But the most curious turn in the movement for commemorat-
ing Prince Napoleon in Westminster Abbey is the memorandum, we suppose communicated by the Dean of Westminster himself, published in Tuesday's Times. Sir Stafford Northeote had said in the debate that the proposal originated with the Dean, or the Dean's private friends. The reply is, that this is entirely a mistake, —the suggestion came from the publie. Suggestions of all kinds, raw and prudent, of course, will come from the public. But as the mature public opinion has clearly decided against this project,. the raw suggestion which the public originated should be taken as rejected. Thirdly, it is said that during the last thirty years private reasons have had no influence in procuring interments in the Abbey. Nothing could be more creditable to the Deem, Let him act on the same principle still. Fourthly, it is said that English royal princes are almost always buried in Westminster Abbey, and foreign princes occasionally. But Prince Napoleon is not an English prince, and the precedente of the burial of the Due de Montpensier and the Queen of Louis XVIII. have never been thought good ones. Fifthly, it is said that Parliament has practically made the burial in Westminster Abbey a national affair. That ends the question. To give a French pretender a national burial would be unfriendly to a great ally. We suspect the communique of Tuesday may have been meant to announce the withdrawal of this ill-conceived project. If so, the Dean deserves hearty thanks for a wise and timely concession ta publics conviction.
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