immoral in Marechal le Due de Dalmatie to take Murillos than it was in Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington to take the lead in cutting the Koh-i-Noor, the pictures as well as the diamond being spoil of war?  There is something eminently absurd in English morality, when Englishmen seek to lay down rules for the governance of the world.  It amounts to this:  that they shall be at liberty to plunder everybody, but that all other men shall stay their hands, no matter how great may be the temptation, to help themselves to their enemies’ goods.

The conquerors of the Havana had no scruples on the subject of plunder.  They obtained, in treasure and other property, about fourteen millions of dollars,—­a great sum, though not a third part so large as had been assigned them by the newspapers.  Not content with this, they sought to get a donation from the citizens, to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars; but the attempt failed, and was not persisted in, when it was found that the Spaniards were utterly averse to giving on compulsion.  A demand was made, through Colonel Cleveland, who commanded the artillery, “on the Bishop and the clergy, requiring an account of the bells of the churches, convents, and monasteries of the Havana and the other towns in the district, as well as of the ingenios in the neighborhood, and of all such metal as is used in the making of bells, in order that the value might be adjusted, and the amount paid, according, as he asserted, to the laws and customs of war, when a city after a siege has surrendered by capitulation.”  The astonished Bishop wrote to Lord Albemarle, and had the satisfaction of learning from that eminent authority, that, “when a city was besieged and taken, the commander of the artillery receives a gratification, and that Colonel Cleveland had made the demand with his Lordship’s concurrence.”  This mode of kissing the rod was not at all to the taste of the worthy prelate, excellent Christian though he was.  It was bad enough to give “a gratification” to an enemy because he had pounded them with balls until they had been forced to surrender; but it was an aggravation of the original evil to have to redeem “blessed bells” from the heretics who had come four thousand miles to disturb the repose of the Spanish Indies.  But negotiation was unavoidable.  What would the Colonel take, and close the transaction?  The Colonel said he would take such a sum as the captured churches could reasonably contribute to his purse.  He was offered one thousand dollars; but that he treated as a mistake, and to assist the reverend and venerable negotiators to a conclusion, he named thirty thousand dollars.  To this they objected, and appealed to Lord Albemarle against the demand of his officer.  His Lordship, with his pockets crammed with Spanish gold, was disposed to act handsomely in this instance, and cut down the Colonel’s bill to ten thousand dollars.  But even this sum the clergy professed themselves utterly unable to pay.  According to