A COUP D'TAT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sra,—One is not a little surprised to see Radicals—Radicals, too, of the most pronounced kind—recommending what would be practically a coup sr etat. The King is to dismiss his Ministers, taking occasion, it would seem, of a chance defeat in the House of Commons, or not waiting for any occasion at all, and appoint a Cabinet which should be solely concerned with settling the South African business. It is not worth while discussing so frantic a scheme. But it is interesting to see how desperate an Opposition becomes when it finds that power and place are hopelessly remote. And the historical parallel which it suggests is also interesting. When George III. showed for the first time symptoms of insanity, the Whig Opposition of the day took up the strange line of maintaining that the Heir-Apparent to the Throne had, so to speak, a Divine Right to the Regency. Nothing could be in more flagrant contradiction to all Whig principles concerning the relation between the Crown and the people. But the leaders of the Opposition saw a gleam of hope in the friendship of the Prince of Wales, and threw their principles to the winds. I remember many years ago hearing from an old Whig, who had known some leaders of the party in his youth, that Fox was unwilling to take this line of action. He had hurried home from the Continent —so the story ran—and was visited early the next morning, before he was out of bed, by his colleagues of the Front Bench. They used every argument that they could muster, and finally persuaded him to agree, but it was against his better judgment.—I am, Sir, &c.,
SENEX.
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