The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-15 00:00:00

THE TORNADO QUESTION.

MADRID, April 10.
In yesterday's sitting of the Congress General
Calonge, Minister for Foreign Affairs, replied as
follows to Senor Martinez Guertero relatiTe to the
Tornado question :

" Senor Martinez Guertero will not fail to com-
prehend the great difficulty I experience in touch-
ing upon a question which has entered an exceed-
ingly critical phase. The Government intend to lay
before Congress very shortly all the documents that
have been exchanged with the British Minister for
Foreign Affairs upon the case of the Tornado. Con-
gress will then be able, with all the correspondence
in their possession, to judge whether the Govern-
ment has maintained what it believed to be consis-
tent with the laws and the rights of the Spanish
nation, and whether it has acted with the necessary
energy and with due regard to the national honour.
The laws have not been attacked or violated. There
have been discussions and different modes of view-
ing the question, and each party has maintained its
ground, but both Governments have always ob-
served the just deference which each has a right to
expect from the other. The press, it is true, have
imparted some acrimony into this question, as also
have some speakers in Parliament, and I pray that
Congress may not follow their fatal example. I
beg Senor Martinez Guertero to be assured that tho
' Government is fully determined to cause the deci-
sions of it tribunals to be respected, since it believes
that no Government of a civilised country could
resist so just a demand."

AN INVITATION TO THE PRINCE OF WALES.—
Below we give a translation of the letter of invitation
which has been sent to his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales from the Indians of the Red River settlement. The
letter itself is somewhat unique, and we doubt whether the
mail bags of any nation ever carried its like. The Indians,
who feel a great degree of traditionary respect for the royal
family, and with a certain taste for barbaric show and
glitter, felt that an ordinary ink and paper invitation would
scarcely convey the earnestness of their wish that the
Prince should come; so they have sent their request in a
style peculiar to themselves. The material on which the
letter is written is the fine inner rind of tho birch bark,
surrounded with a deep border of gilt. The letters of the
heading are in red, white, and blue, the capitals through-
out being in old English gilt. The following is a trans-
lation of the letter :—" To the first-born of our groat
moth?r, across the great waters, great chief, whom wo call
Royal chief. We and our people hear that our relations,
the half-breeds and the pale faces at Red River, have
asked you to come and see them the next summer. We
and our people also wish you to come and visit us. Every
lodge- will give you Royal welcome. We have the bear
and the buffalo, and our hunting-grounds are free to you,
our horses will carry you, and our dogs hunt for you, and
we and our people will guard and attend you. Our old
men will show you their medals which they received for
being faithful to the father of our great mother. Great
Royal chief, if you will come, send word to our guiding
chief at Fort Garey, so that we may have time to meet and
receive you as becoming our great Royal chief."—Cana-
dian Newt, April 11.
METROPOLITAN POLICE.—A. Parliamentary re-
turn shows that at the close of the year 1866 the number of
the metropolitan police force was 7,548, of whom upon
an average 2,924 were on day duty and 4,624 on night duty.
This, however, includes the dockyard police, on duty at
Portsmouth, Devonport, and other yards at a distance from
the metropolis. 255 mon were dismissed iu 1856, and 732
resigned. In the last 11 years 2,609 men have been dismissed,
and 7,678 have resigned. In the same period 533 police-
men were charged at the police courts with offences, but
only 163 were convicted ; in 1866 80 men wore charged, and
, 28 of them convicted.