country  found  fault  with  the  Ministry  for  separating  from
England,  the  friend  of  revolution,  going  to  Vienna  to  look
for  counsels  of  reaction  and  absolutism,  and  betraying  the
hopes  and  aspirations  of  free  nations  by  accepting  a  new
form  of  Holy  Alliance.  Their  caution  and  prudence  in
these  matters,  in  which  France  ran  the  risk  of  enhancing
the  prestige  of  England  at  her  own  expense,  and  of  favouring
the  progress  of  races  and  people  who  might  (and  did)  turn
against  her  later,  did  not  deserve  such  passionate  and  un-
warranted condemnation.  It  was  their  misfortune  that
Palmerston  should  have  returned  to  office,  their  blunder
that  they  encouraged  him  in  his  aggressive  and  turbulent
policy  by  a  sort  of  defiance,  their  mistake  that  in  this
year  1847  they  thought  more  about  Europe  than  about
France  which  some  concessions  might  possibly  have
pacified.
