverential awe inspired by the sounding appellations of king, emperor, prince, and other titles bestowed for self-gratulation in the flights of vanity. But if you will analyze the charter privileges conferred with these vapory titles, you will find that patents of nobility are the real talons of your standard emblem of nationality, which allows the grantee to become a participator with the imperial or kingly beak, in rending the spoils of oppression. In truth, the whole structure of your mythological and classical literature, upon which the anointed supremacy of kingly and noble power rests, is as vague and shadowy in its reflection, as a source of awe, as the sun photograph of an ass’s ears upon the ground for the intimidation of their owner. “The privileged follies of the upper ranks, rather than their wisdom, is, from the contrasted meanness of self, the instinctive cause of reverential fear with the poverty stricken. The man who will accept the direction of others, when obliged to dissemble his own follies, not only contravenes the manifest indications of Creative intention, but demeans the natural honesty of his instinct below brute capacity. It is also equally evident that a man who will not deal honestly with himself, is not only unworthy, but will betray the trust reposed in him by others, and as an apostate to his human privilege demeans his instinct as far below the reach of the lower orders as his capabilities are above. With this class, who ape the privilege of ruling others when lacking the will for self-control, our espionage is no treason, but the study of instinct, devoted to selfish gratification, in search of means for emancipation. The craft of the diplomat, whose foxy instinct endeavors to fix the incentive stigma of a causeless war upon neighboring nations, as the precursor of slaughtered millions, for the absorption of coveted territory, should prove a source of reprobation, rather than praise, to the peaceful perceptions of instinct.”