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LETTER II.
THE STATE OF POLITICAL FEELING—AUSTRALIAN COLONISTS IN ENGLAND—THE FRENCH TREATY—GOSSIP.
SOME of the newspapers have been circulating a rumour that Parliament will be dissolved soon after its meeting, which is fixed for an early day in February; and they have been amusing themselves with speculations as to the changes in the seats which will follow. There is not a shadow of reason for this rumour, nor is it intended to submit any motion that would try the strength of the two great parties in the House of Commons. In the country the Conservatives are cleverly widening the circle of their influence, I think, on the generally accepted condition that their game will be best played out by the contending sections of their opponents, if they themselves are only sufficiently self-restrained and prudent. There
