The Marquess Moustache
took snuff; the Private Secretary said he had long suspected that this
would be the case; and the Aboriginal Inhabitant remarked to Popanilla
that the corn in the North was of an exceedingly coarse grain. While
they were making these observations the twelve Managers had assembled in
deep consultation around the Statue, and in a very few minutes the
Oracle was prepared. The answer was very simple, but the exordium was
sublime. It professed that the Vraibleusian nation was the saviour and
champion of the world; that it was the first principle of its policy to
maintain the cause of any people struggling for their rights as men; and
it avowed itself to be the grand patron of civil and religious liberty
in all quarters of the globe. Forty-seven battalions of infantry and
eighteen regiments of cavalry, twenty-four sail of the line, seventy
transports, and fifteen bombketches, were then ordered to leave
Vraibleusia for the North in less than sixty minutes!
'What energy!' said Popanilla; 'what decision! what rapidity of
execution!'
'Ay!' said the Aboriginal, smacking his thigh; 'let them say what they
like about their proportions, and mixtures, and metals -- abstract
nonsense! No one can deny that our Government works well.
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