The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC SCMINALS,

The Times, commenting on the arrest of the Duke of
AnYntpensier by the Spanish Government, speaks of that
nobleman as popular both at Seville and throughout the
Peninsula—as popular as any Frenchman could ever hope
b be south of the Pyrenees ; and he owed the public
avour which he enjoyed not only to his engaging and
.ffable manners, but also to his sound and well-known
liiberal principles. It was only with the utmost reluc-
ance that the duke and his duchess ever made their
.ppearance at the Court of Madrid, where their presence
lispleased the advisers of the Queen's reactionary
>olicy, and where, it is said, the duke's voice was
ifted in vain attempts to counteract their baneful
nfluence. The Queen, however, was proof against all
riendly admonitions, and those prelates, nuns, and
•onfessors who so well knew how to make the palace too
tot eves for the shrewd and not ultra-radical Dowager Queen
Christina could be at no loss for means to estrange Queen
Isabella from a sister and a brother-in-law towards whom
n former years she had entertainedno unfrieadly feelings.
rhe Duke of Montpensier, however, lived too prudently
Ind, at the same time, too openly in his retirement at
Seville to give ground for the faintest breath of suspicion ;
did so long as such ruthless but frank soldiers as O'Donnell
Narvaez were in power the idea of the Duke of
Uontpensier's participation in any plot, or even of his
tctive co-operation with any party, would never have
filtered any man's brain. But it is otherwise now,
when, upon the decease of Narvaez, that unnatural phe-
nomenon in Spain, a civilian Government, has been
nstalled—a Government necessarily exposed to the enmity
A the people, yet destitute of the support of the army.
Sionzalez Bravo, however, is a man of a different stamp
'rona Narvaez. The beginning and end of his policy is
terror, and he has been for the last fewmonths aggravating
his terrorising measures to such an extent as to compel
liscordant and giost heterogeneous parties to coalesce
tgainst him, and to organise all Spain into a
►ast, more or less open conspiracy, by which the safety
A the throne is as seriously compromised as that of the
klinistry. The Times would not undertake to assert that
D'Donnell's old friends, Serrano, Duke, &c., were abso-
lutely unconnected with the movement which was said to
be at hand. All it can say is, that had those officers been
ever so innocent, M. Gonzalez Bravo had very strong
interest in presuming them guilty. He was too glad of
any pretext to lay his hands upon them and put them
out of the wail of mischief. By the suddenness of
their arrest, and by their arbitrary removal, he has
rid himself of inconvenient complaints and unto-
ward explanations. Absent men are always in the
wrong, and where there is so much smoke it cannot
be difficult to induce a belief that there must be fire.
That there are plots in Spain, that revolutions not only
political, but also dynastic, are perpetually hatching in
that country, is a point which few persons would be at the
pains to dispute. Fur the last twenty years Queen Isabella's
throne has been supported only by the bayonets of the
army; her Government has been in the hands of which-
ever general happened to have the army more imme-
diately under his control. There is something above
personal interests, something even above political con-
siderations. There is the misery of the multitude ; there
is famine driving the rural population in shoals to the cities;
there is want meeting the immigrant tide_ at the town
gates and forcing it back swollen by its own tributary
streams to the country. Never, by all accounts, were
vagabondage, highway robbery, and all the horrors of a
disorganised society more rife in Spain than at the present
season. Of what avail against such enemies will be such
arts of government as those by which M. Gonzalez Bravo
endeavours to rid himself of a few generals and of a prince
of the blood ? There is not room for all Spaniards in the
penal settlements ; nor is it easy to contrive a plot impli-
,:ating a whole people. The Spanish Minister is playing a
nigh game ; but it is doubtful whether he will prove the
extent of his courage and energy, or only the desperate
nature of his position.

The Post observes that the ninth annual volunteer
meeting at Wimbledon, now being held, promises
to be not only the most complete and successful which
has yet been held, but to mark an important epoch
in the history of this very gemarkable movement. In the
tortnight during which the elite, the most enthusiastic, and
the really earnest of the force will he in constant intercom-
nunication, they must necessarily discuss in a serious
manner the causes which led to the lamentable occurrences
at the review at Windsor, whereby an undoubted stigma
has been cast on the volunteers, and they can hardly fail
to come to some weighty conclusions respecting the dis-
cipline of the force, which, emanating from such an influ-
ential source, ought to have, and most probably will have,
a marked effect upon its members. Besides this the corps
encamped at Wimbledon will have a great opportunity for
practising and exhibiting true military discipline in camp;
and it should be their aim at the meeting, and the review
at its conclusion, not only to show the finest rifle shooting
in the world, but also to prove t 3 the most incredulous
that the volunteers of England can be brought together
in large nurnly_Ts and present all the features of disciplined
soldiers.

The herald notes that a committee has been formed for
the purpose of raising a Leales National Testimonial Fund
of £lO,OOO as some acknowledgment of his great services
and sacrifices. In the appeal which the originators of this
scheme make to the particular public, they divide this
claim into three particular heads. Mr. Beales is to have
ten thousand pounds—first, for his services to the cause
of reform and the right of public meeting—i.e., the
destruction of the park railings ; next, for the sacri-
fices he has made ; and, lastly, for the abuse and
calumny he has had to endure. Unfortunately,
they do not tell us at how much they value the
sacrifices, the services, and the endurance of abuse
separately. Ten thousand pounds would recoup the sacri-
fices a good many times. Such calumny and abuse as
Mr. Beales has endured he has had full value for in the
calumny and abuse he has flung about him ; and the
services are worth a good deal more or nothing at all. If
Mr. Beales is the author of our new constitution, if he
has given the English people liberty, he has rendered
services which cannot be appraised in any sum of money,
and the gift of ten thousand pounds would be an insult
to him. The Herald declares that it regards the proposal
to present the barrister with a testimonial as a base
attempt to shelve the patriot. Having no evidence,
our contemporary will not suggest that Mr. Gladstone is
at the bottom of this scheme for getting rid of a dan-
gerovs rival by paying him off, but the matter certainly
wears that appearance. Everyone knows how jealous the
Whigs are of men of genius and of men who spring from
the people. Those who have felt the deadly aristocratic
poison which taints the air at Brookes's cannot resist the
conviction that a most Machivellian plot is on hand for
shelving the noble Beales.

The Daily News calls attention to the reaction which
has taken place in the monetary world in favour of foreign
neurities. Foreign bonds are now as eagerly bought as
but a few weeks ago they were shunned. A significant
proof of this revulsion in public feeling is ahewn by the
success of the operations recently put forth. The Argen-
tine loan is the only one of any magnitude, and that bore
the valuable prestige of being introduced by a firm of
unimpeachable standing,—a firm well meriting the title
of Merchant Princes, and who, after the experience
of the recent confiscatory action of Italy and Austria,
set the example of binding the Argentine Govern-
ment, before seeking subscriptions from the public,
that the new loan should be exempt from all taxation
upon the company now and hereafter. This honourable
orecedent must be followed by all foreign borrowers if
they appeal to the English market. For the time being a
speculative mania exists irr Austria and South Germany
which in a minor degree recalls the madness in this country
of 1845 and 18G6—railway, omnibus, and all sorts of com-
panies are brought forward in quick succession—subscribed
two or three times over, and are quoted on the Vienna
Bourse and elsewhere at high premiums. The end of all
this is very clear, and a mere question of time, reaction,
and ruinous collapse, such as we suffered in 1847 and
1848. These German markets during such a mania may
probably disregard all prudential considerations, and
blindly rush into foreign loans without exacting the condi-
tions which can alone render them safe securities in periods
of war or advcr,ity. But here it is not so. Our memory
is too fresh of the terrible losses caused to foreign bond-
holders in this country by the Crimean war in 1853 and the
Austrian and Italian war of 1859. On both these occa-
sions the general object was to sell at any sacrifice, and the
cnrrent belief was that all the foreign Powers engaged in
their respective contests must of necessity stop payment.
All this has taught a good and practical lesson to English
c:;pitalists---they will no longer lend in the dark. It is vain
to talk of the Paris, Dutch, and German markets. The
real mart for capital is here.

The Standard scoffs at the idea that the Conservative
party will be destroyed in the next elections. It says that
nothing but a perverse and wilful blindness could have led
some of cur Liberal writers to expect that the passage of
the Reform Bill would lead to such a result. They will
be able to perceive in a very few months how utterly false
was this deduction. Conservatism, as a principle ofpolitical
action, cannot die until all national thought and indepen-
dence are dead. It is a necessary force in ourpolitical life,and
most' e represented in some form orother. What though the
ground of conflict in one generation is not the same a:;
that in another the conflict itself is eternal, and the battle
never-ending. Conservatism, indeed, if it were what
those of the other side in their ignorance or their preju-
dice suppose it to be, would have been extinct long since.
put true Conservatism is not an obstacle to progress—it
is a mode of progress. As long as men are constituted as
. they are, must endure. It has its seasons of flow and
ebb, but it can never be exhausted; and even if Mr.
Morley's social millennium were realised, it would not last
a week without the rise of a Conservative party. There-
fore, we look forward to the future with perfect coropla•
COItCY.

S 11: P. 2,-APIEE AT THE L.-2,7ED SERVICE

CLUE,

On Saturday evening the members of the United Service
Club, Pall. Mall, entertained Sir Robert Napier at dinner.
The Duke of Cambridge, K.G., presided, and the Prince
of Wales honoured the club by being present as a member.
Sir R. Napier was accompanied by Major-General
Scott, Lieutenant-Colonel Dillon, military secretary,
and Lieutenant Scott, aide-de-camp. Sir Stafford
Northcote, Secretary of State of India ; Lord Stanley,
Foreign Secretary ; and Sir John Pakington, War Minis-
ter, were present. The tables were arranged to dine 140,
and about that number were present. On dessert being
served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge pro-
posed " The health of her Majesty the Queen," which
was most loyally responded to. The Duke of Cambridge
next proposed " The health of the Prince of Wales, and
the rest of the Royal Family." His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales briefly responded to the toast. The Duke
of Cambridge then proposed the toast of the evening, "The
health of General Sir Robert Napier," and in so
doing he coupled " the military and naval forces em-
ployed under that distinguished officer in Abyssinia."
Lieutenant-General Sir R. Napier rose after the applause
with which he was received had subsided, and in a brief
speech returned thanks for the terms in which his health
and that of the brave expedition he had had the honour to
command had been drunk. General Dunne, M.P., then
proposed " The health of the Duke of Cgiribridge, their
president." His Royal Highness briefly acknowledge the
compliment, arid the company shortly afterwards
separated.