3 APRIL 1880, Page 13

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE CANDIDATE OF THE CONTINENT.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—In your article headed "Lord Beaconsfield, the Candidate of the Continent," you tell an anecdote. It is an oldish one, but none the worse for that. May I tell you another, older and equally to the point ? When it was proposed to remove the body of Napoleon from St. Helena to France, some people in England objected, on the ground that if we allowed it, the French people would say we were afraid of them. To which the Duke of Wellington, in his most military way, replied, "Who cares one twopenny d—n what they would say ?" Now I am nct a Jingo, and I deprecate "insularity," but I find this story rising to my mind when I read the views of Professor von Treitschke—whose dislike of the Hebrew race seems to admit of exceptions—in regard to the present election. Surely here, if anywhere, Euglishmen are entitled to disregard the opinion of foreign nations.

It is an odd thing, by the way, that no one has been so eager in insisting upon the opinion of the Continent in this matter as the staunch defender of the principle—" Our country, right or wrong." But your Moderate Liberal is a sadly timid creature, who quakes about once a week at the thought of the effect which a " combination " of the French, Spanish, and Italian Navies, aided by the Humor,' might produce on his baker's bill. No NVonder he wishes to please these dangerous neigh-