The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-17 00:00:00

An Emperor or a President 1

The New York Herald advises Maximilian to
'resign his crown and get himself elected Republican
President of Mexico. The Herald quotes Shak-
spere's query, " What's in a name ?" and thinks
`there would be something gained by this simple
substitution of one title for another. But when he
comes to reflect upon the subject he will discover
that this plan is by no means so absurd as it at first
appears. The Mexicans decidedly object to have
an Emperor, and assassinated the person who as-
sumed that title prior to Maximilian's advent ; but
they have no objections to a Presdent, having
selected the republican form of government unani-
mously. The United States will not allow a
Mexican Empire to be established on their border ;
but they have no right to interfere with a Mexican
President, even though he came from Austria. If
Mexico and the United States were satisfied Maxi-
milian would have no further difficulty in obtaining
all the money he required by means of foreign
loans ; for it is the opposition of the United States
which renders his securities so exceedingly doubtful
in the eyes of European financiers. Napoleon
could find no fault with such an arrangement, and
would, indeed, be flattered by it ; for it is a leaf
from his 'own book, translated from French to
Mexican. Napoleon's uncle was Emperor of France,
and was deposed by force of arms at Waterloo.
An interval elapsed, and then the present Emperor
saw an opportunity to restore the Napoleonic
dynasty. But at the same time he was shrewd
enough to perceive that France did not wish another
Emperor just then ; and so he hid his crown under
a black silk hat, turned his sceptre into a cane, and,
by a manoeuvre which we still call ballot-box
stuffing, procured his election as President. After
that, to become Emperor was as easy as taking off
his hat and giving a few commands to well-dis-
ciplined soldiers. There is an example for Mami-
milian. Let him make his arrangements for a
presidential election and then resign his crown,
and his position will be secured for the rest of his
life.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—That the fearful annual mortality of
60,0(0 young children and delicate persons of all ages may be
arrested, if, instead of flying blindly to pills and medicines,
which, though apparently relieving the patient, have in
reality no other tendency than that of increasing debility,
and with it the clangor of life, we were simply to study how
to inc. ease the vital force by imparting new and pure blood,
upon which the harmonious development of the whole frame
depends, has been successfully proved by Du Barry's inva-
lids' and Infa,.ts' Food, the Revalenta Arabica, and its
thousands of cures annually. It yields three times as mush
easily assimilated nourishment as the best meat, and for
children it it ihe best substitute for human milk. Dr.
Routh, physicist' to the Samaritan Hospital for Women and
Children—the best alit hority on buch matters —in his admir-
able publication on Food, says—Amongst the vegetable sub-
stances, th t which comes closest t , milk in its composi:ion
is, without doubt, Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, con-
taining both phosphoric acid in abundance and chloride of
potassium ; it also includes casein, the same principle which
is found in milk in its Constituent part,. No wonder, there-
fore, that under its influence mmy children affected with
atrophy. (wasting away of the body), and marked debi i'Y,
have completely recovered. I have given it with the g reatest
advantage in such eases ; and so far as I may judge from my
own experience, practiae fully carries out what theory,
from a knowledge of its composition, led us to anticipate.—
In tins, lib, 26 9d; 21b, 4s 61; 51b. Ils ; 321 b, 22S ; 241 b.
4es.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London ;
also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, King William-street ; likewise
at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 49, Bishopsgate-
street Within ;
6.3, 350, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand ;
54, Upper Baker-street; 103, Tottenham-court-road; 96,
Upper-street, Islington, N.; Harvey, Notting-hill; Close
Brothers, 65, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's-terrace, St.
John's-wood, London; and all respectable grocers and che-
mists. —Beware 01 spurious imitations.

/loyal Institution.

--tom--

At the weekly meeting of the members of the
Rnyal Institution yesterday evening, a lecture was
delivered by Colonel Sir Henry James «On
the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem," on which
occasion his Royal Highness Prince Arthur was in
the chair. A contour map of Jerusalem and of the
immediate neighbourhood, and sections and plans
showing the geological character of Judea and the
course of the water supply in former times, were
exhibited to illustrate the various points touched on,
but it was to be regretted that in pointing to these
maps Sir Henry often turned his back to the au-
dience, and many of his observations were conse-
quently inaudible. He commenced by stating the
circumstances under which the survey was under-
taken, and referred to the liberal contributions to-
wards carrying it into operation by the Geographi-
cal Society and other societies. The principal objects
in view were to ascertain the level of the Dead Sea
compared with the Mediterranean, and to trace the
course of the aqueducts by which the city was for-
merly supplied with water. In undertaking the first
part of these operations Jaffa was made the starting
point, and the surveyors proceeded nearly directly
eastward, close to Jerusalem, and thence to the
Dead Sea, the level of which was ascertained to be
1,300 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean. From
Jaffa the country rises to a height of about 4,000 ft.
near Jerusalem, and from that point it declined to
the Dead Sea and the Jordan. The water shed of
the country was in the high land near Jerusalem,
where the rivulets run in opposite directions, some
takingthe eastward course and emptying themselves
in the Dead Sea, and the others flowing westward
to the Mediterranean. The axis of the geological
strata is, however, considerably to the west of Jeru-
salem, which is situated on a limestone rock. There
are three kinds of limestone under the city, speci-
mens of which were exhibited, but there are strik-
ing indications of a great denudation of the strata
at some not remote geological epoch, which has
swept away the strata on the west of the axis of
inclination. On the east, not far distant from the
Dead Sea, there is a stratum of limestone,
strongly impregnated with bitumen, of which a
specimen was shown, and to the flowing of the
streams through that bitumenous rock the pecu-
liar character of the water of that sea was attri-
buted. With respect to the water-supply of Jeru-
salem, Sir H. James said that at present nearly all
the water obtained in the city is procured from the
roofs of the buildings, and collected in tanks, and that
there is no drainage from Jerusalem whatever. It
was not so, however, in former times, for there were
discovered the remains of waterworks of great ex-
tent, by which water from the pools of Solomon
were conducted, a distance of 14 miles, along a con-
tinued descent in an aqueduct until a valley ob-
structed the progress of the work, and at that point
a stone syphon was constructed, which carried the
water into the valley and up the opposite hill. There
are also the remains of another aqueduct which, in
connexion with the former, brought water from a
still greater distance. A great part of the lecture
was occupied with exhibiting, by the aid of the elec-
tric lamp, a number of beautiful and highly inte-
resting photographs taken by Captain Wilson, who
was associated with Sir H. James in making the
survey. Several views of the Dome of the Mosque
built over the cave supposed to have been the tomb
of our Saviour were shown, also photographs of dif-
ferent parts of the walls of the city, for the purpose
of proving by the similarity of the character of the
architecture that the structures were erected at the
same period. The buildings were most massive,
some of the stones being upwards of 20 feet long.
In addition to the photographs exhibited there was
a large collection also taken by Captain Wilson, in
a volume placed for inspection on the lecture table.
At the conclusion of the lecture Prince Arthur spoke
to Sir Henry James before leaving.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

---s -

TIMES.—Some time since, in commenting on the
state of Ireland, we urged that the whole country
should be proclaimed and searched for arms, but ex-
pressed a hope that the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act, which was then meditated by the Irish
Government, would be delayed as long as was con-
sistent with the public safety, and only resorted to
after every other means of maintaining order had
failed. We are assured that the time has now come
for the application of the most stringent measures
of repression, and we must, therefore, though with
great regret, accede to the demand which her Ma-
jesty's Ministers will make to-day for extraordinary
powers in dealing with this dangerous conspiracy.
The Irish Government is, of course, better informed
than any private persons can be as to the state of
the country and imminence of the danger. But
enough has been already made public to prove that
cause for the greatest uneasiness exists. Happily,
we know the feeling of the country with considerable
accuracy. In some respects the disaffection is not
so dangerous as in 1848. Then, as now, the peasant
and artisan class was hostile, and, if it had been led
by men less vain and more resolute than Smith
O'Brien and his fellows, might have done no little
mischief. But in those days a part of the trading
and even, of the professional class was tainted, and
a week of successful insurrectionmight have brought
to the rebel ranks recruits from the most respectable
families and the most educated professions. Fe-
nianism, on the other hand, has not, so far as we
know, any such patrons, but among the lower classes
in Ireland it is, if not more extended, more earnest,
practical, and formidable than the " physical force"
movement of 1848. Now, as then, the impulse
tomes chiefly from abroad. Smith O'Brien
harangued and plotted at a time when the
thrones of Europe were tottering on every side,
and revolutionists had some ground for pro-
claiming that an indignant people could at any
time overthrow their tyrants in spite of regular
armies or the best drilled police. At the present
time the impulse comes from America, where, in-
deed, the conspiracy has been organised, and whence
it is still directed. In the difference between these
two foreign influences lies the greater danger of the
present conspiracy. Continental Europe gave Ire-
land nothing but example. Its revolutionary leaders
were almost contemptuous in their treatment of the
Celtic patriots, and for the most part had sufficient
belief in English liberty to reject the theory that
the Irish were groaning under the yoke of tyrants.
But America gave a very different kind of support.
In that vast country there are probably as many of
the Irish race as in Ireland itself, and their hatred
of England, both hereditary and acquired, impels
them to labour with all their might to subvert the
British Government in. Ireland. Fenianism, in spite
of the feuds of its leaders, is popular in the United
States. The Irish believe in it, and show their be-
lief by their subscriptions. Money pours from all
parts of the Union into the Fenian Exchequer, and
the largest sums that have been named will pro-
bably be found to fall short of the actual receipts.
This is in itself enough to account for the vitality
of the conspiracy in Ireland. Where ignorant men,
with the true Celtic taste for secret conspiracy, not
only have the pleasure of belonging to a treasonable
association, with its attractive and mysterious hier-
archy, signs, and passwords, but are well paid for
it into the bargain, it/is no wonder that treason
should thrive. The American Fenians are rich
enough to send envoys and agents of all kinds across
the ocean ; they remit money for arms and for
maintaining a regular propaganda in the country.
Nor are subscriptions confined to America. The
Irish Fenians in England are said to be a numerous
and liberal body, and to supply the necessities
of the movement with a steady stream of money.
Nourished from these sources, it is not to be won-
dered at that Fenianism should grow strong and
bold in Ireland. We know not if the Government
have received any new and particular informa-
tion which has induced them to act suddenly, but
in the increased activity of the movement during
the past month, and the presence of a number of
persons in various districts with the scarcely con-
cealed purpose of promoting insurrection, there is
ample reason for the strictest precautions. The ob-
ject of the Irish Government doubtless is to secure
some of the emissaries of American Fenianism who
are now numerous in Ireland, and who are working
with disastrous effect upon the people. These per-
sons are said to be well-chosen with respect to their
knowledge of the country or of particular districts.
Since one or two of them were convicted on the evi-
dence of the papers they carried, they have taken
care to possess nothing that might indicate in the
smallest degree their mission or their connexion
with the conspiracy. An Americanised Irishman
whom the. Government well knows to be a Fenian

emissary, and of whom it has probably had intelli-
gence for weeks before, appears in a country town,
perhaps with a military title and a Federal uni-
form ; he is manifestly expected by the peasantry,
and becomes the object of respect and the centre of
iliformation. But if he be apprehended and searched
there is not the smallest documentary evidence
against him, while his oral communications are so
guarded that it is difficult to bring home any offence