The French papers record a remarkable betrothal, "Philippe VII." and
the whole House of Orleans having agreed to the marriage of a Princess, the daughter of the Due de Chartres, with the son of Marshal Macmahon, Due de Magenta. If this is a personal alliance, there is of course nothing to be said beyond a remark on the gradual effacement of social distinctions ; but if it is a political arrangement, it will, we imagine, prove to be a mistake. There is no genuine bond of union between the Bonapartists, whose principle is to elect a Cxsar by plebiscite, and the Legitimists, whose theory is that God confers the duty and the right of governing on special families as he confers other duties and rights upon a priesthood. Both parties prefer personal government to what they consider the anarchy of a Republic, but they will never heartily coalesce. If the people are to decide between them, the Monarchists will be beaten by the inveterate superstition of the peasants that a legiti- mate dynasty would inquire into farm titles and restore tithes.
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