ENGLISH SUMMARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 58, 9 March 1874, Page 2

ENGLISH SUMMARY.

[From the Home News, January 13 ] "Conservative reactionists" ore more jubilant than over — Cambridge has elected the Hon E. C. Yorke, a conservative, and this was hardly to be wondered at; but Stroud, consistently Liberal ever since the Reform Bill of 1832, the hero of that measure having been one of its members, his relume 1 a Conservative also, and (hat by such numbers as must indicate a very decided change in the political opinions of very many of its voters. Of course the Tory papers, who score this iast triumph as their thirty-third, attribute these results to the turning of the tide in their favor. The Liberal journals give forth a somewhat uncertain sound — carelessness, the ballot, want of organisation and other influences not quite so innocenr, are more than hinted at. Among these may be mentioned the injudicious utterance of some ultraLiberals, Sir Charles Dilke among them. This gentleman has ogam delighted his supporters at Chelsea with an harangue against Royalty, Government, Liberalism (effete), aQ d e^ery other ism save Dilke-ism. Our Sovereign Lady the Queen is credited with saying one of her "good things" in connection with some of theje utterances. Ido not, the Queen is said to have said, smilingly, I do not understand why he dislikes us so. His father's feelings were so very different. I have had Sir Charles on my knee when he was a child, and I have stroked his hair. I suppose I must have stroked it the wrong, way. Those who met with the Republican baronet in Australia, and who have read his book thereupon, will perfectly appreciate the crispneßS of the Royal epigram. Mr Bright has varied his purely political utterances by giving a young Dissenting clergyman who had written to him, some advice on the subject of public speaking. To write out a speech he declared to be bad, but to commit it to j memory intolerable. For the last thirty i yearß he has done neither, and the list of his advice is that a speaker shall first of all thoroughly master his subject, and then speaks as the spirit moves him. Traces of the Quaker training are surely visible in this, and the result has been good. Of more recent speeches, one by the Earl of Shrewsbury may be specially noticed. He was speaking at Elton, a district sot afflicted with a school beard. He denounced the secular system because he did not desire to see " a lot of ruffianly little atheists in the pariah." The Earl of Sbaftesbury at Wandsworth on Saturday last, spoke in the highest terms of workmen's clubs, the opening of one such being the reason of his speech. Mr Amphlett has been advising the publicans not to ask too much, and as opposed to this the Executive Council of the Good Templars, has issued a circulnv, calling upon all members to vote only for such members of Parliament as shall pledge themselves to op. pose all licenses for the sale of intoxi-. eating beverages and the prohibition of their manufacture. A somewhat unexpected result has attended the working of the Licensing Act. It almost, if not entirely, prohibits the issuing of new licensee, and since it became law, public-house property has risen in value fully fifty per cent. Publicans, distillers, and brewers have therefore grown rich even more rapidly than usual in consequence of the i practical operation of a Jaw that was intended to repress them. With reference to Ash an tee and the war operations being carried on there, information comes slowly to hand, but matters appear to be progressing in the right direction. Something in the Bhape of a reverse has been met with, but it is described as a judicious retreat, and the result of the efforts of the retreating party were fully equal to expectation. The road to the Prah, the clearing of which was indispensable to a march to Coomassie, is complete, and as English troops are cow landing — if, indeed, they ore not already landed — decisive intelligence may be looked for every day. That the command of the case is in good bands no one can doubt, nor is the ultimate result problematical. It is at the best a "miserable war," and it seems a question whether either the natives or the white residents on the Gold Coast are worth protecting. The situation must, however, be accepted, and the best made of a bad bargain. The Tichborne case continues, and Dr Kenealy continues his speech, He addresses himself to the evidence, but he and the Court, and indeed the jury, occasionally interpose an anecdote, or a quotation, or some amusing fact iv science, and the proceedings ore by no means dull, though there has been an entire absence of any of those collisions which marked the earlier stages of the defence. We do not know that anything has occurred to call for special remark here — we may note a repartee by a juror, who onDr Kenealy requesting that it might be observed that the defendant's shoulders resembled in shape those of a chamgagne bottle, remarked "Then it must be a magnum" Dr Kenealy introduced a eulogium on Miss Braine, and accorded her credit for adhering to the defendant through all his misfortunes — we need hardly say that tbe fumous passage jn Marmion, "O woman I" was not forgotten. A very terrible incident has occurred down in one of the most peaceful parts of England. A Mrs G-ulliver made a will and died. There was reason to think that a relative of hers, a Mrs Waters, who was interested ia the will speedily

coming into operation, had accelerated tho death by the administration of morphia. A warrant was issued for her apprehension, and on her being made aware of the facf, she became suddenly ill nnd expired. Tbe evidence upon which the warrant was issued was of a thoroughly insufficient character, and the proceedings at the inquest upon Mrs Gulliver were against all rule. " Coronor's quest law "" was, however, triumphanf, and when Mrs Waters died the jury found a verdict of felo de se. The unfortunate woman was buried at night without religious rites, and the whole affair remains a scaudal to the intelligence of the time. The remains of the Third Napoleon have been deposited in the sarcophagus presented to the Empre ss for the purpose by our Queen. The scene was an impressive one, and the Emperor having expressed a wish lo be buried in French soil, a quantity had been conveyed from Versailles. This was placed round the coffin, and so the letter, if not tbe spirit, of the injunction was obeyed. Perhaps the letter may be carried out some day, The case of tho Ville dv Havre an<l the Lochearn has been Bettled alike by different sides. Boards of | Inquiry into the causes of the collision have been held in Prance and England. The French Court found that the Ville dv Havre was free from blame, the Englieh Court Sading in similar terms for the Lochearn, A lady passenger on board the French vessel has written to say that during the voyage that ended in the disaster, she " scuttled the ship with a hair-pin no less than thirteen times." She goes on to explain that she used Jo lie in her state-room and poke holes through the timbers of the ship with the feminine appliances referred to. Another sea waif may be referred to here. When we last wrote a difficulty existed between the Spanish and American Governments with reference to the Virgin^?. The ship settled the affair herself by sinking. It appears that she was an utterly unsoaworthy craft, but after her surrender she was i ordered to New York. Next to taking ' Cuba the entrance of the Virginius into New York harbor was the best thing the American Government could thinfc of. What it was intended to do with her is not known, but as soon as she got into the rough roll of the Atlantic she sank, and so the Virginius difficulty was ended.