FOR PEACE AND WAR. 17 



strains of blood to which we owe so much. In reply to 

 one of Admiral Roiis's didactic and characteristic philippics 

 his Lordship writes in the Times, Saturday, March 7th, as 

 follows .• — 



ADMIRAL ROUS ON THE TURF. 

 To the EdiioT of The Times. 



Sir, — It is with some reluctance that I pursue this subject, 

 interesting though it be, because I am persuaded that it is im- 

 possible for me, by any amount of proof, to convince the Admiral 

 that he is in the wrong. 



He says " Barb " and " Arab " mean the same tiling : and 

 so, I apprehend, as far as he is concerned, they always will. 



He is the Ofellus of the Turf : 



" Nauticus, abnormis sapiens, crassdque Minerva." 



" A fine old tar from whom surprises come, 



" Who deals in mother wit, and rule of thumb." 



It is not, then, with his stores of information that I would 

 quarrel, but with the conclusions that he draws from them, and 

 the summary fashion after which he disposes of difficulties 

 which appear very great to others who, like himself, have for 

 many years studied the questions of which he considers himself 

 Lord of the Manor. 



I shall confine this letter almost entirely to considering 

 whether the Barb and the Arab do, in fact, mean one and the 

 same thing. In my first letter I met this assertion \f\ih a broad 

 denial ; and I shall now give some of the reasons which have 

 Jed me to that conclusion, to which I must still adhere in spite 

 of all the prestige and authority of Abd-el-Kader, In fact, I 

 cannot accept Abd-el-Kader's assertions as conclusive where I 

 can show that they are not corroborated by other testimony ; 

 nay, more, where the balance of history and unexceptionable 

 evidence is clearly against them. 



It seems to me that the Emir's account of the Barbs being, 

 in fact, pure-bred Arabs (see his memorandum addressed to 

 General Daumas in reply to the latter's enquiries) is much upon 

 a par with the Nejdean tradition of Solomon's horse. Palgrave, 



