ENGLISH ITEMS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5020, 26 April 1877, Page 3

ENGLISH ITEMS.

M. Rouher has complained of the omission of the Prince Imperial’s name from the conscription lists, and intends to inquire whether any special orders on the subject have been given. The Prince, he states, claims the right of serving in the French army as a private soldier like other citizens. The Pays, contradicting a report that the Prince Imperial claimed to serve as a simple soldier, says he has no occasion to stoop to the pettinesses of vulgar and common life, and will return to Paris, not as a conscript, but as Emperor. There is some talk on the part of a certain section of the Liberal Scotch Peers to substitute the Earl of Rosebery for the Duke of Argyll as their leader in future. This young nobleman has rendered himself singularly popular by his varied accomplishments, genial manners, and genuine humour, and people are not likely to forget his positively SydneySmithian joke about the Queen’s title of Empress being intended ” for external application only.” Moreover, on the question of education and of ecclesiastical pretensions—for the Duke of Argyll’s attitude in regard to the Patronage Abolition Bill will not soon be forgotten—he is nearer the Nonconformist platform than his senior, while he has also certain Whig traditions or prejudices which form a recommendation to him in the eyes of statesmen like Lord Granville. At all events, the relative positions of the two noblemen will form the subject of serious consideration among Scotch senators on the eve of the opening of Parliament. | oiHO® Serjeants’ Inn has just been sold by public auction by Messrs. Norton, Trist, and Co. The bidding started at £40,000, and proceeded by small amounts to £57,000, at which price it was knocked down. Mr: Serjeant Cox, it is said, was the purchaser.