The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

THE LAST TWELVE NIGHTS.

GRACE EGERTON (Mrs, George Case),
at the POLYGRAPHIC' HALL, King William-
street (her THIRD SEASON in London), in her New and
highly successful Characteristic and Musical Entertainment
entitled " A DRAWING ROOST TO LET." EVERY
EVENING, at Eight (except Saturday).
Saturday Mornings at Three.

Stalls. 33. ; unreserved seats, 2s. ; area, Is. Will continue
positively for a month only. Last performance March 12.

TrIFIE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,'
Containing, the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE
on be had Every Evening of
G. R. GLIGNIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

COALS.—The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis'. 265. per ton. I Double.. 2ls. per ton.
Top 255. Nut 5........ 195. „
Deep 22s.
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
faddington, W.
Best Coke lss. per chaldron.
Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TRISI DAT.—Morning, 6h. 36m.—Afternoon, 6h. 58m.
To-moßnow.-Morning, 7h. 24m.—Afternoon, 7u. 58m.

GRECO and his three accomplices, one and all

charge. MAzzINI with being their instigator to the

crime they were preparing to perpetrate. And
MAZZO I—so charged by GRECO and his accom-
plices—speaks of GRECO as "an enthusiastic patriot."
Why, even a born idiot like Lord DUN DREARY,
looking at an observation like that, at a comment, to

say the least of it, so wonderfully malapropos,
would be disposed to say, with an indignant
glance through his eyeglass--" Th-th-that's bad !"
A wretch who is proved beyond an instant's doubt
to be meditating an infamous assassination, openly

accuses you of having egged him on to attempt it—
and you deny this, certainly in very plain terms,

but in so denying it you speak of your accuser as
"an enthusiastic patriot 1" In itt —AZZINI—at the
same time it must be allowed—this extraordinary
mode of denial hardly strikes us as incongrons. His
reputation is so sombre, is, as we have said, so noto-
riously sinister, that we pass by in him, almost as a
mere matter of course, what would appear start-
ling in another. But, in the instance of Mr. STANS-
FELD it is nothing less than astounding that his
denial—a denial that we accept at once, of course,
most eagerly, and with a sense of sympathising
indignation as his fellow countrymen—is accom-

panied by a vindication of the character o

MAZZINI! The character of MAZZINI was not
then under discussion. It was the character 01
Mr. STANSFELD that was under consideration al

the moment. And loathe would any of us be to
estimate that character purely by the old pro.

verbial test of noscitur a SOCI7B. Mr. STANSFELD

knowing MAZZINI, knowing ORSINI, ought not
to be judged by the mere fact of his

including such men among the number of his inti•
mate personal acquaintance. It is lamentable,
therefore, that the member for Halifax, especially
in his official position as one of the Junior Lords

of the Admiralty, should so far mar the effect of.his
indignant repudiation last night of the remarks
uttered a few days since at Paris by the Procureur
Imperial—by accompanying his denial with an at-
tempted vindication of the character of MAZZINI.
Aud who, we ehould vastly like to know, could
those persons possibly have been who, last evening,
in the British House of Commons, endeavoured to
hush up the truth when Mr. STANSFELD was, in
the regular course of debate, being manfully put
through his examination ? He is asked questilns—
very pertinent, and very natural questions indeed
as addressed to one, who though a Minister of the
British Crown, was there voluntarily confronting
his fellow members in the House of Commons
as the apologist of MAZZINI—Mr. STANSFELD is
asked certain very obvious, nay, under the cir-

cumstances, almost inevitable questions, as to the
moneys collected for other enthusiastic Italian
patriots than GRECO, the convicted Assassin—and
there are men in the House of Commons who can
cry out to him, when so interrogated, "Don't
answer Mm P' Who are these men ? Are
they Englishmen ? Are they lovers of
truth ? If so—why cry out thus " Don't
answer him ? " Mr. STANSFELD was asked yes-
terday whether at any time he occupied the same
house with Signor Mum'? It is a plain and
simple question enoush. But there are men in the
House of Commons who are for hushing np any
reply to it by clamouring out once more "Don't
answer Mm!" The inquiry is reiterated. The
cry is for a third time, last evening, heard
within the walls of the British House
of Commons—" Do not answer." And Mr.
STANSFELD does NOT answer. He remains silent.
The matter under discussion drifts out of the view
of the House for the time being—lost to the recol-
lection of the members there and then in the new and
loftier interests awakened by one of the most brilliant
speeches that even Mr. DISRAELI has for some time
delivered, that remarkable, statesmanlike, philoso-
phical, eminently logical, and thoroughly searching
harangue in which the right hon. gentleman pitti-
lessly analysed the muddled foreign policy of her
MAJESTY'S Government. Yet, glancing back now
to the proceedings of last night in the House of
Commons, anterior to the opening up anew of the
Dano-German Question by Mr. DISRAELI—we
recall to mind, almost with ; a shudder, the
discussion by which Mr. DISRAELI'S masterly
speech was preceded. Who are these men, again
we ask, who cried out last night, " Don't answer
him ?" " Don't answer!" "Do not answer I"
Are they Englishman ? Are they indeed mem-
bers of a British House of Commons ? The
questions addressed to Mr. STANSFELD were ques-
tions affecting not only the honour and the
reputation of that gentleman, but the honour
and the reputation of the House of which
he is a member ! More than that—remembering
that Mr. STANSFELD is a Minister of the Crown,
remembering that he is not only M.P. for Halifax
bat one of the Junior Lords of the Admiralty as
well, anything whatever affecting his name and his
character is of vital interest, by the mere form of
association, is of vital importance and of vitalest
interest to the SOVEREIGN of these realms and
to the Government. If Mr. STANSFELD is not to
answer plain questions in a plain way, still more, if
he is not to answer any such questions at all—the
sooner he ceases to occupy a seat upon the Treasury
bench the better.

The annual meeting of the National Rifle Asso•
elation is a matter of some interest. At that
gathering the fortunes of the Association are flis.

cussed, new plans proposed, and improvements
suggested, and all matters connected with the well-

being and efficiency of the force discussed. Although
the topics of debate are usually of a technical nature,
and many of them out of the range or experience
of the uninitiated, there are some features of this
annual assembly which commend themselves to the
notice even of those least soldierly inclined. When
the Volunteers were first spoken of, many were
found to doubt whether the scheme, however wise
or commendable, could be put into execution in
these our matter of fact days. When the ready en-
thusiasm of the people was proved beyond all doubt
the suggestion commended itself to the popular
sense and feeling, and all ranks, all classes, pressed
for ward to join in the movement, many wisely
shook their heads and doubted how long such
willing service would last. There was, certainly,
some ground to fear for the future. It was easy to
enter warmly into the new undertaking, to expend

considerable sums in subscriptions, in accoutre-
meats, &c.;
but it was a different thing to devote

time and trouble to that wearisome drilling and

monotonous
Practice without which no proficiency
can be hoped for either in the arts of war or peace.
Bad weather,
inclement seasons, and other tempo-
rary discouragements were naturally to be looked
-for ; and it was likewise feared, with some reason,
that when the public interest had died out, when
the Volunteers were no longer the talk of the day,
and people paid little heed to their goings and
comings, that the enthusiasts which
had first fired
them would die out, and the Volunteer force drop
off, one by one, until it became a thing of the past
Happily, all such forebodings have proved grounds
less. Some years have now elapsed since the
Volunteer movement was first set on foot, and it
shows no signs of decreasing in vitality and vigour.
Although, of course, no longer occupying so large
a flhare of attention as at its inauguration,