The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-18 00:00:00

KING-HUNTING.

Marshal Prim recently confessed in the Cortes
that the Crown of Spain had been offered in succes-
sion to four candidates, who had each in turn refused

it. According to the Memovial Diplonzatique these
four candidates were Dom Fernando, of Portugal;
the young school-boy Duke of Genoa; Count d'Eu,
son-in-law of the Emperor of Brazil ; and Prince
Frederick of Hohenzollern. It has not, we believe, been
previously stated that a formal offer was made to the
two latter princes, though the name of Prince
Frederick has often been mentioned. Still, the list
is not yet complete. There is Marshal Espartero,
who was certainly offered the Crown, and the Duke
of Montpensier, who is the nominee of a very large
and powerful party, besides the King of Portugal,
who is now " under consideration." Should

these resources fail, the Daily News suggests
the Marquis of Bute or Mr. Hudson, the ex-railway
king, who is to be heard of at the Carlton Club. To
whom may be added the mother of Lopez, late
President of Paraguay, if she still survives. This old
lady must have seen a great deal of royalty in
one shape or another, her vicissitudes ought
to have taught her wisdom, she is reported
to be an excellent hand at conspiracy, and she has
attained a very ripe old age, and thus must be agree-
able to Prim. It is said that she was killed in one
of the late disturbances, but that is no objection.

She had been killed many times before, and wa
always heard of again hatching conspiracies.

11f. PREVOST PARADOL.

The appointment of M. Prevost Paradol as French
Minister at Washington, is perhaps the most
notable political event of the last few weeks.
It is certainly the most ' Liberal. The salary
is about £2,400 a year with a house and "perqui-
sites." M. Paradol is a young man, not much more
than 40 years of age. He gets one of the great prizes
of diplomacy without ever having entered the ser-
vice, and at such an early period of life. And yet
this great journalist has, until very lately, been one
of the most formidable enemies of Imperialism. He
was not an Irreconcilable ; but far more dangerous
than the reddest of that class. Whilst he be-
lieved the Empire to be compatible with good and
free government, he mercilessly satirised it
for failing to reach the proper mark, and his
trenchant criticism told all the more because it was
moderate. The damaging letters of "A. Parisian,"
in the Times and Pall Mall Gazette, are believed, on
very good authority, to be his. Such is the man
upon whom this great office has been conferred. It
is almost as strange as if Mr. Disraeli, when he returns
to office, were to confer an embassy on the author
of the famous review of " Lothair " in Blackwood.

BRIGANDAGE IN SPAIN.

The escape of the Messrs. Bonell from the hor-
rible fate that befell the victims of the Greek
brigands is due to the admirable precautions taken
by the Spanish Government, and to the able manner
in which Mr. Layard acted on behalf of the captives.
k correspondent of the Times, writing from Madrid,
states that after the capture, the brigands discussed
the possibility of obtaining a ransom for the
two gentlemen, and one of the scoundrels pro-
posed to make a short shrift of the two
prisoners. But the possibility of obtaining the money
was too great to allow of such a step. The bands
seems to have been tracked by the Government
agents with admirable precision, and the success of
the negotiations was consummated by the practical
application of the old adage of setting a thief to catch
a thief. When the elder Bonell was liberated in
order to get the money, one of the bandits
was in the crowd assembled at Cadiz
to see the steamer off, and the polished
ruffian, with an audacity that may be seen on the
stage, but rarely in other places, shook hands with
Mr. Bonell, saying, " So, Senor Bonell, I see you are
taking a voyage to Gibraltar." It was fortunate,
too, that the authorities at Gibraltar were not reduced
to that state of impecuniosity in which the Spanish
Government appears to revel ; and after the state-
ment that the Imperial Treasury may find it diffi-
cult to repay the £5,000 advanced by Sir Richard
Airey, only part of which has been recovered from
the brigands, we imagine General Prim will require
a longer period than three months to find a King.
A throne is a good thing, but a throne and a civil
list is infinitely better.