By Spain and France
every loyal and law-abiding subject of the Mother Country has been a
citizen deemed worthy all the rights, immunities, and privileges
flowing from good and creditable citizenship. Those meriting such
distinction were taken into the bosom of the society which their
qualifications recommended them to share, and no office under the
Government has been thought too good or too elevated for men of their
stamp. No wonder, then, that Mr. Froude is silent regarding the
scores of brilliant coloured officials who adorn the civil service of
France and Spain, and whose appointment, in contrast with what has
usually been the case in British Colonies, reflects an abiding lustre
on those countries, and establishes their right to a foremost place
among nations.
Mr. Froude, in speaking of Chief Justice [119] Reeves, ventures upon
a smart truism which we can discuss for him, but of course not in the
sense in which he has meant it. "Exceptions," our author remarks,
"are supposed proverbially to prove nothing, or to prove the very
opposite of what they appear to prove. When a particular phenomenon
occurs rarely, the probabilities are strong against the recurrence of
it.
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