General News.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3650, 7 September 1880, Page 2

General News.

The Bishop of Peterborough,- preaching at the Cathedral, said, in the coarse of his sermoD, no doubt alladiGg to the Bradlaugh controversy:—When .a man who was to make the laws of his country took the book in his band and promised, allegiance to England's Caesar, he did it in the name of God, and when he said " So help me he inroked as the witness of the compact between him and his Sovereign the common Judge of both. Alas for our liberty and order, if from out of public acts and deeds of the nation we thereby blotted out the recognition of the name of God I A nation of atheists must be a nation of revolutionists, their history must be a history of revolution marked by intervals of grinding, cruel, and unrepressed slaughter, because for weakness there would be no appeal to the supreme power against present tyranny. It was impossible to Bay that the throne of England might not in some distant time be occupied by an unpopular monarch—'and what then? Would the throne be secure merely by the graces and popularity of the monarch ? Not so. The throne of England, the order and government of England, must rest upsn a deeper basis than affection; it must rest, if it was to abide, upon the Christian principle of loyalty, or sooner or later the whole and noble fabric of English liberty and order would perish. The Home News says although there ia no chance that any measures will ba initiated by the Home Government of a nature to give serious offence .to the Colonies, the necessity for removing even the slightest causes of hurtful friction if one that may well occupy the attention of our ablest statesmen. For in the transitional state which must continue for many years, it is not impossible, however remote such a contingency may seem, that some misapprehension of Colonial instinct and feeling may result in action calculated to wound the natural sensitive* ness of a young community. A hearty welcome should, therefore, be given to the proposal of any practical scheme of federal representation and federal de« fence.

Husbands who do not inrariably agree with their wires in financial matters will not be much grieved by the recent decision in a case of Whitley against Sharpe, in London. Mrs Sharpe, some time ago, ordered a sealskin cloak, which was supplied, and daily worn. The price of the article was twelve guineas, and it was to obtain payment of this sum that the ' plaintiff brought an action against Mr Sharps, who is now separated from his wife, and objects to paying the little bills which she has incurred. The defendant holds an official position in the city at a salary of three hundred pounds a year, and the question to be decided was whether such a jacket was a necessary for the wife of a gentleman thus circumstanced. The matter was difficult, for the shopkeeper could scarcely know whether the income of the purchaser's husband was three hundred or thirteen hundred pounds ; and it may be presumed that a jacket which would be a necessary for one would riot be a necessary for the other. Mr Justice Bowen held that, although a sealskin mantle might not be unsuitable to the wife of the defendant, he could not for a moment think it was necessary. Judgment was accordingly entered for the • •* defendant, Mr Sharpe. "•:-*, The Glengarry Cap, which is perhaps ,* as much disliked by officers for its -^ appearance as by the men who are. compelled to wear it, has recently been ."_ *, subjected to an innoration which intensi- ". fies its ugliness. It is ordered lhat light -.'i infantry regiments shall be distinguished!;^ by green bands and tufcs in their glea. >, games, and royal regiments by scarlet, .'^ It is doubtless a good thing to hare some ''~M system by which almost erery regiment..in the Service bus some distinguishing^ ■;, badge, or other decoration, on which .;< store may be laid by both officers and ■""- men, but when colour is employed for this H£ purpose, great care should be exercised, ->% lest it be found out of harmony with. tbjg/^:j rest of the uniform, and it may be a great matter for question whether these scarlft^ * and green tufts and bands wilt meet t&ii'^ 'r requirement. ..,"" :&%%'?*■'?