most perpendicular height, though these would diminish greatly from its power. It is this which renders it so valuable as a possession to any foreign power. To England it is invaluable, both in a commercial and military point of view, and could not, therefore, with security to the commercial interests of the nation, be given up. England must have the freedom of the Mediterranean if she is to retain Malta, and pursue the overland route to her Indian possessions vid Alexandria, or carry on trade with Egypt, Turkey, or Italy. All the countries having possessions in the Mediterranean have ports in their own territories, by which to carry on communication and commerce with their possessions without passing the Straits. Thus Spain has Seville, Malaga, Carthagena, Alicant, Valencia, and Barcelona; France, Marseilles and Toulon; Italy, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples; Austria, Trieste: Greece, Patras; Turkey, Saloniki. England, with Malta, and her extensive Indian trade, has none but Gibraltar, which serves as a station for her packets and merchantmen, and a depôt for her military stores, and which as a matter of necessity she must retain. It cannot be argued that we ought to cede Gibraltar to Spain because it forms an integral portion of the country. We ought, for the same reason, to cede the Honduras because it is part of Yucatan, or demand Pondicherry and Chandernagore from the French, Goa from the Portuguese, or Tranquebar from the Danes, because they form a part of the peninsula of Hindostan. It must be remembered, also, that though little thought of at the time as a conquest, its value was felt as soon as we extended our possessions to India, and its annoyance and desirability well understood by France and Spain, in the strenuous efforts they made from time to time to recapture it. But, further, there is great danger in ceding Gibraltar to Spain, because it is very doubtful, even supposing her to remain friendly to England, whether she would be able permanently to retain it. 1863.

France would view it with jealous eyes, and, either through conquest or intrigue, manage to obtain possession of so desirable a fortress; in return, perchance, for assistance rendered as in Mexico, in the same way that Savoy and Nice have been obtained for services rendered to Piedmont against Austria. The Mediterranean would then become what the first Napoleon endeavoured to make it,— a French lake; Malta would be useless, and our trade with India and the countries on the Mediterranean be at the mercy of the French; who would, doubtless, whether the Emperor wished it or not, be only too ready to avenge Waterloo by crippling our Indian trade; or Russia and France, generally amicably disposed towards each other, might join to comfort the sick man, and relieve him of further cares and anxieties by appropriating his territories, and, by holding Gibraltar, effectually prevent the interference of England. We do not say that things would reach such a crisis, but any tendency of this nature would be greatly facilitated by the cession of Gibraltar; and England, if she wishes to be at peace herself, and to see Europe at peace, will retain Gibraltar in her own possession.-R. S.

Mr. Bright says he has seen Gibraltar, and, being a man of peace, could see no advantage to England in owning such a spot, where there were very few inhabitants to trade with, and where his attention was solely riveted by large numbers of monkeys, and these without tails, climbing the precipitous rocks. But it is as a military station that we value this impregnable position; and whilst we have a large fleet of merchant vessels to protect in the waters of the Mediterranean, this post is necessary to our navy, as a safe place of refuge under its guns.-H. R.

Our right to Gibraltar rests not on conquest alone, but on solemn treaties. In the treaty of Utrecht is the following clause:-"The Catholic king does hereby, for himself, his heirs, and successors, yield to the crown of Great Britain the full and entire property of

Q

the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts belonging thereto. And he gives up the said property to be held and enjoyed absolutely, with all manner of right, for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever." This is our legal title to a possession we shall never surrender until compelled by force of arms.-R. R.

When Spain was forming projects for destroying the peace of Europe, in 1715, England offered to cede Gibraltar to her, provided she gave up her designs. But Spain refused the offer on this condition. Again, in 1757, when France threatened to overawe Europe with her military power, England offered to relinquish Gibraltar, on condition that Spain should join with her in resisting the aggressions of France. But Spain, intent upon humbling the power of England, refused. Once more, in 1780, we again offered to surrender this rock, if Spain would withdraw from its hostile alliance with France. Again Spain refused. Then, in 1783, peace was made between England and Spain, on the condition that England should, in lieu of Gibraltar, surrender Minorca. This was the last treaty on the subject between the two powers.-R.

We have always held this fortified rock as a material guarantee for the peace of Europe, and as a security against the overbearing arrogance of any one great power attempting to overawe the world. For this and other reasons we object to place it under the weak and corrupt government of Spain. -B. H.

Lord Palmerston has lately declared that there is not the slightest intention to make a present of either Malta or Gibraltar to any foreign power. This decision will meet the approval of ninety-nine in a hundred of Englishmen. Power is one of the chief sources of wealth, and one way to secure power is to occupy by arms posts on the routes of our commerce.-BETA.

The cession of Gibraltar would offend France in two ways. 1st. Because it

would strengthen Bourbon Spain. 2nd. Because we had made no offer of similar restitution to him, our ostensible and ostentatious ally. To these objections, the reply, Who's afraid? may be made. But we all know that France is fickle, and that the steps of Napoleon's throne are slippery, and no one can foretell the hour or the cause of a rupture. Better, therefore, give him no ready-made excuse, such as this would offer. He has the traditionary policy of making the Mediterranean Sea a French lake. This would thwart one of the great dreams of his dynasty, and could not but be regarded as a covert act of enmity. Gibraltar can be of little use to Spain, less even than to ourselves; but its relinquishment would make it assume giant dimensions in the eyes of France, whose fleets, as well as those of Spain, were baffled under its shadow. We have need at present to keep all our outposts jealously, for aggression is the game of Russia and France.-WEEVIL.

I think our government would act unwisely should they, in the present state of European politics-especially in the unsettled state of Spain-bargain away a possession of such strength and fame as the rock of Gibraltar. It would be the intensest shabbiness to bribe Spain by giving her now, in her reviving strength, what we withheld from her weakness, and so be like other shabby folks,-obsequious to the prosperous, tyrannous to the unfortunate. But in this lowest deep there would be a lower still of national abasement, were we not to give but sell Gibraltar. And it would be but beggarly bartering and huckstering, instead of State policy, to agree to cede, in the days of Victoria, the conquests of Anne, merely that the government of Spain might be inclined and induced to pay the individual bondholders of England the debts justly due to them. No such wretched compromise can meet the good-will of this country; and but few Englishmen would be base enough to ask the country to humiliate itself that they might be paid.-JOHN BULL.

The

The Andalusian city, built on that grey, compact marble rock in the southernmost province of Spain, and laved by the waters of the Mediterranean, of which it forms the key, has been in the hands of the English for nearly 150 years, and is a trophy of her prowess, the hardy endurance of her sons, and the resistive force she can offer to aggression. The fame of Sir George Rooke, but far more the renown of the moral virtue, military talent, and heroic gallantry of General Elliot, afterwards Lord Heathfield, are precious in the hearts and memories of the British, and these are hung in festoons of association round Gibraltar. repute of her heroes is a treasure of which England has always been chary; and now, more than ever, she requires to preserve any historic testimony which her annals afford of the mighty force that sleeps in a British heart, yet evokable upon the instant that the glory of his country is threatened with tarnishment. We speak not of the rights of conquest, or of those conferred by treaties; we think of the moral prestige of our possession and retention of Gibraltar, and we say that a more traitorous thought could scarcely enter the heart of a man than that which would suggest the cession of Gibraltar.-G.G.D.

Were we to regulate our opinions by the ideas in vogue at the time when Gibraltar was captured by Rooke, we should pronounce against its retention by England; but the experience of so many generations has sufficiently informed us that, were we to cede it to Spain, we should part with a stronghold that continues to contribute to the strength and independence of England, especially in that quarter of the globe. Let us examine its geographical position, in order that we may perceive the necessity of retaining it as an appendage to the empire. Situated on a "narrow tongue of land," and commanding, as it does, the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, it is of paramount importance to our mercantile marine in navigating the Straits, and even the

Mediterranean itself, in which our commerce is so vast, and the protection of which is one of the duties of England; for owing to the vigilance of that system of protection our commercial relations expand in every direction, as is evident by every mitigation or modification of any prohibitory or restrictive imposts: thus we opine it is incumbent on the nation to retain so important a station in that locality. To confirm our statement, we advert to the pages of history, detailing the several attempts to surprise and recapture it; and such attempts amply show that the Spaniards were fully aware of its importance to them as a nation as well as traders. Nevertheless, we are aware that its captor was neglected, and ultimately deprived of his command, the capture not being deemed worthy of consideration, although, in subsequent generstions, the importance of the place has been duly ascertained, as a repository of military stores, and of materials for refitting any of the ships of either naval or mercantile marine. Upon these grounds we pronounce in favour of the retention of the fortress as an integral part of the empire.-S. F. T.

Spain, looking upon us as a nation of mere monetary, mercenary men, has attempted to bribe our hearts by an appeal to our pockets, and has threatened to withhold the recognition of the English coupons, unless we cede Gibraltar. Are we to prove that the worth of a few coupons can outvalue in our eyes the national glory which was gained by the capture and by the resistance of the subsequent sieges of Gibraltar? No! We can be generous, and might have been inclined to show the magnanimity of our policy by restoring that grand rocky promontory to the hot-blooded children of Spain; but we cannot afford to barter our treaty-protected rights with men who try the tricks of highway robbers, or fancy that the practical employment of embezzlement is a smart stroke of policy. To get Gibraltar made an integral part of Spanish territory, a

nobler form of procedure will be requisite. Our government will not compound a felony in this style. We shall neither cede Gibraltar for bribes, threats, nor to force or fraud; but we may hereafter, by sheer free grace, demit our charge and resign our power. This, however, cannot be now, or under such pressure.-T. T. D.

"No surrender!" The conquest was dearly won by the hardy sons of these sea-girt isles. The tale of the siege of Gibraltar is one of the grandest and noblest in British history. Elliot and Gibraltar are even yet names to conjure with. Nothing can eclipse the fame of that high-minded general, who held his own against famine, disease, fire, despair, and the combined French and Spanish fleets. If it was worth their fighting for, and our resisting them, then, it is worth our retaining now. It is the watch-dog of the Mediterranean. It keeps a check on France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Russia. So far as these countries are concerned, no hostile armament can get out of the great salt sea-lake which Malta protects and Gibraltar guards. To yield to Spanish pressure or to French policy-which would weaken our external empire, that it might more surely make us liable to a coalition

would be madness. Let us keep the sacred trusts of our fathers, and retain Gibraltar.-"No SURRENDER."

Cession and concession seem to be the great words in Britain, just as secession is the great word in America. Can we grant Gibraltar to Spain without yielding Malta to France, or not give away the Ionian Islands to Greece? Can we withhold Newfoundland from America, or Ceylon from the Dutch? or are the Channel Islands to become the text for treaties, or the pretexts for aggression? We cannot begin to give, and stop where we like. Analogy will always demand further relinquishments; and if we give to one, it will be a source of fault-finding if we do not give to another. If we are to bribe Spain by cession, to what concession may not France compel us? A strong Spain is a strong rival to the power of Napoleon. To strengthen Spain is in reality to weaken the dynasty of the Restorer of Paris, and Napoleonism. He is too astute not to see this, and to nake capital out of it. If Gibraltar goes to Spain, there can be no valid ground for refusing Malta to France; and where then is British power in the Mediterranean? It is an unwise, impolitic, and uncalled-for cession.JAMES SPEED.

QUESTIONS REQUIRING ANSWERS.

355. Who was "Currer Bell," mentioned by "Touchstone" in the affirmative article on "The Development of Great Men" in the January number, page 27 ?-W. S.

356. Could you or any of your kind readers inform me where I could get a poem called "Shamus O'Brien: a Story of '98 "? I believe it was first published in some magazine or periodical. -T. H.

357. What was the origin of the

"Lunar Society"? I believe Dr. Johnson was a member. What was its object? and is it still in existence?-W. S.

358. Who is the English princess referred to by A. R. in his opening article on Sunday Schools in the Controversialist for 1861?-S. S.

359. Macaulay relates in his essay that the family of Warren Hastings, after having been long dispossessed of the earldom of Huntingdon, regained it "by a series of events scarcely paralleled in romance." Will some

gentleman kindly give a relation of these interesting events?-S. S.

360. Who receives the revenues of the Dukedom of Cornwall when there is no Prince of Wales? During the long interval between the present and the last Prince of Wales, what was done with those revenues?-S. S.

361. In his essay on Warren Hastings, Macaulay says, "There, too, was she, the beautiful mother of a beautiful race, the Saint Cecilia, &c." Who is here referred to?-S. S.

362. I have a "Life of Sir William Wallace," by J. D. Carrick, published in Constable's Miscellany, but I have been unable to learn anything regarding the author. Perhaps some of your correspondents might not think their time ill-spent, if they know anything of this writer, in writing a brief notice of Mr. Carrick.-TOM BEITH.

363. I have often heard it stated, and have read it scarcely less frequently, that Horace not only modelled his style upon the Greek authors, but also borrowed many of his most remarkable sentences and epithets from them. Is there any book in which this is so satisfactorily proven as to detract from the original merits of the most popular of our Roman poets?-A STUDENT.

364. Will some gentleman kindly give a brief synopsis of the "Diversions of Purley"? Doubtless this will be both interesting and instructive to others as well as myself.-S. S.

365. What is the difference between the signification of the word "Maleketh," and that of "Padischah"? I believe the words are Persic.-S. S.

366. In the reign of Henry IV., Newcastle-upon-Tyne was erected into a county. I believe Norwich is also a county. What distinctive rights, privileges, or obligations does such erection confer?-S. S.

367. What were the quadrivium, or four advanced studies which, added to the trivium, were esteemed a liberal education in mediæval times?-S. S.

368. In Macaulay's essay on Addison, mention is made of a prelate who

was buried beneath the ruins of his palace by the great tempest of Nov., 1703. Who was this prelate ?-S. S.

369. Can either House of Parliament, by a majority of votes, expel a member for offensive conduct ?-S. S.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

A

347. The questioner wishes to know "the best course to pursue by one who is desirous to become fully equipped for the sacred ministry." Supposing the questioner had the task committed to him of visiting America with the ultimate intention of writing and publishing a book on the war, and the origin of the war, now raging in that country; would he not find it needful to refer to the history of the country, to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the incidents and facts of its constitution ; with the working of its laws, and the amount of happiness or otherwise resulting from their action? And so, if he will turn his thoughts to the subject of the intention and object of the Christian ministry, he can be at no loss in finding the true course of study for such a sacred career. Christian minister is a Christian instructor. A Christian congregation, then, demands from its minister infor-> mation relative to the history of man, the purpose of his being, and his final destiny. This information is mainly, but not altogether, to be obtained from the Old and New Testaments. They, therefore, should form the chief studies of the person who wishes to become a minister. These old books are confirmed by contemporary writers; their writings must, therefore, be studied and thoroughly known. Geology will enable the student to speak with positiveness relative to the age of the world, and hence with clearness upon the Mosaic account of the creation; a knowledge of geology-is therefore indispensable. Astronomy is the science which of all others gives the most expanded views of the universe, and hence of God's power; such