The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-10 00:00:00

pretension, and left her not a leg of longevity to
stand upon. There are many stages of untruths
about age. Boys and girls try to make themselves
out older than they are. Young men and young
women, and the middle-aged of both sexes, fib in

the opposite direction. The aged do the same till
they come to a certain pass, when they begin to
bounce about their long recollections, and to clap
some ten or twenty years on their grey heads. There
seems to be no exactly truthful period about ages.
It is curious that people are vainer of their age than

of their looks. In understating their years they
make themselves appear to wear ill, or to be old in
looks before their time. It matters not up to thirty
or thereabouts, but after that the looks are tell-tale,
and "faeies tua computat annos." A battered beau
used to wear a wig excellently imitating the head of
hair of a youth of twenty. The effect was hideous.

The wig and the haggard face were perpetually
giving the lie direct to each other. Some good
genius suggested to the old fellow that nature even

at three score and ten could 'not be mended by art,
and he left off his wig. There was then a consist-
ency, a harmony between his worn features and his
grey hair, and he appeared a really good-looking
old man. A learned German has written a book to
prove that the natural age of a healthy well-con-
ducted man is five score, and Brodie maintained
that we were all made like clocks and watches, to
live a certain time, long or short, of course barring
accidents and disease. He attributed his own lon-
gevity to having always had a very small appetite,
but one of the most extraordinary old men of the
present time is remarkable for a very great appe-
tite. Brodie, however, was small and slight,
and the gifted eater to whom we allude is
large and stout. But the German theory of
five score, which it would be so pleasant to
accept, encounters the usual scepticism, and
examples are demanded. And here we have Hicks's
Hall over again. Every one is ready to vouch for
some one or more of a hundred. Few villages are
without some old man or woman boasting five score.
But when it comes to proof, the evidences always
break down. We do not mean to deny that there
are ages of a hundred, some there must be and sus-
ceptible of proof, but most of them rest on evidences
which would not be admitted in, a court of law;
and for one true instance, to be made out or not,
there are a hundred feigned.

THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE LAUENBURG "PRO-
TOCOL."—The very curious document called the
" Protocol of the twenty-second sitting of the
Estates of the Duchy of Lauenburg," just published
in the Gazette of Ratzeburg, tells the world a good
deal. The " protocol" is really a formal report of
the results of certain interviews between the repre-
sentatives of Lauenburg, Herr von Bismark, and
the King of Prussia, to decide finally upon the dis-
posal of the Duchy, and is oddly frank in tone. The
Duchy, it appears, is willing enough to accept the
King of Prussia as Duke, but it had rather not be
absorbed in the general Prussian system, wishes a
guarantee for some of its privileges, and is exceed-
ingly averse to paying any taxes whatever for its
own " liberation" from the sway of the Danish
House. Of course the rulers of Prussia being be-
yond all things dynastic, and anxious for the
' aggrandisement of the House of Hohenzollern, do
not object to the first of these requests. The King,
said the Prussian Premier, was not at all averse to
reign in Lauenburg, as he once reigned in Neufchatel,
by a separate title, the arrangement having the ob-
vious convenience that it places Lauenburg out of the
reach of people like Herr von Sybel. True, the Cham-
ber, which would have to find the money for the war,
might object to this disposal of the spoil, this stulti-
fication of the dream of Prussian aggrandisement,
or, as the draftsman mildly puts it, the " subject
might be brought forward in the Prussian Parlia-
ment," but Herr von Bismark sees "no reason to
fear opposition in that quarter," which must be
satisfactory to Prussian Liberals. This statemeht
was made on the 7th of November, and three days
after was confirmed by the Royal mouth itself. The
King told the Estates, though he was greatly sur-
prised at their confidence in himself, he was willing
to accept their allegiance, and thought that any
slight " difficulties, such as hereditary claims, or
protests from German or European States, would
be easily overcome." There was in fact only one
real obstacle, and that was the necessity " for coming
to an understanding with the Emperor of Austria."
Everything else, including the opinion of Parlia-
ment, of the Diet, and of Louis Napoleon, was un-
important, but annexation must wait till " Austria's
consent has been obtained." As to the expenses,
the King said nothing about a matter so insignifi-
cant, but Herr von Bismark had previously informed
the Estates that they were at liberty to protest on
that head without being punished, which they ac-
cordingly have done, with great relief, let us hope,
to their minds, but we fear with no more substantial

result. For, gracious as King and Premier were,
they showed pretty clearly that they intended to
govern Lauenburg, and not simply to administer
the constitution of the Duchy. The Estates, some-
what timidly, as we guess from the way they have
worded the report, ventured to hint to Herr von
Bismark that they should like some kind of a
guarantee for their constitution and privileges, not
apparently attaching implicit faith to promises which
when made to Prussia itself had been so shamelessly
broken. Suppose, they hinted, the " new relations
of the Duchy" were placed under the guarantee of
the German Diet. One can almost see Herr von
Bismark's face suddenly clouding over as he listened
to the unacceptable proposition. • Money is one
thing, though Berlin is thrifty and the Treasury by
no means too full, but the Royal power is quite
another,—something which Estates must not even
" protest" against. The suggestion must be " defi-
nitively rejected, as his Majesty the King would
never submit to any such control." It might, who
knows? be necessary for the King-Duke to enforce
in Lauenburg, as in Prussia, his pet dogma
that the " throne is the legal pivot of power,"
and to give the Diet the power of interfering with
absolutism, of interpreting popular rights, of
Sitting in judgment on coups d'etat effected by
Kings and Junkers, was clearly impossible, and we
only wonder it was not pronounced sacrilegious.
The deputies retired, satisfied that the King of
Prussia would graciously accept their country, but
doubtful about the constitution, and so uneasy about
the taxes that they protested formally ajainst any
future demand. This conversation establishes very
clearly the fact that the House of Hohenzollern, or
at all events its present head, is a great deal more
anxious for its own power, and dignity, and extent
of dominion than for the contentment of Prussia or
the unity even of Northern Germany under one
sceptre. There never was an arrangement made
more grossly unfair to a great people than this
transfer of Lauenburg to the King of Prussia. His
people fought the battle, surrendering their liberties
to do it, in order first of all to liberate a German
race from what they believed to be thraldom_;
secondly, to increase the power and territory of
Prussia ; and thirdly, to help forward as far as they
might the ultimate unity they desire. Those may
be bad objects or good objects, wise or foolish, but
they are those for which the people shed their blood
and spent their money. Yet the moment they are
apparently attained the King refuses to carry out
the popular will, and takes Lauenburg, not for
Prussia, not for that empire in which Prussia is one
day to merge, but for a personal appanage, giving
his people in return for their sacrifices nothing but
the reflection that their King is a little more indei
pendent of them than he was before.
THE " UNION" UPON THE ENCYLICAL.—.We can-
not help feeling distressed in our inmost heart
at the position in which this circular places the
episcopacy, and indeed the whole clergy of France.
So far as we know, nothing of the kind has occurred
for 50 years.. Several encyclical letters have been
published by the sovereign pontiffs ; some of them
were of a character identical, or nearly so, with that
of the Bth December—it will suffice, independently
of the apostolical letters and the allocutions of Pius
IX., to remember the encyclical Mirari nos of Gre-
gory XVI., in 1832. None have been the object
of such measures. Hitherto, it appears to us alto-
gether without precedent that the publication of part
of an encyclical letter should be prohibited, the in-
terdiction of printing it should be notified to bishops,
and that precautions should be indicated against
observations alluding to it. As Catholics and citi-
zens we are unable to understand how the circular
of the hon. Minister can be conciliated with the
liberty of the Church and the free exercise of the
liberty of teaching guaranteed to the Catholic clergy
by the concordat of 1801, and by the constitution
of Jan. 15, 1852. Lastly, in a legal point of view,
as determined by the organic articles of the Year
X., we will-merely observe, without forgetting the
protests of the Holy See, and the objections of the
bishops and juris-consults to that legislation, that
the only sanction of the provisions of Art. 1 of the
law of April 8, 1802 (18th Germinal, Year X.), to
which M. Baroche's circular refers, is the recourse
to the Council of State in the form of an appeal
against abuse of power. We will say no more.
The painful feeling which affects us need not be ex-
pressed. It will be more than justified by the
ception given to the circular by the journaDywilich
we are accustomed to oppose, and from the present
moment it is already shared by Christian con-
sciences.

THE TURN OUT OF FACTORY OPERATIVES AT
BLACKBURN.—The strike of the weavers at Messrs. Spar-
row and Crankahaw's mill, on Thursday, which threw out
of work no fewer than 990 operatives, the spinners and
minders having been stopped by the firm, still continues,
though we are happy to state that there seems a disposi-
tion on the part of some of the men to resume work. Many
of the operatives deeply regret the step which has been
taken, and are anxious to commence work even on the old
terms and with inferior weft. If a majority of the weavers
resume work the works will he kept iu full operation, and
if not they will ln clteed.