OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 743, 22 October 1870, Page 4

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

[pall mall gazette.] The following letter is signed by a "Colonial Bishop" : — "Having resided many years in a foreign country 1 can hardly find words to express my admiration of the freedom which, on my return to England, I find not only pervading your institutions, but also your thoroughfares. I witnessed a scene in Regent street this evening the like of which could not have taken place iv any other country in the world. About seven o'clock, on the opposite side of the road to that on which I was walking, a large crowd was following an elderly woman, dressed in black ; she seemed to be an inoffensive old lady who had " seen better days," but some peculiarity in her manner or appearance had attracted a mob of idlers, who amused themselves by inflicting upon her various kinds of torture. They hooted her, they pelted her, they hustled her along the pavement. At last I saw one gentleman, I believe of the class called "rough," deliberately strike her a heavy blow with a stick across the shoulders. Upon this I crossed the street, with the view if possible of protecting her. Before, however, I had time to reach her, I saw a dirty-looking girl make a rush at the object of my sympathy, and knock her down. She fell from the pavement into the carriage-road with a loud scream, and would have been run over but that two of the crowd dragged her towards the kerbstone, covered with blooc'. The girl, probably thinking with myself that she had killed her victim, took to her heels, and was chased down a neighboring alley by a bystander, who ultimately caught her, and brought her back to the spot where the old woman had fallen. No sooner had he done so than he was surrounded by a mob of roughs, who bid him, in peremptory terms, to " Let the girl go." I conclude that he obeyed them ; but my attention was directed towards the old woman, who had been picked up, and was being assisted across the road. By this time a policeconstable made his appearance, and finding the woman was able to walk, gave her a fair start, and stood between her and her tormentors, two or three of whom, however, managed to slip by him and followed their prey, who waddled off round the corner of a neighboring street, hotly pursued by those who had the luck to elude the policeman. I ventured to address that official, informing him that the old womau had been knocked down by a girl on the opposite side of way. "Was she indeed, sir f he remarked, and then added, with a portentous look at one or two excited individuals who apparently had been in search of him. " Some one 'as 'ad the impidence to state that Hi 'aye just come hovit of a public-'ouse. I wish I knew his name. Hid make 'im prove 'is words," and then he gave a bitter laugh. Some one here observed that, whether he had been in a publichouse or not, the mob had been bullying the old woman for at least half an hour. On this point I can offer no opinion. I only saw the latter end of the affair, but that was quite enough for me. I left the constable and the crowd, and us I wandered home I thought to myself that in a less glorious country than this the ruffian who struck the old woman with a stick, and the girl who knocked her down, would probably have been lynched on the | spot. It also struck me that, it waa rather unfair on the Zoological Gardens to permit the exhibition of the ferocity of will beasts to be seen gratis in broad daylight in a crowded thoroughfare like the Regent street." The Petit Journal, among other details respecting the army of the Rhine, congratulates the French soldiers on the care taken of their comfort. Before joining the army, says this paper, the equipment of each soldier is inspected, and, if necessary, renewed, shoe-leather especially, as unless this ip perfectly supple and good the greatest suffering may ensue. The soldier receives two pairs of shoes, which he has to wear for a little while before his departure. He also receives a complete outfit of linen. He takes with him a quilt, canvas, and a pole for camping out, a wooden bowl and spoon for soup, a supply of needles, thread, buttons, &c, for mending clothes. As soon as the campaign ia entered upon, the soldiers mess together iv companies of tea gc twelve. This association is called a tribe; each man in the tribe has to set to work ; the lazy are mercilessly driven away. " Whoever will not work shall not eat," is the favorite motto. If a soldier shirks work, his ration is put on one side, and he may cook it as he can. Each tribe has an iron pot, a can, and wooden boAvl Each corporal receives a coffee-mill and a hatchet for cutting wood and repairing tho sharp points of tent poles The soldiers obtain far more substantial com-

fort by living in common and cooking their food together than they could singly enjoy. The daily ration consists of sugar, coiFeo, rice, lueat, salt, and bread or biscuits, in such proportions as represent a money value of 44 centimes. The soldiers always receive the sugar, coffee, bread or biscuit in kind ; the rest of the ration they receive in money whenever they are in a country affording facilities for obtaining food. The tribe then caters for itself, and lives well if one of its members happens to be a culinary genius. During a campaign the soldiers' pay amounts to 25 centimes a day, paid, every five days. The Sunday Trading Demonstration, which took place last Sunday, in Hyde Park, is, we suppose, a fair sample of what we may in future expect now that all attempts to preserve order in the parks have been abandoned, and places set apart for public recreation have been handed over to stump orators as platforms for their oratory. It is stated, whether truly or not we cannot say, but we can readily believe it, that special orders have lately been given to the police not to interfere with public speakers in the Park, which, under theiv regulations, they were bound to do. It is well we should clearly understand the position in which we stand with regard to the parks. There was a time when the Government of the day felt itself bound to preserve the same order in the parks as in the public streets — the most humble and orderly subject of the Queen was as sure of protection in Hyde Park as in Piccadilly. He might take his wife and children there on a Sunday afternoon, and no " discussion of public grievances " was allowed to interfere with the harmless enjoyment of himself and his family. But on Sunday last the park was in different hands. Ruffians in college caps and gowns were chanting blasphemous litanies. Roughs were making rushes for watches and purses. Several speakers were " discoursing freely" and simultaneously. The Sunday Trading Bill supposed to be the topic of the day, though the chief exercise of the speakers was abuse of tho House of Lords. In the campaign of 1866, the Prussian formation of the company column was to the military student an object of interest ouly second to the needle-gun. Every Prusssan battalion consists of four companies, each numbering 250 men. The company is formed into two divisions or pelotoons, four sub-divisions, eight sections ; but if the company numbers as many as sixty-four files, it is cut up into four divisions, eight sub-divisions, sixteen sections. The company column is a column of sub-divisions, eight iv number (if the company be on a footing of war strength), drawn up in two ranks, the original third i-ank of the company when acting in line now forming an extra division for skirmishing purposes. The battalion, when ordered to form column of companies, represents a line of four columns, each column showing a front of at least tight men and a depth of sixteen men, the two centre companies sometimes forming a double column. The companies act quite independently of each other, sometimes being at an interval of a hundred yards The captain is at the head of his company in front, each subdivision being led on its right flank by a subaltern or by a non-commissioned officer. The colors are in rear of the seventh sub-division of the third company. Thus formed, the Prussians believe 250 men, led by a Prussian captain, can do all that, a whole battalion of another army otherwise formed can effect. Tho French tacticians find great fault with this system, alleging that it causes confusion from the crowding of the rear sub-divisions, and that the attack resolves itself into a number of isolated engagements sustained by leaders of companies, the commander of the battalion losing all supervision over his men. This opinion is held also by some Prussian officers of experience who served in the war of 1866 The Russian Historical Purtraifc Gallery, now open at St. Petersburg, contains no less than eight hundred pictures, for the most part of the eighteenth century, though some few belong to the seventeenth, and even the sixteenth. These works of art have been borrowed from the Hermitage and other Imperial galleries, and from private collections at St. Petersburg, Moscow, and elsewhere. Many of the portraits are repetitions : thus, ihere are twenty-three of Peter the Great, and no fewer than fifty-six of Catherine the Great. Russian writers congratulate themselves on the fact of the eighteenth century now being delivered up to them, with all its historical personages, to criticise as they please. Hitherto no full examination of this century has been possible to Russians, who for the most part have had to study it in the Avorks of foreigners, such as the history of Leveque, and the memories and travelling sketches of Gorman, English, and French visitors to Russia. But simultaneously with the opening of the Historical Portrait Gallery, the whole of the memoirs of the Empress Catherine U. were presented to the Russian Historical Society by its president the Cresarevitch ; and the interesting period of Russian history which extends from the accession of Peter I. to the death of Catherine 11. is now waiting to become the property of all historians who can succeed in putting their stamp upon it. An agitation has arisen iv Edinburgh which, it is to be hoped, will soon arise in other towns and cities in the United.Kingdom, including even our own metropolis, the object being to take some decisive steps to prevent the overcrowding and to improve the habitations of the working classes. A public meeting wa3 held on | Wednesday, at St. Mary's Hall, convened by the Trades Council, for the purpose of taking the „ subject into consideration. Sheriff Cleghorh, who occupied the chair, expressed some wishes with regard to his own city which are shared by other people with regard to this metropolis. He said he sometimes wished that an enemy would come and bombard the city, and knock down the great bulk of those tremendous houses and closes which were so opposed to every sanitary improvement. The Sheriff also wished that some dictator — some Emperor Napoleon — would come and take the matter into his own hands ; and certainly, from the account given by the speakers of the condition of the old town of Edinburgh, there would seem to be good ground for Sheriff Cleghorn's destructive and imperial wishes. One tenement was alluded to which consisted of four flats, one of them a sunk flat, with eight houses, of one apartment on each flat In that building there were twentynine families, numbering in all, parents and children, 107 person. There were no conveniences in the houses, and the

water had to carried from a close opposite. It also appeared that 161 houses in the old town were inhabited by 741 persons, and the total amount of cubic air was 237,120 cnbic feet, being 320 for each individual. The parochial allowance for the same number was 370,500 cubic feet, or 700 for each. Therefore the inhabitants of these houses had 180 feet less than the pauper, and 380 feet less than the felon. Of the 161 houses 97 were of one apartment, 61 of two, 3 of three, and one was not measured ; and of the population 391 were adults and 350 under fifteen years of age. Of the houses 3 had five windows each, 10 had four, 26 had three, 65 had two, and 49 had only one, 5 had skylights, and of 3 there was no return. In 104 of the houses there was no water, and in 139 there were vo waterclosets. This sounds very nasty, but it is very like onr own London. The truth is that in Great; Britain we we not truly a Christian, but a very dirty and un-Chris-tian people. Babies when they are born, if they could speak, might very fairly say to vs — " We know that in the world we have just entered we must labor for food and clothing, but we have a right to demand air gratis. It was never intended that there should be any difficulty about our breathing." Yet light and air are luxuries to the pauper who has to labor for his bread while he is absolutely denied water ; and all the time that these poor creatures are dying of suffocation in their foul pens we preach to them morality, impress upon them the advantages of education, and, at the same time, are surprised at the bills of mortality and the returns of pauperism and crime. The man we are now to look to upon the French side for strategic genius (says an English journal) i 3 General Trochu, the greatest soldier in France, and about 55J years of age. After graduating at St. Cyr, in 1840, he successfully advanced in the army until 1846, when he served under Bugeaud, in Algeria. During the Crimean war his genius and experience were entirely relied upon by Lord Raglan and the French Marshals, and to him more than any other, is due the credit of the campaign which culminated in the capture of Sevastopol. In 1864 he was created a General of Division, and was charged with the entire reorganisation of the French army upon a new system of tactics, subsequently publihsed under the title " l'Armee Frarcaise." He has long anticipated the present rupture, having been for the past five years on the most confidential terms with the Emperor, and during that time has made a close study of the Rhenish provinces. No man alive is more throughly acquainted with their characteristics as a theatre of war, not even Von Moltke, of whom General Trouchu promises to be a briliant rival. It is interesting at the present moment to recall to mind what Macaulay wrote about the war of succession in Spain when reviewing Lord Mahon's history. ' • Family affection," he remarked, "has seldom produced much effect on the policy of princes. The state of Europe at the time of the peace of Utrecht proved that in politics the ties of interest are much stronger than those of consanguinity or affinity. The Elector of Bavaria had been driven from his dominions by his father-in-law ; Victor Amadous was in arms against his sons-in-law ; Anne was seated on a throne from which she had assisted to push a most indulgent father, and then, soon after the peace, the two branches of the House of Bourbon began to quarrel. A close alliance was formed between Philip and Charles (of Austria), lately competitors f or the Castilian crown. A Spanish princess betrothed to the King of France was sent back in the most insulting manner to her native country, and a decree was put forth by the Court of Madrid commanding every Frenchman to leave Spain. Napoleon I. also had some experience of the matter with the ■ Sovereigns he appointed. King Joseph often thwarted him, so did King Louis, so did King Jerome of Westphalia ; and both the King of Naples and the King o! Sweden took \ip arms against him." The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has declined to make a grant towards the revision of the authorised versir.n of the Bible. It is better, perhaps, for the work of revision that it should not be identified too much with such a body. The grounds of refusal on the part of the society are of the nar- | rowest and most prejudiced kind. It was i argued that none but members of the Church of England should be allowed to take part in such a work. Surely bigotry and intolerance have a long reign before them.