Some Gossip.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2162, 8 December 1875, Page 2

Some Gossip.

The Home correspondent of the New Zealand Herald gives the following morceaux of home gossip i-± I am becoming melancholy, which is a sin in, all. men, ? bufc/lespepecially in a London correipondenfr! Let me therefore change the subject/and tell you one or two little items of gossip which-1 have had .whispered into my ears during the interval which has 4;lapse<i since I last wrote to you. -And. the first item *ie, that a scandal of no ordinary kind has occurred in the West of England. If what I hear be; correct, a certain lady (well-born, and the wife of one of the dignitaries of the English Church) has beea recently discovered in a liaison with a

Cojonel upon balf-pajr in } the Britith Army." The Colonel'wjts"a most'distmgui?hed officer; he was married; had a family of three children; and in Company with his own wife he was.frequently asked to the house of the lady— the wife ot the ecclesiastical dignitary—:who*e ■ mifcd h» gradually corrupted to such an? extent that he presently brought her toi contemplate an elopement with him., The elopement would hare taken place,' I am told, but for tb©f,merest accident—an accident, however, which enabled the ecclesiastical dignitary to tar his wife with her infi» . delity, and to lock' her up safely in bef own room. The injured husbaad 'then betook himself to his Bishop, to knaw what course he should adopt in the distressing situation in which he found himself. Hi* Bishop, I understand, urged the"wronged ecclesiastic to forgive "his wife, and to inform the Colonel thatif.he, did not instantly leave the neighborhood his (the Colonel's) • wife should be, ipformed of his business, &c; 3 In this way the awkwardness of a Dublic scandal. h*s;berfß avoided, but none tbo less have the tongues of the, gossips been afforded . materials whereupon-to discourse. The next item of gossip which I have heard is to the efiect'lthata c<jurt-martial? jit. about to be held to investigate the conduct of two officers, who, whilst undergoing a course of instruction at the Hytbe School i of Musketry, assaulted a,*,brother office^ in one of the public streets in" Hytlis^in, I am assured, a very disgracefulVay. Into the causes which led to the committal of this assault I will not enter. I have heard various versions which differ greatly amongst themselves. I think that it will be wisest ia me to say nothing about' them: My last item of gossip is a political item, I am informed that during next, month strong efforts are aboufe.fo be made in the North of England to give a rallying '• cry" to the Liberal party., To this endtfgreat banquet is to be given, I am told; to Mr Bright, and in the speech which that right hon. gentleman will deliver at the banquet in question, he will state what in his opinion should be the " cry " which the Liberal party should adopt at the next general 1 election. Whether Mr Bright will be able to give forth a " cry " whicti will serve the desired end is, however, I think, very doubtful. The one great political question (which must eventually "come to the front") is, of coarse, the question of the Disestablishment of the Church of England, bat as Mr Gladstone is evidently utterly averse to dealing with it, I very much doubt whether any minor "cries," such as "household suffrage in the- counties," or "compulsory uusee-. tarian education," will have any effect in rallying the scattered forces of -the Liberals, So far, indeed, as I can judge, Mr Disraeli and his Cabinet are likely to remain in office for the next two or three years at least, and when they fall—as fall they will—it will be rather from their own inherent weakness than from the streagtb of their opponents.