The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-13 00:00:00

SOLEMN TRIFLING.

The important question of the clothes of our
foreign ministers, or, as they are called in the lofty
language of the Congressional reports, " diplomatic
apparel," came up in the Senate on Wednesday of
last week in the shape of a joint resolution,
reported by Mr. Sumner from the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, prohibiting American re-
presentatives abroad from wearing " court cos-
tume" on certain occasions. 'This important
problem of what dress the American ambassa-
dors ought to wear when they go to see a king
or emperor has been discussed several times
within the last fifteen years, and the whole
attention of some great minds has been directed
to it, but, we believe, without reaching any
satisfactory solution. One reason why the
nation has ever been vexed by it is this : that
diplomacy not being a regular profession with us,
and appointments in the diplomatic service being
made with reference solely to the candidate's political
services at home, a great many persons from time
to time make their way into foreign missions who,
not having any taste or social judgment, cannot be
trusted to dress themselves as representatives of
the United States. There being no rule on the
subject, some equip themselves for court cae-
monials in costumes of their own invention, which
would suit a harlequin better than the ambas-
sador of a republic ; and others go into court circles
in attire which might pass at a South-western bar-
becue, but which in the Old World simply procures
for the wearers the reputation of being barbarians,
and for the people who employ them the reputation
of being fools.
Now, courts in Europe, as we not long ago had
occasion to remark, are considered private houses.
The king's palace is not, as the White House is,
"an executive mansion," the property of the
nation, in which a certain officer is allowed to reside
temporarily, and in which he is expected to re-
ceive all comers. Emperors and kings have as
absolute and as well recognised a right to decide
whom they shall invite to their palaces, or receive
in them, as any man in America to decide whom he
shall receive in his own house. Ambassadors do
not go to court in their official capacity. They go
as distinguished strangers, to whom the sovereign,
as the first gentleman or lady in the country,
feels bounds to show attention. Usage—and in
matters of dress there is no higher authority
than usage—has in all European countries pre-
scribed a certain costume for persons going to
court, just as it has prescribed a certain cos-
tume for persons going to a private dinner party.
The dress in which a man goes to the Tuileries or
to St. James's is, perhaps, somewhat more ridicu-
lous than the dress in which a man goes to spend
the evening with the Earl of Derby or M. Rouher ;
but there is no more moral or political significance
in the one than in the other. Why do men wear
black clothes and white cravats at dinner parties
nowadays? To this there is 1.0 answer except
that it gives pleasure to their hostess and her
other guests to see them in that costume, and their
wearing it is taken to be an indication of the respect
in which they hold the entertainment. The very
same thing may be said of court dress. Persons
wear it at a particular house'on festive occasions be-
cause other people do, because it looks nice ; but
no defence can be found for it either in principles
of political philosophy or in political economy. If
any great statesman or logician chooses to assail
it he is sure of an easy victory. But, then, if
we had to justify, book in hand, all the little ob-
servances by which we seek either to gratify our own
vanity or that of other people, or to adorn or
beautify or smooth over intercourse with our fellows,
we should soon find that the only thoroughly logical
and "simple" costume was a bag with three holes
in it, and the only permissible entertainment the
distribution of broken victuals to paupers.
It seems to us that Democracy has no " mes-
sage," to use the cant phrase, to deliver with regard
to dress. What Democracy has been sent into the
world to preach is liberty—liberty in clothes as
well as in opinions, free play for individual taste as
well as for individual faculties. When Congress,
therefore, undertakes to prescribe what a minister
shall not wear at a ball, it is guilty of just the
same weakness as the monarch who prescribes
what dress he shall wear. In both cases the idea
which forms the base of the order is that a man's
clothes are of great consequence and have a sym-
bolic character—that knee-breeches and a bag-wig
represent one principle and a plain suit of black
another. But the truth is that if it be ridiculousto
assert monarchical principles by wearing a court
suit, it is also ridiculous to assert republican prin-
ciples by wearing a frock coat and black satin vest.
With all this folly our Government ought to have
nothing to do. Our business is to prove the insig-
nificance, and not the significance, of clothes. If we
have no better way of exemplifying our polity than
displaying our minister in black broadcloth at court
festivals, when everybody else wears gold lace, it is
time we gave up exemplifying it altogether. What
the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and both
houses of Congress ought to do is to dismiss the
subject of ministers' clothes from their thoughts
at once and for ever, and devote them-
selves to the task of providing good ministers.
If we only send abroad able, educated, and accom-
plished men of high character and honourable ante-
cedents, and trained for their work, we may safely
let them wear what kind of suit they please, and
feel sure that neither our fame nar our interests will
suffer in their hands. 't A man's a man" whatever
covers his back, and as long as our whole civil
service is in its present condition resolutions
directed against particular kinds of breeches
look very like a grand washing of the
outside of the cup while within all is unclean-
ness. The Washington correspondent of the New
York Times unconsciously touched upon the root
of all the trouble the other day when, in approving
of the resolution of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
in the usual stereotyped way, he said that when some
of our ministers now got their court suits on, " the
American citizen was entirely lost sight of." Anybody
in whom the American citizen disappears under a
court suit we may be sure never had much of it
about him. The same correspondent lays down the
rule that all our foreign ministers ought on all occa-
sions to wear the dress of a "plain American gentle-
man." Why not have pictures of " the plain
American gentleman" taken and sent to all our
foreign legations, and despatch democratic tailors
once a year on a tour of inspeictionftmo see if ifgraenayt
diplomatic officer was departncrro
model 2—The Nation.

Hero and there in the South a politician or a
newspaper of influence puts faith in the Supreme
Court, and stands out against Reconstruction under
the Military Bill. Mr. Parsons, for instance, can
see no reason why the people of Alabama " should
make the monstrous act of Congressional usurpa-
tion their act," and wants them to wait. The
Montgomery Mail explains to its readers that Mr.
Seward said so and so in 1862, and Mr. Lincoln
said this and that in his first inaugural, and that
therefore true Americans oppose military recon-
struction bills. The Charleston Mercury says that
within a month a case can be made up for the
Supreme Court, and the trial of it begun. Mean-
time, till the constitutionality of the law is passed
upon, the Mercury counsels obedience to the mili-
tary authority. But the tone of the press generally
shows that action under the law will not long be
delayed. The New Orleans Crescent thinks the
do-nothing policy of the South in the past
was a wise one, but that the moment has ar-
rived when a change is desirable and neces-
sary. This will not be hard to do, the
Norfolk Virginian thinks, for " Buckskin and
Cuffey are naturally allied, but Cuffey and Nutmeg
are born antipodes." "We should find in him,"
the Virginian says, " our natural friend and ally"—
the reason given being that the negro knows the
true gentleman at a glance. The Index, of Peters-
burg, Virginia, urges the education of the freedmen,
and Mr. Wade Hampton and other gentlemen of
South Carolina give plain indications of an inten-
tion to utilise their coloured brother in the politi-
cal field. The results of the change in Southern
tactics will certainly be of advantage to the
coloured men. Whether or not the newly en-
franchised freedmen will be of advantage to the
Republican, or to the other party, is a question
which cannot be answered beforehand with any cer-
tainty. We expect the coloured vote to go very
often with the Southern candidate in local and
Congressional elections, and we do not doubt that
it can, with very little difficulty, be had for the
Republican Presidential candidate. It can in the
next election, at any rate, and the reason why is
too plain to need stating.—The Nation.
THE RECORD-OFFICE, FETTER-LANE. -- The
central tower of the Record-office, which is now nearly
completed, is to have on each of its four sides a
he Em statue,
under a canopy that stands above tho parapet—t-
press Matilda, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Anne, and Queen
Victoria. The execution of these statues has been en-
trusted by Mr. Pennethorne to Mr. Joseph Durham,
A.R.A. The statue of Queen Victoria was the first
placed in its nook, and that of theEtnpress Matilda has just
been erected. Queen Anne will be there before the 20th of
April, and Queen Elizabeth by the 18th of May; and thus
the tower will be completed, and all scaffolding removed
b
r.ceemovede
by June. The statues, which are admirably executed, are
above the size of life, a fact that would se
guessed from bolow,—.lluilder.

SPORTING INTEL LIGENOE—This Day.

VICTORIA CLUB BETTING.—(THIS DAY.)
The principal feature of the doings to-day w
the increased disposition to back Julius for the
Two Thousand Guineas, who left off decidedly first
favourite. Plaudit, however, was firm at his quoted
price.
The French colt Trocadero was in good
demand, while Knight of the Garter retired to
25 to 1. There was little doing on either the Derby
or Cup.

TWO THOUSAND.
100 to 30 agst Julius (taken)
9to 2 agst Plaudit (taken)
7to 1 agst Vauban (taken and offered)
Bto 1 agst Marksman (offered)
Bto 1 agst Hermit (offered)
100 to 8 agst Trocadero (taken)
25 to 1 agst Knight of the Garter (taken)
DERBY.
11 to 2 agst The Rake (taken)
10 to 1 agst Hermit (taken)
11 to 1 agst.Vauban (taken)
1000 to 60 agst Julius (offered)
1000 to 80 agst Plaudit (taken)
CHESTER CUP.
10 to 1 agst Lecturer (taken)
100 to 7 agst Archimedes (taken) _
1000 to 30 agst Leases (taken)
1000 to 40 agst Miss Havelock (taken)

DONCASTER SPRING MEETING.

The Doncaster Spring Handicap of 15 sous each, 10 ft, and
only 5 if declared at noon on Apia 16, with 100 added ;
winners of any handicap of the value of 50 soya after,
April 10 (at nine a.m.) 61b, of two or one of 200 101 b e
tra. St. Leger Course. 31 subs.
Age st lb
Regalia ... 5 9 0
Harry Brailsford ... 5 8 2
CAithness ... 4 7 13
Moldavia ... 5 7 12
Archimedes ... 5 7 10
Buckfuot ... 6 7 9
Lion ... 5 7 7
War ... ... 4 7 7
Retrousse ... ... 4 7 7
Treasure Trove ... 4 7 7
Belmont ... ... 4 7 6
Selim ... 4 7 4
Tacitus ... 4 7 2
Terror ... ... 4 6 13
Dulcimer ... ... 5 6 13
Chepstow ... ... 4 6 12,

Age st. lb
Forester ... 5 0 10
Black Prince ... 4 ti 10
Aldcroft :..4 6 10
tionestish 3 6 la
liawkswell ... 4 6 a
Lord of the Dales 3 6 2
Miss Calthorpe ... 3 6 0
Clarice ... 3 5 13
The Rock ... 3 5 13
Policy ... ... 3 512
Leap Year ... 3 5 11
Menlicant ... 3 5 10
Veruon ... 3 5 10
Rap ... 3 5 7
Deceit ... 3 5 7

THE CHESTER CIIP.

WEDNESDAY, May 1.
The Tradesmen's Plate of 200 sove in specie, added to e,
Handicap Sweepstakes of 25 cove each, 15 ft, and 5 only
if declared; the second to receive 50 sove; the winner,
after Jan. 23, at six p.m., of the Two Thousand Guinea;
Stakes, or a 500 cove handicap, 101 b.; the second for
either, or the winner of a 200 soya handicap, 51b extra,
both including the winner's own stake. Cup Course,
about two miles and a quarter. 151 subs., 72 of whom
pay 5 soya each.
Age et lb
The Duke.— ... 5 9 3
Dalby 6 810
John Davis 6 8 10
Gontran b 8 3
Lecturer ... 4 8 2
Rama ... ... 4 8 2
Harry Braileford ... 5 8 2
Tormentor ... 4 8 1
Moulsey ... 6 8 0
Salpinctes..; ... 5 712
Caithness ... ...di 7 10
Special .4 7 10
Rodomonte 4 7 8
Arkansas 5 7 8
Urania ... ...4 7 8
Redcap ... ... 6 7 6
Doctor Syntax ... a 7 6
Archimedes ... 5 7 5
Skirmish ... 5 7 5
Lucifer ... ... 4 7 4
Acton. ...4 7 4
Gomera ...5 7 2
Conundrum ... 4 7 2
Beeswing 7 0
Jollity ... ...4 7 0
Abergeldie ... 4 6 12
Nu ... 5 6 12
Aldcroft ...4 6 10
The Clown 6 6 10
Mareyas 4 6 9
Holstein 5 6 9
Mdlle. Cleopatra .. 4 6 9
Chepstow ... 4 6 8
Minster ... 4 6 6
Honeymoon 4 6 6
Aleibiada a 6 6
Dubiety ... 5 6 6
Endsleigh 5 8 6
Proserpina... ...4 6 4
Ecclestoa 4 6 4

Age et lb
Surney 6 6 2
Quick March ... 4 6
Mrs. Allan... ... 4 6 0
Lion King... ... 8 6 0
Newland ... 3 6
31k. Prince, by Vol-
tigeur ... 4 6 0
Unitas ...3 6 0
Amanda o 3 6 0
Helen ... 6 6 0
The Rescue ... 8 5 12
Armourer 3 5 10
Bracken ... 8 6 10
SergeantPacquot... 4 5 10
Stokeley 8 5 10
Foresight ... 3 5 10
Arundel ... 3 510
Harrogate ... 3 5 10
Land Tax... ... 8 5 10
Gilead ... ... 3 5 9

Dutch Admiral ... 3 5 9
Sunflower filly ... 8 5 9
Fair Wind... ... 8 5 7
Sea Mew ... ... 8 6 7
Fan... ... .. 3 6 7
Sweet Home ... 3 5 7
Mendicant... ...8 6 7
Whirligig ... ... 36 7
Weather Star ... 3 6 7
Ailesbury ... ... 3 5 7
Romulus c. ... 3 5 7
Leap Year..: ... 3 5 7
Broadlands ... 3 5 7
Red Shoes... ... 3 5 7

Scipio ... ... 8 6 7
ViscountSt.Albans 3 5 7
Barrington ... 3 5 7
Leases ... ... 3 5 7

Sister to Vedette... 3 5 7
King's Daughter ... 3 paid

NOTICE.—CHANGE OF ADDRESS.—JOIDI STIRS, late of
Beaufort Buildings, Strand, returns his hest thanks for the
patronage he has received during the past year, and hogs
to inform his friends that he has removed to 2.5, IVel-
lington-street, Strand, London, where commissions will be
executed to any amount. Price Lists as usual.

T. and G. LEE, of the Whcatsheaf, Virorshiii-ittreet,
Shoreditch; at. Three King-court, Lombard-street; and
at One S wan-yard, Bishopsgate-street.

W. HOPKINS lend Joint AMBROSE (member of Tattersall's,
Victoria, and other Clubs) Execute Commissions on all
races throughout the year. Address-33, Oxin-DEN-
STREET, HAYMARKET.

Commissions.
JOHN PERCITAL,
Oxford Cigar Stores,
3, Panton-street, Haymarket.

Mr. GEORGE Wzas has lists posted on all forthcoming
events daily from ten till two at the City Arches ; also in
George-yard, and through his agent, Mr. Frank Butler,
near Meux's Brewery.

THE HATELOCK Turf Agency's Representative can bo
seen daily in Talbot-court, Gracechurch-street, from
Eleven till Three. N.B.—lf you want a good foreign
cigar call at the Havelock Cigar Stores, 10, Walworth-
road, throe doors from the Elephant and Castle.

LONDON GAZE II:. —Last Evening.

WHITEHALL, APIUL 10.

Tho Queen has been pleased to grant unto the Hon.
and Rev. George Herbert, M.A., the Deanery of her Ma-
jesty's Cathedral Church of Hereford, void by the death of
the Rev. Richard Dawes.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND BEDFORD SCHOOL.
—The loyal reception which his royal highness met with
from the boys of the Bedford Grammar School on the
occasion of his recent visit to Bedford has been acknow-
ledged by the prince with his usual kindness, and in a
manner most agreeable to thorn. Dr. Fanshawe, the head
master, has since received his royal higimess's express
wish that an extra week's holiday should be added to the
usual Easter vacation, which has at once been granted
Bedford School, which is in the patronage of New College,
Oxford, is the largest endowed grammar school in the
kingdom. _ .

The New York Nation makes the following re-
marks on "New America :"—" It is not surprising that
many charges of misrepresentation come from various
quarters against Mr. Hepworth Dixon and his last book.
There are numerous reasons for believing that the author
of "New America" had made his theories of American
life before making his first observations of it. The
Oneida community has honoured the author who, alone
of authors, has honoured it, by devoting its evenings
to the reading of his book, and Mr. J. H. Noyes, who is
the head and front of that "Bible family," republishes in
The Circular the chapters that relate to him and his society,
correcting, in foot-notes or long articles, the more im-
portant errors, but occasionally abandoning the attempt
when Mr. Dixon blunders too hopelessly. The commu-
nity appears, however, to be in the best of humours.
But quite other is the mood of a respected corre-
epondeut of ours, who holds a high judicial office
in Colorado,
the
ed
sc,,all writesps
have lloslfnnofrootmheDenver as follows:
"In his effort to make a readable book, Mr. Dixon has
armed with bowie-knives and pistols the people who re-
side in the State of Kansas and the Territory of Colorado ;
has clothed them in grotesque, outlandish costume, and
given them semi-barbarous manners ; of all which I com-
plain. I trust that no ono will be deterred from visiting
Atchison, Kansas, through fear of meeting at the break-
fast table 'a jolly set of dogs, each dog with a bowie-knife
in his pocket, a six-shooter in his belt,' as narrated on p.
14. lem persuaded that those ' dogs' ♦isit the breakfast
.
table only when men of Mr. Dixon's imaginative facultiesaro
present ; for 1 have been at Atchison several times myself,
and I have not seen them at the breakfast table or elsew sumo
Our correspondent agrees with Mr. Bowles—we presume
in the Sprtnylield Republican, showed
ni tpi is
some
oßfolkwllre.sDwilxioo'n's mistakes—in casting much doubt
on Mr. Dixon's narrative of the perils he encountered on
the plains, and speaks still more disrespectfully of the tale
of terror (p• 55) about a certain Jack Dunkier, whom Mr.e
Dixon depicts riding into Denver with the leg of an
Indian warrior slung to his saddle--a leg which he had
valiant
stripped
correspondent,
e.
auniha
cut from the trunk; having previously, by the way
heard
Air. Dixon's
off
fe
had been feeding for fivefirevethan days:—"
:-.."
During
epwspihedidec nh e e in Denver of
ancl I venture the assertion d slxytehara tEI/2n".0 says
re-
dlble citizen of Denver will affirm that
withftny one ever. ap-
peared in the streets of
hensays, ecl,
yre
would Indian
be warrior
quite
as clung
muchisths,altddtloown the leg of an
astonished.wat such a spectacle as
kindwith is a
applauded the barbarisixm
that bolTvli of hl
ceetox
ihk people
ha
st
h. ot
shamelessly
meDye el
aeont
theyh e and
astoryre otfotheleraeniturfrnomof Mr.
the Sandp..Creel voelusantmeeer
woman's heart on the end of a
faarlesetrathduateedit,
this
Sis
ivvieirtyerssuayrps,riwsihn
adopt it." The citizens of Denver and generallyCoalro.raDdoixone
when they ou l d
gamblers, drunkards, bleedthirety scemldrerl: spoken
of
as