ABSTRACT
As for the state of affairs abroad, on the accession of Victoria to the British throne, it was a subject of anxious contemplation to persons who looked beneath the surface of royal speeches and official summaries, with the prophecy of a war of opinion in Europe full in their minds. The obvious domestic politics of France might have appeared dull and tiresome enough to those who did not know what they signified. It is truly wearisome to look over the debates of the French chambers, and see how the members were perpetually growing vehement about nothing at all; and pertinacious about the wording of a phrase, as if it had been the transfer of a Crown; and obstructive in so many ways that there was no keeping any Ministry in office. In 1835, a large number of petitions was presented to the Chamber of Deputies, exposing the deterioration of the representative system, and praying for a reform.
