Holy-Days and Holidays 



Natal, but the force of the reaction is not yet 

 spent. The very men who a decade or two 

 ago were prating of the irresistible force wielded 

 by the mightiest empire the world had ever 

 seen, are to-day groaning over our commercial 

 and martial decadence, and prophesying our 

 capitulation to the first comer. But it is a 

 less unpleasant and sa^er mood than the other. 

 And perhaps it is helping to evolve a more 

 practical turn of mind. An excellent British 

 boy was asked the other day why the sun 

 never set upon the British flag. He replied, 

 " Because it is usual to haul it down before 

 sunset." And it may not after all be neces- 

 sary for England to trust to the consideration 

 advanced by my late gardener, Manoel, that 

 Portugal is her friend. 



Portugal herself, not to be behindhand in 

 the race of sensation, is at the beginning of 

 April in the throes of a ministerial crisis, and 

 the political world is seething with excitement. 

 It appears that an internal loan has recently 

 been raised, and that the Minister of Finance's 

 accounts;in connection with it have not given 

 general satisfaction. The Opposition has as- 

 serted that about twenty per cent, of it has 



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