Our danger, I repeat, lies in no hostility on
the part of the French army, in no ferocity on the part of the
French people, in no PRESENT unfriendliness on the part of the
French Emperor: it arises from the fact that a revolutionary
government exists in France, which has armed one man, under the
name of Emperor--Dictator rather, I should say--with a power so
colossal, that until such power is moderated, as all power ought to
be, no neighbour can be entirely safe." This speech was reproduced
in "The Times." Montalembert read it with admiration. "Who," he
asked Sir M. E. Grant Duff, "who is Mr. Kinglake?" "He is the
author of 'Eothen.'" "And what is 'Eothen?' I never heard of it."
He found great enjoyment in parliamentary life, but was in 1868
unseated on petition for bribery on the part of his agents. Blue-
books are not ordinarily light reading; but the Report of the
Commissioners appointed to inquire into the alleged corrupt
practices at Bridgewater is not only a model of terse and vigorous
composition, but to persons with a sense of humour, inclined to
view human irregularities and inconsistencies in a sportive rather
than an indignant light, it is a sustained and diverting comedy.
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