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desired by that adversary, we are bound to help the other in recovering it, and punishing the breach of faith. They consider that this promise of help from us in preventing Luxembourg from becoming a stronghold in their adversary's hand, will compensate for any advantage they might now have, either in position or preparation. Prussia has at present a great advantage in position. She holds Luxembourg, and can stay there if she pleases. If she retires, she retires on the express understanding that we will aid her in preventing it from ever falling into French hands, or in recovering it from French hands and restoring its neutrality, if necessary. If we are permitting Prussia to give up this great advantage of possession, in reliance on our aid for protecting the neutrality of Luxembourg against France in years to come, and yet are not ourselves prepared to sacrifice much, in life, and money, and prosperity, for the sake of redeeming that pledge, whenever it may be demanded from us, we are setting the disgraceful example of light promises and insincere professions. When the Times says, in apology for this most serious and important responsibility which we are undertaking," England would never dream of committing herself to isolated action in this matter; she undertakes no responsibility which is not, to the same extent, shared by every member of the Conference;" it is evident that it means to point out a probable mode of escape from the obligation we are incurring, founded on the likelihood that some other members of the guaranteeing Conference will repudiate their obligations. Now, we must say that to enter into this obligation in the express hope that if it should ever be incumbent on us to fulfil it, we can, probably, plead other bad examples as an excuse for not complying, is to accustom ourselves, from the very beginning, to the idea that we are not, in any serious sense, undertaking a national obligation at all. Of course, no question of putting the guarantee in execution can arise till some one fails in her duty. If that one Power power be a great power, such a power as France or Prussia for instance, it is not likely that she will fail alone. She will have supporters and advocates in the excuses she will make for her failure. In that case, and that alone, the true obligation of our guarantee comes into effect. We ought then to say at once, "We side against the power which violates the neutrality of Luxembourg;" and if, on the contrary, we say, "Our obligation to observe the treaty is no greater than that of the offending power; as France or Prussia is indifferent to national obligations, we

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cannot be expected to stand to ours," where was the force of the obligation? The whole guarantee is, then, a mockery, delusion, and snare. It cannot have any active effect until some one of the great Powers breaks through it. And if that is to justify us also in crying off, the whole thing is a pretence and a sham. We maintain that if we enter into this very serious obligation, we ought to do so in all honour and scrupulousness, and with the deliberate intention of aiding those who are true to the treaty against any who are untrue to it, at great national sacrifice and cost. To begin by insinuating that our obligation is no greater than that of others, and that we can cry off if others do, is to begin with dishonourable intentions already half-formed in our minds.

But we are told by Lord Stanley, by the Times and the Standard, that this guarantee for the neutrality of Luxembourg is no real enlargement of the engagements we have already taken, almost, indeed, a diminution of them, because it defines better what we are expected to do, and extends the number of our colleagues in the duty. Certainly this is a very important argument, if only it were a true one. Primâ facie, it does not seem very probable that it can be true. Prussia would scarcely insist on our giving this guarantee of neutrality as a sine qua non, if it did not give her any fresh security. We are told that war or peace depended on our giving this engagement. In that case, it does not seem a very plausible statement that our engagement is no practical addition to our national responsibilities. War or peace would scarcely depend on our signi g a merely formal document, which could not alter the practical course of events. And, in truth, nothing can be more absurdly contrary to the fact than to say that the new guarantee does not extend, and extend in a very important way, the military obligations of England. What is argued by the organs of the Government, the Times and Standard, - is, that we have already guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium, and, of course, of Belgian Luxembourg, so that to take in a few more square miles of neutral territory will not make much difference. Unfortunately, it makes this difference, that the territory now to be included is to be included precisely on this account, that it contains the key to a wholly new set of international jealousies and military positions. Belgium, as guaranteed at present, is a responsibility heavy enough. Practically, the guarantee of French Belgium is a guarantee against France, the only country speaking in any

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guarantee of the same powers for its political independence and neutrality. "Belgium," said the 7th Article of the annex to that treaty," within the limits specified in Articles I, II, and IV, shall form an independent and perpetually neutral State. It shall be bound to observe neutrality towards all other States." We have never given any such guarantee as that to Holland or Dutch Luxem bourg. The claims of Holland to that sort of European guardianship must be traced back to the general arrangements of 1814 and 1815, which have so constantly been violated by all the powers who were parties to those treaties, especially in the case of one of the strongest guarantees given, the case of Cracow, that every one now admits that they have lost validity. The treaties of 1831 and 1839 give no sort of engagement on the part of Great Britain that it will defend the independence or the neutrality of Holland in general, still less of Dutch-Luxembourg. They only guarantee territory to Holland, - territory and independence and neutrality to Belgium.

measure the same language with Belgium, the territory now in question belongs,— the and likely on any account to covet its possession. But the new piece of country is a fragment of German soil, and is likely to be coveted indeed, is coveted at present by both France and Germany alike. It is, what Belgium Luxembourg has never been, the bone of contention between two firstclass Powers of great military resources nay, it is what Belgian Luxembourg has never been, a military position of the first strategic importance, both from its natural advantages and from its holding the centre of a widely-branching railway system. So far is it from the truth, that we do not extend our obligations by taking this territory into the area where neutrality is guaranteed, that the effectual motive which has induced Lord Stanley to promise this guarantee is the entirely new security which it gives to Prussia and France that Great Britain will side with either in preventing the attempt of the other to seize, annex, or garrison it. Small as the territory of Dutch Luxembourg is, it is the key of a new and most important political and military position, which the rise of North Germany to its great European position has rendered one of the first importance to each of the great European rivals of the future. It is this wholly new political and military battle-ground, the neutrality of which we have for the first time engaged to guarantee.

When it is said that we have virtually guaranteed this before, it must be said in complete ignorance of our actual treaty obligations. Lord Stanley says that" we have guaranteed the Duchy of Luxembourg to the King of Holland in the most full, absolute, and unqualified manner.” Now, in the first place, that is only a guarantee of territorial possession, and not a guarantee of neutrality; nor does it touch in the least the question now at issue, the right of garrisoning the fortress of Luxembourg. Nobody cares about the mere territorial possession. No one will go to war for a few square miles of country. It is the right of garrison now in dispute, and that is the real stress of the difficulty. The King of Holland might hold the territory for ever, and no one dispute it, if only Prussia or France could have either of them her way about the military question. The treaty of 1831 defined the limits of Belgium, and gave Belgium the guarantee of Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, for its independence and neutrality. The treaty of 1839 altered the boundaries of Luxembourg as between Belgium and Holland; and again gave to Belgium, not to Holland, to whom

When it is said that it is not easy to imagine any campaign in which the Dutch territory of Luxembourg could be seized by any great Power, and in which the neutrality of Belgian Luxembourg would not also be violated, an argument is raised which has not only no force at all, but if it had, would be good for a gradual extension of our guarantee to the whole of Europe. If, because we have guaranteed one spot of ground liable to certain dangers, we are to guarantee all neighbouring spots of ground liable to other and different dangers, there is no reason why we should ever stop at all. The use of such an argument as this by the advocates of Lord Stanley's policy shows the essential weakness of Lord Stanley's position.

The simple truth is, that in guaranteeing the neutrality of the spot occupied by the present fortress of Luxembourg, we do enter once more on the dangerous policy of giving vague and most important engagements, the force of which we hardly know ourselves, and which, indeed, we set out by wishing to make light of, and the execution of which, whenever it is demanded from us, perhaps in a quite different state of Europe, may be contrary to our interests and contrary even to the true demands of political justice. We are going to do this on the spendthrift principle, that to accept a bill for an indefinite sum not due for an indefinite time, is always better than to make an immediate sacrifice of comfort, however small. It would

be very disagreeable to us to see Europe | me under an obligation to write rather going to war just now. We can stave off sooner than I intended; and if I was not to this war by taking new, vague, indefinitely large obligations for the future, which we hope we may be never called upon, and in our hearts we have never seriously resolved, to fulfil. We ourselves should object seriously even to repeating again the words of obligation, which have now lost so much force through the violations of their pledges by all the parties to the treaties of 1814 and 1815; to renew, formally, those obligations would be in itself a fresh obligation. But not only to renew but to add to them obligations of a very formidable nature, seems to us a policy of the most alarming kind. And the Minister who takes these obligations in our name is the Minister on whom we have all so long depended for refusing the sanction of England to the policy of vague, and dangerous because vague, interventions.

From All The Year Round.

GENUINE LETTER OF THANKS.

THE following epistle, for the genuineness of which we have authority to vouch, bears no date, but is known to have been written about the year 1770.

It is an interesting, because authentic, evidence of the social position of the "Parson" in a bygone day; who was hat in hand to his patron; who thought it in no wise derogatory to his cloth to dine in the servants' hall, to pay court to the housekeeper, and make love to my lady's "woman," or even to marry her, with my lady's countenance and approval. A social position admirably described by MACAULAY.

As concerns the letter itself, the mingled simplicity and servility of the good man, its author, his gratitude for favours conferred, and his keen eye towards benefits to come, his presentation of his family after the fashion of modern mendicants of a lower class, his prolixity and tautology (frightfully suggestive of the sermons under which such of his parishioners as understood English they were, probably, few, for he was a Welsh parson-groaned on Sundays), these points, and other humourons touches of character self-disclosed, make the letter very curious and droll.

Reverend and Worthy, Indulgent and Compassionate, Bounteous and very Valuable Sir.

The present you have sent me has laid

seize the very first opportunity that offered
to return you thanks after the reception of
so considerable a present, I should be guilty
of such a piece of insensibility and ingrati-
tude as the very stones (to allude to the
dialect of Heaven) would become vocal, and
rise up and upbraid me; especially as a few
grateful expressions may be so easily uttered
without any expense obtained, and the least
that can be rendered to any person by
whom a favour is bestowed.
No one is
more ready to acknowledge a benefit, nor,
perhaps, less able to make a retaliation, than
myself. I have it in my heart to do as
much, and in my power to do as little, as
any man living; however, as far as the ef-
ficacy and value of thankful and affection-
ate expressions extend, I am free to do the
uttermost, and if it was possible for a sheet of
paper to contain, on the one hand, and if it
was not altogether unnecessary on the other,
I would give you as many thanks as the
clothes contain threads.

I thank you, dear sir, for the handsome and very valuable black coat, I thank you for the genteel blue coat, I thank you for the neat cloth breeches, I thank you for the pieces you have sent to repair them with, I thank you for the beautiful wig, I thank you for paying the carriage of the whole; I shall further add that, by the present you have animated and heightened my affections, which your former hospitable behaviour had before enkindled. Shall I tell you Iconstantly and fervently pray for you, and am daily forming a thousand wishes for your present and future welfare? Dear sir, I need only say you have won my heart by yonr favours; I bless God for what you have done for me, and am surely to conclude from this instance of your bounty that you will be a great friend to me and my family. Dear sir, I thank you, and again I thank you. On Saturday last I received your parcel. Immediately I had my hair cut off, that I might have the honour on the Sabbath to appear in your wig; and being desirous to wear the black coat once, for your sake, went to the meeting in it. My body was never so genteelly arrayed since it came out of the hands of its Creator; the clothes fitted me well, and looked gracefully upon me. Dear sir, I thank you, and again I thank you.

Was proud to tell Mr. Ashworth what a present you had sent me; Mr. Ashworth seemed quite pleased. Indeed, if anybody who had seen me in my ragged and dirty apparel two years ago, had seen me last

Sabbath so decently clothed in your things, |proached artificial or dead hair in its qualities, would have been apt to think me the reality was then polished with a little oil, and the proof one of Ovid's Metamorphoses, there being so striking a difference between my past and my present appearance. Dear sir, I thank you, and again I thank you. To conclude, dear sir, you say in your last letter, "I have sent you some clothes, if you will not refuse them." Dear sir, what do you mean? I am surprised at your expression. If you had sent me an old pair of shoes or stockings, I should have been obliged and very thankful for them, much more so for a present so large and rich as yours, the value of which I so well know, and I am persuaded they were never yours for ten pounds. Dear sir, if at any time you have an old garment to spare, hat or anything else, I shall receive it with thanks, and my family enjoy the benefit of it. What follows I am ashamed to write, yet must own that your present would have been more complete if you had obliged me with a waistcoat along with it, having not one proper to wear with the coats you have sent me, they being so valuable, and fit me so well, it would be a pity to break them for that. I have nothing to add but an expression of the sincerest and most prevailing concern for your real happiness, and am, dear Sir, what I shall always be proud to call myself, and my wife and boys with me, your highly benefited and greatly obliged and humble Servants,

JOHN & MARY, THOMAS & JOHN BUTT.

P.S. The hand, spelling, and composing am sensible, is wretched, time being short, matter great, tackle bad and obliged to write in haste.

As I have had my hair cut off, and at a loss for a cap, if you have one to dispose of, either silk or velvet, shall be very glad of

it.

cess was complete. But chemistry has now enabled the artisans of hair to move a stage onwards; to add a dye in the place of the abstracted natural colour, and to convert the head into a kind of coloured mop. It comes to pass thus: the head is washed with an alkaline solution, and dried near the fire; this part of the process occupies an hour. The manipulator then brushes through the hair the dye, an acid solution of varying strength, and the exhausted and dry hair is made to absorb this fluid by the aid of hot tongs and hot plates of metal, This latter part of the process demands for our informant, the lady operated upon, recare and skill, and time also it would appear; ports that the whole proceeding occupied seven hours and a half. But at last came the result, not the end, but the beginning of the end. When the lady rose from the operating chair, she was charmed by the vision of a pale gold chevelure, her natural colour being a dark brown; and she went to her home in perfect delight. But in a very few hours the vision low, and then to a deep yolk of egg yellow that began to change, first to a bright orange-yelwas perfectly hideous. To correct this evil, another operation was to be gone through, another seven hours and a half of tedious and painful manipulation; and this time, like the last, with a similar result, first the golden sheen of the rising sun; but, as evening advanced, a deep saffron and red tint like the setting.sun portending a coming storm; or,

rather, like the gifin locks of the demons of a vexation may be more easily imagined than pantomime. The lady's disappointment and described; she was advised that nothing more could be done; that, if she disapproved of her present appearance, her head must be shaved; and she submitted to the necessity and to the consequent annoyance of wearing a wig. The proceeding we are now discussing is called the instantaneous' process, and we have styled it an operation, having in our mind a surgical undertaking; the suffering was so severe, says our informant, that she was obliged to scream with pain, the burning was so intense that she walked about the room in a frantic state; and sal volatile was administered to keep up her strength. More than a week after this grave GOLDEN HAIR. Mr. Erasmus Wilson, in operation she came to us to be relieved of inhis new Journal of Cutaneous Medicines and Dis- flammation of the scalp, and the effects of a sueases of the Skin, is eloquent on the "Dangers perficial gangrenous burn. She complained of of Dyeing the Hair.". Art," he tells us, "is a feeling of lethargy, and feared that some progressive; a few years back, when the ma-poisonous matter might have been absorbed nia for altering the shade of colour of the hair through the scalp into the system; and it was first broke out, ladies were content with wash-clear that her nervous system had undergone a ing their heads with an alkaline solution, soda or potash, until a considerable portion of the colouring matter was removed, and with it, of course, much of the freshness and silky beauty of the hair. This bleached hair, which ap

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serious shock, and that she had escaped by a very narrow margin from an attack of deranged function of the liver verging on jaun dice. On the sixteenth day after the operation the gangrenous burn remained unhealed.

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No. 1202. Fourth Series, No. 63. 15 June, 1867.

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POETRY: Into Mary's Bosom, 674. Undiplomatic, 674. The Courtship of Piety, 722. Both Sides of the Shield, 735.

THE STARLING will be ready for separate sale in two or three days; price, 38 cents. Early orders from The Trade are solicited.

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Preparing for Publication

OLD SIR DOUGLAS. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton; and
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ZAIDEE. Mrs. Oliphant's best Story. 75 cents.

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Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars.

Second "
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