The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 10, 1866.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

On Tuesday Major-Gen. Taylor, Inspector-Gen.
of Artillery, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Major
Teesdale, arrived at Sheerness, by the 11 10 a.m.
train, for the purpose of making his annual inspec-
tion of the Ist Depot Brigade of Royal Artillery,
stationed at that port. The whole of 'the brigade,
consistiag of about 700 officers and men, were
drawn up in line on the parade-ground after the
usual salute. The men were then formed into 12
companies, each of which was carefully inspected.
This concluded, the marching past was conducted
with beautiful order. The men deployed into line,
formed square, and executed various other infantry
movements, the whole of which were gone through
in a very soldier-like manner. The Inspector was
accompanied through the ranks I:ty Col. Riddell,
C. 8., Commandant of the Chatham division of the
Royal Artillery, and the troops were put through
their various evolutions by Lieut.-Col. Crofton, in
command of the Brigade. This part of the proceed-
ings was brought to a close about 1 o'clock, when
the men separated to go to dinner. At half-past 2
they again assembled on the parade, and, after being
told off into companies, manned the sea defences.
This concluded the inspection for the day. Yester-
day morning the Royal Military Hospital was in-
spected, together with the barracks, the new fortifi-
cations, the battery books, the married men's quar-
ters, the dinners, &c. At the conclusion, the general,
addressing the sergeants in their mess-room, ex-
pressed himself as highly gratified with the inspec:
tion, which had been most satisfactory.
The half-yearly inspection of the corps of Royal
Marines Light Infantry, which commenced at head-
quarters, Chatham, on Monday, was resumed on
Tuesday by Major-G6n. A. B. Stransham, the
Inspector-Gen. of the corps. The early part of the
morning was devoted by Major-Gen. Stransham to
the inspection of the kits and accoutrements of the
non-commissioned officers and men, for which pur-
pose a few of the companies were assembled on the
barrack parade-ground in front of their quarters.
The Inspector-General afterwards proceeded to the
military gymnasium, at the inner lines, Brompton,
where the non-commissioned officers and men of the
Royal Marines, in common with the troops of the
Line, undergo daily a course of gymnastic exercises.
The non-commissioned officers and men inspected
consisted of a squad of about 90 men of all ranks
who are now undergoing their. course of instruction
at the establishment, prior to embarkation. On this
occasion the physical endurance of the men was put
to rather a severe test, the detachment being made
to run a distance of several hundred yards. They
were then momentarily halted and immediately put
through the bayonet exercise, which was performed
in a highly satisfactory manner, not one of the de-
tachment evincing any symptom of undue fatigue.
After witnessing some other exercises, in, which the
Royal Marines displayed considerable efficiency,
Major-Gen. Stransham and:staff rode back to the
Royal Marine barracks, where he inspected the offi-
cers and non-commissioned officers in the sword
exercise, the party engaged being drawn up in the
barrack square. At the close of this portion of the
inspection, General Stranslam highly commended
the manner in which the ()Ewers andnon-commis-
sioned officers had acquittel themselves in this part
of their duties, intimating is the course of his com-
mendatory remarks that in the sword exercise the
Chatham division was not inferior to either of the
other divisions. Major-General Stransham subse-
quently inspected the barrack-rooms and new bar-
rack quarters, all of which were found to be models
of cleanliness and regularity, and in the afternoon
he left bead-quarters to commence his inspection of
the Woolwich division.

Yesterday the troops comprising the three divi-
sions at Chatham garrison, including the Ist, 2d,
and 3d battalions, together with the division of
Royal Marines Light Infantry, were marched to
Chatham lines, where tl,ey were put through a
variety of brigade and other manceuvres_incidental
to a brigade field-day, under Major-General Sir
R. Walpole, -K.C.8., commanding the forces in the
Chatham districts. The troops engaged in the
movements returned to their respective quarters late
in the afternoon.

Capt. Colthurst, instructor of musketry to the 2d
depot battalion at Chatham, has been appointed
Capt. and Adjt. of the 14th depot battalion at But-
tevant, vice Capt. Ileathcote.

An order has been received at Chatham garrison
from the Horse Guards directing Lieut. Brinkley,
of the 2d depot brigade, Royal Artillery, to embark
on board the Robin Hood, at Gravesend, for Hong-
kong, to join the brigade of Royal Artillery in
China. Lieut. Wheatley, of the Ist depot brigade,
is ordered to be transferred to No. 7 battery, 10th
brigade, in Canada, and to embark for Montreal.
'The 24th company of Royal Engineers, under the
command of Captain Locock, has arrived at head-
quarters, Brampton, Chatham, from Devonport,
having been conveyed to Gravesend in the Ceres,
and disembarking at Government-quay. The
strength of the company numbered two officers and
78 non-commissioned officers and men, with 12
women and 18 children. During the time the 24th
company has been stationed at Plymouth it has been
employed on the engineering works at that part of
the coast.

The ironclad ship Research, 4,200 horse power,
Commander Scott, having undergone some exten-
sive alterations and additions at Chatham dockyard,
will be undocked on Saturday.
The armoured iron frigate Bellerophon, Capt. E.
Tathani, made her first cruise south of the Isle of
Wight for trial of the experimental broadside gun-
carriages she has on board yesterday. The commis-
sion on board, appointed by the Admiralty to con-
clude those trials with the Bellerophon, which were
begun by Capt. Key, C. 8., with the Minotaur, com-
prised Captains R. H. Powell, C.B. (Britannia), E.
Tatham (Bellerophon), F. A. Herbert (Royal Sove-
reign), Commanders M. Singer (Helicon) and W.
Arthur (Excellent). Admiral E. G. Fanshawe,
from the Admiralty, went off to the frigate in- one
of the port steam tenders previous to her weighing
from Spithead. At 7 a.m. the Bellerophon was
under plain sail to topgallant sails, with her head to
the southward, well off from• the Culvers, close
hauled, and looked remarkably well under her
canvas.

The unarmoured screw frigate Tribune, Captain
Lord Gilford, went into Portsmouth harbour from
Spithead on Tuesday, and took up a berth along-
side the south jetty, where she is ordered to be dis-
mantled and paid out of commmission.

Rear-Admiral George Ramsay, C. 8., has been
appointed Commander-in-Chief on the south-east
coast of America station, vice the Hon. C. E. J. B.
Elliot, promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Rear-Admiral E. Ommanney has been appointed
a Conservator of the River Thames, vice Captain
In glefield, resigned.

as Tuheeafto.llCo an
the Admiralty :—Lieut. J. B. Michell, to the Spider,
following panadipnogi,ntments have been !mile at
vice
Lieut. C. F. Hill, to the Gleaner, Kennedy,eaner,
aspromotedieu Lieut.
com-
manding, vice Hardy, promoted ; Lieut. Martin J.
Dunlop to the Pearl ; Lieut. Henry J. Hesketh to
the Amazon ; Lieut. Capel Wodehouse to the
-Jason ; and Louis F. B. Farnall, nominated naval
cadet ; Lieut. Arthur C. Curtis to the Terrible ;
Robert E. Clarke and Chas. G. Robinson, midship-
men, to the Jason ; Edmond J. Trafford, Charles
Windham, Herbert A. W. Onslow, and Thomas
Hadlay, naval cadet, to the Bellerophon ; Frank
Finnis, William C. H. Snell, Robert Pray, Henry
Harris, William 11. Webster, and Charles W.
P. Bouverie, naval cadets, to the Pearl ; Alexander
E. T. Bruce, Claude Paget, William C. Weed, and
11. B. Buchanan, naval cadets, to the Victoria ;
Frederick C. Pike, George H. Smith, Charles M'C.
Leblanck, and Bevan W. Slater, naval cadets, to the
Jason ; G. M. Brooke, William J. L. Heyland,
Richard T. Rennie, and Francis G. 011iver, naval
cadets, to the Duncan • Edward Knipe, Harold G.
Bird, Alexander Serie' and T. C. Fenton, naval
cadets, to the Pallas ' • George H. Beaton, chief
engingeer,,
mtothe p
toetahrel ; Jason ' •
aJsohßnosGe: Shearman, chief
engineer, to the Pearl • Charles M'Vreener, engi-
neere
Jason ; Thomas J. Warburton and engineer,Edward
son, first-class assist.-engineers, to the Pearl; John
Bolas, first-class assist.-engineer, to the Jason ;
assist.
-engineer,
to s,firtshte-c
jlaassson.assist.-engineer, to the
Gladiator ; and Charles E. Stewart,. second-class

University of London.

Yesterday tho Vice-ChanQlor and Fellows of the Uni-
versity of London held a meeting in the Convocation-room
of the University at Burlington-house, Piccadilly, for the
purpose of admitting graduates and awarding certificates
and medals to those who had passed with honours.

Mr. GROTE, the Vice-Chancellor, said it was with deep
regret ho had to state that Earl Granville, their Chancellor,
was prevented from attending by an afflicting family cala-
mity. It was therefore his duty, as Vice-Chancellor, to
preside.

Dr. CARPErrrEu (the Registrar) then proceeded to read
the report showing the number of candidates (255) ad-
mitted as graduates and undergraduates during the pre-
ceding academical year.

The following graduates who had passed the examina-
tions for the higher degrees were then presented, the Vice-
Chancellor, as he admitted them, delivering their diplomas.
LL.D.—Wm. Willis, Huddersfield College ; Daniel Leg-
gatt, private study.
M.D.—Frank Buszard, Guy's Hospital ; William Dale,
Leeds, and Middlesex Hospital ; Thos. Fairbank, St. Bar-
tholomew's Hospital; Samuel J. Gee, University College;
Francis W. Gibson, University College; Gwynne Henry
Harries, King's College; Charles A. Hingston, St. Bartho-
lomew's Hospital; Edmund Holland, University College ;
Horace Jeaffreson, St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; Henry L.
Kempthorne, King's College; Thomas Morton, King's
College ; Walter Rickards, University College ; Eustace
Smith, University College; Richard P. Burke Taaffe, St.
Bartholomew's Hospital ; Thomas J. Woodhouse, St.
Thomas's Hospital.

D. Sc.—lnorganic and Organic Chemistry.—Walter
Flight, Universities of Halle and Heidelberg; Edmund J.
Mills, Royal College of Chemistry. Geology and Palaeon-
tology.—Edward Hesketh Birkenhead, Royal School of
Mines; Frederick G. Finch, Royal School of Mines and
University; Clement Le Neve Foster, Royal School of
Mines.

M.A.—Classics.—Rev. Thos. Ansell Marshall, Trinity
and New Inn Hall, Oxford ; James Edwin Odgers, Man-
chester New College ; William Field, Cheshunt College.
Mathematics.—Jonas Ashton, University College. Moral
Philosophy, &c.—George Lyon Turner, Cheshunt College;
Robert Hunter, University College; -William Field, Ches-
hunt College.
The graduates who had simply passed the examinations
for the other degrees were then presented :
LL.B.—John Gall, George Gordon, and David Robert-
son, University of Aberdeen; John Leonard Alcock, Henry
Rutter, and Thomas Pallister Young, University College ;
Henry Nelson Cape], King's College; James Edward Han-
num and Septimus Peeche Moore, New College ; Joseph
Gill, Royal Belfast Academical Institution ; Frank Crisp,
private study ; and William Easterby, self-tuition.

M. 8., 8.A., and B. Sc. followed.
Those graduates who had passed with honours were
next presented :

LL.B.—Lindsey Middleton Aspland, University Col-
lege, first in principles of legislation (scholarship), first in
equity, and first in common law ; John Shortt, Trinity
College, Dublin, fourth in principles of legislation ; John
Stirling Ainsworth, Manchester New and University Col-
leges, fifth in principles of legislation ; Robert Romney
Kane, Queen's University, alone in conveyancing, first
(mg.) in Roman law, third in principles of legislation,
second (EN.) in common law, and third in equity ; Lewis
Adonijah Mendes, Regent's Park and University Colleges,
second in equity ; Thomas Charles Jarvis, University Col-
lege, first (a3q.) in Roman law, second in principles of
legislation, and second in common law.
M.B. M.S.-and B.A. graduates followed.
Graduates to whom a scholarship, medal, or prize had
been awarded were then presented :
LL.D.—William Willis, Huddersfield College, medal.

M.D.—Henry Law Kempthorno, King's College, medal,

M.A.—Jonas Ashton, University College, medal in
mathematics ; and Geo. Lyon Turner, Cheshunt College,
medal in moral philosophy.
LL.B.—Lindsey Middleton Aspland, University College,
University law scholarship.
M.B.—Revet Coleridge Powles, King's College, scholar-
ship and medal in medicine ; Geo. Oliver, University Col-
lege, medal in medicine; Revett Coleridge Powles, King's
College, scholarship and medal in midwifery ; Arthur Geo.
Mickley, Guy's Hospital, medal in midwifery ; and Peter
Maury Deas, University of Edinburgh, medal in forensic
medicine.

M.S.—Peter M. Deas, University of Edinburgh, scholar-
ship and medal in surgery ; and E. Andrew, University
College, medal in surgery.
B.A.—John F. Moulton, St. John's College, Cambridge,
scholarship in mathematics ; Benjamin Renshaw, Stony-
hurst College, scholarship in classics ; and Alfred H. F.
Burder, private study, scholarship in moral philosophy.
B. Sc.—Stephen W. Bushell, Guy's Hospital, scholarship
in biology.

First Scriptural Examination—Geo. Alex. Christie, New
College, prize ; Arthur Win. Kay Griffith, Spring-hill Col-
lege, prize ; Charles S. Slater, Spring-hill College, prize ;
and Edward Barnett Wensley, King's College,.prize.
The Registrar then read a list of all the undergraduates
who had obtained honours.

The VICE -CHANCELLOR, after referring to the exertions of
Dr. Storrar as a member of the Senate, as chairman of Con-
vocation, and as therepresentative of the university in the
Medical Council, to the death during the last year of four
members of the Senate—Lord Monteagle, Sir J. Lubbock,
Mr. Braude, and Mr. Hodgkin—and the resignation of Mr.
Billing, said that the. more immediate representatives of
the university had during the past year endeavoured to
extend and promote its usefulness. Their degrees were
known throughout the land to be the result and recom-
pense of serious and wall-directed studies. Their curriculum
was large and well defined, but large as it was at present the
Senate was on the watch for any well-considered means of"
improving it. Various suggestions had been made to them.
The medical degree had been successful, and a degree had
been suggested as a parallel to it, for the encouragement of
literary acquirements, to be called (as we understood) "Doc-
tor of Letters ;" indeed, similar to the degree of Doctor of
Science. The University had also established a degree of
Master in Surgery. They had likewise made a useful im-
provement with regard to the degrees of Bachelor of Law
and Doctor of Law. Hitherto law had not been treated as
a separate faculty, like arts and medicine, but had been
regarded as a sort of superstructure upon the department
of arts. The rule had been that no student could come up
for examination in law until he had passed an examination
for and had taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts. But, ac-
cording to the scheme which was to commence next Ja-
nuary, students of law would no linger be required to take
a degree in arts before they came up for a first examination
inlaw. He would be entitled to come up within on yearafter
matriculation ; but at the same time, inasmuch as this de-
gree in law would become a separate and substantive degree
there would be required a far higher range of legal studies
before it would be allowed to be obtained. He was led to
hope, from various inquiries which had been addressed to
the Senate, that this improvement would accord with the
aspirations of many young students who sought to qualify
themselves for the practice of the legal profession. He had
had the satisfaction during the past year of discovering the
active influence of the University of London might be ex-
pected to spread, not only over England and Ireland, but over
the British colonies. They had been holding provincial exa-
minations in various colleges in Great Britain and Ireland ;
and which were in every respect the same as the examina-
tions held in that hall. The system of examination, under
certain qualifications, had been extended to the Mauritius.
A similar arrangement was expected to be made with
British India, communications with Calcutta having
been opened with that object, and he hoped in no very long
time they would he able to establish a practical system of
co-operation, and make the University of London actively
instrumental in promoting the spread of European know-
ledge in the East. (Cheers.) Ho would now turn to one or
two other points of interest. He was happy in being able to
congratulate all the friends of the University of London
upon two measures which her Majesty's Government had
proposed since the commencement of the present Session
of Parliament. (Cheers.) One of these measures was the
declared intention of the Government to provide the Uni
versity at last with an adequate and substantive building
of their own. (Cheers.) And not merely was it their in-
tention to do this, but a motion was made in the House of
Commons about ten days ago for a vote of £20,000 on ac-
count of expenses, and which vote was introduced as the
first instalment of a total vote of £65,000, at which the
Government estimated the entire cost of the building.
(Cheers.) The other proposition was that which geatle-
ment had read in the speech of Mr. Gladstone the-other
evening—namely, the intention to erect the University
of London into a Parliamentary constituency return-
ing one member to the House of Commons. He need
not point out the great importance of these two mea-
sures as affecting the position, the dignity, and the
future efficacy of their University. It indicated that the
University had at last arrived at the period of its
majority. They might be said now to have become of
ago, after a minority which to some extent had been in-
conveniently prolonged. As to the building, it was a most
pressing want. It was really not without pain and humi-
liation that one heard and read of discussions being carried
on not merely in newspapers, but in the House of Com-
mons, where some persons were not able to distinguish
the University of Loudon from University College. The
University College was known to all the world, and that
was the advantage of having a conspicuous, distinct,
and substantive building. The University of London was
comparatively unknown. They were taken as a sort of
invisible agency, having a name, but no-local habitation.
Ho rejoiced, therefore, that this want of a house was about
to terminate. The Government proposed to place a new
building on the north front of Burlington-house gardens. It
would be central, accessible, and public, and as little dis-
turbed with noise and traffic as would bo consistent with
those conditions. From the grant of £20,000 having been
passed by the House of Commons without a division, ho
thought they might fairly conclude that the proposition of
the Government would receive the approbation of the Le-
gislature. Respecting their prospects of becoming a Parlia-
mentary constituency, that must depend upon the temper
of Parliament. Upon that point he would only remark that
it would be perfectly consistent with the performance of
their educational duties, and would not only bo giving a
standing and a dignity to the University in the eyes of the
country, but would be realising those hopes and aspirations

they had long cherished, on its being held out to them
30 years ago that they should be received upon an equal
footing with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Ile was not about to argue any disputed points on Parlia-
mentary reform. It would be out of place ; but this much
he might say, that if the proposition of the Government
should be adopted by the Legislature no person would ac-
quire a vote within the walls of the University except those
who should have passed through three successive and se-
rious examinations at least, and he was convinced that the
preparation necessary for obtaining a bachelor's degree in
arts, science, or in medicine afforded proof of a competency
to exercise the elective franchise greatly superior to any
amount of property they might please to suggest. (Cheers).
With the speech of the Vice-Chancellor the proceedings
terminated.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

~~_

TIMES.—The great moral to be drawn from the
present Financial Panic is that money is really not
worth 30 per cent. A delusion upon this point was
the source of the speculations which are now proving
so unfortunate. Owners of money handed it over to
organised Finance Companies with the expectation
of receiving four or five times the amount of interest
usually returned. The Finance Companies, bound
to exact these rates of interest for the satisfaction of
their shareholders, were compelled to make corre-
sponding reductions in the quality of the securities
obtained for their advances, and the result is what
we now see. It is not to be assumed, and is pro-
bably not the fact, that any great„proportion of these
advances has been lost. The moneyis not lost, but
it is locked up, and that at a moment when it is im-
peratively needed, is almost as bad. We called this
Panic " Financial" because it is in the new system
of " financing" that it has originated, and because
the new Finance Companies feel the effects most
severely. Of course the difficulty is complicated
and aggravated by the calamitous prospect of Euro-
pean war, which depreciates ruinously the funds
and securities of the States embroiled, and neces-
sarily acts in some degree upon the whole money-
market at home. But the depression thus created
is comparatively slight, and it is due, moreover, as
regards our own Funds, in some degree to other
causes. Mr. Gladstone explained the other day that
the present quotations of Consols indicated, not a
diminution of the national credit, but an enhance-
ment in the value of money. Our credit stands as
high as ever it did, but the highestcredit in the world
is not proof against competition. No national credi-
tor doubts for a momentthat he will receive histhree
per cent. for his money, but people have now become
unwillingto lend their money at three per cent. They
expect at the least three and a half, and the actual
price of Consols shows that they can get it, even on
Government security. It isnot probable, even if the
world were at peace and the share-market tranquil,
that the funds would stand now where they stood
in 1859. It is something, indeed, to find that the
perfection of our credit saves us so much as it does,
and that consols can only be bought to pay three
and a half per cent. when judicious investments re-
turn six or seven, and unexceptionable securities
nearly five. But all this, though perfectly intelli-
gible, will not explain the condition of the " finance"
market, nor even help to explain it. The panic in
that quarter is special and peculiar, arising partly
from the nature of the dealings adopted,i and partly
from the terms on which the capital was raised. If
the capital of a company were represented by £5O
shares, and £5 only of each share had been called
up, every holder of a share would be liable to a de-
mand for £45 more. Practically this is unlimited
liability, and so formidable is the obligation that
nobody is willing to accept it when it looks like a
reality. In theory, of course, the original in-
vestor in such a company should hold his money
in readiness to meet any call up to the value of his
shares, whether to provide for losses sustained or
the needs of expanding business. But this is theory
only ; in practice, the speculator looks only at the
actual price of the share, and thinks nothing of the
contingency of further demands. If he has £5O to
spare, he buys, not one share of that amount, but
ten shares, with a payment of £5 each. This leaves
him with a liability extending to £450 more, but
of that obligation he takes little heed. In the or-
dinary state of the market, he would either
never be called upon for further payments, or, if
calls were made for business purposes, he could
easily and without loss make a partial realisation of
his securities in order to meet them. But when a
panic sets in, this chance is gone, and gone just
when it is most panted. Calls are regarded, either
with or without reason, as inevitable, and no money
can be had for the occasion. At last we see shares
at an actual discount—that is to say, shareholders
offering money to any purchasers who will take them
off their hands, and so relieve them of the dreaded
obligation. But how came these money-fending
companies to be without the money which is their
stock in trade, and why should it be feared that
they will call upon their shareholders for further
contributions ? The answer is to be found in the
new system of business, which the new expecta-
tions of interest rendered almost inevitable. The
finance companies raised their .capital, or, in other
words, obtained subscriptions from the public, on
the faith of the profits which they promised. It
was represented that the fabulous profits made by
old banks and discount houses could, through the
agency of joint-stock companies, be realised by the
humblest individual. A capital of a million formed
by £lO shares was just as good as the same amount
in the hands of a single millionaire, and would
yield just as large a return. The doctrine, condi-
tions of management being equal, was sound enough,
though it should have been remembered that if there
were twenty money-lenders in the market instead
of one they would certainly undersell each other in
some way. And they did undersell each other, not
in interest asked, but in credit given. They de-
manded higher interest than had been ever exacted
before, but they contented themselves with inferior
securities. They did not trouble themselves with
petty transactions at bank rates of profit, but
4, financed" new concerns on a prodigious scale of
business. In other words, they took up the whole
of some great speculation—say, a railway or other
such work—and found the money for it on condi-
tion of getting a lion's share of the ultimate profits.
Millions are soon spent on terms like these, and pre-
sently the companies found themselves with their
capital sunk in investments which could only be pro-
ductive at some distant date. In some instances,
no doubt, the management was injudicious—per-
haps worse, and actual losses were incurred ; but in
the majority of cases the advances are probably
covered by material securities, only the securities
are inconvertible. A Finance Company, with its
assets represented by an unfinished railway, is
naturally in difficulties. It may possess property to
the extent, perhaps, of its paid-up capital, but it is
not property on which money can be raised. Its
only remaining resource is a " call," and the pro-
spect of a call puts its shareholders in such a fright
that they are ready not only to give their shares
away, but to pay anybody for taking them. If it
is inquired why these Companies should have com-
mitted themselves to so hazardous a system of busi-
ness, the reply is to be found in the conditions on
which they started. They were bound to make
profits enough to provide handsome dividends and
maintain the value of their shares, and they could
only get those profits out of ventures proportion-
ately exceptional. Men will not pay twice for a
thing, even when that thing is money, and a
borrower who was taxed 30 per cent. for interest
balanced his account by a reduction in security.
Good negotiable securities, on which money could
at any moment be raised, would not have brought
all this interest with them. If the customers of the
Finance Companies could have offered such securi-
ties, they need not have paid 30 per cent. interest,
or the fourth part of that rate ; but they could give
no such pledges, and so they had to comply with the
demand. Lender and borrower were thus fairly
matched ; but the lender, on the prescribed terms
of business, had no alternative. Ile could not get
30 per cent. and good security too, and if the share-
holders insisted on the profit they could not escape
the peril.
lIERALD.—Even at a time when the political
horizon was unclouded, the speech made a few days
since by the French Emperor at Auxerre would
have occasioned no little uneasiness. At a moment
like the present it is not surprising that it should
have been received as the keynote to a great Euro-
pean war. The Emperor of the French alone,
among the Sovereigns of Europe, has contracted the
habit of indicating from time to time the policy
which he proposes to pursue, not in set speeches to
his Parliament, but in casual observations to indi-
viduals with whom he may happen to be brought
in contact. Now it is in receiving the congratula-
tions of the diplomatic body on a New Year's-day,
now, again, in the act of investing a newly-created
cardinal, and now, again, in acknowledging the
attention of the mayor of a provincial town, that
Napoleon 111. takes the opportunity of raising for a
moment the veil which, in the opinion of the world
at least, conceals his designs. Without venturing
to offer • an opinion on the expediency of the prac-
tice, it must be confessed that it has at least one -
drawback. The most trifling remark which falls
from the Emperor's lips is submitted to the most
rigid analysis, and, by a process of strained inter-
pretation, it is invested with an importance which
it does not possess. The world is always more ready
to give a person credit for evil than for good inten-
tions, and the net result, after a number of enigmas
have been submitted to the test of popular criti-
cism, must on the whole be unfavourable to their
originator. Now, we are far from thinking that
the language used by the Emperor at Auxerre was
enigmatical, although it turns out that it has- been
greatly misunderstood. Indeed, it was particularly

clear and explicit. He announced his detestation
of the treaties of 1815, and declared,
that he had more confidence in the working einem
than in the bourgeoisie, and those whose intelligence+
no less than their wealth,' is supposed to place thcrs
at the top of the social tree. It was in the year d
that Europe was mapped out as it is at present
it certainly was not unreasonable for persone.L
by implicatioo_,
conclude that an expression of detestation of the
treaties by which the present boundary lines Pere
established was tantamount to the declaration of
willingness to see any enterprise undertaken ww,j,
would have the effect of redistributing the Cont
nent amongst its present possessors.
no secret of her intention of plunging Germ..
ill,
into war for the sole purposes of personal
and the Emperor's speech was therefore interpr;
as. an approval of the aggressive policy of vuof
Power, if not as an intimation of the existence
ia
some bond of Union between France and Prils:gbieet
with a view to the realisation of the common e,AO,e
Prussia ra a es.,
of self-aggrandisement. The explanation whici!
been given in a French semi-official journal ot.
Emperor's language has already been well receilv,ire
The Emperor merely intended to repeat the ace Pare
which in different language he expressed twltates
and a half ago, when he invited the Europeans eh
to a Congress, namely, that the questions should
be
have arisen during the past half century
or
definitively arranged. Nor is the Emperor F4131:45
in the expressions of a wish that the treaties of
vibe
should be reformed. When the diplomatists d 3
were assembled at Vienna in that year devieethey
scheme by which European territory should,
could
considered, be fairly parcelled out, theyne
have hoped that the arrangements which they then.
.Mreatir
made would endure throughout all time.
more than once, as all the world knows, the trestle°
r'
of 1815 have been regarded as waste -di Payide
If Austria and Prussia at this moment ;gh
between them the sovereignty of the Dem—of
Duchies, is it not in direct violation_.
those much-vaunted treaties which NaPnleen re-
candid enough to declare that he has ceased:,W.oo to
spect ? H that Sovereign is to-day in a polo 40
terrify Europe by hinting at his readiness to teeth
under foot the treaties of 1815, is it not in the ss-
of the compact which was then formed that It e of
poleon should never again occupy the throilltho
France ? And assuredly it must be confessed for
no Sovereign in Europe has stronger growl:Won
detesting the treaties which marked the terninend
of the First Empire than the founder of the Se'icoa
one. It is, then, scarcely surprising that N,,,,P°rated
111., when year after year he sees these ce! eem,tate,4
treaties modified to suit the exigencies 01 that
scarcely so powerful as France, should declareee of
alo
and.
he abhors arrangements by which France
all the European Powers is expected to be ,b°ol/9
It has been surmised, and probably not liner,what
that the sneech at Auxerre was provoked bybutt
has lately passed in the French Chambers ; the
assuming that such was the case, it furnialle°o-
- reasons for attributing the langnab;ter,
ployed to irritation rather than to a settledn,h;
tion to encourage a great European war.
_l5OO
planation published in the Constitutionnell 'lief 111
vague, as all semi-official declarations of Pe...eyert
'
French journals invariably are, possesses, bLY't
this important character, namely, the inalw.:,-,roeo
tention of allaying the fears which the En3lyect
language served to create. It is perfectly e'Prelatg
that if the Emperor intended to plunge Fran.vo•
war, and to avail himself of the present criti7tef,
sition of affairs in Europe to increase hie,te, Lper+
and if, having such intentions, he thought ref the
when replying to the complimentary address.ief t 3
mayor of a fifth-rate town, to go out of hi°, ii"ewiog
declare them, it is not that on th...V,e°' t
day he would be at the pains to put a cilll—roSei„.
terpretation upon the language he employ er iyorw
ing, however, from the consideration of t0.,,e.,,,e5r
used by the Emperor to that of what is actuaiLe.vithst
ing in Europe at the present moment, we enn't:hat
if danger threatens it is certainly not France 00011
to blame. We believe that the'Emperor, in e°, na
with the English Government, is smcerelYbe ufbet
of seeing peace preserved. The issue, Wfroce
peace or war, does not, however, depend °ll-filAyl of
any more than it does on England. Tilei.;:deoe
Clarendon stated frankly in the House of J-.,;,,erfe
Tuesday evening that we were powerless to :I.l;fast
the peace of Europe ; and, notwithstanding,, 000
influence, we believe the Emperor is in
position. Prussia—that is to say, Count :of tioi
marck, insists on war now as he did upwari:mies
years since, and war he will have. The °'l3-ose
Austria, and Italy, and Prussia, besides t,.."00:
some of the minor States, are prepared for tuv,io.oo
ilia, and it only needs some one to give the4.sl°
to fire the first shot. What the treaties a loorrot
to-day, we all know ; what they will be to-in jo.--11
no one can say. This much, however, is eeritae the
the war which now seems imminent takes 11,,%ciLlerg°
treaties of 1815 will, at its conclusion, r.,,00
modifications so great that their original A.'"
would fail to recognise them.