PERSISTENCY IN PERIL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." j SIE,—We wonder at the persistency of Admiral Tryon, the admiration and idol of the Navy, in giving the order which, led to the loss of the Victoria,' notwithstanding the re- monstrances of the competent men who surrounded him. Is it any more surprising than, is it not emblematic of, the persistency of Mr. Gladstone in persevering with his so-called Home-rule policy, which the great majority of competent persons as well as of popular judges foresee must end in loss of reputation to himself and immense injury to the British Empire ? May not the position of men so constantly obliged to be self-reliant be apt to blind them, upon occasion, to the consequences of their acts, until in the supreme catastrophe they awake too late to remedy their folly?
It is observable that the reliance upon the competency of the Admiral by his admirers was in a great measure the cause of the catastrophe. "I had unbounded confidence in him ; he is going to change ; be is going to do something ; he knows how to get out of it." Had he been a man less popular or competent the xnano3uvre had never taken place. Will not Mr. Gladstone's followers take warning and, because they love him, as we do, restrain him P—I am, Sir, 8m., A CONSTANT READER.
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