The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-06 00:00:00

mainsail and foresail, yawls their mainsail and
wizen, and cutters their mainsail; no that when at
24 minutes past 3 o'clock in the morning the signal
to start by hauling down a flag on the Kentish
shore, the headsails were hauled home in a very
short time, and almost simultaneously the whole
of the beautiful squadron were under way for
Harwich Harbour. The Flear de Lys schooner
failed to get off as timely as the rest, getting into
difficulties with her mainsail, which was not pro-
perly adjust. For the first mile or so of the course
Glance and Volante were smartly handled among
the cutters, as also were Astarte and Whirlwind, the
yawl. It was evident, however, that unless the
wind freshened the large yachts had no chance, for,
theegh the Albertine, Zoe, Zoraide, and Water Lily
were beautifully:managed, and every yachting art
resorted to to enable them to draw the wind, there
was not enough for them, and the smaller craf
began to forge ahead, the Glance leading the cutter,
by a long stretch. Next to her, and evidently equal
ling her in speed, came the Volante, which kep
well ahead of Surge, which in turn was just ahead o.
the Vindex, the latter being to leeward. The yawls
Whirlwind and Water Lily, cutters Marina and As-
tarte, and the schooner Albertine followed in close
orders and then came the Zigan, Madcap, Amber-
witch, and the rest of the fleet well up. Off South-
end the wind began to rise and promise strength,
and, though its increased force lasted only a short
time, it was quite enough to show how vitally its
endurance would effect the result of the race. The
Albertine at once began
to show ahead among the
schooners, pressed very Closel—
y by the Water Lily,
Madcap, Ambeewitch,FieurdeLys, and others, while
raft ,
otherwise. the
the Astarte began to diminish the distance between
herself and the leading cutters. Marina also began
to show in the front, and for a few minutes, there
was no wind, and to spare. It did not last, how-
ever, and the Albatross lost her lead among the
schooners to the Whirlwind, which thenceforth kept
it to the end. The Volante made the first bound to
stretch out to sea, and her example was soon fol-
lowed by all the vessels, and the rest of the race,
from this time out, became a mere slow beating up
against
tide, with scarcely any wind to help
the
and ndwhat there was rather against them
than
The racing was very close indeed
between the Volante and the Glance, and between
the Vindex and the Surge, till most unfortunately
the Glance and Surge hung on the sand, and both
the Volante and Vindex passed their opponents,
the Astarte creeping up again. Nothing of impor-
tance now occurred for some time, except that
Astarte and Vindex had a fine close race, and the
headmost vessels passed the Mouse at 9 o'clock, the
Glance trying repeatedly to go through the Volante's
lee, but being stopped. Vindex now began to show
in the front, and her chances seemed fast improving
till she went aground, and was thenceforward out
of the race. The Surge then became third boat,
but the Glance, which had quite recovered her slight
stoppage, came pressing up, throwing the spray
from her fine bows, and closing fast with the Vol-
ante, which was very slow in stays. The Maplin
Light was passed at 10.20, the cutters preserving
the same order, and Whirlwind leading the schooner
division, with Madcap, Water Lily, Amberwitch,
and Albertine all of a cluster. At the S win Middle
the Volante increased her lead, Glance being a
quarter of a mile ahead of Surge, and Astarte and
Marina nearly the same distance apart. A capital
race between the Surge and .Astarte was now made,
the latter ultimately passing her opponent, and
subsequently weathering on the Glance into first
place. It was not in Surge's power, however, to
retain her pre-eminence for long, and the wind be-
coming lighter Glance took the first place after the
Volante. Frem this time there was no change
worth recording, and in the cad the boats passed
the winning pest in the following order:—

H. M S. H. M. S.
Volante
Glance
Astarte
The speed, as will be seen by the time, was not
great ; in fact, the wind, as we have said, was at no
time—except for a very few minutes, when off
Southend—sufficient to enable any of the boats
to show the it qualitics, or to do justice to
the admirable manner in which they were all
handled. According to the order of passing the
post, the Volante w,n the prize for cutters,
and the Whirlwind yawl the prize for schooners.

The 4th of June at Eton.
--4.

The anniversary of the birila of George 111 is still remem-
bered at Eton, among all the modern changes of taste and
f,shion. It is, of course, dear to the boys of the Royal
foundation because of the long, busy, and exciting holiday
which it brings, and it is willingly aud faithfully remembered
by older persons who have for many days ceased to submit
to the restraints of youth and school days.
It was again joyously but unostentatiously celebrated on
Saturday last, and was marked by nothing unusual beyond
the fineness of the weather, but this was so peculiar and so
welcome an exception in the recent history of the festival
as to form a subject of universal congratulation. The events
of the day followed one another in rapid succession. The
hour for the delivery of the speeches, which came first in
order on the list, was fixed-tier 12 o'clock, but long before
that time every portion of the College and the adjacent
grounds was thronged with visitors. The speeches were
delivered in the upper schoolroom, at one end of which a
raised gallery was devoted to the accommodation of the dis •

tinguished persons who had received special invitations to
be present. At a few minutes after 12 the procession of the
College officials advanced from King Henry's Clock Tower,
preceded by the Rev. Dr. Goodford, the Provost, and the
Vice-Provost, who were immediately followed by the Arch •
bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London. On their
arrival in the room the recitations were commenced and
were delivered in the followirg order :

Ilamond ln Catalinam

Cicero.

Evans Drances Virgil.
Lee, ma. Bing Edward IV. ...... Shakspere.

Hope, ma.
Cotes, ma. lmpeachment of War-
ren Hastings ...... Sheridan.
Lewis ..Orestes Fschy lus.
Tabor, KS Icilius Macau ay
Langley
. . .... Don C .rlos „ ......Schiller.

Blakesley, K.S
King Arthur l ennyson.
. Wood I Captain Abso ute.. • • j Sheridan.
1. Marsden, K.S.
12. Mr. Lytte.ton, ma Teucer S oph oc: es.
13. Chute, ma. Manfred
14, Wace, ma., K.S.
15. Lewis, Ii S. lvry Macaulay.
16. Blakesley, K.S Abner
17. Lord E. Fitzmaurice Athalie . . Racine.
20. Rawlins, m
18. Grey..
19. Lord F. Hervey The Power of Russia • . Campbell.
2!. Wood ............................. ....Dean Swift
22. Kennedy, ma., K. 5.... Last Speech of Lord Chatham.
a., K.S. ..King Henry V ......... Shaks?ere.
The recitations were marked by the customary evidences of
anxious study and careful training. A. little later the Rifle
Volunteers of the school, under the command of Captain
Lyttelton, went through their exercise, and although the
movements attempted were of the simplest character they
were sufficient to manifest by how gallant a spirit the corps
is animated. The principal event was, however, the pro-
cession of the boats. Shortly before it began the Eton eight
pulled up the river and were loudly cheered as they passed
along. Naortly before G the boats started from Old Windsor-
bridge in the following order, preceded by the band of the
Fusilier Guards:—

PJ.RHIN.c
AEloolirs o PV(A:t : )1,
MoNAßcir —lf -oar),
F.
wVictiaci:
UPPER BOATS.
(Dark Blue). (Liaht Blue). (Crimson),
S. C. Cockran Str.
Capt. of Boats Capt. of Boats Captain
E. S. Hope Sargent Humfrey
Basch
Sir G. Bonham Walpole
Hamond C ,mpbell Candy
Sandbach Trench Bruoko
Pierpont Powell Palairct
Grey Kennion Ho e, mi.
Lord Emlyn Corkran, m • (Bow) ,
l Smith (Bow)
°(7tr.),
Jackson Holland (CO20) Clayton (Coxs.)
Wood( Bow)
Boyle ,Coxs.)

LOWER BOATS.
BRITANNIA DREADNOUGHT THETIS.
(Blue). (rink)- (Green).
W. W. Wood (Str.), C, S. Newton (Str.),A. Tpt umorin (Stroke),
Caa
Capt. Lower Boats Captain
Corrie Pitt-Taylor Trower
c
Sturgis. ma. Faber M Calniont
;•;eyinour
Pelgravc Tinne Hon. It, Campbell
Johnson Barry lioyds
Hall West Eaton
Benson Martin
Hon. A. Bertie bow) Rig
(Bow) Sturgis, mi, (Bow)
Mark-Wood (Coxs.) Woodhouse (COBS,)
ST. GEORGE. DEFIANCE. THE COLLECERS'
.1
(Scarlet). (3 auvo". EIGHT.
EstoPerpetua(Lilac)
Sir'A. Lambe (Str.),J. Saadilands (Str.)ft. G. marsden (SU.),
Captain Captain Captain
Lord Cassillis Ridley Woo 1
Johnston Frero
Arbuthnot
Kinnaird Jones Willis
Master Edmonstone Huddleston
Ogle Dean- Drake Tindal
llturdale Carnegie Somers-Smith
Rickards (Bow) Case (Bow) , Rawlins (Bow)
Maul (Coxs.) Everard (Coxs.)
Having rowed up the river, the crews landed at Old
Surley-hall, and partook of an al fresco entertainment pro-
vided by Messrs. Layton. They then re-embarked and rowed
hack to 'Windsor, where they arrived shortly before dark,
amid the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells. The
customary display of fireworks took place at dusk, and
constituted, perhaps, the, most popular feature of the pro-
ceedings. Nothing occurred in any way to mar the day's
enjoyment, which was evidently a high festival at Windsor
and Eton. The streets of the town and the grounds imme-
diately connected with the College were traversed by crowds
of people. Carriages rolled 113 I:lumbers over the usually

silent roadways, filled by all the varieties of the family
circle, or remained drawn up together along the river banks
in the College grounds, or on any other spot which the pro-
gramme of the proceedings indicated as likely to be point
of special attraction. An air of refined quiet, however, per-
vaded the life and movement of the scene. A large portion
of the general crowd seemed to consist of those who had but
recently severed their connection with the school, and who
still desired to keep up with it the ties of a direct per-Jona]
communication. But there were alsc at Eton on Saturday
many persons who appeared to wander about recalling the
distant days when they too climbed those dark staircases,
or thronged those solemn corridors, or rowed in those tran-
quil waters, The Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of Bucking-
ham, the Duke of Marlborough, the Marquis of Bristol,
Lord Lyttelton, Lord Burleigh, Sir S. Northcote, Mr.
Walter, Mr. Mowbray, Mr. Vansittart, and many other
members of both houses were among the spectators, testify-
ing in their presence the strength of the associations which
bind generation after generation of Englishmen to the most
extensive and famous of all our early educational establish-
merits.

I SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

" THE SATURDAY REVIEW" ON FOREIGN IN-
FLUENCE.—The constitutional question which was
raised by Lord Ellenborough last week, in the
House of Lords, transcends in interest for this coun-
try even the exciting discussions that have arisen
cut of the Danish war. In a few short years it will
possibly be a matter of comparatively little moment,
to England at least, whether a certain strip of land
on the Cimbric peninsula is ruled from Copenhagen
or from Itzehoe. But the relations between the
Crown and those members of Parliament who are
its advisers will be of vital importance so long as
the English constitution lasts. Tee political ma-
chine to which we owe our unequalled liberty is a
very complicated structure, and its intricacy is
nowhere so elaborate as at the point where the
action of an hereditary and feudal Sovereign is
subjected to popular control. On the one hand, the
Sovereign cannot be expected to be without views
and opinions of his own. It would imply a degree
of flexibility scarcely compatible with personal self-
respect for a monarch to submit to bear the semblance
of power, without any voice, even the faintest, in
the disposal of affairs. On the other hand, the
national will must necessarily be supreme in the
last resort, and, where it is clearly manifested, must
not be subjected to any other influence, however
high. The respective claims of the Sovereign and
the nation, indefinitely limiting each other, and
liable at any moment to be brought into conflict by
perversity or imprudence, are not always easy to
reconcile; and it has been one of the most deli-
cate tasks imposed upon the states of each
succeeding generation to contrive how ele-
ments so diverse should work harmoniously. But
the whole responsibility for the attainment of
this result lies on the advisers of the Crown.
Lord Russell had made the cardinal mistake of ima-
gining that it was his business to defend the Queen
from Lord Ellenborough's charge. The Queen
needed no defence. The only person to be defended
was Lord Russell. If, indeed, it happened that a
sovereign had parted from advisers who would not
give effect to his opinions, end if he were unable to
find any other statesmen who would do so and at the
same time could command the confidence of the
House of Commons, in such a case he would bejustly
open to public comment if he still refused to give
way. But at Vein moment no such case has arisen.
No Minister has proved, by reeigning his post, that
his counsels have been rejected ; and until such
proof is given, no case can arise for calling in ques-
tion the conduct of the Queen. We must presume,
in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that there
is no English statesman of our age so unworthy of
his position as to accept a policy which he disap-
proves, and to give effect, as if they were his own,
to views and measures to which he has declared
himself opposed. At all events, for the present, if
there is anything constitutionally wrong, it is only
the Minister that can he blamed. Lord Russell
never touched the real gist of the question that had
been raised. No one could have deemed it necessary
to ask whether the Queen had acted upon the advice
which her cabinet had fel nialiy given her. It must
be assumed that she has done so, for the Cabinet has
rot resigned. It was wholly superfluous for Lord
Russell to dwell upon` that point, for no one sus-
pected the Ministry of the baseness of holding office
after their official and responsible advice had been
rejected. Tne real question to be answered was—
How had th 9 decisions of the Cabinet been framed?
How far had they been influenced, directly or
indirectly, by the Crown ? Subserviency, if
there was subserviency, would naturally take an
infoemal shape. The Sovereign might accept
punctiliously the advice of her Ministers, but
the susceptibilities of the nation would not be
the less wounded it there were reason to believe
that the counsels of those Ministers were governed,
not by their own conviction of what the interest
and honour of the country required, but by the
personal predilections of the Monarch. The prorui-
nen ce which questions of this nature assume varies
very much at various periods. There is little doubt
hut that, under the veil of Ministerial responsibility,
sit active anti able Sovereign might exercise a con-
stant and very sensible influence upon public affairs;
but the machinery by which this power could be
exercised has always, as far as possible, been wisely
kept out of eight. Discussion is both more and less
perilous if the influence of the Sovereign is practi-
cally, as well as theoretically, ignored. And, on
ordinary occasions, the nation is far from being
jealous or suspicious. Every Englishman readily
concedes to his Sovereign the same right to exer-
cise, an independent judgment on public affairs
which he claims for himself.
Tug " SPECTATOR" ON MR. GLADSTONE's
PAMPHLET.—Mr. Gladstone's affix to his speech on
the suffrage, which he calls a preface, will not do
him any good. It is badly written, dubious in
meaning, and apologetic in tone
.without really
containing a word which can be fairly construed
into apology. Those who attacked him attacked
him on two grounds,—the Tories because they said
ha had expressed a moral conviction in favour of
universal suffrage, the thinking Liberals because he
had not guarded his just principle from demottratic
misconception. He :answers the Tories fairly
enough. The expression objected to must, he says,
be taken with its coat ext ; that context excluded all
morally unfit, and all whose admission would or
might be attended with political danger; and he now
explains this last reserve as including- any danger
through the disturbance of the equilibrium of the
constituent body, or through virtual monopoly of
power by a single class. That is all the Tories can
say with any appearance of fairness. They have never
ventured to say, and we do them the justice to admit
they probably do not think, that exclusion is for
its own sake a positive good, or even a harmless
element in an otherwise good constitution. Al:
they tiek that no change shall be made which
willimpair the "equilibrium" which as they con-
ceive exists, or throw all power into the hands of a
class which they said Mr. Baines's bill would do.
If neither consequence is to follow, then of course
they are simply content, and only ask why for the
sake of inapereciaole changes revise what needs no
revision ? But the objection raised by educated
Liberals is not this at all, though it may read like
it, and to them Mr. Gladstone's answer is most un-
satisfactory. They say the equilibrium which all
sane politicians desire does not exist, the middle
class whenever excited possessing a clear monopoly
both of legislative and executive power. From a
mixture of l-ziuess, fiunkeyisni, and real confidence,
it yields habitually to a corrective force, that of the
aristocracy, but it possesses the ultimate power, and
on some questions, such as the relations of labour
and capital, compulsory education, sectarian disk
putes, and a few points of foreign policy, it exer-
cises it unhesitatingly, without the faintest refer-
ence either to the upper ten thousand or the
working million. This monopoly, which has
always been an anomaly, and may at any time be-
come an injurious anomaly, these Liberals desire
to remove by admitting the workmen to their fair
share of power. Mr. Baines's bill, on behalf of
which Mr. Gladstone paired, did not give them
more than half their share; but its principle went
much farther, and they asked how Mr. Gladstone
proposed to keep the train from slipping upon the
incline he was helping to construct? There is no
answer in his preface to that query, only a limita-
tion which is a Conservative and not a Liberal
one, and a plea that his speech " was not a delibe-
rate and studied announcement." which is in
appearance a plea ad n2isericordianz, a demand
that no importance shall be attached to words
which have gene all over England stirring up the
fears of the few and the hopes of the millions, mak-
ing all politics more real and all politicians more
earnest, defining new party lines, and wiping out
feuds which for years have impelled men who think
alike into actually hostile camps. It is in form an
apology for uttering words which gave to every
workman in England a new hope, a revived belief
that after all the public men who govern England
might be as honest, as truthful, and as aware of the
relation between word and act as any other Eng-
lishmen. If we believe this apology to be Mr.
Gladstone';; real meaning, this preface to be, as the
Times said, a full and clear retre,etation, we should
despair of Mr. Gladstone as a leader for any party
whatever. Apart altogether from the drift of his
sp ech, great party leaders are not permitted to
,
make great oratorical blunders. We cannot have
Premiers telling the peasantry in " announcements,,
not "studied or deliberate," that they are to divide
the land, or expre©s off hand a belief that the Peers
ought to govern the country, or promising a millionor two of votes to the unenfranchised, in oraer to
lend new point to a discursive debate. Blunders
are crimes in politico, and if Mr. Gladstone had
made any snob blunder, had really offered to modify

the constitution radically "as a course of argument
drawn forth by opponents,' there would be an end
of his following among educated Liberals. Consti-
tutional government tempered by oratorical points
is not their ideal at all. But we do not believe that
he intended to make any such appeal, to recede in
any degree from the firm and visible conviction,
contained in the original speech more fully than in
the speech plus preface. The apologetic form of
the preface is, we believe, adopted for a very dif-
ferent end—ia not en explanation to political oppo-
nents, but an assurance to political friends that the
Chancellor of thw Exchequer was not intriguing. The
talk all over town on the day which followed the
speech was that Mr Gladstone" intended to run his
own horse ;" that in the combinations which must
follow Lord Palmerston'© retirement from toil he
designed to be a leader with the nation behind him
instead of a personal following. Mr Gladstone, who
though ambitious is not an intriguer—if he were he
would have the 4' following" which is his greatest
want— therefore assures the doubters that his speech
was not "deliberate and studied," meaning not that
he failed to express his own political ideas, but that
he had not planned by expressing them to jockey
more timid rivals. lie rejects the idea that his
speech was a personal manifesto, and reaffirms that
it was a political speech, saying more or less suc-
cessfully that which he wanted to say. This is, so
far as we can comprehend an intellect which like
the Tor Stone is immovable but always rocking,
very nearly the same idea as that of most educated
Liberals, namely, to introduce into the constitution
as many workmen as will secure that class their
share of power, as much, in fact, as they van have
without impairing the proportionate sbares of the
remaining classes and so stripping the nation of its
right to rule itself in order to enable one class to
impose its rule instead. The plan for accomplish-
ing this end, which floats as it were through the
speech, and is not repudiated in the pamphlet, is
one for including the whole population in the con-
stitution while still leaving the nation intact—the
exact end the Liberals who are not Democrats have
for years put before them as their constitutional
ideal. Whilt, however, we entirely exonerate Mr
Gladstone from the charge of retrogression, we re-
peat that this preface will do him no good. Apart
altogether from the truth that those who .spire to be
leadersof men should never do their thinking aloud,
the preface has in it a tone of hesitation which Mr
Gladstone's admirers did not expect. There is one
sentence in it which smacks as strongly of political
falsehood as the conduct cf the Whigs in this matter
throughout the whole of this Parliament Mr.
Gladstone, whose first point in the speech is that
promises have not been kept, now affirming that
"the discussion is little likely to become practical
except for another generation." That is just what
Lord Palmerston says, and Mr. Disraeli says, and
every false friend of reform would say if he only
dared, and if that is what Mr. Gladstone means he
had better have held his tongue. We trust that he
does not mean it, that he really sees his way to in-
troduce as well as support a plan of reform which
shall fulfil his ideal, and be for the benefit of us who
pay taxes, and suffer, and strive, and not only for
that of our children, who may do none of those
things. But it is vexatious when all through
England educated Liberals are in want of a leader
who can represent them, as well as some of their
ideas, to find that leader not only giving forth an
uncertain sonnd, but actually stuffing sand in his
trumpet lest its note should perchance be too clear.
This intellectual see-sawing, this determination to
define, and hopeful trust in hypothesis, is not Mr.
Gladstone's merit, but his greatest disqualification.
Men hoped he was getting rid of it, learning to
empress strong convictions in overt acts, to construct
his building as well as explain the theory of archi-
tecture; but the old habit is powerful still, and the
intellect which could best lead England is delibe-
rately bound by its owner in a net of fine distinc-
tions.

E " LONDON RE VIEW" ON MR. GLADSTONE'S

APOLOGY FOR ma ULTRA-DEMOCRATIC SPEECH.—
Mr. Gladstone has found it necessary to explain
away the obvious interpretation of his recent speech
on parliamentary reform. But, although we are
willing to believe that he has arrived at the conclu-
sion that his sudden move in the direction of demo-
cracy was premature, it is not so easy for us to con-
vince ourselves that that move was never made;
nor can we reconcile Mr. Gladstone's present state-
ment, that the remarkable and elaborate oration in
question was a mere impromptu, with his promise
made some weeks previously to a deputation of
trades unionists, that he should shortly have some-
thing to say upon the franchise, which they would
find eminently satisfactory. No doubt we wore
quite wrong in coupling the two things together,
but the mistake was certainly a natural one, seeing
that the performance was so complete a fulfilment
of the promise. We cannot, however, admit with
equal readiness that we pieced a wrong construc-
tion upon the words of the right hoe. gentleman,
as they were spoken and reported. After every
e:ipianation:which can be given of them, the fact
remains, that he did, and apparently does still,
maintain the abstract moral right of every man to
the franchise. He did, and apparently does, still

hold the opinion, that it is for those who stand by
the present law to make out a case for exclusion,
and not fur those who seek to extend the 'franchise
to make out a ease for admission. It is clear
enough that if the argument be rested on such a
b sis, and the onus prebandi be thrown upon the
defenders instead of the opponents of the existing
system, the latter are placed in a position
far more advantageous than that which
most practical and tolerably Conservative
Englishmen would assign them. They would, in
feet, gain exactly the position which the democratic
party have always contended for; and their ad-
versaries would 1-boor under all the difficulty which
must ever attend the attempt to restrict the exercise
of an admitted moral right. It is not wonderful
that the public should have given so accomplished
a dialectician credit for intending a result which his
speech was plainly calculated to produce. And al-
though Mr, Gladstone contends that the qualifica-
tions by which he accompanied his broad proposition
really deprived it of anything like an alarming cha-
racter, we must be permitted to observe that he has
stated one of those qualifications in his preface far
more strongly and explicitly than ho did in his
speech. are told, in the first instance, that men
might be excluded from the franchise on the ground
of moral and intelleetnal unfitness, or of political
danger ; but no explanation was given as to what
was meant by political danger." There was no
hint that under that vague and general expression
the right hoe: gentleman intended to refer to the
risk which we might run " through the disturbance
of the equilibrium of the constituent body, or through
virtual monopoly of power in a single class." We
are happy to hear that Mr. Gladstone is not pre-
pared to swamp every other class by an indefinite
extension of the franchise to working men ; but it
certainly does not increase our confidence in him as
a statesman, that he should, according to his own
account, have got up on the spur of the moment,
and delivered a long and eloquent speech, which left
every one--both friends and foes—under a directly
opposite impression. Nor can we accept it as an
excuse for words, which, if they have any effect,
must have that of reviving a mischievous agita-
tion, that they are bet the echo of a strain,
with which five years ago we were too familiar.
Having then discovered that no one really wanted
reform—and having had no reason since to change
our opinion—we do not regard it es a recommenda-
tion of a new political utterance, that it is only the
revival of an old political hypocrisy.

THE " EXAMINER" ON THE SEIZURE OF THE
CHINCIIA ISLANDS,—The Bourbon Government of
Spain is certainly making out its title to be recog-
nised as a first-rate Power. The claim was put
in during the Paris Conference of 1856, and sup-
ported by Imperial Fr ,nce ; but it was pooh.
poohed generally as unwarrantable, or at least
premature. To be acknowledged one of the priYi-
leged class of States, a kingdom must prove itself
able to bully with impunity, and to have a real love
of violence and spoliation. That is the true test of
greatness according to diplomatic haut ton. Your
quiet, forbearing, reasonable communities that pay
their way, ask only for their own, and do unto
others as they would be done by, are naturally re-
garded as shabby and snaeking, low-born and low-
bred, inspired with no grandeur of national soul,
and no capacity for tyrannising over the rest of
mankind. No State can be accounted of first rank
nowadays that cannot point to so many quarterings
(upon unoffending neighbours), and that cannot
produce a respectable amount of plunder, in proof of
its quality. While Spain was merely occupied in
recruiting her domestic strength, and having ani-
mation restored to her long paralysed limbs, her
pretensions were treated as superciliously as those
of Holland, Switzerland, or Sweden. Who would
admit into the order of Imperial buccaneers
an associate that seemed to be devoid of
spirit of rapine, and to be devoted solely
to the peaceful improvement of domestic concerns ?
If the rulers of Spain would regain her place among
the anointed nuisances of Christendom, they must
once more take to the road. Expeditions against
Riff pirates, and bombardments of Moorish huts like
those of Tetuan, with whatever cruelty inflicted and
whatever exactions followed, could not be regarded
as sufficient proofs of the true domineering temper.
Christian provinces must be laid hold of in a politely
perfidious way, and retained with a firm grasp in
slavery, or ravished and left for dead. Poland,
Silesia, Finland, Venice, Savoy, Mexico, Slesvig-
Holstein—there are precedents enough for all who
would follow them ; and where there is a will there
is never wanting a way. Spain has taken the hint,
and shown herself really anxious to revive the tradi-
tions of Pizarro and of Cortes. By a combination
of treachery and violence, of which Prussia herself