ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5535, 23 December 1878, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

France, to whose Exhibition upwards of a quarter of a million of foreigners have found their way, England alone furnishing more than ’ a quarter of this total, is in the excitement of a .national lottery. This colossal enterprise was started in order that out of the profits , cruing from it the poor provincials might Have the expenses of their journey to the Great Show in the Trocadero defrayed. A million tickets were announced to be sold at a franc apiece, and an immense number of prizes were promised, but when once the venture was started, it took so amazingly that it was foimd impossible to check its development. Million after million of francs continued to pour in, till the prodigious total of £480,000 had been subscribed, which was to yield in all 230,000 prizes. There have now been twelve million tickets, and the question which is anxiously agitating the whole country is how long the drawing of the prizes will take. Even when they have been drawn, how can we be sure that the right prizes will always go to the right people, that grindstones, iron gates, and live monkeys will invariably be awarded to those persons whohappen to be particularly in want of such commodities. As The Times, however, remarks, any mistakes, or rather infelicities, in tho distribution will only increase the fun of the whole thing, and “ tbe declaration of the prizes will richly contribute to the national sense of humor, whatever else it may do." I had (says “Atlas") a pleasant chat with Count Schouvaloff in Baris on Thursday afternoon, just before he set out on his long aud dreary journey to Livadia. It will be readily imagined that the Count did not reveal many diplomatic secrets to an outsider, and that I should not repeat them if he had ; but I may say that he positively denied that the bellicose utterances of the Russian newspapers, tbe Oolos, the Journal dc St. Petershourg , and the Russian correspondent of the North German Gazette were to be looked upon as inspirations of the Government, and that he wished that fact clearly stated to the English nation. Astonishment has some times been expressed at the rapid recovery of France from the disastrous effects of the German war ; but it is evident from the following passage, extracted from Samuel Rogers’s “Recollections," that Edmund Burke would have been prepared for what has occurred : “ England," he said, “is at all times a moon shone upon by France. France contains all within herself,* She has natural advantages ; she can rise soon after severe hloios. England is an artificial country ; take away her commerce, what has she ?" For the first time for 212 years the chiming of bells was heard from the tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday afternoon, November 1. repaired the ravages m the belfry of old St. Paul’s wrought by the fire of 1666, The tone of these bells is not everything that could be desired, but they are at least a national product, aud when it is remembered that bell-ring-ing was for years a lost art in England, and is only now being recovered, there is every reason to be satisfied with Lady Burdett Ooutts’s gift. At last the remaining difficulty in tho way of an arrangement for the administration of Egyptian finance has been overcome—not, however, without considerable'' concession on the part of England. Notwithstanding the assurances of our own Cabinet some months ago that neither in tho matter of Cyprus nor Egypt nor anything else was there the least danger of French sensibility being offended, the French had ro sooner heard of Mr. Rivers Wilson’s appointment as Finance Minister under Nubar Pasha than they began to be suspicious. The next thing was a rumor that by way of asserting tho strength and determination of the French nation, a French fleet would make a demonstration in the Mediterranean. The appointment of a distinguished Frenchman, M. Bligniercs, as Minister of Public Works, was not enough to satisfy French honor. It was insisted that he should be a Minister of Public Works endowed with extraordinary powers. To this England has consented, aud M. Blignieres, instead of having authority over public works alone, will also control the Egyptian railways and harbors, the one exception being, of course, the port of Alexandria. The difference has thus been satisfactorily got over for the present, but it cannot be regarded as a hopeful omen for the future. The French Chambers have mot for an autumn session, the chief subject for their consideration being the Budget; but the great event in France has been the choice of Municipal delegates who form a kind of electoral college for the selection of seventy-five members of the Senate on January 5, 1879. The full results of the elections of delegates are not yot known, but so far as they are known they have been favorable to the Republicans. It may, therefore, confidently be predicted that tho Republican party will command next session a majority in the Upper as it already does in the Lower House. If that is so, when the Septennate comes to a close in two years’ time the Republicans will have tbe nomination of a successor to Marshall MacMaho l This assimilation of political foeliug ?u i French Senate to feeling among tho Deputies is full of hope for France, and may well be a matter of satisfaction for Conservative Republicans. With -the Senate, as well as the Deputies, avowedly Republican, there can be no excuse lor pushing extreme opinions in the Lower House merely because they are opposed by the Upper, To tho end of the chapter there will probably be two kinds of Republican ideals in France—the Conservative and the Radical. The best prospect which there can be in store for France, and which there is reason to hope is in store, is that of a Parliamentary Opposition between these two—the dynastic ambitions of Legitimists, Orleanists, and Buonapartists being silenced.