Mr. Disraeli has done a very adroit, very bold, and
exceedingly creditable thing. The Blacas collection of gems, which is simply invaluable, was in the market in Paris, and he sent over Mr. Newton—the artist employed to disinter Cnidos—to examine the collection for the Museum. Hearing, however, that it was necessary to be quick, as the Emperor of the French was pro- posing to bid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer took the whole responsibility.on himself, ordered the money, 248,000, to be paid at once, and on Monday threw himself upon the House. Mr. Gladstone, of course, supported him warmly, and the vote passed without a division, but had Mr. Disraeli only ventured to tell the story as it really occurred he would have doubled his popularity. It is not often that an Emperor is outstripped, outgeneralled, and outbid in his own capital, and Louis Napoleon will hence- forward know that a Constitutional Minister is not invariably manacled by red tape. Fortunately, gems like those in the Blacaa collection pack in very small compass.
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