The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-23 00:00:00

THE CONGRESS.

An .Allegory-
about Certain Very Queer
Fishes.

By r********** Cm**.
We would here venture, ourselves, to offer, by way of pre-
liminary, the following ley to the Allegory :-
1. The Lake—Europe.
2. Pike—France.
3. Trout—England.
4. lench—Germany.
5. Dace—Poland.
6. Perch—Russia.
7. Diet of Worms--Revolutionary Government at War.

saw.
8. Roach—Nice and Savoy.
9. Treaty of Reeds—Treaty of Vionna.
lu. The taste of a hook—The Castle of Ham.
11. She Carp-7he Critic (not, of course, a mere carping
critic) among the Diplomatists.
12. the Gudgeons—The " whole boiling" in this proposed
"pretty kettle of fish."

(From the Times.)
I know a LAKE, (1) where each genus of fishes

Has its own proper region apart.
The PIKE (2) who wants plenty of room for his dishes
Favours views of reform for the chart.
The TROUT (3) has his haunts under oaks deeply rooted,
Where the lake overflows in the stream,
Mid weeds to his nature Teutonic well-suited,
The slow TENCH (4) spends his days in a dream.
The Pike in the centre commands a dominion
Where his tail, when he gives it a swish,
Conveys to the surface of public opinion
Every idle he forms upon fish.
A. region of old was assigned to the Daces, (5)

But I find by historic research,
That three stronger fish push'd theta out of their places,
And the chief of the three was the PERCH. (6)
The Perch vow'd the outcasts his special protection,
And enjoin'd them to swim by hie side,
But ne'er in the warmth of a Perch's afection
Has a Dace yet been found to confide.
The Daces rebelled in their own ancient water,

And proclahn'd their own DIET OF WORMS; (7)
The Perch ate them up with a promise that later

He woul'' eat them on friendlier terms.
So vexed is the lake by these two finny races
That the public attention it draws,
A Parch does not limit ambition to Daces,
So his was no popular cause.
The Trout was a keen and courageous official,
Ever ready to rise at a fly,
And wont to pass judgment, deemed extrajudicial,
flow Fishes should deal with their fry.

That Trout was much dreaded by fishes the boldest,
For a property strange he possest,
He could send such a shock into water the coldest,
As to make it too hot for the r est.
Quoth he, " Since the Perch has no awe of Jove's thunder,
I myself will his conscience affcight,
All tyrants shall learn how a Perch will knock under
To a Trout that's accustom'd -to write !"
In a solemn despatch full of menace and moral,
Then the Trout call'd the Parch a bad lot ;
And declared that he enter'd the lists of that quarrel
With the sternest resolve to fight not.

Since Europe was saved from the Moor by Charles Martel,
Thought the. Trout, "Nothing like my despatch I"
Said the Perch when ho calmly cmsidered the cartel,
" That Trout will not come to the scratch."
So, while on the Dace he continued his dinner,
The Perch to their champion replied,
And the critics agreed that the Trout was no winner,
When to writing the Perch he defied.
Meanwhile, the Grand Pike eyed the waters in trouble

With a statesman's prophetic survey,
For where'er on the surface there rose up a bubble,

There the Pike hail'd the sign of a prey.
A very deep fish, yet a very bold swimmer,
Many snares for that Pike had been sot,
Heaven knows the contempt he had now for a trimmer,
And how lightly he broke through a net I
Thought he, "To those Dace I've an old obligation
Still the claim of the Perch is as strong :
approbation,
For I ate up a Roncit (8) will' his full
Which the Trout said that Grotias held wrong.
" This quarrel affords me the happy occasion
To demand a new map of the lake ;
Perhaps with the aid of a little persuasion,
'Tis an idde that fishes will take."
Then burst on the waters this urgenta each day,
rah letter,
"Friends, events grow more
It becomes me to alter this lake for the bettor,
o
Let me fully express mn ate.
" Whenever the limits of States have been shattered
The big fishes have met to arrange
How rights over small &la the floods may have scattered
They might With advantage exchange.
" ' T was the TREATY OF REEDS (9) that adjusted our nations,
Bet who now in that Treaty confides ?
il Can the peace of the lake rest its fishy foundations
' On the reeds which are pricking our sides ?
it I unfold, then, the plan which my tail by its switches
Bras hinted long since to the wiss
lake
like the Tenches '
.
Let the lake be remapped by a Congress of Fishes
Toh a beve hneoltd
ailnwtahyes placelived
0 I
I have starved upon frogs in a brook • ;
I, ,
I have
is da
nve
not leexapr
as
experienced
d mere e
nhcoewd
pTti the
e h
eEA
tT schoola
:I rEO
of
rA. R adversity
OORpinches,
press for this meeting;
'Tis
whomasPi a h
k ear i sot
hook has id e s thest
ila
a
Just.
A Pike cautious in eating
Is a Pike that the Gudgeons may trust.
" Let an offer so frank
step which
an end to suspicion,
bythe e which I take,
AiFo, I prove
thor rumour
has called
‘‘ Tlthraetmlawinasnttobaut to settl
me a Pike of ambition,
And at once I agree vhere we all should assemble,
e the lake .
Let that part 01 thes lake most accustomed to tremble
say,
Give a
Pea ' Come to my hole ;
repose to the tohol .' "
This
Even final
breathing
hinggrelwetateirivceatuosetdhegrceaaste consternation,
heeT
'Twas so hard to believe that a Pike's invitation
Could bo only to talk about Dace.

This plan for remapping the lake was a riddle
Which suggested to fish but one guess :--
" As the Pike had his share of the lake in the middle
He must mean that the ends should be less."
But still, as bewilderment breeds indecision,
So the counsel in vogue weed elay ;
Let the Pike state his scheme,
Every fish would have something to say.
each special provision,
In short, most agreed with the Eel, that to wriggle
Was the politic mode to escape ;
Ask the Pike to explainetails from the scrape.
—ask the Grayling to Niggle,
(11) Let all fishes forgot their old
' d
And thus slip thro
Spokgaruthdgeese ARP ;
Do not question the ViOWS of the Pike,
Every hint that he is not the justest of judges,
Serves to justify him in a strike.
" Reply that you thank him for all his good wishes,
Th
a
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