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

THE CONGRESS.

An Allegory about Certain Very Queer
Fishes.

By P********** C*****.

We would here venture, ourselves, to r, by way of pre-
liminary, the following Key to the Alle offe
gory :-
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 Vienna.
19. The taste of a hook—The Castle of Ham.
11. :the Carp—lhe 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 Timei.)
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 ide'e 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 them out of their places,
And the chief of the three was the PERCH. (6)
The Perch yowl the outcasts his special protection,
And enjoin'd them to swim by his side,
But ne'er in the warmth of a Perch's affection
Has a Dace yet been found to confide.
The Daces rebelled in their own ancient water,

And proclaim'd their own DIET OF WORMS ; (7)
The Perch ate them up with a promise that later
Re would eat them on friendlier terms.
So vexed is the lake by these two finny races
That the public attention it draws,
A Perch does not limit ambition to Daces,
So his was no popular cause.
The Trout was a keen and courageous official,
Evei ready to rise at a fly,
And wont to pass judgment, deemed extrajudicial,

How 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 shook into water the coldest,

As to make it too hot for the rest.
Quoth he, "Since the Perch has no awe of Jove's thunder,
I myself will his conscience affright,
All tyrants shall learn how a Perch will knock under
To a Trout that's accustomed-to write !"
In a solemn despatch fall 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.
Siuce Europe was saved from the Moor by Charles Martel,
Thought the Trout, "Nothing like my despatch 1"
Said the Perch when he calmly considered the cartel,
" That Trout will not come to the scratch."

So, while on the Dace he continued his dinn6r,
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 babble,

There the Pike hail'd the sign of a prey.
A very deep fibh, yet a very bold swimmer,

Many snares for that Pike had been set,
Heaven knows the contempt he had now for a trimmer,
And how lightly ho broke through a net!
Thought he, " To those Dace I've an old obligation
Still the claim of the Perch is as strong
For ate up a ROACH (8) with his full aP.10.6a6.°n,
Which the Trout said that Grotius 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 autograph letter,
"Friends, events grow more urgent each day,
It becomes me to alter this lake for the better,
Let me fully express mon di'.
" Whenever the limits of States have been shattered
The big fishes have met to a rrands may have scattered
ge
How rights over small fish
the floo
They might with advantage exchange.
"'Twas the TREATY OF REEDS (9) that adjusted our nations,
But who now in that Treaty confides ?
Can the peace of the lake rest its. fishy foundations
On the reeds which are pricking our sides ?
"I unfold, then, the plan which my tail by its switches
Has hinted long since to the wiss.
Let the lake be romapped by a Congress of Fishes
To be held in the place I advise.
"I have not always lived in this lake like the Tenches ;
I liave starved upon frogs in a brook ;
I have learned how the school of adversity pinches'
And experienced THE TASTE OF A ROOK (10)
" it is not as mere Pike that I press for this meeting;
'Tie as Pikearistides the Just.
A Pike whom a hook has made cautions in
eating
Is a Pike that the Gudgeons may trust.
"Let an offer so frank put an end to Suspicion,
1J
For I prove by the step which I t
Altho' rumour has called me a Pikeaofeambition,
That I want but to settle the lake .
It remains to agree where we all should assemble,
And at once I say, Come to my hole ;
Let that part of the lake most accustomed to tremble
Give a final repose to the whole; ~
This peace.,breathiug letter caused great consternation,
Even the Tench grew alive to the case ;
'T was so hard to believe that a Pike's invitation
Could be only to talk about Dace.

This plan for rernapping 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 was delay ' -
Let the Pike state his scheme, on each special provision,
Every fish would have something to say.
In short, most agreed with the Eel, that to wriggle
Was the politic mode to escape ;
Ask the Pike to explain—ask the Grayling to higgle,
And thus slip thro' details from the scrape.
Spoke the CARP (11)—"Let all fishes forgot their old
grudges ;
Do not question thviews of the Pike,
Every hint that he is not the justest of judges,
Serves co justify him in a strike.
" Reply that you thank him for all his good wishes,
That his zeal for your welfare you know;
But—a _Pike to his hole asks a Congress of Fishes—
,D,Ey ARE GUDGEONS (12), INDEED, IF THEY Go."