At the Guildhall banquet on Wednesday, Lord George Hamilton, in
returning thanks for the Navy, regretted the probable loss of the ' Wasp ' gunboat, which he called "the most powerful and best-equipped gunboat which ever left these shores," while giving no denial to the alleged under- manning of the vessel ; and announced, amidst much cheering, that, as he hoped, "we are on the eve of an arrangement with the largest group of Colonies by which a special squadron, supported by Colonial funds, will be added to the naval defences of the Empire." The Lord Chancellor, alluding, no doubt, to the recent attacks on the police, ventured to wonder what would be thought of any member of the State who should speak "in terms of vituperation and insolent invective against the humbler members" of either the Navy or the Army. "It is in vain," he said, "that you make laws ; it is in vain that the highest minds in the State are occupied in making those laws, if, after those laws are made, and represent the deliberate will of the nation, it shall not be accepted as the principle of the Constitution that the law shall be obeyed." The Lord Chancellor is right. The new habit of making light of law tells against the efficiency of reforms in law, as mach as it tells against the efficiency of existing law. It is like piercing holes in the casks that hold your water on the ground that the water is bad. After the holes are pierced, you may pour in the purest water, but that pure water will all leak away.
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