NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 90, 21 September 1868, Page 228

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

GENERAL SUMMARY. v [Home News, 17th July.]

We have no political crisis to describe, and we have but little of political incident to report. The Premier is managing matters in bis own way, making all concession where resistance would be inconvenient, and getting over the business of the country. We are not far from the end of the session, and the whitebait dinner day is fixed. The present Administration has weathered all storms, and the great Conservative party is J preparing, not by any means hopelessly, , to fight a fierce battle- at the general election; We are still told that the new Parliament Bbalf inebt before Christmas.

The complementary part of the Reform Bill is added to it, that 13 to say the Scotch and Irish Bill& have passed, as have the Boundaries Hill and the measure for expediting the registration. The Commons are still debating the Bribery Bill, but its essentials are accepted. The supplies are granted, much as asked for, and the feeble attempts at lopping off an item or two find no favor. It will not be interesting to readers at a distance to hear much about the details of the squabbles on the first of the above measures, but wr may fiote that on the Boundaries Bill there was a curious scene in the House of Lords. The bill had been -altogether altered from the form recommended by the set of commissioners" who were sent into the country td consider the subject, and no doubt altered for the worse, but the Premier- had accepted the changes, and spoken of the thing as settled. The indignation of Earl Russell was roused by finding that when the measure came into the Lords, Earl Beauchamp (lately married to Lord Macaulay’s “ Valentine ”) proposed to recur to the recommendations of the commission, and tliat Lords Malmesbury and Cairns supported him; Earl Russell, in a greater rage than ,he has lately manifested, called the proceeding by a variety of hard names, declared he would not be a party to it, and walked out of the House, followed by a dozen peers, each displaying' liis patriotic wrath in gestures more or less like those of the champions in the Critic, when: they go off, one by one, swearing to do something dreadful. Thq. very next night, the Ministers bad to come down to the House, and announce that they should oppose the amendments which they had advocated a few hours before;;"' Of course they had in the meantime received the Premier’s orders;' But the" Conservatives bad such revenge as was afforded by a series of scoldings administered to Earl Russell andhis friends, whose conduct was declared" disrespectful; unworthy,Igfiohnuious; and'* otherwise’ repfehehsi* bib; - In Tact, the ljords grew quite abusive. J y '/// " r'.v'

. It one great since we 'last wrote. On the discussion .qn^jpllrish Church. Billthe hereditary legislators : did themselvesZhoriori. as has been allowed by those who are least satisfied with'the result. This debate lasted three nights, and all the best speakers in the Lords put forth their ’ full* strength. They had, of course, the advantage of -discussing a measure which was neither to have immediate action, nor direct party, bearing, and, moreover, it was perfectly well known what was to be the end of the debate. The speeches were for the :most part in good taste, and the subject was treated .on high and broad ground. We: do; not analyse the addresses, hut merely point out that Lord Carnarvon, Lord Salisbury, and the Lord Chancellor were the speakers whose efforts excited most interest, and that the Bishop of Oxford gratified the large concourse of ladies who came to hear their favorite bishop with a humorous speech, into which he introduced a highly effective imitation of Mr Spurgeon, perhaps more ; creditable to the prelate’s histrionic powers than to his hierarchical posi tion. Earl Granville conducted the debate exceedingly well. The end was that the House of Lords endorsed the declaration of Mr Disraeli that there should be no legislation in the matter of the Irish Church until the new constituencies could be consulted, and the Suspensory Bill was thrown out by 192 to 97. The event has caused no sensation.

These two paragraphs nearly exhaust all Parliamentary news with which it is needful to deal here, except the pleasant item that upon Lord Napier of Magdala (so. gazetted on Tuesday) the Parliament settles £2OOO a year for two lives. The conqueror of Abyssinia has returned to England, has visited the Queen, been thanked by the Houses, has received very many addresses, has been feted at the Crystal Palace, which makes a good thing uut of heroes, princes, and other lions, has been banquetted by fellow-soldiers, and has, in fact, had all the honors which he has so weli delivered: The trophies from Magdala are on view at the South Kensington Museum, and are not impressive. The ycrung son of Theodorus Las also come, and is de-. scribed as very intelligent, and as so delighted with this beautiful cnmtry that he hopes never to leave it. There is always somebody to be spiteful on ail occasions—readers of the classics will remember that a mime was introduced into the triumphs, to prevent the victor from being too proud—and it has been asserted that we did not behave fairly to Theodorus, in accepting his cows, whereby he was led to believe that be should have grace and favor, whereas we proceeded to hunt him to the death. But an examination of dates and facts stamps out this malice, and it Las been treated with small regard. So ends the gratifying chronicle of the Abyssinian war. The Duke of Edinburgh has returned to us, and it is almost unnecessary to say that be has had the most affectionate and enthusiastic welcome. His filial duties discharged, he has been chiefly with his*brother, the Prince of Wales, and has accompanied him to various public scenes. At the Opera the Duke made his first bow to the upper classes, and the National Anthem was performed amid much plaudit, but his grandest reception was at the Crystal Palace aforesaid, where a concert, dinner, and fireworks were arranged in his honor, and where thousands on thousands seemed frantic with delight at beholding him. Even some of the vilest rhymes that doggrel-poet ever scrawled were encored, -and he was told that

“ Young, told, and true, be wears the hlne His courage to evince.” The fervour of gratulation is now slackening, though a good many provincial mayors are restless and uncomfortable, and think that they ought to be allowed to persecute him with their addresses. The. Queen and the Heir Apparent visited him on board the Galatea on Tuesday. It is understood that he will speedily go to sea again. ; .

We rejoice to be, able, to say: that the- Princess of Wales has been confined;, and that life long illness which gave the nation so much anxiety for this young and; amiable, lady had no results .tending to make the crisis at

all more iter royal highness is and the infant; Trincess' well. The illustrious at the ffite t. 6: the 'Duke'. of Saturday, visited at on the Sunday, and'gaye birth to the Princess soon after dawii on the Monday, July 6. Of 1 English royalty 1 there is no more to be said, except that "her Majesty is at : present at Osborne, and will soon depart for a visit to Germany/and will go on to Lucerne, it is understood, where she will sojourn some three weeks, travelling incognita. We-trust that she will be fortunate in her -weather, on which peculiarly British topic we may say a word, though contrary to our custom and to Dr Johnson’s decree. We have had the presence of that bright particular star which is called the sun, in all his hottest brilliance, until the fields are dried into brown barrenness, the cattle have .only hay to eat, and man’s nature is enfeebled by the persistant heat. We have had no wet day since June 4, and a few showers, and some thunder have lately led us to hope for an end of the drought, but up to the writing of these lines the expectations have been disapoiated. The probability is that,, the fine weather will break up just when society is leaving. London to which it clings, with exceeding folly, during the finest portion of the year. Our usual glance at Continental politics is not rewarded this time. There is little of interest that is not usually looked for. A kind of sensation was caused by the news that the Duke and Duchess de Montpensier had been arrested, and conveyed out of Spain. It will be remembered that the duke is a son ,of Loui3 Philippe, who managed to cheat Europe in general, and Lord Palmerston in particular, in the matter of the Spanish marriages. It was a bad deed of the cunning old man, for a part of the programme was the wedding the young Queen of Spain in a way that promised succession to her sister, the bride of this French prince, and the treachery has been rewarded as it deserved. But there is nothing to be said against the duke and duchess ; on the contrary, they have lived quietly iu Seville, the most liberal part of Spain, and though avowedly opposed to the system of terrorism and bloodshed adopted by the Queen at the bidding of the generals and the priests, they have never interfered or attempted to aid any of the hundred plots, though had they done so, the result would probably bave been the ejection of Queen Isabella. With her the duchess is stated to have remonstrated once on the retrograde and savage policy of Gonzalez Bravo, to the great displeasure of the Queen, who desired her sister to withdraw from the palace But the suspicions of the court ha v e been aroused, snd the duke and duchess have been sent, it is now understood, to Lisbon (it was at first stated that they were en route for England) and a large number of generals have been seized, and will probably been transported, if not shot. The tyranny of Narvaez was of a better kind than that of his civilian successor, and those who have studied the Spanish character are disposed to believe that should insurrection break out now it will find more favor with the nation than heretofore.

France has had debates on her military and naval establishments, and her deficiency of £2,000,000 sterling, and as the government has proved to its own satisfaction .that retrenchment is impossible, the next thing is to provide the money. There is not much interest in the French papers, indeed the only ones which make the Parisians talk are the small and scandalous publications in which the private life of people, whose private life is vicious, is retailed for the amusement of the virtuous. French society is very base, no doubt, but it is not for us to throw stones. An actress, whose speciality is of a class which even the English critic describes only by periphrasis, draws the; most crowded and most fashionable audiences, including royalty, and to their defight talks the slang of Paris low, life,, intermixed with, speeches - •„ and with gestures of a kind to which we cannot giye ; the rijght name. -; Let Those who .desire id understand- bow “ the best society” in, England‘Amuses itself obtain the Times newspaper for the

15th of/July/ ahd| read a theatrical on Schneider’s; rperfdrmance at the St. James’s Theatre/ -We are half inclined to add, as in the obituary,' /•Australian.papers please copy,” only we may be; thought too desirous to proclaim the folly of folks at home/t : We had nearly omitted to say that the' Pope.'.had: issued a bull, summoning, an (Ecumenical, thatjis universal, Council for December, 1870, when die will have completed his 25 years of ofiiee, the longest term a Pope- has reigned. His Highness is not very explicit upon the subjects which the council, the first of the kind which has been held since Trent, is to discuss, hut there is ample time to prepare a programme. The bull was published to the sound of trumpets, and it has been suggested that Rome herself may hear the trumpets of Jericho before the date, arrives. The holding this council has long been a favorite idea with Pius IX., and as it can do no harm, will be a stately spectacle, and will afford happiness to a venerable priest, no one will grudge him tbe gratification. The missives have gone forth into all' lands, but we may be privileged to be tbe first to convey the news to Australian Catholics.