The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-18 00:00:00

was a violation of the laws which he declares are
binding on the United States Government, and
which that of Brazil was justified in believing would
be respected. Then Mr. SEWARD goes on to de-
clare that Brazil has done great injury to his Go-
vernment and country by persisting in harbouring
those vessels which must be considered as pirates,
and he even goes so far as to assert that for these
wrongs the United States Government confidently
expect a reciprocity of reparation. While such one-
sided ideas of justice, and, above all, while such
virulent sentiments animate and influence the Go-
vernment of Washington, it is quite idle to expect
that anything like a straightforward or a states-
manlike communication can be forwarded from
them, but, at the same time, without being too san-
guine, it might have been supposed that they could
have done better than allow such a composition to
emanate from their councils and disgrace their cha-
racter. There is no need to tell us that "an en-
during sense of injuries" is felt by the United States
Government respecting the continuance of
these injuries ; it would be extremely difficult
to say what other feelings are expe-
rienced by them, but those of rage and hatred.
It would, in truth, appear as if the whole world
conspired to offend them in some way or other,
either by open defiance or covert acts of support
and sympathy with those who set their authority at
defiance, and treat their commands with contumely.
The most unpleasant part of Mr. SEWARD'S reply
was that in which he was compelled to make men-
tion of the very awkward affair of the sinking of
the Florida. This in reality was a more suspicious
proceeding than that of its seizure ; for, as Mr.
SEWARD truly observes, " it seemed to affect the
army and navy ;" and doubtless many may believe
that it did not seem to affect them, but it really did.
It is very convenient to assume that the loss of the
Florida was " a consequence of a rare unforeseen
accident, that casts no responsibility upon the United
States," but competent judges will affirm that it is
far otherwise, and that under the peculiar circum-
stances of the case it was incumbent upon the
authorities to exercise a double amount of vigilance,
and to adopt every proper precaution that no mis-
chance should occur. The " naval surveillance and
protection" which are described by Mr. SEWARD do
not seem to have been of a very first-rate order ;
and it is certainly open to grave doubts whether it
was exercised in a proper or befitting man-
ner. It is only consistent with the
course taken by Mr. SEWARD in his general mode
of conducting affairs, that he should refrain from
passing any censure on Mr. WEBB for his extra-
ordinary remarks concerning this country. It is to
be presumed that the Washington Government think
it of too little consequence if we are dissatisfied or
not with the tone of their representative. If any
excuse were wanting for the cause which the Con-
federates have adopted, in separating themselves
from the former bonds of union, it might surely be
found in the arrogant manner in which all the
affairs of the Washington Government are con-
ducted. A more arbitrary character could not
characterise any despotism in the world, and the
model Republic of the West has certainly much
to learn, both in the way of respecting the rights
of others, and in the manner of considering its own
communications with Foreign Powers.

Lectures to the working-classes are not nowadays
he uncommon things they once were. Men of

education and position have become impressed with
the sense of their obligations to those less fortu-
nately circumstanced than themselves—not only to
relieve their physical wants but to assist them in
the cultivation of their mental faculties. In
this, as in all other departments of exer-
tion, some are more happily qualified for

success than others ; and with an equal amount a

goodwill one man will be much more fortunate in
his manner of instruction than another. One great

secret is to direct the discourse to some topic which
at once attracts the attention and engages the inte-

rest of working men. They have as a class no lack
of intelligence or of common sense ; but they are so
much in the habit of confining their thoughts to the
work before them and the common round of their
daily lives that they cannot at once rise above its
level into the range of history and science. Some-
times a lecturer is fortunate enough to select a sub-
ject which combines the interest naturally felt by
every man in his ordinary employment with the
advantages of conveying new and valuable informa-
tion, and the benefits of a change of ideas and feel-
ings. A happy example of this class of lecture was
given the other evening by the Rev. Lord S. G.
OSBORNE, whose well-known initials are often seen
appended to some discourse on social or domestic
questions. The scene he selected for his lecture was
one of the poorest and most populous of our
suburbs—yet he contrived to rivet the attention of
a large audience, composed of the working class.
His subject was " The Hand and Hands," and he
treated it in a manner at once interesting and in-
structive. The wonderful construction of the human
hand, its vast and various services to man, its
strength, its delicacy, its capabilities, are readily
admitted when once asserted ; but very few ever
think of them, and still fewer, perhaps,

understand anything beyond the mere facts.
Lord OSBORNE referred continually throughout his
discourse to the hand as a machine; and pointed out
to his hearers its vast superiority over every other.
It was true, he said, that they often heard of hand-
work being supplanted by machinery, but who made
that machinery. Was it not made, by that very
hand which it supported ? Every machine, too,
required constant external supplies of oil to keep it
in working order, but the great Mechanic who made
man had left no such imperfection in his work, and
everything necessary to its regular, uninterrupted,
and harmonious working was supplied within itself.
In the versatility of its powers, too, the hand was
superior to every other machine. The Nasmyth
hammer, it was said,
could be so regulated that it
could at one moment crush a solid body, at another
crack the shell of a nut witho-ut hurting the kernel,
and so the sturdy arm of the anchor forger might
often be seen after his hard day's labour lifting an
infant from its cradle. The lecturer might have
added that the most marvellous machine has its set
purpose, its fixed line of action, from which it can-
not for a moment deviate, while the hand can adapt
itself in turn to every requirement of man. Hard
labour may make it less flexible, the rougher kinds
of work may unfit it for those which require a quick
and delicate touch, but these are the casual acci-
dents of fortune or occupation. The capacities of
the hand are there adapted to all uses, ready to be
turned whichever way the owner chooses. The
natural sensibilities or degree of strength may
differ in that as in every other member, but
so long as the member is formed complete,
it may be trained with equal readiness to the use of
the pen,
the spade, the pencil, or the hammer. In
looking at an infant's hand none say what special
gift or aptitude
those tiny fingers may possess, or
to which class of the world's working men it may
eventually belong.
the hand, must rely Every class of them must use
uPon its aid for the fulfilment
the furtherance of its ambitionl of its desires, for
of its duties, for the acquisiti7
Be it brain work,
or money gettirig, or the simple effort to live, which
occupies their time and absorbs their energies, the