BONNY'S AMBITION.

THE following rhapsodical piece of rhyme was written at the time the threatened invasion panic of Louis Napoleon was engaging the public mind; but since then, the severe humiliation of France by Prussia on shore, and the ominous robbery of sea-board from Denmark, indicates that it is not so much France nor Russia, but the systematic, persevering, and indomitable spirit of Prussia, or united Germany, that Great Britain has to beware of. The rapid rise and progress of Prussia as a maritime power seems to be as successful as her magic-like growth to, may I say, the first military power in the world. As late as 1640 Prussia was merely an electorate, sunk in the lowest depths of social misery and financial embarrassment, with not a farthing in her exchequer nor one million of a population; but the wise, prudent, and vigorous government of the great Elector Frederick William raised by his genius to the rank of a great European power; at his death, in 1688, he left a well-filled exchequer and an army of 38,000. His successors, Frederick III. (1688-1713), and Frederick William I. (1713-1740), each in his own way increased the power of Prussia (which had been raised in 1701 to the rank of a kingdom). The great Frederick II. found at his father's death a compact and prosperous state, a well-disciplined army, and nearly nine million thalers in the treasury-his father being distinguished for a rigid economy of public money and an Between 1740 and 1786, extraordinary penchant for tall soldiers. Frederick the Great so dexterously availed himself of the extraordinary advantages of his position as to raise Prussia to one of the great powers of Europe-he was not over scrupulous as to the means used in enlarging his kingdom-proved by sharing in the first partition of Poland in 1772, when he obtained, as his share, nearly the whole of West Poland, and several other districts in East Prussia; his nephew and successor also aggrandised the kingdom by the second and third partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795. This system of aggression and consolidation has gone on until now, in 1875, we find Prussia one of the greatest and most menacing empires in the world. Since the conclusion of the late war with France, Prussia, or rather Germany, has been developing her naval resources with a rapidity and method which will soon put her in possession of a navy as She has made good use of complete, if not as formidable, as her army. the indemnity received from France. Only yesterday, comparatively speaking, Germany awoke to the fact that she wanted a navy; to-day she is described as the third naval power in the world. So recently as 1871, Count von Roon contemptuously described the German navy as composed of a couple of dozen torpedoes. Now, in 1875, she has a naval force respectable in numbers, and in every class she has ships of the most formidable description. The programme which the new naval power is carrying out with such astonishing thoroughness and energy was only laid down in 1873. It provided for the improvement and strengthening of the Baltic ports, Dantzie, Stralsund, and Kiel, the latter a splendid naval station, which has been justly styled the Cherbourg of the Baltic, and for the construction of a first-class port and arsenal on the North Sea, to be called Wilhelmshafen. The new Prussian Chatham is situated at Jade, in Oldenburg, and is in close proximity to the great German arteries It is here that the new ironof communication, the Elbe and the Wezer. clad frigate, the "Great Elector," has been built, and her launch is to

be made the occasion of a great naval demonstration. Four years ago Wilhelmshafen did not exist except in the most rudimentary state, revealing nothing of its future importance. In 1871 a visitor describes it as a chaos of bricks and water holes, among which were visible the gaunt ribs of a vessel in the earliest state of construction. Since then, millions have been spent in transforming Wilhelmshafen; the gaunt ribs are now clothed with massive layers of wood and iron, and known as the Great Elector. Dry docks have been dug, slips constructed, and the conceptions of the resolute and capable men who are directing the naval policy of Germany are fast becoming realities. The programme, of which Wilhelmshafen and the Great Elector are merely a part, included the construction of 8 frigates, 6 corvettes, 7 monitors, all ironclads, 20 swift unarmoured vessels, 6 avisos, 18 gunboats, 2 artillery ships, 3 sailing brigs, and 28 torpedo vessels. Of the 8 frigates, all are ready, with the exception of two, which are nearly completed. These are ocean-going vessels of the first class, the Kaiser and Deutschland being matched-if indeed they are matched-by only three vessels in the British navy, the Sultan, Hercules, and Monarch. Of the corvettes, which are of the Devastation type, three are ready, and when launched will surpass anything afloat or building, with the single exception of the Inflexible. Only two of the monitors are built, and it is intended that armoured gun-boats will be substituted for the other five. Of the twenty unarmed vessels, which range from the type of the notorious Alabama to that of our Inconstant and Raleigh, ten are ready to work terrible havoc in an enemy's merchant shipping, the other ten are in a forward state. Of the torpedo vessels, six are finished, and with the exception of four avisos yet to build, all the other vessels are built.

Thus we see in this list of work done in a few years a proof of the terrible precision and determination with which Germany marches to the goal of her ambition, and a lesson to our naval authorities-"How to do it." The coming demonstration at the launching of the Great Elector may not reveal to British Statesmen an enemy to dread, but it will show to the world a power which means to be respected on sea as well as on land, and if its new naval armaments prove as irresistible on sea as its needle rifle did on shore to France, even Great Britain may have to fall back on her own island home, and the indomitable race which possesses it, and as the rugged hills of Scotland proved the sentinels which guarded ancient Caledonia against the greater military power of England, so may they yet, cor joined together, prove the sacred Home of Freedom and rallying-point of Liberty to the human race, should Absolutism or Tyranny, at any future period, attempt to grapple by the throat the heretofore triumphant and almighty principle of God and Right. And may Britain be, indeed, what Shakespeare so forcibly says in his Richard II. by John of Gaunt :

"This fortress built by Nature for herself,
Against invasion, and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,---
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office as a wall,

Or, as a moat defensive to a house

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot-this earth-this realm, this England,

This nurse-this teeming womb of royal kings,

Feared by their breed, and famous by their birth

Renowned by their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service, and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry

Of the world's ransom-blessed Mary's son ;
This land of such dear souls-this dear--dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune."

"The headstrong fool, he resembles the poor lunatic who went to the summit of the mountain, that he might meet the rain half way."-Sir W. Scott in Anne of Geierstein.

"Vaulting ambition

O'erleaps itself and falls on the other side."-Shakespeare.

HA

ARK! Bonny swears he yet shall be
The Lord above us a' yet,-

That he shall rule the chainless sea;

And tear down British law yet.

But, let the loon of us beware-
Before he fairly wrong us,
The British lion shall take care
Of all that doth belong us.

There's no decay within our veins,-
Our Constitution's grand, still,
The peasant and the Queen who reigns,
Are one, in heart, and hand, still.

The same which lowered his uncle's pride
On many a bloody field, sir-
Tho' he could beat the world beside,
The Lion broke his shield, sir.

And tore the eagle when he tried
To fly across the island,

To sink his talons in our side,

And make cat's-paw of Ireland.

The Danish fleet he tried to steal,
Because he had no ships, man,
The present Nap this truth doth feel;
By building iron "clips," man.

The fifty Danish ships of war
Were cut out by our sailors,
Nap, the First, and Russia's Czar,
Were no match for sea tailors.

The Corsican and Russian bear,
Both secret swore at Tilsit
That they the lion's claws would pare
By Danish fleet and Tilsit.

And even now, with all their art,
And quickness of perception,
If once they touch the British heart,
They'll find the same reception.

King Philip tried to frighten by
"Invincible Armadas,"

But Neptune checked his mighty cry,
From Land's End to the Tagus.

What are La Gloires and Cherbourg,
Compared to Native strength, sir?
Our rocky shore's a Cherbourg

Will beat them all at length, sir.

The hand that built our island throne,
For Liberty did raise it,

And wisely chose the temperate zone,
That none could ever raze it.

The very air that round us blows,
Proclaims that we are free, man,
The sleepless wave that round us flows,
Gives God's own guarantee, man.

Our Apennines are in the sca,

Whose base hath no foundation,

And aye they serve to keep us free
From tyrants and Invasion!

We've Alpine hills on shore, as well,-
But now we do not need them

To drive our Saxon foes pell-mell,
Like calves, before we bleed them.

They talk of foreign foes, once on
The shores of dear old Britain-
That they would then destroy our throne
And burn the book 'tis writ in.

But, they forget the thousand years,
An English foe was planted-
With hundred thousand guns and
They could not act,-but ranted!

Although they had the largest part,
And richest of the island,

spears,

They could not crush the Scottish heart,
Although they fought on dry land.

What then-though France, and Russia too,
Had all their hordes on shore, sir,
And got our ships to help them through
And boats to ferry o'er, sir?

Before they were a week ashore-
Or e'en a winter day, sir.

For life and quarter loud they'd roar,
And plead to get away, sir!

Great Britain, now united, one!

Could laugh them all to scorn, man;
When war in earnest was begun
They'd find their Hope forlorn, man !

As well attempt to snuff the moon
As snuff out British pride, sir—
And they who try, will find out soon
They've quarantine to ride, sir.

As well attempt to stop the wind,
Or bid the breaker cease, sir,

As overawe the free-born mind,
Or break great Freedom's lease, sir.

A foe might suddenly beguile,
And sting us till he's sighted;
A flea can do the same a while,
When on our back he's lighted.

But, just as quick he'll jump away,
If he would save his skin, sir ;-
As night is vanquished by the day,
We're sure at last to win, sir.