Lord Selborne's speech at the Royal Academy banquet on Saturday
consisted chiefly of a story which is so admirable that we must repeat it. Somewhere in the Pacific, at Haiti possibly, two small cruisers, British and American, found the annual revolution going on. As there were a number of British and American subjects in the town, the Captains laid their heads together and sent a note to the armies forbidding them to fight there. The leaders thanked their Excellencies for the communication, pointed out that they must fight somewhere, and asked the Captains to mark out a pitch. So a pitch was marked out, and the fortress in the town was announced as a place to which the Government forces might, if necessary, retreat. Fighting began, and, after a great deal of bloodshed, the Government fled to the fortress, and both armies hoisted the signal "Referees required." The Captains came on shore, and marched in state to the fortress to arrange the terms of peace. The Government laid down its arms; the leaders and the Prime Minister were interned in the American Consulate ; the soldiers of the Government were offered double pay by the Leader of the Opposition, and immediately joined him ; and the whole army in the best of tempers conducted the two Captains back to their cruisers, where, said Lord Selborne, " they resumed the more prosaic routine of naval duties."
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