20 OCTOBER 1866, Page 2

The Hon. E. Harris, British Minister at Berne, has placed

the Queen in a somewhat undignified position. The Lausanne Gazette published some stupid libel or other about Her Majesty, and Mr. Harris applied to the Swiss Government to punish the editor. He was of course told that while the Government quite concurred in his indignation, it could not interfere with the action of the Courts. The editor has since apologized, but Mr. Harris should be sent back a step or two, first, for giving every Conti- nental Government an excuse for demanding interference with the British press, anti secondly, for considering that a libel on Queen Victoria could by possibility obtain credence. The theory of crowned heads is that they are above insult, and the theory pro- duces its own justification.