"
"Well, knock."
Mr Thorough Base was not at home; had received the card of the
delegates apprising him of the honour of their intended visit,
but had made up his mind on the subject.
No.18 in the same street received them more courteously. Here
resided Mr KREMLIN, who after listening with patience if not
with interest, to their statement, apprised them that forms of
government were of no consequence, and domestic policy of no
interest; that there was only one subject which should engage
the attention of public men, because everything depended on
it,--that was our external system; and that the only specific
for a revival of trade and the contentment of the people, was
a general settlement of the boundary questions. Finally, Mr
Kremlin urged upon the National Convention to recast their
petition with this view, assuring them that on foreign policy
they would have the public with them.
The deputation in reply might have referred as an evidence of
the general interest excited by questions of foreign policy,
to the impossibility even of a leader making a house on one;
and to the fact that there are not three men in the House of
Commons who even pretend to have any acquaintance with the
external circumstances of the country; they might have added,
that even in such an assembly Mr Kremlin himself was
distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea,--and
that was wrong.
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