"I am not certain that the opinion of Mr. Blunt ought to be mentioned in
opposition to those of my father and cousin Jack, on such a subject," she
said. "He is very young, and it is, now, quite questionable whether he is
even an American at all."

"Tant mieux, ma chere. He has been much in the country, and it is not the
native that make the best judge, when the stranger has many opportunities
of seeing."

"On this principle, mademoiselle, you are, then, to give up your own
judgment about France, on all those points in which I have the misfortune
to differ from you," said Eve, laughing.

"_Pas tout a fait_," returned the governess goodhumouredly. "Age and
experience must pass _pour quelque chose. Et Monsieur Blunt_?--"

"Monsieur Blunt leans nearer to the side of cousin Jack, I fear, than to
that of my dear, dear father. He says men of Mr. Dodge's character,
propensities, malignancy, intolerance, ignorance, vulgarity, and peculiar
vices abound in and about the American press. He even insists that they do
an incalculable amount of harm, by influencing those who have no better
sources of information; by setting up low jealousies and envy in the place
of principles and the right; by substituting--I use his own words,
mademoiselle," said Eve, blushing with the consciousness of the fidelity
of her memory--"by substituting uninstructed provincial notions for true
taste and liberality; by confounding the real principles of liberty with
personal envies, and the jealousies of station; and by losing sight
entirely of their duties to the public, in the effort to advance their own
interests. He says that the government is in truth a _press-ocracy_, and a
press-ocracy, too, that has not the redeeming merit of either principles,