The Republlque Frangaise recently had a prophetic article on the downfall of England. The Ministerial journal, taking as its text some remarks which recently appeared in a London paper, sees in the contingency of a general federation of England’s possessions the possibility of her ruin. Let England once become democratic, and her destruction is cer tain. If, it is argued, the groat American Union which formed, from a geographical point of view, a complete whole was un able to avoid a terrible war, how is the sporadic English Empire, once it shall bo constituted on the basis of propor tional representation, to protect itself from decomposition, seeing the extreme diversity of the races which compose it and the absolute opposition of their interests ;—“ Try to bring to gether in one Legislative Assembly your Irish and your Hindoos who detest you, your Australians who feel that they are really your Antipodes! This would bring about, not decomposition, but a violent rupture—a veritable explosion, if our Empire, built up by the aristocracy, cannot transform itself into a democracy without perishing, and it is nevertheless drawn by an irresistible current towards this transformation. Without wishing to pose as a prophet, and by simply con fining oneself to common sense views, it can clearly be seen that the twentieth century—perhaps in its commencement —will be marked by the overthrow of the greatest empire which has existed on the globe since the days of Charles Y. The English race will survive, f because it is admirably endowed for , struggle for existence; but it will cease to form a single state or nation. Another danger more immediate menaces Great Britain. The wealth of this island comes from the policy of free trade which it had the glory of being the first to adopt. What it could not cheaply produce at Home it bought abroad. In exchange it sold abroad that which it produced more easily than other coun tries. It would be a marvel if Eng land could exist on the Continent having different neighbours on her frontiers. But she is an island, and for an island free trade forms a very serious danger. In point of fact she has ceased to produce the things moat indispensable to her exis tence. She no longer draws in a great measure on agriculture, but on com merce, for her supplies. 