NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 75, 27 August 1874, Page 4

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

[ From the Spectator .] ' By far the most irarortant incident of the week ending May 30th is the return of M. de Bourgoing for the Department of the thieve By a vote of 37,599 against 32.157 given to M. Gudin, Republican, and 4527 to Count Pazzis, Monarchist.. In the election of 1873 the Republicans had a majority of 11,000, but in , this election M. de Bourgoing, an officer of Napoleon’s household, an avowed and defiant Bonapartist, who asks for support as a ‘proof of confidence in the Empire, defeats Royalists and Republicans put together. Of course explanations are offered, one of which is that the candidate was backed by the Prefect, but in other cases when the Prefect is Royalist the electors set him at defiance, and the only explanation is, we believe, the one given in another column. The peasantry are weary of an Assembly which will not obey the national will and organise ■ the Republic, which intrigues in favor of impossible monarchs, and which is as repressive as the Empire. They desire a dissolution, and failing to obtain one, fall back on the party which promises a plcbisC 1 Marshal MacMahon has terminated the Ministerial crisis. Weary of incessant shuffling of the cards, of Ministry after Ministry formed only to fall to pieces, and of the Due d’ AudiffrettPasquier’s proposals to. continue the Government of Combat, but turn it against the Imperialists, he suddenly ordered General Oissey to become Premier, the Due Decazes to keep the foreign seals, M. Magna to go on with his finance, M. Fourton to take charge of the interior, and three or four insignificant persons to fill the other departments. Two of the latter, it is said, did not know of their appointments, but still, there is a Ministry, which, however, does not even propose to frame any programme, to pass any laws, or to do anything, except carry on current business. It is, in fact, to be like Mr Disraeli’s cabinet for this 'session, a “ Ministry of silence and consideration.” As France cannot be silent, and grows hypochondriac whenever she considers, the Ministry is not likely to last, or the dissolution to be long postponed. M. Thiers, in a manifesto of May 24th, gives a final decision in favor of immediate dissolution. Of course he quizzes his rivals and taunts his foes for their inability to make a monarchy, an inability for which tliey turned him out, but the main object of bis address to his friends is to induce the Assembly to dissolve itself. The people, he gays,—not having yet heard the news from Neyers,—persistently desire a Republic, but, whatever they desire, it is to the people, as Sovereign arbiter, that an Assembly too distracted by divisions to be able to govern must refer its powers. It is from them that it must take new rights and renewed energy. .It is stated that MarshalMacMahoh is quite of tips .Opinion, and'that at the next Ministerial crisis he will either take a plebiscite, of dissolve the Assembly by persuasion or tpree,. as may appear most feasible. This ‘would be, in fact, a violent coup d'etat, and probably a bloody one, and it is to avoid this, pnong other evils, that M. Thiers presses the 'voluntary dissolution. ' The week ending May 30th has been full of reports from Spain about a Hohenzollern candidature for the throne. The story appears to be that Prince Bismarck has decided against Don Carlos, as too much under the influence of Rome, and sent Krupp guns and money to Madrid to suppress him ; that he ' has vetoed the selection of Dona Luisa or her husband, the Duke de Montpensier, and that he is anxious to renew the negotiation broken off by the war. It seems not a little dreamy, all that, unless Berlin is prepared to conquer Spain, which she has not the means of doing ; but it is certain that the rumor is loud, that Prince Bismarck has an active polity in Spain of some kind, and that if he could detach her finally from France, he would greatly increase the security of Germany. It is scarcely conceivable, however, that Serrano should entertain such an idea, or that he could obtain any decided - support from an Alfonsist army. Even if Prince Leopold had the governing faculty of the Hohenzollerns, he would need an army of fifty thousand foreigners to keep him on his throne, and that would be insufficient. It is difficult to imagine even an object for a story which, though a provocation to France, will not tempt her to war unready. The Conservatives of Essex, on May 28th, gave a grand' banquet at Chelmsford to the .ten Conservative members the county now v returns. About two thousand guests sat j' down to dinner, but the proceedings were almost too tame for report. Mr Disraeli, though most pressingly invited, rejected a grand opportunity of repeating his statement that the laborers’ movement was a good thing both for the laborers and the country, and so probably missed the best j chance of martyrdom he is ever likely to , enjoy. Death under a shower of wineglasses would be a new discovery in suicide. No other Cabinet Minister was present. Mr Disraeli’s substitute, Colonel Taylor, delighted his hearers with the statement that the Liberal Cabinet had “ descended from robbery to petty larceny,” the chairman, Mr Perry Watliugton, did not delight them by a hint that a new Reform Bill was coming, and they must have confidence in the Premier ; the right Hon W. Beresford accused the late Government of suicide, a suicide in which he rejoiced ; Mr Boord talked beer, and said Radicalism was made ot “ grotesque hobbies and Lord Eustace Cecil, in a rather long and ill-con-sidered speech, chiefly about phantom regiments, declared “ silence and consideration to be the highest wisdom.” In fact, nobody had anything to say, and so flavored his nothing with as much bitterness as he could. It was a feast given by intellectual teetotalers, who, having nothing but water to offer, tried to make it palatable by an infusion of brine. Prince Bismarck and the Pope are both said to be ill, but as nobody ever tells the precise truth about either, it is difficult to form even a conjectural opinion. According to the most vraisemhlant view, the German Chancellor has had a relapse which his physicians do not like, and for which they are keeping him away from the baths he was about to visit; while the Pope has had an attack of the Roman fever, slight, but sufficient at his age to make exposure to the air dangerous. It is quite possible, however, that both arc ill on purpose, and still more possible that physicians’ orders of precaution have been exaggerated into illnesses. The death of either would set Europe in commotion, but statesmen and potentates do not die just when journalists conceive that the world is dull. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has accepted the Duke of Rich-

mond’s Bill for the extension of patronage almost with unanimity. Dr Cook attempted to resist a measure which, he contended, would make the minister the minister of a particular party within the parish, and destroy the rights of the body of the parishioners, now represented by the lay pations. He believed also that the arrangements would give a new argument to those who wished to disestablish and disendow the Church. He moved a long resolution .embodying these ideas, but finding no substantial support, he withdrew it. The Free Church, on the other hand, does not approve the Bill, which it suspects may impair its influence ; and its principal leader, Dr Rainy, seems to be supported in expressing his dislike to a renewal of connection with the State, apparently holding that a nation should have a creed, but that once accepted, the nation should have no control over it. At least that is the only way in which we can reconcile his dislike to State connection with the old doctrine of the Free Kirk, that every State should recognise a visible Church on earth. Mr Beresford Hope [revived the objections to Oxford as a military centre on May 22nd, and was defeated by a majority of 99. In the course of the debate, Sir W. Harcourt informed the House that 300 years ago Oxford (the University, not the city, it need hardly be said,) sent up an influential memorial against the study of Greek, which fortunately was disregarded ; and Mr Hall reminded honorable gentlemen that, within living memory, a member’s memorial had unfortunately succeeded in preventing the main line of the Great Western Railway from being run past the town. The only attempt at an argument on the question was that which Lord R. Churchill (shade of Mai brook!) stated, in his alarming vision of the “ mingling of learned Professors and thoughtful students with roystering soldiers and licentious campfollowers.” But what is the necessity for their mingling ? In Germany, where they do mingle considerably, does learning or war suffer thereby ? Would even boatracing ? After all, the proposal only amounts to establishing a staff of 100 persons, specially selected, we assume, for propriety of conduct and strictness of discipline, in an excellent recruiting district. The University Volunteer Corps will gain by their neighborhood, and not even a don will lose. Finally, as Mr Henley said, the House, having made up its mind, must put its foot down, else some one will be asking to have the Irish Church re-established, or the Heptarchy. The text of the third law passed by the Prussian Parliament against Catholic ecclesiastics has been published, and is sufficiently radical. It is intended, as our readers know, that if a Bishop will not obey he shall be exiled, and as the Chapter are not likely to elect another, it is provided that the penalties applicable to any Bishop shall be applicable to any Vicar-General acting for him who does not take the oath, and that on his exile a commissary shall be appointed, who will take charge of all the property of the see, general, local, or to be hereafter destined for ecclesiastical purposes, and be responsible only to the GovernorGeneral. During the period of such interregnum, vacancies in the parishes can be filled up by the patrons, whose nominees, however, must take the oath, and, failing their action, the congregations may elect. No provision is made for appointment if both patron and congregation refuse, and in that case the living apparently will be left vacant. The effect of this is, of course, expected to be the gradual election of priests not in communion with Rome, as the congregations will not go without the offices, but we suspect the expectation will be disappointed. Priests secretly approved by their superiors will be elected, and allowed to take the oath, as under compulsion ; or the war will be carried on as in England under Elizabeth, the priests risking their liberties, as they risked their lives. Catholic priests, unlike their silly imitators, are independent of robes, buildings, or any paraphernalia whatever, in the performance of their functions. The electors of Buckinghamshire offered, after the last election, to defray Mr Disraeli’s expenses, as they thought the opposition of Mr Tally factious and unreasonable, and raised the necessary sum, or £151(5 15s. Mr Disraeli has accepted the gift, in a letter in which he says he is rewarded enough by the confidence of his constituency, and would have declined their magnificent testimony of regard, but “observing how spontaneously and universally it has arisen, he can only look on it as the act of a generous and highspirited constituency, which, though he may not merit it, would be presumptuous to decline.” The Premier must have been really moved, for we never remember him at fault in his grammar before. Even his Queen’s Speeches can be parsed. What is the “it ” we have italicised, and how does one “ decline ” an “act.” The Dublin Evening Mail denies that Mr Justice Lawson ever said he was glad to hear that Catholics did not like the language used by Mr Justice Keogh in the famous Galway decision. He says the remark applied solely to Mr O’Donnell’s admission that “he did not question the legality of Mr Justice Keogh’s judgment in the Galway election,” and that the words of the judge were, “ He was sorry the learned judge was not there to hear that.” Of course, if that is the judge’s explanation of his own meaning, the contingencies against which we expressly provided had occurred, and the Times' synopsis of the charge was a misreport, but it is a little difficult for us to believe that Judge Lawson thought his confrere would care two straws about Mr O’Donnell’s endorsement of his law. There seems to be something in the air of Galway which puts every one off his balance. Priests lose their manners, candidates their discretion, Judges their sense of 'the duty of appearing as well as being impartial, and journalists their patriotism. The Dublin Mail now wants the writ for Galway to be suspended—that is, wants to partly disfranchise Galway—because it is sure to return a Dr Ward, whose principles, it is said, are just Mr O’Donnell’s over again. Why not at once pass a law that none but Orangemen are eligible for Irish seats in Parliament ?

Paris appears to have been little less, if not much more, occupied lately with the sublimely ridiculous Metternich-Montebello duel than with the fall of the Ducdc Broglie. Princess Metternich, a woman of brave if somewhat bizarre spirit, who, we are sure, grievously feels being debarred from fighting her own duels, at a reception ‘‘cuts” Count de Montebeilo, who incontinently challenges her husband. The Prince is nothing loth to fight, but denies the right of the Count to consider himself the oft'emhd party, and consequently to have choice of weapons. On

the first point, there is long logomachy among the seconds, and the battle is nearly drawn, when M. de Montebello insists on conceding everything, and so fighting. Then the Prince, having established his punctilio, will not be outdone in courtesy, and surrenders his right of naming arms, whereupon the seconds decide that the weapon shall be the sword. The meeting took place at Gorches, near St. Cloud, on May 29th, at half-past five o’clock, the Prince having left home at his usual hour in the afternoon, without in any way exciting Madame’s suspicion, and he returned in time to dress for a dinner party, to which they went, poor M. de Montebello having been again cut in the interval, —this time with cold steel under the elbow. Such is the satisfaction due to wounded honor. It is a strange state of society in which two men, one of eminent, the other of distinguished position, can play the fool in such such a way, and not apparently lose caste or consideration in consequence. The lock-out in the Eastern Counties continues. In Lincolnshire the farmers and men have come to an agreement, the former recognising the Unions, and the latter agreeing, with consent of their Unions, to give a month’s notice of any claim to more wages. It was believed that this compromise would influence the Suffolk and Cambridge farmers, and it has been pressed on them by many landlords ; but they hold out, declaring that they will fight to the last against the Union principle, or in other words, they will maintain their own Trade Union till they have warred down the Trade Union of the laborers,—that is, till they have demonstrated that they alone in the counties are in enjoyment of civil rights. They further assert that the lock-out saves them money, as they find they can do very well without the men, at least so long as the old and the children suffice for the work. New profit and new exemption from trouble have not, however, made them pleasanter tempered, as they ought to have done. The men still outshine them in patience, good behaviour, and tolerance, utterly rejecting the incendiary advice still, we regret to see, tendered by some of their papers. Prince Arthur has been created Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and ttarl of Sussex. The Prince is the first member of the Royal House who has borne, as his superior dignity, a title derived from Ireland. Seven or more Royal Dukes have had secondary titles derived from Ireland, but secondary titles are invisible, and usually forgotten. Not one man in fifty thousand is aware that the Prince of Wales is Duke of Rothsay, any more than he is aware that the Queen is Countess of Clare. Englishmen not being imaginative, the fact that there is no English superior title among the Queen’s children does not strike them either as a slight or a reproof. They need no “ conciliation,” and only wish that the Queen would occasionally reside in her capital, because they think it might tend to facilitate public business, and keep alive the elderly men whom they usually prefer for Premiers. We are glad to see that the new Canadian Government has intimated its intention of pressing the Imperial Government for a solution of the question of Colonial Copyright, and it will be an excellent exercise for the dialectic and diplomatic faculties of Mr Jenkins, who again announces his appointment as Canadian Agent-General this week, if he will condescend to master the series of admirable arguments, in which Sir John Rose pressed the case of the colonies on the late Government, and if possible, which we rather doubt, better them, or at all events, press them home. The Canadian offer is, it seems to us, considering all the difficulties of the case, an eminently fair one. It proposes, as we understand, to give what amounts to a royalty on the sale of the book secured by a stamp affixed by the State, and to forbid, under penalties, the sale of any book not bearing the stamp, except of course the original British edition. By this means, American pirated editions, which now flood the Canadian market, would be excluded from public sale, which is a practical impossibility at present, considering the ordinary difference of cost between the London and New York or Boston editions, and the fact that our colonists will read English books, but will not pay English prices for them. A colonial edition, published at about the rate of an ordinary cheap edition here (say a dollar, instead of a guinea and a half), would secure the colonial market to the author, and would probably occupy the American market as well.

The weather was very spiteful on Whit Monday. Not content with being bad, which is its normal and therefore, on Conservative principles, its rightful condition, it chose to delude England into an idea that it was good. Up to twelve o’clock, the day, though a little too hot, was clear, and women all over England turned out in new summer dresses, which by two o’clock were spongy pieces of wet rag. How many gowns and bonnets were spoiled it is impossible to say, but as the rain seems to have been universal from Liverpool to Ramsgate, and from Hull to Exeter, the direct cash loss to the poorer classes must have been enormous. The Londoners, perhaps, suffered most, for shelter for the crowds the metropolis turns out is physically unattainable, even when the publichouses arc thronged to thereof. It is a pity that there are no means, in London at any rate, of giving an authoritative warning from Greenwich on statute holidays as to the chance of rain. In this case the barometer showed clearly what was coming, and an official intimation on the post-offices would have saved millions from discomfort and thousands from heavy loss. The temper of the people, under the circumstances, was wonderful, the heavy rain being accepted with a kind of resigned helplessness quite pathetic to see. Mr Justice Christian appears to have hit a blot in the Irish Judicature Bill. In a letter to the Times he points out that the sixth clause of the Bill excludes the Bankruptcy Judges from the High Court, while thirtyfourth clause includes them in one of its principal divisions. Lord Cairns will, no doubt, be glad to rectify this error in committee. The Irish Bankruptcy Judges are rather of the status of County Court Judges, than of the rank from which Chancellor and Masters of the Rolls are ordinarily chosen. But by far the most suggestive and telling section of Judge Christian’s letter is his comparison of the work done by the Irish and English Judges. In putting the proportion of causes at one-fifth, while the numbeFof judges and the cost of the establishment is as two to three, we seem to have rather understated the case last week. Comparing the Chancery Cause l ists of the two countries this term, Judge Christian finds that before the three Irish Judges there are just sixty causes, while before the four English Judges

there are already 3G9, likely to be largely supplemented when the lists for sitting after terra shall appear. When the magnitude of the business is also taken into account, it is, in truth, no exaggeration to say that an English Equity Judge does twice as much work, term for term, as all the Irish Equity Judges taken together. The House of Commons will, we hope, see to this, by the carrying of Lord Cairns’ proposed reduction somewhat further. The news of the week ending May 30th, from the famine districts shows very little change. Distress is increasing in Burdwan and Cooch Behar, but in both provision has been made, and the Viceroy thinks his supplies adequate. The laborers everywhere have been ordered to take payment in grain, apparently to avoid the peculation caused by payment in money, and some 2,500,000 persons are fed by Government in one way or another. This is the ten per cent, on 25,000,000 originally prophesied by Lord Northbrook himself in his telegram on numbers,Jand represents the number who would have died but for direct relief. Some rain has fallen, but nothing of importance, the “ little rains ” still holding off, a bad omen for the cultivator. It is stated, moreover, in a limes telegram, that South Tirhoot has gone, and that Sir R. Temple is about to visit it in person. The only vital question now, however, is rain.