Ex-king Amadeus

Tho abdication of the Savoyard Kmg will prove afl event in history of more than ordinary signifioance. Abdication of a throno is no new thing ; but the abdication of a throne in the circumstance3 in whioh Amadeus abdioates is somewhat of e. novelty, We all remember the circumstaneeB iü which that throne was otfered and accepted. Queen Isabella waa dethroued and driven from her iealm in the fall of 1868. HoW the fall of Isabella resounded throughout the World and giaddened the hearts of all the lovefp of liberty no reader of tho Jlerald requires to be told. It was feit that a powerful blow had been dealt at the heart of despotism, and that from the euccess of tha blow tho lovers of liberty would tako fresh courage, and by ono bold effort mako an end of deapotism and oligarchy in Europe. From soiuo oause or other, however, Europo did not respond. To the rest of Europo Spain bocame an object of study and of curious interest; but the revolution read the nations no lesson - it gave them no impulse. It is undeniable that after the revolution Prim was master of the situation. He more than any other man, made the revolution a sucoess, and he more than any other man after the revolution, was master of Spain. How far Prim was in earnest in his eifortd to establish the Repubüc is difficult to say ; but that he gave the Bepublio chance, that he consulted by constitutional means the wishes of the Spanish people, and that the idea of a republio was abandoned, it is impossiblo to refuse to admit. It is not forgotton how the Spanish throne was oftered to and how it was refused by the fathef of the King of Portugal. It is not forgotten- it never can be forgotton - how it was refusod by Leopold of Hohenzollern. In all time to come the Franco-German war will remain a memorial of the quest which Spain, tho onoe proud kingdom of Ferdinand and Isabella, of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second( made for a king. It is not forgotten how tho Hohenzollern candidato was abandonod and how an appeal was made to the young Duko of Aosta. If the records of the period are of any value it is not unfair to say that to tha Italian Prince the Spanish crowu was destitute of all special attractions, He cared little for it, his father was opposed to his accepting it, and it Was not until the popuUr voice loudly expressi-d itself and the representativos of the greatest houses and of the best blood of Spain joined in tho cali that the scruples of father and son gave way and Amadeus accepted tho orTered crowa. His arrival in Spain was mafked by an event which, while it stained the Spanish charactef and gave an ngly hue to Spanish politirs, was fitted to daunt the bravest spirit, Through the life-blood of his patrón, Gen. Prim, ho had to mount the Spanish throne, but, nothing undaunted, ho marched to his placo and resolved to test his destiny. That he began well, and that from" the moment of his arrival in Spain ho haa honestly endeavored to do his best, no enemy has ever denied. After a most dastardly attempt on his own life, and in spite, it is said, of tho earnest entreaties of his family and his younp; Queen that he should resign, he has stuck to his post ! and now it must be admitted that, if he does abdícate, he abdícate becaose ho has dono his best and because his best has failed. He abdicates in favor1 of no son, of no friond, but because he is sick of his thankless task, nnd because ia reality he cares nothing for the worthless bx-uble which men cali a crown. His conduct stands out in striking contrast to that of Maximilian, of Mexico He abandons a position of which he is weary, and leaves to thoir fate, without fighting for his rights, a people who hava uot shown themselves worthy of his love. - New Tork Ilerdld. Sea captains should be good-natured J it would not be safo to have a can'tanohor-us man to command a ship. Tho feast of imagination i Having no dinner but reading a oookery book.