The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOI\DON, THITRSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18, 1864.

two out of the Five Greatest Powers in Europe,
may lawlessly band together their fighting men,
horse, foot, and artillery, and may then in open
violation of treaty rights, in defiance of the law
of nations, advance beyond the frontiers of a
lesser Power like Denmark for the purpose of carry-
ing out by brutal violence a moat flagrant scheme of
territorial spoliation. No matter—" leave it alone."
The heir apparent may have taken to wife
but one brief year since the eldest daughter of the
lesser Power thus infamously outraged. Mais
n'impo:•te—it is no affair of ours—" leave it
alone." That eldest daughter of Denmark, now
the adopted daughter of England, may but
one brief month since have brought an heir to the
heir of the most constitutional and beloved of the
long line of our sovereigns—no matter—we will
show our loyalty, we will show our jealous
regard for our own honour (implicated in
this shameless invasion of Danish soil by the banded
armies of Prussia and Austria) we will show our
patriotic devotion fcr the maintenance of Eng-
land's fair fame, of her influence, of her re-
putation before the whole world, by letting
things ran their course just as they may. We
will "leave it alone." Denmark may be the victim
of a most criminal adventure on the part of two
Powers, either one of which single-handed would
be a cruel overmatch to the invaded kingdom as
an assailant. It is our impression, it is our
conscientious conviction, that the invasion
of the Danish soil is a proceeding
precisely of this most execrable , character—
no matter--we will " leave it alone." Prussia
is one of the Great Powers—Austria is one
of the Great Powers—together those two out of
the Five Great Powers of Europe are surely very
formidable—" leave it alone !" So is it, as a
plain, bald matter of fact with regard to the
Foreign Policy of England in the War Depart-
ment. If only the same exceedingly safe—rather
contemptible perhaps, but perfeetly safe—policy
(safeat least so far as immediate consequences go)
could be recognizable in any way, could be adopted,
could be acted upon, in the Diplomatic as
rigidly' as it is thus being acted upon in the War
Department ! There—in the Foreign Department
par excellence—the presiding genius, having as
strong as ever upon him the cacoetlies scribendi, will
on no account whatever " leave it alone." He is for
ever interposing, interfering, meddling, and
muddling, ad 02.finitu7n: certainly, judged by JOHN
BULL'S palate, usque ad nauseam. Nothing will
induce him to " leave it alone." He interfered
between the People and the last real chance of a
Reform Bill, four years ago, with his dog.ia-the
manger Resolutions—and we know well enough
what has come of it. Re know well enough
that, precisely because of his Resolutions, ever
since then we have had Reform quietly cushioned
and shelved. Just exactly in the same way
this inimitable Statesman, and diplomatist, and
administrator, this upsetter of coaches, and
malapropos propounder of Finality as a political
principle, this inventor of a Foreign Policy that
is next to no Policy at all, this great Ministerial
MARPLOT who, after winning his Garter and his
Earldom, can simper out to the nation "Rest
and be thankful"—Earl RUSSELL to-day, in regard
to Foreign Affairs, as y esterday in regard to Reform,
just exactly with the self-same pertinacity and per-
versity, interferes only by a dead certainty to make
bad worse. He meddles only to muddle. The
results of his happy diplomatic interference are
painfully visible, indeed, at this moment alike in
Poland, in America, in Schleswig•Holstein. To•
day, as we have said, the MARPLOT of the
Ministry—to-morrow he may be regarded as the
JONAH, and ma's, then be treated accordingly.

On Tuesday evening Lard CARNARVON called at-
tention to a very important subject—the Beitisn
claims upon the United States Government. The
noble lord entered into the question at some length,
and did ample justice to the case of those who were
concerned in the affair. He said that his efforts
were chiefly directed to icquiries concerning those
who, on " vague suspicion," had been arrested, or
subjected to great losses of property, and he ex-
pressed his opinion that the Government were
bound on behalf of those persons to demand " ample
compensation and redress," This is strictly true,
and contains a principle in which all must concur
who appreciate what ought to be the first thought
of public men, and is always considered to be of
primary importance to the Statesman and the
patriot—the protection of our countrymen abroad.
It is a sad state of things and a lamentable position
of affairs if the Englishman, who boasted in the last
generation that his " Flag had braved a thousand
years the battle and the breeze," and was mighty to
protect those who sought refuge beneath it, and
that "on his empire the sun never set ;" yet he
could visit any part of it secure from injury and
shielded with an invincible panoply, must new be
browbeat and insulted at every turn, and the flag of
his country be powerless to save even himself from
assault, or even at times to preserve his life.
The cases recorded by Lard CARNARVON are enough
to excite the strongest indignation, and to awaken
the fears of all, if they are only studied with due
attention. Who can deny that, according to the
transatlantic reading of the case, ratified by our
Government, " neutral rights are on the verge of
extinction." The notable instances of infringement
upon this principle, so strikingly manifested in the
affair of the Saxon, and the capture of the Tusca-
looza, received due mention, and great stress was
laid upon the suspicious circumstance of the instruc-
tions sent out by her MAJESTY'S Government, with
an intimation that they must be strictly adhered to,
being allowed by the arrest of the vessel, which the
Governor of the Cape had previously refused to de-
tain, acting with proper spirit and a discretion
which did him infinite credit. Surely it is not
often that such transactions are brought under the
notice of Parliament, as the details which bear re-
ference to these American affairs. The second part
of Lord CARNARVON'S speech treated of the claims
which the " United States Government made upon
her MAJESTY'S, Government for damages alleged
to be dons to American ships by the Ala-
bama and other Confederate cruisers." Here
he animadverts upon Earl RUSSELL'S most
unfortunate observation in his despatch con-
cerning
the Alabama, that he waited until
were
aor
the question could be candidly considered. This
was certainly as maladroit an admission as any
that could have been made, and entirely did away
with the impression of the noble Earl's previous
declarations that his Government were not respon-
sible for the acts of the Alabama.
The noble Earl
found it convenient when the
harge was brought
home to him in the House to'
express his dissent
from the reading of
his
Btatricornn remarks
could possibly
thessib
ys p
be ae kpeurt,
but what other interpretation
them ? Lord CAIUSARVoN enunciated some
very important principles in respect to our inter•
course with America, and i
reputationfa re o f
t he
countryof t o
if foreignth ey %it:e y would be
r at
a;e s
and
for the
neded dee the
twhaeln-
they are likely to be :—" In the history of our in-
tercourse with America, I think our experience
amounts to this, that the whole object of English
statesmen should be to limit these debateable ques-
tions. and never allow them to be kept open." There
can be no more fatal error than the one into which

Earl RUSSELL has fallen of " tiding over difficul-
ties," as Lord CARNARVON has forcibly expressed
his mode of procedure. This is not the way to
manage matters, or to gain the desired ob-
ject even, for it is well known that people
always prefer to hear the worst at once, if
only fairly stated and openly argued, than
to be put off by the specious promises of
fair seeming professions, which ultimately turn
out to be groundless and illusory. Earl RUSSELL'S
reply was about as unsatisfactory as it could be in
every way, and as unworthy of the tone in which
the Foreign Minister of this country should treat
such subjects, as the subjects themselves were cha-
racterised by violence and disrespect for the recog-
nised rights of belligerents, the claims of neutrals,
and the honour and good faith which should exist
between nations, whether in peace or war. In
the first place the House was informed that the
captain of the Vanderbilt could do no more th
express his regret. Was there evar such a mon-
strous assertion. Lord CARNARVON very properly
inquired whether he had placed the guilty party
under arrest. To this query the noble lord was
compelled to say that he had no information. Ac-
cording to this new version of justice, if Lord
RUSSELL saw a man commit a murder, and the
miscreant expressed regret, he would suffer him
to escape. Circumstances may differ in detail, but
the fundamental principles of justice are the same
whether an offence is committed on English ground
or on the high seas, in the purlieus of St. James's,
or on the eoast of Africa. With respect to the
Tuscalooza the law officers of the Crown, as usual,
are to take the blame. What would the noble lord
do without these convenient scapegoats. They are
to be responsible for all the sins of omission and
commission with which the Foreign-office stands
charged before the Parliament. If the Foreign
Secretary sought to be a little less legal and a groat
deal more just, how much better affairs would look
for himself and others. The noble lord, however,
doubtless irritated by the constant attacks made
upon his conduct during the halcyon period of the
recess, became aggressive in his turn, and after
taunting Lord CARNARVON with urging him to
make war upon America, he wound up by declaring
that all laws which allowed warlike vessels to be
fitted up for the Confederates were a scandal and
a "reproach," and that they ought to be made more
intelligible. Tais is doubtless the fulfilment of the
threat or promise made in Scotland some months
back; but Earl RUSSELL had better take heed
before he attempts such a change as that con-
templated in the latter part of his speech. There
is a limit to all things, and the day that sees him
lay such a proposition before the House as that to
to alter and restrict our laws to suit the Federal
Government will seal the doom of the Cabinet of
which he is a member. If he would escape an igno-
minious close to a long political career, let him avoid
an act which would thus sully his fame as a states-
man, a Minister, and a patriot in the annals of his
country's history, where his ancestors have held so
honourable a position, and shone forth so conspi-
cuously in the cause of civil rights and the sacred
claims of liberty.

The Navy Estimates for the current year will be
scanned with some curiosity after the promises of
retrenchment, The lavish expenditure of the
Admiralty, expenditure as profitless as uncalled-for,
has long been a favourite subject of attack for mal-
contents and financial reformers. Even Admiralty
officials find it difficult to defend the enormous dc-
mends which are made upon the public for work
often inefficiently and awkwardly performed. There
is, perhaps, no department of the public service to
which the British public would be so little likely to
grudge a liberal supply as the Navy, and it really
seems sometimes as if the whole Admiralty establish-
ment reckoned upon this feeling. It is one thing,
however, to pay money cheerfully for work well
done, and another to pay for unfinished experi-
ments, for continual alterations, for building and
rebuilding, for cutting down, and other vagaries
constantly being gone through in our dockyards.
In the estimates now published there is certainly a
decrease, though but a slight one. The net expen-
diture of 1863.4 was £10,462,322 ; the net expen-
diture of 1864-5 is calculated at £10,169,022 ; thus
leaving a net estimated decrease of £300,000. The
principal items in which it is intended this reduc-
tion shall be made are the estimates for seamen's
wages, victuals, and clothing, and for naval stores.
On the other hand, there is a proposed increase for
wages to men employed in naval works at home.
The recent innovations op the old-established
theories of shipbuilding have naturally made a
great difference in the sums required for timber,
masts, hemp, canvas, &c., and although there
is also a reduction in the amount set down for
armour plates, iron beams, and other similar items,
this is due to the number of iron ships and gun-
boats now building by contract. We have no wish
to find fault with this plan, which very probably
will secure to the country better built ships at a
less cost and in quicker time ; but it would be quite
as well if our Admiralty, while thinking of eco-
nomy, turned over its old stores, and considered
whether they might not be put to some profitable
account. The removal of a few guns would lighten
many of the old wooden vessels sufficiently to en-
able them to bear the weight of an iron belt just
above and below the water line, which is the
quarter where the protection is really worth having.
The missiles of the present day will penetrate any
ordinary armour plating, and if a shot is to go
through a vessel, it may as well do so without the
additional mischief occasioned by splintering
through the iron. No vessel can bear the weight
of an armour plating solid enough to defy the
monster guns of the day; but a belt round the vici-
nity of the water-line might be made sufficiently
thick to be of real service. There is no reason why
our old wooden walls should be cast aside as unfit
for further service, when a little management would
convert them into a ready-made fleet, at hand in
any emergency. In the present threatening aspect
of foreign affairs, we can hardly tell how
soon we may be called upon to put
forth our naval power, and it is surely folly
while preaching economy and efficiency to neglect
such an important means of saving, since by its use
we should not only avoid expense but delay, and
be able quickly to equip a formidable fleet ready at
any moment for the purposes of attack or defence.
The retrenchment which is to take place in the
seamen's wages, victuals, and clothing, owes its
existence to proposed economy, which we heartily
trust will never b© suff..red to be put into practice.
At a time of perplexity and anxiety, like the pre-
sent, when the arrogant pretensions of the Federal
Government threaten every day to involve ua in a
naval warfAre, when the shadows of a coming war
that shall convulse the greater part of Europe are
darkening over us, it is surely most unwise, most
impolitic, most preposterous, to take steps which
must tend to weaken our navy prospectively and
permanently. The saving effected by the reduc-
tion of 500 seamen, 1,5C0 men and boys of the coast
guard service, and 2,000 boys of the number serving
afloat, will make a very inconsiderable difference at
the end of the financial year; but, it will produce
Very marked and disastrous effects on the British
navy. Unless the country has grown much more
parsimonious, the Government much mere careful

of the hundreds than even before, or the House of
Commons especially censorious, £20,000 or
£30,000 will make a very little difference in the
estimates of 1865 6. But year by year the
service will suffer from just the deficiency which it
is hardest to supply. Not only the number of sea-
men will have been reduced, at a time when we
ought not to lose a man unnecessarily, not only the
valuable auxiliary of the regular service—the coast-
guard—will have been shorn of its usual propor-
tions, but the boys who are to supply our future
navy, who year by year recruit the ranks of our
able seamen with the most efficient material—men
trained to the work—are to be diminished by a large
number. This is beginning saving at the wrong
end indeed. It reminds one of the old adage about
being penny wise and pound foolish. In case of
sudden alarm or emergency, the consequence will
be that a large sum sill have to be paid to ignorant
and perhaps incapab.e men hurriedly enlisted into
the force without previous training or experience.
It is in ways like these that the public money is
wasted, and the public service brought into disre-
pute. Efficiency is the real economy, and .so long
as we have a fleet or a navy at all it is no sort of
saving to have it badly manned. Whatever other
changes modern science may have effected, it has
not succeeded ill replacing men by any other con-
trivance, and until such a discovery is made our
authorities would do well to remember that there is
no extravagance like misplaced economy, and that
whatever may be the merits of monitors and Whit-
worth
guns, it is upon our seamen we must mainly
rest for the maintenance of our naval supremacy.

WILLIAM DYCE, R.A.

The announcement of the death of William Dyce in the
prime of life will shock those who
are not aware that the
great artist has been in feeble health for a lor g time past.
Mr. Dyce has been suffering for months from chronic bron-
chitis, but died at last from cancer of a most paintul and
distressing nature.
William Dyce was born at Aberdeen in 1806. His father
was Dr. William Dyce, F.R,S.E., and his cousin is the
Rev. Alexander Dyce, the weil-known editor of Beaumont
and Fletcher, and Marlowe, and the Shaksperian Commen-
tator, author of th 3 Lives of Shakspere, Pope, Akenside,
and Beattie. William Dyce took the degree of M.A. at
Marischal College, Aberdeen, at the early age of 16, and it
may be added that he was known through life as a polished
scholar and able writer. Indeed, at the age of 22, in 1828,
he wrote a paper on electro magnetism
which obtained the
Blackall prize at Aberdeen.
After taking his degree he entered at the Royal Scottish
Academy, and made his first appearance as a classical artist
at one of the exhibitions. In 1825 he visited Italy, and for
9 months stud.ed in Rome, returning in the following year
to Aberdeen, where he decorated a room in his father's house
in the arabesque style. In 1827
appeared his " Bacchus
nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa," which was exhibited at
the Royal Academy, and in the same year he went again to
Rome. At Rome Mr. Dyce imbibed those habitsof reverent
and solemn study of religious subjects which distinguished
him through life—witness his " Madonna and Child," pro-
duced in 1828. From 1830 to 1838 the artist lived in Edin-
burgh, but, finding small encouragement in his attempts at
historical painting, he set himself to work at portrait pain t-
ing, and was successful, especially in the likenesses of chil-
dren. In 1835 he became an associate of the Royal Scot-
tish Academy, and in the following year exhibited his
" Descent of Venus" at the Royal Academy, London.
In 1838 Mr. Dyce left Edinburgh on being appointed
superintendent and secretary of the new Government
School of Design, at Somerset House. He obtained the
office through a letter addressed to Lord Meadowbank, in
which he advocated the improvement of the scnools of de-
signs belonging to the hoard of trustees for the manfactures
of Edinburgh. Shortly after his appointment he was sent
by Government to France, Prussia, and Bavaria for the
purpose of procuring information on matters relating to his
new duties, and his report (1840) led to the remodelling of
the London Schools of Design. _

In 1839 he produced " St. Dunstan separating Evary and
Elgiva" (Royal Academy). In 1840, " Titian Teaching
Irene de Spilembergo." In DM he exhibited at the
British Institution " The Christian's Yoke." In 1843 he
prAuced " Jessica." In 1843 he resigned his appointment
at the School of Design and was appointed Inspector of the
Provincial Schools. In 1844 Mr..Dyce was elected A.R.A.,
and exhibited a picture of " KingJoash Shooting the Arrow
of Deliverance," which picture made Mr, Dyce's reputa-
tion. . .

When, on the invitation of the Government, the leading
artists of England were asked to join in a project for deco-
rating the Houses of Parliament with frescoes, Mr. Dyce
was associated with Mr. Maclise, Mr. Cope, Mr. Horsley,
Mr. Tenniel, and Mr. E. Armitage. The picture which
procured Mr. Dyce's engagement was that of the "Conse-
cration of Archbishop Parker in Lambeth Palace Chapel in
1559," which was exhibited at Westminster.
Mr. Dyce's work in the Houses of Parliament has been
the subject of very unpleasant discussion in artistic circles
and in the House of Commons, on which it is not necessary
to remark in this place. No doubt ill health prevented
Mr. Dyce from completing his contract, but as soon as he
found himself incapable of fulfilling it he returned the
money which he had received on account. He had, how-
ever, done some noble work. His "Baptism of Ethelbert"
in the House of Lords was universally admired. Then he
was engaged to paint in the Queen's robing-room "The
Legends of King Arthur." He engaged to d o this in eight
years, and began his work in 1848. He has only done a few
of the pictures—on the west wall a picture of " Religion ;
or, the Vision of Sir Percival and his Company." "Gene
rosily" was represented by King Arthur, unhorsed, spared
by his adversary, and Sir Tristam represented " Courtesy."
On the north wall there is a picture of " Mercy," but there
are great omissions on the walls—two paintings on the
east and one on the north side, besides friezes on all four
sides.

Mr. Pyce has been engaged in ornamenting the royal
palaces, Buckingham Palace, and Osborne. The late Prince
Cousort invited Mr. Dyce, with Sir C. Eastlake, Sir E
Landseer, Mr. Ross, Mr. Maclise, Mr. Uwins, Mr. Leslie,
and Mr. Stanfield, to illustrate Milton's "COWLS."

In 1846 Mr. Dyes exhibited, at the Royal Academy,
"The Madonna and Child ;" and in 1847 he produced
" Neptune giving the Empire of the Sea to Britannia," for
the late Prince Consort. It is impossible to give any de-
tails of Mr. Dyce's work at length. He was wade R.A, in
1848. The names of his pictures only need be givcn—
" Oumia Vanitas (1849), the " Meeting of Jacob and
Rachel," " Lear and the Fool"
(1851),"
Titian's " C'nristabel"
(1853), "The Good Shepherd" (1856),
Essay in Colouring" (1857), " The Man of Sorrows,"First
and
" St. John leading home his Mother" (painted in 18 1 4),
and revised in 1851) ; " Pegwell Bay" (a wonderfully fine
landscape picture), and " George
(one of the most deservedly popular in the Royal Academy
Exhibition of 1861).
Mr, Dyes has recently been known chiefly for his splen-
did frescies in All Saints', Margaret-street. To this work M
he devoted all his exertions for Herbert at Bemerton ''
Many years, and he has
succeeded in producing an artistic work,
kind, which will hand down its author's name to
posterity as one of the first artists in England.
Every Londoner knows this splendid work of art : in the
centre the Madonna and Child, the Twelve Apostles, six on
"the Lord enthroned." each side, and, above all,unique of it a
oned." From
Mr. Dyce's designs a stained glass window (the choristers'
window) has been erected in Ely
Cathedral, and another in
Alnwick Church, in memory of the late Duke of Northum-
berland.
Mr. Dyce has held the office of Professor of the Theory
King's of the Fine Arts in
member of the Academy of
Fine Arts of Philadelphia, U.S.,
and an honorary academician of his old alma mater, the
Royal Scottish Academy.
Mr. Dyce was not only
an accomplished scholar and an able critic. It has been
Electro
said that in his earlier years he wrote an essay on"
Magnetism."
He " not only directed attention to
scientific purposes—in ,
.843.4 he published a gorgeous
edition of the " Book of Common prayer," with its ancient
of music, and it applwicitb-eihlithy
a distinguished artist, but he was
" Canto Fermo," to h;
and Mr. Dyce was one of the most conscientiousf
pains-
taking artists of his day. He used his great powers
him
religious purposes, and the Established Church owes
is
etoadEdendgiaisnh
a large debt of gratitude for his persistent devotion of h
ewssoarydso.n that kind
I talents to her service.

SACRED HARMONIC
—OCIETY.--EN.ETER HALL.—
llandel's oratorio " Israel in Egypt," so well known from
its magnificent double chorussos, will be performed ut
Exeter Hull to-morrow
(Friday) evening.
DESTRUCTION OF
COLT'S PISTOL MANUFACTORY.
—A letter from Hartford Connecticut, dated Feb.
5, says :--,6 One half of the factory of the Colt's American
Arms Company was dostroyed this. morning. In the
building destroyed, Colt's pistols and revolving rifles
were manufactured. In the buildings saved, the United
States rifles are manufactured, the company having a
;args contract from the Government for the manufacture
of these weapons.
This portion of the works will on-n.
tinuo in operation, giving employment to SOO men, Ihe
stock of pistols and rifles completed and in process of manu-
facture, which was destroyed ny this fire, is valued at a mil-
lion of dollars. The machinery destroyed cost more than
half a million ; and the whole loss is estimated at two mil..
,
lions. Tho total insurance on tho property is 660,0a0 dole,
of which about 60 per cent was on the property destroyed.
Nearly 9QO men are thrown out of employment. The fire
broke out in the drying-room in the attic, and spread with
great rapidity. The origin of the fire is a mystery. One
man was killed, and another is still PitgliPg•