The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-17 00:00:00

An Eloquent Lecture at Bermuda.

Judging from the enthusiastic language in which
it is spoken of by the Bermuda journals, a lecture of
remarkable ability, and of no ordinary eloquence,
has recently been delivered, there, in the
Mechanics' Hall, by the Hon. Miles Gerald
Keon, the Colonial Secretary. In the Ber-
muda .11ror of the 20th ultiml, we find the
occasion thus referred to—the Mirror reporter
prefacing his record of the proceedings with this in-
quiry--" header, were you at the Mechanics' Hall
on Thursday evening last, to hear the lecture on
Governmekt by the Hon. Miles Gerald Keon ? if
you were not we pity you. Pity you be-
cause you lost a mental treat, the like
of which 34%1 may TrAer_ again have-lin op-
portunity of feasting on. - 11-e had believed
that the first part of the lecture delivered by the
hon. gentleman, some time since, was too bril-
liant to be eclipsed, but that delusion was dis-
pelled on Thursday night after listening to the
concluding portion of the subject. This part
was sweetly commingled with happy and beau-
tiful illustrations, coloured with the choicest
language of a highly cultivated intellect, brighten-
ing up the heretofore dull dry pages of history, and
making them dazzle in beauty with new-born con-
ceptions." The reporter of the Bermuda Mirror then
goes on to add, " Of the many faithful and touch-
ing illustrations on despotic government as compared
with that government which is influenced by gentle-
ness and affection, none was more striking or touch-
ing than the anecdotes of King Frederick of Prussia,
and of Napoleon the First—(Le Petit Caporal.) In
the case of Frederick, our readers will remember,
on a certain occasion, when encamped in front of
the enemy, he had given strict orders that no light
of any description was to be used during the night.
An unfortunate young officer who had been hurried
off—when just leaving the altar with his bride—to
join his regiment then on its way to the battle-field,
had obtained a light, and having darkened, as he
thought, every crevice through which the light could
be seen, he sat down quietly to write to his young and
dearly-loved bride. Frederick, mistrusting his sen-
tinels, strolled out himself to see that his orders were
obeyed. He discovered the light in the young
officer's tent, raised the canvas door, moved
stealthily and unnoticed to a position behind the
chair of his victim, and looking over his shoulder
waited till he had finished. Then requested the
horror-stricken lover to add a postscript to his
letter to the effect that he was to be shot at sun-
rise in the morning for disobedience of orders.
He was shot next morning, and .the monster Frede-
rick added another postscript stating that he had
been shot, and at that moment was lying five feet
under the sand bathed in his own blood.

In the case of Napoleon we are told that when simi-
larly situated in front of the enemy, he issued a similar
order to that of Frederick. lie, too, went round
the camp. On its: cutskirts, at a most important
point, he stumbled on the form of a sleeping sentinel.
Napoleon knew that his men were tired by long
marches, and looking with pity on the prostrate form
of his weary soldier, liably resolved to let him sleep
on ; and shouldering' the corporal's musket he
paced up and down his beat till the relief came.
The awakened soldier was seized with terror when
he discovered the situation he was in. What a con-
trast is there between his punishment and that of
the Prussian—the corporal was dismissed with a
severe reprimand. The Prussian suffered death for
a far less offence."

The Bermuda Royal Gazette, of the 19th ult., is
equally enthusiastic in its eucomiums—and from
it we obtain the following, as nearly as possible,
verbatim record of the peroration of Mr. Keon's ad-
dress, a peroration in the course of which it will be
seen the hon. gentleman pronourxed an impassioned
panegyric upon the public and personal character of
the reigning Sovereign. He is here reported to
have said, at the conclusion of his speech —" I
think I have fulfilled my engagement—l have
indeed left out of sight a vast multitude
of considerations which crowd into my mind
even while I say so ; but I have no
choice —we have not time for them. Some ques-
tions can be discussed in a couple of hours ;
others in ten minutes, but others require a regular
course of studies—yes, months of sustained studies.
And the present subject happens to be one, for the
investigation of a single department of which (and a
very inferior department, too), there is a professor's
chair in every great university. I allude to the
politics of history, or rather to a branch of it—
[,, Constitutional History" it is sometimes called.]
Under difficulties so immense, I venture to believe
that I have laid before you a. fair outline of the
whole matter. First, I reviewed rapidly all the
forms of Government known to civilised annals,
and next, I not only enumerated the various
means of power, or resources of statesmanship,
—and (so far as I knew how) explained them, and
compared them together, and valuated them respec-
tively ; but I elucidated by examples four out of the
five—Corruption, terror, personal enthusiasm, and
transcendent genius. One was left—the spirit of
law, the principle of order, of equal justice for
every subject or citizen. Of a political structure
built by this architect we have an example over our
heads. We, in the British Empire, live under the
very roof of a majestic political system, in which
no arbitrary edicts can change the tenour
of public affairs, no capricious Ukase vex
or startle the minds of the people, no personal am-
bition squander their resources ; but where an equal
law rules high and low alike, where tribunals,
partial to none, are open to all ; and where the
freest of nations has itself no niggard share in con-
trolling the mightiest of Empires. At its head we
have a Sovereign of whose personal and public
virtues we are equally proud ; and proud by force
of reasons far more solid, more just, and more noble
than any that ever kindled the enthusiasm of a
martial race for a warrior-chief.

It is now just thirty years since the fair young
daughter of the late illustrious Duchess of Kent
(one of the best, most gifted, wisest women that
ever prepared a future Monarch for a Throne)._
after days which it is neither my duty nor my
desire to describe—rendered the English Court
the glory of her people and the admiration of
the world; turned it into a fountain of all pure,
noble, beneficent, and moralising influences; and
sent our thoughts across many a century back to
the early days of our annals to find anything re-
sembling it in every virtue that can adorn the ma:t
exalted station, or bless the lowliest,. Nor must we
forget that she who, from the outset, has been the
model of Sovereigns has also, wherever it was pos-
sible, been the Peacemaker of nations. Only yes-
terday a woman's gentle hand stayed the frightful
collisions of a million of armed men ready for the
field.

Under her sway her people have seen, combined
with all the freedom that the wildest votaries of De-
mocracy itself could desire—l affirm it fearlessly
and stand to it deliberately—liberty, larger, more
real, or more perfect men have never known; her
people have seen, I say, combined with all this free-
dom —the stability of a hereditary crown—the
fixed supremacy of law—the glory of historic in-
stitutions—the improvements which the useful,
and the lustre which the fine arts bestow—
a manufacturing development and a commer-