The interest of the Montpensier marriage dispute begins to nar-
row with the approach of the catastrophe. flic Due de Mont- pensier has actually left Paris, and by this time must lie almost married ; a practical fact which throws a nugatory character, an air of antiquity' over the protest that the British Ambassador has just presented to the French Government against the match. What kind of a protest it was it is impossible to gather from the conflicting statements which represent it as very decided or very mild, according to the wish of the writer. The historical facts of the case are equally obscure : in one description M. Guizot looks "pleased," in another he looks "flushed," and it is impos- sible to verify the reports ; so that we cannot assist the reader to ascertain whether the distinguished gentlepaan who helps to create materials for the histories that lie Tefftek really did look pleased, or flushed, or neither, or both. It is equidly obscure— so manifold are the unqualified assertions dr the best possible instructors "—what Mr. Bulwer is doing in Madrid; what Lord Palmerston is doing in London. Upon the whe; the apprehen- sions of any real litigation are subsiding. The most probable guess is, that the Normanby note was not quite so energetic—: that is' net quite.so rash—as its newspaper harbingers in London would have made us believe ; and it is supposed, with probability, that even so much of a "spirited" "tone as the British Govern- ment may have taken is intended, not really to signify hostility, but to fulfil the old notion of bullying France out of some in- cidental advantages,—those "vulgar considerations," &c., which- have been ostensibly deprecated. We do not see how that would mend the matter. The vast importance or efficacy of these " tones " is falling into doubt, although the diplomatic gentry., who pique themselves upon their ingenuity in the game, may be unable to relinquish old habits. Friendly demeanour und in- genuous openness are the best modes for all great and honest pur- poses,—aye, even in diplomacy.
