NICOLAS AND MICHEL. NICOLAS. WELL, my brother! you have been among the frequenters of court and coffee-house more recently than I have; pray tell me what is the opinion, or rather, what are the opinions, of people in general on our march against Constantinople. MICHEL. Brother, we were not educated on the principle of noticing the ideas of the powerless. Our policy has ever been invariable, whether in the hands of the intelligent, or of the ignorant. The men who surrounded Catharine, who conversed with her, who corresponded with her, left behind them the mark of the axe, at certain distances in the forest we are penetrating, and we have only to look over the chart and give directions. NICOLAS. Very true. Other states enjoy no such advantages: intrigue runs into intrigue; duplicity doubles upon duplicity; the cable too much twisted cuts itself, and the anchor lies flat along the sand. To undo the labours of a predecessor, and to denounce the fallacy or the folly of his projects, is the chief business of a prime minister in every other cabinet. Have you been able to find out nothing in regard to the sentiments of our neighbours? MICHEL. If any thing were in them I might have found it out. Gravity, honesty, fairness, unreservedness, reciprocity, and a sincere and disinterested love of peace and order, are in the eyes and upon the lips of all diplomatists. The king of England regards you as his brother; the king of France embraces you as his son; the emperor of Austria rode side by side with your illustrious predecessor, whose views were the same as his, and he never will believe it possible that your Imperial Majesty, equally wise and magnanimous, can change one tittle. There are those who whisper the contrary, but none heeds them. NICOLAS. Palaces should have no whispering galleries, or they should be left to the women and pages. So, Francis says he is resolved not to believe what |