The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-23 00:00:00

tEinaerine of the vote be fully guaranteed, and provided it
establishes in an incontestable manner whether the inha-
bitants of Schleswig-Holstein consider themselves to be my
subjects or subjects of the King of Denmark.
Although I had resolved to quit my country no 'tore, I
rhutild neverthelP.se ronvnt, in any case, to withdraw from
it di)rint tia continuance of the vote, in order to take away
ail appearance of pressure,
The love of the Duchies for their independence is no
empty caprice. They possess the qualities and the resources
necessary for their development, and only regret not to
have been able to prove up to the present moment the
energy of their will by taking part in the combats engaged
for their cause. Let them be only replaced in that State of
defence in which they were when Europe, and not Denmark,
disarmed them, and they will prove by deeds that they know
how to 'conquer and maintain their independence.
I have not thought it sufficient to protest simply in the
name of my own rights and those of my country against
the violence that might be exercised against them, and to
claim my due when the question was discussed. I thought
it my duty to explain at the same time how the realisation
of these rights corresponds to the wishes of the people, and
how in respecting them the exigencies of justice and the
conditions of a durable peace will be conciliated. The past
attests that as long as the Schleswig-Holstein quarrel shall
not be settled in a legal manner, it will never cease to re-
appear on battle-fields and in European congresses until
that day when full satisfaction shall have been given to
legitimate rights and to the national cause.
Kiel, April 16, 1864. (Signed)

FREDERRIC•

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

AY
LITERARY
yn reF"rfONNDTHDEINPNREIRN.LEThOre
WALE THE
Ag ST A
THET U R D
London season would be incomplete without the
Royal Academy Dinner and the Literary Fund
Dinner. There is a common nature belonging to
these two national institutions, for such they are,
though there is a great difference between the
artists entertaining their patrons and friends of
literature eating, drinking, and speechifying in be-
half of an admirable charity for the worn-out pens
and dried ink bottles of the day. What they have
in common is that the notables of social rank, the
statesmen and political men, the writers and artiste
of the time are expected on these occasions to deliver
themselves of set orations in praise of art and letters.
There is not a little interest in all this. The
-
country lectures at the local Athen ma delivered by
holiday making
M.P.'s have their value. One
sometimes laughs at the parturient pains of a coun-
try gentleman delivering himself of a sort of would-
be academical doge, and uttering the improptu
reminiscences of history and classics for which he
is furtively indebted to the curate of the parish.
But all this tends to keep up at least the preten-
sion of an educated standard ; and as every noble-
man of mark and every Cabinet Minister is always
expected to be ready with some reminiscences of
general reading and literary or artistic talk at one
or other of the twin London dinners, the Literary
Fund anniversary has its value. The charity which
it represents is well and usefully conducted ; and
though an attempt was unsuccessfully made a few
years ago to discredit its management, general con-
fidence is felt in its efficiency. On Wednesday the
Prince of Wales commenced what we may almost
call his public life by presiding at this dinner.
The occasion must have been a very trying one.
These celebrations are attended by an exacting
and critical, though generous, audience. Men not
only of mark, but of tried eloquence, and long ex-
perience in sitting at the middle of a great cross-
table, would find on this special occasion a difficult
task before them. The Prince of Wales had to
make his debut, not only as a Chairman and a
speech-maker, but as a public man. It is en odd
way that we have of introducing the Heir of Eng-
land or the Consort of the Queen to the duties of
station and responsibility by asking him to make a
speech on books and bookmakers in general. But
the son had only to follow his father's admirable
example. It were, of course, invidious to compare
Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales on a similar
occasion. Prince Albert's mind was cast in the
professorial mould. Set speeches and occasional
spoken essays of the formal and academic type—
papers, for such they were, carefully elaborated
and thought over—were eminently suited to his
cast of thought. His education had fitted him to
compose and deliver them; and a powerful and re-
flective mind, deeply impressed with the delicate
responsibilities of his station, and perfectly aware
that he had many prejudices to combat, was spurred
by the opportunity of making a public speech. It
was by his public speeches that the late Prince
Consort slowly won his way, first to the attention,
then to the respect, and lastly to the admiration of the
country. The same inducements to a special energy
are not necessary in the Prince of Wales's case.
His education had been different from that of his
father. What is wanted in a constitutional Sove-
reign is not so much genius and deep wisdom as
ease, a thorough sense of responsibility, good taste,
and right feeling. Splendid abilities are almost
out of place in our Sovereigns. The Prince of Wales
exhibited these qualities both of mind and character
in all that he is reported to have said on Wednesday
eveniug. He went in a business-like way to the
purpose of the meeting, and we all like to see
common sense taking the practical view of things.
After all, the Literary Fund is simple in its objects.
It gives to decayed and roar authors some little
solace and comforts in age and sickness; it gives
aid secretly; its almoners are men of honour; and
its managers know that letters would be dishon-
oured by the popular arts of begging, and by popu-
lar reports and eloquent secretarial talk. The Prince
of Wales said this, and, because it was a simple
thing to say, he said it simply and without affecta-
tion. There was good taste in avoiding the style
of an undergraduate's theme on the objects, plea-
sures, and advantages of learning in general ; and
there were too many old stagers present, who had
themselves prolusionised in rectorial addresses and
lectures at country institutes, for the Prince to have
any chance in the
high style of platitude and con-
ventional rhetoric. And there was good taste, and
good feeling also, in the brief but sincere tribute to
his father's memory, and to his father's appearance
on a former occasion of the same nature. Altogether
the Prince achieved a marked success, if success
consists in having
attaining it. The Heair to th
sufficient
eThrone and in
England
has a part to play, or rather a function to discharge,
which is not without its difficulties ; but those diffi-
purp
ofos e,
culties are best got over by perfect and entire sin-
cerity and simplicity. Honesty carries a man, on
the whole, through the duties of life better than
any other quality. The late Prince Consort was
honest and loyal to his duties, and he recognised
their special temptations. He met their subtlety by
equal subtlety of intellect; his decisions showed the
result of deep thought and long pondering. But
this habit of mind has in its turn its dangers, espe-
cially to a public man. If the late Prince Consort
had not been loyal to his country, hemight have
been a very dangerous intriguer. He was too ,
good to be dangerous, but his character had all the
elements of political skill and subtlety in it. If the
father's position had its temptations and snares, in
his case so happily conquered, the son's position is
scarcely less difficult, though upon other grounds.
The heir to the throne cannot be very prominent,
and yet, if he is not in some sense a public man,
his country will complain. No man is the worse
for an apprenticeship to his calling ; but history
presents a catalogue of heirs apparent to thrones
who have certainly not learned how to rule by
their expectancy of rule. In political matters the
Prince of Wales may have, or rather must have,
opinions, but a constraint is laid upon him not to
express them. Yet the best years youth and
opening manhood are but idly spent in exclusive
devotion to the pursuits of country life without its
personal responsibilities. On every account, there-
wilt gladly see the Prince of
fore, the country
Wales accepting, as he has already done, those
entifyi op.
be of ng himself
portunities,rare though 00' i
üblicinterests which have
with some of those lofty p
made our and his England what it is. Among
those public interests—the common ground of all
educated and public men, in which party can have
no place and selfish aggrandisement
is impossible—
literature stands, if not pre-eminent, at least very
high. The Prince of ',Vales has been educated to
n
appreciate literature ; a hereditary taste in art
and reverence for science must be natural in his
father's son. If the Prince's sphere of usefulness
and the range of his possible duties are but narrow,
the country will more thoroughly appreciate the
diligent cultivation of a scanty field. It is of good
omen that his public career has been commenced
under auspices which, in his father's case conducted
to public confidence. Even the honest desire to
tread in his father's steps will be loyally appre-
ciated. Letters, and a kindred taste for letters,
give princes friends which stand them in better
stead than the minions of fashion or te parasites of
faction. Our real greatness dependeh not upon our
arms, but upon arts, and the country which is not
great intellectually has but a poor hold on material
prosperity. That the Prince of Wales is disposed
frankly to recognise the highest sources of national
greatness is surely a matter for national congratu-
let ion.
TLIE "SPECTATOR" ON JOHN PARRY AND MRS.
ROSELEAF'S EVENING PARTY.—FeW people com-
paratively, we imagine, are aware how very extra-
ordinary an intellectual feat has been for some time
nightly visible in London at one of those evening
" entertainments" which is to a play what peps is
to wine, or at which the drama loses half its evil
by losing all its interest—the " Gallery of Illustra-
tration.' You have indeed to go through something
to arrive at it, for Mr. and Mrs. German Reed,
while they provide no doubt all that a well-regu-
lated mind ought to expect at an evening's enter-
tainment, and apparently succeed in entertaining

by their various rechaups of themselves in diffe-
rent costumes those who come willing and anxious
to " make believe very much" as the Marchioness
said to Mr. Swiveller about her diluted beer, cer-
tainly do not attempt to furnish any very refined
species of amusement. For any one, however, who
will sit out the dinner for the sake of the dessert,
there is reserved a rare and, in its light way, even
subtle enjoyment. The last half 1,-lour of the '° en-
tertainment" is more than entertaining; it is an
achieVement Which not dui' illetetrates it, extends
the very meaning we attach to the phrase "Plastic
art. Mr. John Parry—whom we can recollect, we
should think, twenty years ago singing that ordi-
narily vulgar species of song called "comic" with
a humour and expression that allied them to Corn:.lv
rather than farce—comes on to the scene alone
and in his own dress, and tells the audience that
he is going to introduce them to Mrs. Roseleaf's
evening party. It may possibly slightly help the
illusion, he says, if, when he represents Mrs. Roseleaf
herself, he takes up a fan and bouquet which he shows
us lying on the piano, but he will not need any
other aid at all from costume. Thus much he says
simply in his own person, and the audience have
time, while he is saying it., to notice a face somewhat
wan, rather weary, yet with a colour slightly hectic,
perfectly refined, and yet with something of that
expression of mental bareness—of thought and
emotion with the bloom off by being laid bare to
others—which we somehow associate with a cha-
racteristic roundness, baldness, and absence of cross
lines of thought or feeling on the face. No face
could be imagined that offers at the first glance less
promise of flexibility. You would say of it—as
Shakspere said of the elephant—that " its legs are
legs for necessity, not for flexure,"—that its lines
of expression are lines for necessity, not for flexure.
You have scarcely made up your mind that it is so,
when Mr Parry sits down to the piano, and his face
at once assumes that stolid expression of hired
drudgery, of business islanded in the amusement of
others, which, .without an explanation, declares to
every one the professional pianist engaged for an
evening party at which there are to be a few qua-
drilles. While thus playing Mr. Parry announces
the names of a few guests succeeding one another,
and presently rising from the piano he takes up his
bouquet and fan, and the stolid persistency of the
hired musician is suddenly transformed into the
engaging suavity and complaisance of a lady-like
hostess. Mrs Roseleaf is a thorough lady, slightly
affected indeed, but with the affectation arising from
an excessive andibiiity, not from any tinge of vul-
garity. There is nothing very original in any
thing she says—" This is a pleasure indeed—so kind
of you to come," and so forth ; but the spectator
gazing through the best of opera glasses at the
gentleman in plain black clothes who is saying
all this, can hardly persuade himself it is a gen-
tleman at all, and not Mrs. Roseleaf. Indeed,
so strcng is the illusion that when we come
away and recall the scene in memory, it is the
hardest thing in the world to believe we have
seen only one actor throughout, and that
actor a gentleman not in disguise. Presently Mrs
Roseleaf inquires after the baby of one of her
guests, and the reply indistinctly murmured is re-
flected with such extraordinary vividness in the
dropping lines of unspeakable concern in her faca,
that you know it must have been croup of a more
than ordinarily dangerous kind. When the answer
toithe next inquiry after a second child again length-
ens out the face, it is to a less degree, and you see
the amiable hostess's desire to blend her sympathy
with the cheering playfulness appropriate to the
occasion when
,her guests are not, after all, in too
much alarm to come to her party; and so with .a
pleasant regret of expression she slides back
through some a uch remark as " Sad indeed, why
you have had quite a sick house," to her gentle
company-smile. Then she introduces her little
daughter to her friend, and the pleasant company-
smile gro ;vs tender with the illusions of maternal
pride. The daughter is, of course, present only to
the spiritual gaze of the spectator, but few who re-
call the scene will find it easy to persuade them-
selves that the little girl was only suggested to
them, and no more there than any other of the
shadowy actors. While being praised for decorous
and pretty behaviour, the young lady snatches at
the fan or the bouquet, and the mother's pride in
her good conduct changes gently into playful amuse-
ment at her childish tricks. Then the lath) girl
retires and the party grows denser. You can see
that Mrs. Roseleaf moves about with greater diffi-
culty and more anxious sense of responsibility. She
prevails on a Mr Jane to sing, and the fan and
bouquet vanishing, we suddenly behold Mrs. Rose-
leaf no more, but a vain and self absorbed young
man of muddy sentiment, awkwardly conscious of
literary pretensions, and with a stooping gait, who,
with a glass in his eye, is watching discontentedly
for an admiration which he does not seem to receive.
The extraordinary expression of turbid fermenting
vanities—not complaisant nor self-assured, bat
suddenly exigeant, which now passes over the actor's
face is again completely transforming ; age, cha-
racter, everythin 0. is absolutely changed; the scum
of gloomy hoobbledehoyish conceit spreads like an
unclear fluid over the whole face. He sings his
song, " Would you love me, if you knew me ?"
(" Words and music both my own," as he blurts
outs with a gloomy and clumsy vanity at the con-
clusion), interrupted by numerous announcements
of successive guests, at each of which Mr. Jen e
darts furious glances towards the door—and at the
end scuffles away from the piano with sulky e 3 es,
at one inflicting retribution, and searching the com-
pany for traces of admiration—amidst the profuse
thanks and apologies of Mrs. Roseleaf. Then Mrs.
Roseleaf consults her husband as to the next part
of the programme, and decides to get the Fluenzas
to sing. The Fluenz As, however, are obviously
divided' from her by a great crush, though no men.
tion is made of it—and the inimitable company-
playfulness with which she peeps through an acci-
dental vista in the crowd and wafts with sweetest
fascination and emiling menace, threatening a re-
quest, the words, "I'm coming to you," over the
intervening space, is one of the most effective
touches in the piece. Mr. Fluenza has a fearful
cold, and complying at his wife's instance gets
through a single line of modulated cough—on which
Mr. and Mrs. Roseleaf interchange with each other
a very expressive sentence or two of condolence—
and then we are introduced to Miss Flora Gushing-
ton, a young lady of conscious attractions, who
sings an Italian duet with an admirer at the urgent
request of Mr. Roseleaf—and whose sweet and side-
long but still open demands for admiration are a
very curious contrast to the fumes of smoky conceit
which clouded Mr. Jene's brow. And so the even-
ing party slides away—the pianist getting more
weary and utterly mechanical in his movements,
and more profoundly wooden-faced, as he plays
the last Sir Roger de Coverley, and the company
disperse. The marvel of the performance is
the extraordinarily powertul impression left upon
the mind that the characters and faces we
have seen are all really genuine and distinct ;—the
inability to connect them with the black-suited gen-
tleman, as we yet know, was the only person pre-
sent. It is, in its way, the most wonderful triumph
of powers of expression over plain material fact that
can well be conceived. The only machinery used
is the symbolism of voice, gesture, and lines of ex-
pression,—and to counteract all these is the physi-
cal evidence of our senses that no one is there but
Mr. John Parry in Mr. John Parry's ordinary dress,
—and yet we carry away the keenest feeling of only
having seen Mr. John Parry at the commencement
and conclusion, and of having beheld in the interval
all kinds of invisible ladies and gentlemen, whose
characteristic gait and expressions there was nothing
to show us except the changing postures and lines
in the actor's person and face. The feeling it pro-
duces almost is, that Mr. Parry must himself get
confused between his real and some of his fictitious
characters.

THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON " THE OWL" AND
THE FRENCH EMPEROR.—For some time a mystery
has hung over certain small and humorous extracts
that, have. appeared, both in the Morning Post and
in tne Imes, headed with the significant title of
The Owl. What was The Owl? Where was its
place of. habitation ? Noboby seemed to know.
" Monsieur, perche apparemment," said M. Talley■
rand to a lame gentleman who was boasting that he
never went to bed. Doubtless The Owl roosted
somewhere, but it had no known locus standi. All
that could be considered certain was that it was a
bird of audacious tendencies, and very much in-
clined to make fun of her Majesty's Government.
This week, however, The Owl has won for it.'
self an European reputation. Across the Channel,
the Emperor's private secretary, M. Mocquard,
was alarmed by it, and hastily wrote to the French
papers to contradict the truth of what, in the
columns of The (ADZ, never pretended to be more
than an amusing joke. Sitting aloft on its post
or perch of observation, the Owl, for some weeks,
has been retailing to the public every kind of State
secret. The members of the Conference have
.been
taken off seriatim; Lord Russell has been depicted
as he might demean himself when offering a remark
in German to M. von Beust ; and the world has been
even favoured with a pretended copy of the des-
patches sent to the admiral of the Channel. fleet.
Daring the last week, the mysterious bird of Minerva
published a clever squib, purporting to be a letter
addressed to the Owl, by M. Mocquard, on the sub-
ject o_ the foreign policy of the Falmerstonian Mini-
stry. The Owl had not thought, we are told, of
publishing at all for a fortnight; for it appears that
the publication of the Owl is irregular, and depends
on the sweet caprice of its editor. But when the
letter—eerbosa et grundis qstola—arrived from
the Tuileries, on the merits of the system of "med-
dle and muddle," the Owl felt it a solemn duty to
reeoluider its decision, and came out into daylight
•, upon the spot. When Sydney Smilti complained

that nothing less than a surgical operation would
ever get ajoke into a Scotchman's head, he never pro-
bably thought that a Charivari would pass muster
among the crowned heads of Europe as a State
paper. M. Mocquard's sense of the ridiculous must
have been strangely swallowed up in the solemnity
of his position. His excuse is the less, for not only
is he said to Ise familiar with English life, but he is
also a man of letters. 'the only thing to be urged
his favour is the fact that his impteial master so
often is wont to burst upon the world with docu-
silents of aleimilar:description, that perhaps M.;Moce
guard trebled lest Europe should be imposed upon
by a second forgery fellowing so closely upon the
forged Confederate despetela It may pos-
sibly be—and may Lord Russell forgive us
for the irreverent suggestion !—that el. Moe-
guard and Napnleen 111. saw the joke them-
selves, but were afraid, from an experience of the
English Foreign Office, that the English Foreign
Office might not see it. They were naturally anxious
cn account of Lord Russell's poor head. Politeness
would render it impossible for them to assume in
their diplomatic correspondence that the Queen's
Ministers might again be taken in. Accordingly
M. Mocquard sacrificed himself to the demon of
Parisian persiflage in order to save Lord Russell
from falling victim to another hoax. if this is the
real explanation, it says a great deal for M.
Mocquard's delicacy. We are afraid that the other
solution of the difficulty will, however, be more
generally received, and that the Imperial secretary
is destined to run the gauntlet of the wits of
France. He will be famous for all time for having
composed a political comedy on the subject of Abelx
el-Kader,—for having introduced camels on to the
French stage from the Jardin des Plantes, and for
having mistaken the Owl for a newspaper of high
political gravity. The Owl, after this, like the
jester of King Louis, may abdicate and retire in
peace, for the cap and bells belong elsewhere. M.
Mocquard has vindicated his right to pass as the
greater owl of the two. M. Mocquard's blunder lets
us into a secret, and draws up for one moment the
curtain that hangs over the Emperor's private cabi-
net. This gentleman is the author of a consider-
able portion of his Imperial Majesty's correspon-
dence. We now know what NI. Mecquard thinks
an Imperial letter at this crisis might be like. He
has the making of them, and he ought to know ;
and here we have what he acknowledges to be an
ingenious and deceptive imitation. A genuine let-
ter should show, we may infer, a frank disregard
of diplomatic etiquette. It should call attention to
the fact that Napoleon 111. is not merely the most
pacific, but the wisest and most dignified of
princes. He alone is right and consistent in his
policy; and through him France holds the arbitra-
ment of peace or war in the hollow of her hand.
There is nothing the Emperor more thoroughly
enjoys than patronising the English people. There
is nothing he finds harder to accomplish than the
maintaining his temper at the sight cf English
foreign policy. If the Owl has not hit the exact
truth, it has gone uncommonly near it. What
alarms M. l'elocquard is, that his master's sentiments
are proximately conveyed, and it did not easily
occur to him that the Emperor's real opinions could
have been inserted in an English comic periodical
at a venture. If the Emperor never wrote what
the Owl humorously put into his mouth, we may
surmise, without risk of error, that he thinks and
long has thought it. This is the only palliation for
M. Mocquard's obtuseness to a joke. The joke in
question was only a serious truth, expressed with
an improbable absence of formality and etiquette.
THE " EXAMINER" ON THE DANISH QUESTION.
—We do not know whether the Danish quarrel
may be considered as at an end. The Conference
certainly has come to no set or formal conclusion,
except so far as to consider the treaty of 1852 as
no more. It has adjourned for ten days, till the
28th. But this proceeded not from disagreement,
but on the contrary from a general though tacit
undeestanding that a compromise was necessary,
and was rendered imperative, not only by the posi-
tion of the contending parties but by the sentiments
of the neutral Powers. Not one of them were pre-
pared to go the length of war. Such a compromise
therefore, as the belligerent Governments, and the
equally urgent belligerent populations would con-
sent to, became inevitable. We have before declared
our disposition to see Holstein given to the Ger-
mans and Schleswig secured to the Danes.
It seems, however, that the attempt to
wrest the southern district of Schleswig
from Holstein would lead to disturbance and re-
sistance, and would require the prolonged sojourn
of armies upon the Eider. The Conference, there-
fore, or its members leave, it is said, tacitly decided
that a dividing line must be drawn north of the
Eider. When and how that dividing line is to be
drawn, remains an unsolved problem, and a pro-
blem, as we shall see, not very easy of adjustment.
1 We had hoped better than this for the Danes. But
on the whole, if they lose but half a million of dis-
affected fellow-subjects, and cut off all pretext for
any future interference on the part of the Germans,
the Danes may congratulate themselves on being
released with increased honour and scarcely dimi-
nished profits from an unequal contest. The Ger-
mans will have achieved, if they do take a southern
bit of Slesvig, the conquest of both banks and the
dominant approaches to Kiel harbour. They will
have got, in short, the moon they have been crying
for. The next thing will be to go to a cooper's and
order tubs enough to float the Fatherland that is
presently going to be a great maritime people. The
toy shops, it is said, are already preparing tenders
fcr the German fleet of the Future, and a condi-
tional order for ship: has already arrived at the
Noah's Ark in Holborn. It was not easy, however,
to arrive at a hope of this conclusion, and during
the first sitting of the Conference the general im,.
pression was one of despair. When tiee German
Powers der,ounced the Treaty of 1852, and when
Russia and Denmark held it tenaciously, Fraoce
remained silent. The English plenipotentiaries were
at a loss what to do. The German Powers went
even so far as to demand that their Diet be consie
dered the fitting tribunal to decide the claim of
succession. If the Treaty of 1852 were set aside,
the German Powers might indeed pretend that the
Diet had claims to decide respecting Holstein.
But what had it to do with Slesvig ? If the dis-
pute was to be one of law and legal nicety,
there was no issue but an appeal to
force. A compromise suggested itself to all,
And as that compromise is in favour of the Germans,
the Danes certainly have shown praiseworthy for-
bearance in hearkening to it, and perhaps finally
accepting it. The supposed firmness of the Dates
was not, indeed, the only stumbling block. What
was chiefly fee tad was the criminal obstinacy of von
Bismark, who had conceived the idea of signalising
his administration by keeping Slesvig and Holstein
for Prussia. Such monstrous pretensions were in-
deed impossible of realisation—if anything monstrous
is now impossible of realisation on the Continent of
Europe--since they would unite all Europe against
them, if anything now can unite European Powers
against rapine that does not immediately claim a
pound or two of their own flesh. But still feeble
opponents of his robbery might have suggested to
the cunning and unscrupulous Prussian Prime Mini-
ster the means and the expediency of adjourning
the decision of the Congress, and finally defeating
its aim in order to prolong the military occupation
of the duchies. This game, however, appeared too
dangerous and barefaced to King William, who, it
is said, incredible as it may seem, found it necessary
to come round and abandon his own claim, lest Bis-
mark's folly should place Prussia at the ban of
Europe, and produce a general coalition against her.
Were Prussia wise Ehe would limit her efforts for
the present to commercial extension. She can do
more by her Zollverein than ever she will be allowed
to do by armies. Liberal commercial legislation,
joined with liberal political administration, would
make Prussia a great country. Military aggression
in the present state of Europe will not profit her.
There is indeed one important point of view is
which this Slesvig and Holstein question has not
been considered. It is the commercial. England
receives half a million's worth of cattle from that
region, besides corn and all kinds of provi-
sions, for which our manufactures go in
exchange. Up to 1848 the tariffs of Denmark and
the Duchies were different. In 1851 the one tariff
was established, by which the rate of import duty
into the Duchies was increased. We shall now see
this undone; and probably Holstein will
to sooner or
later join the Zollverein. she so
after the acceptance and ratification of the German-
French Treaty of Commerce, there would be a dimi-
nution of tariff of well nigh 25 per cent. There are
difficulties, to be sure, in the way of Holstein joining
the German union, as long as Hamburg, Lubeck.
Lauenburg, and the Mecklenburgs remain out of it.
But, nation of shopkeepers as we are, these things
do not enter into the public head. No journal has
touched upon the subject, and it has been treated
disinterestedly and as a simple question of public
right and justice, without an allusion to figures, to
the advantage or to the balance of trade. If Ger-
mans would but consider these facts, they would
abandon the charges which they make against us
of narrowness and selfishness. The fact is, the
English are a very earnest and right-seeking people,
ready at every just opportunity to Ring material
interests to the wind. Not only material interests,
but personal predilections, yield here to the sense
of right, as has been seen in two great foreign
quarrels by the small influence of our natural pre-
dilections for the Germans in Europe or the men of
the North, with whom our natural sympathies are
strongest, in America. •

THE JAW-BONE OF AN Ass has done more de.
struction in this ecuntry than it ever did in the hands of
Samon.—.4l./nerican paper.

The thunderstorm of Friday, which appears to have
been pretty general all over the country, visited the coasts
of Northumberland and Durham with unprecedented vio-
lence, and during several hours of the busiest portion of the
day c'ansed considerable alarm in the principal towns of the
district. It broke over Berwick a little after midnight, and
continued with brief intervals until 3 o'clock in the after-
noon. The storm burst over the towns on the Tyne later,
about 9 o'clock in !the forenoon, with vivid flashes of
lightning and rolling thunder, accompanied by a deluge,
of rain ; the lightning doing a very considerable
amount of injury in that district between 9 and 10
o'clock. About the time mentioned a labourer, who had
been employed draining in a field at Prospect-hill, near
North Shields, was making his way along the waggon way
there to obtain shelter in the engine-house, when he was
struck by the lightning and killed upon the spot. There
were several persons near him at the time, but none of them.
were hurt. The unfortunate deceased, whose name is;
Oswald Gibson, had been struck above the right ear, the
lightning having passed down his left side and leg, which
were completely stripped. His clothes were torn, and pieces
of them were scattered about the spot where the deceased
fell. About the same time that this accident occurred a
farm labourer named Foster, belonging to Fife-street,
Mount Pleasant, Gateshead, was employed rolling a field
belonging to a small farmer named Elder, near to Wreck-
ington. He had loosed his horses when the storm came on,
and was returning to the village of Wreckington with his
horses yoked to a cart, about 10 o'clock in the forenoon,
when he was struck by lightning, and killed instantly. One
of the horses was also killed, and the other much injured.
Dense masses of black clouds continued to pass over North-
umberland and Durham until 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the
lightning at times being very vivid. Several houses were
injured in Newcastle and Shields by the lightning striking
them. Several persons had narrow escapes in these towns,
but none were seriously hurt. About 4 minutes before 1
o'clock, while a thunderstorm was passing over North
Shields, the time gun, with which a fusee had been con-
nected in anticipation of the time baing sent down from
Greenwich at 1 o'clock, was fired by the lightning. A tele-
graph post on the highway side at Howden was shattered to
fragments, and at the same place the lightning struck one
of the wires and travelled into the River Tyne Commissien-
ers' office, smashing an iron box. At South Stockton the
lightning lifted the roof of a house, and a widow woman
named 'Walters, aged 75, was so shaken that she was not
expected to recover. So severe a thunderstorm has not been
experienced on the north-eastern coast during many years.
The rain which accompanied the thunder and lightning have
had a wonderfully reviving effect upon the crops,jwhich now
look remarkably fresh and green.
In the North Riding the extraordinary heat of the last
7 days culminated on Friday afternoon in one of the most
terrific storms ever experienced. About noon dense masses
of black cumuli gathered in the south-west, and gradually
overspread the heavens until all was so dark that gas had
to be resorted to for some hours, About 3 o'clock, the storm
broke out, its greatest fury being spent on the north side of
the great vale of Pickering, taking the lines of the towns of
Helmsley, Kirby, Sinnington, Pickerington, &c. The
lightning and the thunder were simultaneous, and several
persons speak to having seen ball lightning, end also to
having seen the forked lightning pass horizontally along
the sky from one cumulus to another. The track of the
storm was to the north-east, and for some hours along the
course indicated the clouds poured down a very deluge'
The roads and fields were at once flooded, and the streams
from the various moor-vallies rose with unexampled re'
pidity into raging torrents, carrying down trees and rocks
along with them. Kirkdale-bridge, a wooden structure,
fairly bent with the pressure against it, and a gentlemen
had there a very narrow escape for his life. Between Gill'
amoor and Kirby, Mr. Jackson, a well-known cattle dealer,
was driving, and it is believed was disabled by the ligh
rt.'
ning. His horse ran away and upset the conveyance, '
Jackson being powerless. He died in a few hours. In igb
same locality several cheep were killed under a tree.
stones as large as nuts fell for some time, and at Sproaton,
near Helmsley, and at Allerston, near Pickering, the de"
struction of glass is reported very great. On Saturdef
morning the rivers Rye and Derwent, which the previoo
afternoon were lower than for many years, were found
have filled to the top with floodwater, and in places about,
Kirby Mills, Marton, Sinnington, and Howe, the roads ell
submerged. The hail and rain have done great damage
to
crops. Fruit end even the leaves are cut off the trees, 0'0"
are washed up, and gr ass lands are covered with mud in some
t°
places. Early potatoes are cut down. The Wolds seeraed.ll
attract the southern portion of the storm, but the rain that le
there did not do any damage, but much good. Singularly,
enough some parts of the Howardian range did not ge,t
drop of rain, although the valleys on either side were bilis
deluged. On Saturday night the livers were still rite i.
,
but it W 29 thought they would not overflow to any es•
It is stated in the Scotsman of Saturday that in Eellis
burgh rain began to fall heavily in the city, and continue:
almost without intermission up till an advanced hour in
th
evening. Distant peals of thunder were heard at intervele
during the day, and occasional flashes of lightning were
seen—but the storm seems to have raged more furiously
the direction of Selkirk and Peebles. Our correspondent t'
the former place writes :—" A thunderstorm of consider:
able violence passel over this town yesterday. °lf;
peals were heard during the forenoon, and about res4''
there was a strange and sudden change in the wind, ',chit6c f
for a time blew in violent and fitful gusts from all Peill,
the compass. A heavy thunder-cloud approached 1.11)13
south,
south, and about a dozen peals were heard as it passed ves
the town. Rain, mixed with large hailstones, fell
in
rents during the height of the storm. The wind after` el,,_,
settled in the west, and rain fell in moderate and refresh'
ing showers during the afternoon." From Peebles we lea
that that town was yesterday visited by a thunderstt;
more violent than any that has yet been experienced la
district for many years back. It set in about 11 o'clock ;a
continued almost unceasingly for about two hours, end os
heard at intervals during the after part of the dal.
heavy rain which fell flooded the streets. At Kelso, efird
o the storm was experienced, thunder having been !le t
during the greater part of the day, accompanied
In
afternoon by a copious fall of rain.

COUNTRY BIARKETB.

YORK- .I.ATURDAY.

- - ---- -
There was was only a moderate: supply of wheat at tot
for
to-day, with a limited attendance. Sellers held nu, 0,0
late rates, but they were with difficulty made. Barle,scitif
scarce, with a slow business. Oats also scarce, and ,c,eo
an inactive demand. Beans in fair demand, and r
rates fully made. 4 , 551
Wheat, red,...„ ... _1
• 378 to 39s Oats.... .......•33s J' to 50,
White do .40s to 44s Beans 33s ,A
Barley .26s to 30s f Peas ......s to
~„,-,
.... , i
Malt, 5Ss to 60s per qr. ; rye, 23s per qr ; doll',
to 29s per sack.

GRANTHAM—ATURDAY. 30';
Old white: wheat,:42s to 44s ; S
red, 37s to 405 Per,,,Leel,
new white, 42sito 448 ; red, 38s to 40s. Malting, w.. 33 t 3
33s to 36s per qr ; grinding, 28s to 30s ; oats,
265; new, 20s to24s; beans, 34s to 365; peas, 34s to
0

LEICE ST ER— vo°'
h'
We have again to report another weekSITURDAY of. ig 13
„.,ar
geti
able weather. There was a lair show of wheat at
';jaeit
to-day; prices same as last week, with a limited b° er
—New white wheat, 42s to 45s ; red, 383 to 415 iliiticgo
stone. Old red, 38s to 42s per 36 stone. Barley; I,Pd
new, 33s to 36s per qr.; grinding, 28s to 30e; °-1300
28s to 30s; new oats, 21s to 24s per 24 stone.n
old, 40s to 42s per 38 stone ; flour, 26s to 31s per 2,- 5

NORWICH--SATURDAY. A oriel
There was a liberal supply of wheat to-daphnelosor
were the same as on this day se'nnight. J:--„t forsoe
ruled dull. Beans, barley, peas, and oats iver'3 -
rates, with a slow trade, 40
White wheat. 42s to 44s f Red wheat ........ 388 t° 33
rVI tO g;
Malting barley ...35s to 36s I Chevalier barley....'ltoP
Distilling29s to 30s I Oats.. ............ 24-
Flour, 25s Od to 26s Od pert sack from the miller

NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY. „tor
g A somewhat limited show of wheat to-day, with a
supported.
yand Wl' or.
rsahtoewd demand, abnadr,le
barley wad
lateprices
exceedinglyw e rsemnaelal
,r 1
was transacted at about the rates of last week. 050 riceo'
disposed of slowly. Beans active, at sully fornier P 39te
—White wheat, from 37s to 40s ; red wheat, 369 t°t9.3,tq''
Barley—malting, 30s to 37s ; grinding, 278 to 290,',1 t
old, at 24s to 30s Od; new, 19s to 25, Beans tic" 6
to 428:per qr, ; new, 359 to 375.

DUBLI3c-
The attendance to-day was cl.
articles, and unaltered in price, s• 0
Wheat, white 24 dO. to 26 (la
0atmea1...... f 4.
clo' to 1„3 0
D0.,D0 newred 10 0 " °
21 6to 21 0 Beans.. ..... —7 oto', 0
oto 0 Bere ......... —7 oto 7,0 0
Barley
Oats
Do., black — 0 to"— 0 Indian corn •• 2'
Births. fipt, ill'
JONES.—On the 18th inst., at Cranmer Hall, •LN°'
wife of Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart., of a soll•clustial'
PELLY.—On the 21st inst., at Gastons, the Wife Cu

'FRIDAY.
thin. A slow trade Or

Yelly, Esq., of a son.
Marriages. 00'1
4, the ~ •,er
GEORGAL.A.—IoNIDEs.—On the 21st inst., 0,,,' ",., I,l' 0
Church, London-wall, Spiridion George
-0"1.:(1"
pool, to Maria, eldest daughter of L. C. lollidt°' ,
olll''
51, InvernWAßD.—ess-terrace.
'' All
WILLs—HAOn the 19th inst., a' Al- Cul
~
na Langha-plate, Cuthbert, Wills, Esq., of 11.;,.1,1
to I.titia Mary, only daughter of Edwillith" I''

28, liarley-street, CciveudiSh-square,
Deaths. ~ c es C'''
BEAcll—On the 19th inst., at Oakley Hallo INilif. ,
line, infant daughter of W. W. Beach, BA" ' . 9 11-'l'
BENYON—On the 19th inst., at Stetchworth-ra,rm 100
Newmarket, aged 64, deeply regretted bY all '4'
f 11
tlip
him, Samuel Yate Benyon, Esq. his fit'
Bisucir —On the 20th inst., deeply regretted 1 ..
1, oe, v '
and friends, Mr. James Bishop, of Lil7l)°t.
CV
E ged 63. Cottsge'
DOLLMAN—On the 20th inst., at Prestbury
tenhani, John Dollman, Ei,q., aged 82.

Louden: Print•A and Prblished by WILLIA-,i .-,: 0 , SO',
il
of O. 112, Strand, Printer, at TOE f.ioN 01.0 e "0047
Strand, in the Precinct of the 3avo7, Lt th
Mitol"ex —3londaY, May 23, 1881.