The Express. — London, England, 1867-12-26 00:00:00

r BREAKFAST. -E PPS'S COCOA Zite /me re r t ~a w' 0 , 14 41, 4 :41 1 - 0 5 T • TO Cl 'SR V. 4 PON DENTN. tdverdeernents Intends 1 " The &press,' London Evening PIIZ I mast be the (Waco, Bouvorie-street, by Two e . on the day of rublwation. 111 E r. TIW EvrArtio, OUTC . C. t\ Messrs. finthern, Itartutir . Iv,. , r!ispen•lair. liurke, Wright. irihertion, ri . Eit V I.:10 4 140N TIIE It/IRIAN D —Concluding with .1 K is.s IN TIIE DNEK. Tilts Evr.!clllo. THE and Mrs. Dino lieucicault. —Atter which s l KEEN EON O iN. Mr. N nwri dies, Ntell..n, : Misses Elsworthy, Lanett, Rachel 'anger, and ST I ; AND. tins EvrNING, KIND To 1 rti'LT.—.tfter which will he mo de. e 1 .1 e ri :4 . ~.i I'.t•araggruz.t, TILE CALIPH LtAGUAD lIING TU NLRSE. 11;‘) , .P.ORN. TITIN ETENtI4, THR TNA4) IYILT, . 'Herz.; Price ne.l Wl4- - VALEVEINE II 111 tN : HARLEQUIN THE WI; REAR AND Til E T.! I' Lupin°. Green. mi.! Rowella;ye3daluci )..underJ, Goodall, Montero, az. kr , ra yNIA. TTFT4 Ev'rirsa. Pox q 7. : "IL SANtiff) PANZA AND fits WIFE rf.RE7.%. Si, „r/{. ke.: Mes,ra. Dean, 4vi.. Newh.i.a, an I Nlulle. C. ateplum and Situ Cost Nathan.—And wilo lilt* IT: MOH WAWA, V' LONDON DVDOL IND ntl —Morning. rn. 1 , .m......Aftern000, 2h. ^Zak TO-1101mOir—horning, :45)....•.Aftenma. 3U. 10= LONDON, TIIURSDAY, DECEMBER 26. We are not so merry a people es wo were even at Christmas time ; but perhaps we are a better people. Our amusements have become more re fined, more hunvin, prettier. We no longer take pleasure in axing pain inflicted on any living thing. I:ear-baiting, bull-baiting, cockfighting, have all happily disappeared from our manners. Prizefighting is very nearly gone. Even fox hunting is a less popular sport than it was only twenty ycars ago, and wo are beginning to see some truth in the odd French criticism on our national sport in the shires—" Vingt ituurdis " qui courent stprs tine bate." Our amusements generally are not only of a higher order, but even of a gayer kind than they were. Onr fathers used to shut themselves up in rooms lighted with " mole " candles, and tipple steadily for hours at a time. If they wont to each other's houses, they sat stolidly looking at each other, and talked company talk or confidences. It did not much matter; it was equally dull and unnatural. Bright, kindly men like SHERIDAN escaped from it, and took refuge in taverns. Crest scholars like JoHN- 1 son were to be seen with a steaming mng before them. Fine intellects like that of SAVAGE sank hopelessly degraded, merely because there really was in his day no place of amusement where healthy imagination could disport itself amidst fresh and pure images. The English public was dull enough to let tercets, the author of " Hudibras," live in an alley, and OTWAY and Cusrreurent die as they did. Stolid as we were, we were not so bad as other nations. There is no chapter of written history so sad as the manner in which even scholarly Ger many treated SCHILLER : while GOETHE was more or less patronised by men whom, under a proper state of things, ho should have taught. The life and death of CERVANTES have pointed many a stupid gibe at mankind, when mankind was not much in fault, for nations, like individuals, can only act and think up to the standard of their teaching or their genius. But our whole social atmosphere has cleared of late years, partly because we have had a QUEEN of a life notably very pure and beautiful, a great light, so to speak, in modern Europe. Those who remember the state of society thirty years ago and those who will consider it seriously now will have no difficulty in appreciating the difference. Another cause of the improvement in our manners has also been at work. We have had for the last generation the most surprisingly beautiful comic literature and picture craft ever known in the world. Before the time of DICELNS and LEECH, the grand art of exciting laughter without blushes was undiscovered. The caricatures of GILLRAT and even of SEYMOUR were very coarse. Wit was prone to identify itself with garbage, and was apt to get tipsy and to be inexact in its accounts. It borrowed money which it did not pay, it flirted, it neglected its wife, sometimes it did worse. The theatres of a generation ago wero mere haunts of flaunting infamy. There was a place called the " green room " which was worse than any place which would now be tolerated for a week by modern opinion. No one could walk down Piccadilly, or any other great thoroughfare, after dusk without being molested and shocked. Vice was fearfully repulsive in its aspect. It was painted, it warn obtrusive, it was aggressive. The old Adelphi Theatre, the old Coburg, the old Sadler's Wells were dangerous haunts of mis chievous and quarrelsome thieves upon Boxing nights. Bill Sykes was there, so was Mr. Fagin. Crockford's was open, and fifty other gambling houses within hail of it. One peer passed his time wrenching off door-knockers, another in bribing a cabman to poison himself by drinking a pint of gin at a draught, and a third in beating his maid servants. Even a Christmas piece had but little wit in it. Our pantomimes had the traditional hot poker and policeman. There was something about a sausage and a rough and tumble fight in them of course ; but there the merriment ended. Anything more hopelessly stupid than the dialogue of an old pan tomime it would be impossible fur the dreams of indigestion to fancy. The charming and graceful extravaganza is of modern growth. There has been nothing like it since the time of Anurro- Plums. The play of fancy, the sparkling beauty of the images, which come at command to at least half a dozen of our Christmas and Easter burlesque writers, are altogether wonderful and praiseworthy. Examined by the light of all former theatrical history, they are quite delightful in their perfect innocence, purity, and merriment. There is a life and a joy about them quite unknown to the amusements of the past. Then come our Christmas books: They, too, are in a great measure the creation of Mr. DICKENS. Before the "Christmas Carol" we had nothing so simple and beautiful in that way of writing as we have had since. And this is not all. A kindlier and more catholic spirit is abroad generally. Mr. Dicer-vs and his disciples, not forgetting the Illustrated Louden News, have made us quite in love with Christmas. We have revived good traditions and charitable usages forgotten for centuries. Employers give a longer holiday in a more generous spirit than they used to do. Folk take a more sensible and practical way of ex pressing their kindness to poor relations than they did. The mere list of charities published in newspapers at this season is something which does honour to our common nature ; and they probably do not represent a hundredth part of the open-hearted bounty which Bows about wherever want or misery is really believed to exist. Under these circumstances, let us congratulate our selves, not presumptuously, but very heartily, and wish each other a happy Christmas all round. THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1867. OCTI: CONTEMPORARM 4. (THIS DAY.) Cite Court. OSBORNE, Mc. 25. The Queen gave a Christmas tree yesterday afternoon to the school children of the parish of Whip pinghani. Soon after 4 o'clock, the Queen, accompanied by Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Henriette of Schieswig-Hoistein, and attended by the ladies and gentlemen in waiting, entered the servants' hall, where the presents were laid out, which her Majesty, assisted by the royal family, Jatributed to the children. Meat and Cake were afterwards distributed to the labourers on the Osborne estate. The Rev. George Prothero, rector of Whipping.ham, and Hrs. Prothero had the honour of being invited to attend. The Queen, and Prince and Princeu Christian, Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and Princeu Beatrice, and the Prince of Leiningen and Princess Henriette, attended divine service at Whippingham this morning, where the Rev. George Prothero officiated. The ladies and gentlemen in waiting were in atten dance. The Prince of Leiningen arrived at Osborne yesterday on a visit to her Majesty. M. F. Eloin, late chief of the Civil Cabinet at the court of the late Emperor of Mexico, also arrived. A copy of resolutions passed at a r uble meeting held in the town hall of the borough of Bridgnorth, condemning the late atrocious outrage at Clerkenwell, has been prc• 'anted to the Home Secretary. TILE PRINCE. AND PRINCESS OF WALES.—Yester day, the usual Christmas gifts of the Prince and Princess of Wales to their humble neighbours at Sandringham and the adjacent 'wishes, were distributed in accordance with annual custom. The presents were, as in former years, doles of food and gifts of clothing appropriate to the season, and they were highly appreciated as evidencing the kindly interest taken by the Prince and Princess in the welfare of those around them. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough arc sur rounded by a limily party at Blenheim. The Earl and Countess of Fitzwilliam aro enter taining a family party at Wentworth, Yorkshire. The Hon. Frederick Stanley, M.P., and Lady Constance Stanley are staying with the E.trl and Counteu of Derby at Knowsley. Tho Hon. Frances Hanbury-Tracy, second daughter of Charles lisabury-Tracy, first Baron Sudelcy, by the Hon. Henrietta Susan Tracy, only daughter of Henry, eighth and last Viscount Tracy in the peerage of Ireland, died on Monday last. Mr. Edward Thornton, the newly-appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Washington, in the place of the late lamented the Hon. Sir Frederick W. A. Bruce, will leave in a few days for New York, to enter upon his diplomatic functions. Mr. William Lowther, son of the late Colonel Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther, M.P., intends to relinquish the diplomatic service, as he is a candidate for the vacant seat in the House of Commons for Westmoreland. Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. William Lowther are stayiog with Lord and Lady Wensleydale, at Ampthill Park, Beds. A GUERILLA WARRIOR FOR ABYSSINIA. (From the Times of India, Nov. 2).) • Considerable curiosity was excited on board tho Rangoon by a passenger who gave out that he held the ap pointment of military commissioner in Abyssinia to the War-office, and that he was proceeding thither for the pur pose of entering upon his duties. Ho also stated, not very consistently however, that his first efforts would be made in the endeavour to obtain, by personal mediation with Theodore, the release of the prisoners • and, if those efforts failed, to raise an auxiliary force of 3,000 men for the pur pose of creating diversions in aid of the invading force. The name of the individual referred to is Major H. A. Leveson, who is not an unknown person, for he has written two works upon his exploring ex peditions in different parts of the world ; and in a letter to Lord Stanley, which appears in the last Blue Book on Abyssinia, he signs " late Colonial Secretary, Lagoa \Vest Coast of Africa." That letter we append which probably indicates the true purpose of his visit 'to Abyssinia, though no official reply appears in the Bins Book further than an acknowledgment of its receipt. When the Rangoon arrived at Job-el-tear, an island in the Red Sea, off Manowah, the Coromandel was found awaiting mails by the Rangoon and also the arrival of Major Leveson, to which vessel he was trauferred. He gave all to understand that he goes unaccompanied except by servants ; and the bearing and talk of the men certainly go far to produce the conviction that he is equal to the mission—whatever is may be—which he has in hand. We trust he may be successful, and in the mean time wo hope to hear more of him. The following in his letter above referred to : MAJOR LLYESON TO LOUD STANLEY. The Ship Hotel, Charinfporose, July 18, 1887. _- - - My Lord,—ln April, 1865, I volunteered • my services for the purpose of negotiating the release of Captain Cameron and his companions, but, other arrangements having 'peen made, my offer was declined. More than two years have now elapsed and the captives are still in chains, all negotiations having been simply treated with contempt. This result might have been prognosticated, as an Arme nian or Levantine was the very last person to have been sent, those races being distrusted and looked down upon by (ober nationalities in the East, on account of the general character they bear for deceit and duplicity. At last, wearied out with the fruitless attempts that have hitherto been made to negotiate, the nation at Imp seems to have determined that either the captives shall be set free, by force if necessary, or that Theodoru. the King shall be punished. The chances are that when when hostile means are commenced the lives of all the captives will be at once sacrificed, as the King, who is said to be at the head of about 40,1100 men at Debra Tabor, would most likely immolate them out of mere bravado. Nearly four months must elapse before any troops can take the field so as to act with efficiency ; and before any threatening or hostile measures are carried into effect, I ask permission of your lordship to be allowed to attempt by mediation to rescue a brother officer and his companions in trouble. I want no aid, and but very little means; all the risk is my own, and I will cheerfully run it. Should I succeed a great expense of life, treasure, and perhaps even prestige will be spared the country ; should I fail • single life is the only penalty that can he exacted, and that will be paid without a regret "Le jeu want teen la chandelle." This is the worst view of the case ; but I hope and believe that, with tact, the re lease of the captives might be arranged belore any troops were landed at hlaasowah. Under the present circumstances, now that a part of his territory is in open revolt under different leaders, King Theodonu mar find it to his interest to keep on friendly terms with this country. He was once very partial to Englishmen, as Plowden and Bell were his most trusted friends and intimate oompanions for a long series of years ; and I know the formergentlemen had a very high opinion of him, as some years ago, he invited me to join him in Abys sinia for the purpose of hunting large game with the King ; Lad had I not been suffering from the effects of severe wounds, I should have wandered over the country simply for sport. Ido not anticipate much danger to myself were Ito go now. A fair Oriental lingui s t, I have o ft en travelled elone in Africa, having made several expeditions quite as dangerous as the one I now wish to undertake. lam &untamed to a tropical climate, having returned three times from the west coast of Equatorial Africa, be sides having made long exploring tripe into the interior from the east coast. I would make my way via Massowsh or Tajurah to the camp at Debra Tabor, and present myself to the King ss the friend of Plowden, and, like him, ready to serve his interests. I would endeavour to persuade him to send back Cameron and the other cap tives, offering to remain myself in their stemL If your lordship should see fit to entrust me with this min s'on, it shall be carried out if possible. If, on the other hand, it should be determined to commence hostilities, I would still volutes• my services, as great assistance could be rendered to an invading force by creating diver sions in different parts of the country. Several provinces are said to be in insurrection under different feeders at the present time, and were a contingent of their followers armed and organised they would spare our regular troops mach harassing work. The Arab tribes of herd Um'mr are now said to be holding their own against the troops of Theodora' in the province of Shire whil.t Menelilt in Shoe, Tulle Gulaw in Gojam, Wareham Gobezi in Tigre, and Tussoo Gobezi in Samien, are in open revolt. Should the troops of his highness the Vioeroy of Egypt take any part in the campaign, I would again ' venture to suggest that my services might be useful, as I commanded some of them during the Russian war, when on the staff of the Ottoman army. Since then I have served es Colonial Secretary and Lieutenant-Governor of Lagos, where I wu superseded on account of a severe wound received in an engagement with the natives. and have taken part in the campaigns of Italy, Denmark, America, and Austria. I beg to forward a couple of my works upon exploring expeditions in different parte of the world, to show that I am accustomed to similar adventures and hard work ; and I bare left with Mr. Wyld, of the Foreign-office, a book full of certificates and testimonials given to me by ditfe• rent commanders under ' , bola have served, any of whom will bear testimony in my favour. Should your lordship sea fit to entertain my proposal, I am ready to start at these hoar,' notice.—l have, Ste., H. A. Lgvzsog, Major, Late Colonial Secretary, Lagoa, West Coast of Africa. A DECLARATION OP FENIAN PRINCIPLES. The New York Tribune of December 13 published the following dee/A:ration of Fenian principles by the representatives of the brotherhood in congress assembled : Oleevland, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1867. The national character of every pmple, and the princi ples which govern their action, become of vital import when the community is placed, as it were, on trial before the world. The kindly sympathies which attach man to his fellow man, and which, developing the highest instincts of his nature, constitute a bond of humanity stronger and more durable than the selfish considerations of interest, should always be directed in favour of right and justice, and against wrong and iniquity in every form. Hence, when an oppressed nationality endeavour by revolution to assert their claims to the Cod-given boon of liberty, it is both expedient and in entire accordance with the usages of society that they should place on record the reasons that impel them to resort to such moans, the objects in view, and the principles on which they rely to demonstrate the justice of their cause. It has been the misfortune of the people of Ireland that their oppressors have transmitted to the world nearly all that it has received concerning our history and character. The victims of a relentless and long-continued persecu tion, we have been represented b 7 our tyrants in the light best calculated to subeerve their own interests, and to screen the illegality of their usurped authority over a people who, though cut down by armed force, and for 700 - years trodden under foot by an unscrupulou si power, have never ceased to struggle for their rights, have never for an instant surrendered their claim to that inde pendence which is the true life of a netMn, as slavery, whether voluntary or accepted, is its virtual death. Our history has been falsified, our acts have been misconstrued, our motives and sentiments have been misrepresented by the agents of the power which has profited by our misery and enslavement, until a large proportion of our fellow-men, viewing us through this distorted medium, have come to regard us, as a moo, as not only incapable of self-government, but actually unfit to be entrusted with the management of our own affairs. To remove an idea so erroneous, and to correct an impression so unjust to a people who have long and generously sacrificed in the cause of liberty, the congress of the Fenian Brotherhood, who in this generation repre sent the nationalists of Ireland, and embody their aspira tions for the freedom of their native land, make this de claration of the principle • by which our organisation is actuated and guided ; and we ask our fellow-men at large, and particularly the blends of freedom everywhere, to respect our honour as truthful and liberty-loving men, and to judge us, not by the misrepresentations of our enemies, but by the principles we profess and the acts by which we prove our adherence to them. We believe and declare that freedom—the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"—is inherent in every creature made in the image and likeness of God, and I that, however individuals, by crime or violations of the LOWS passed for the maintenance and well being of society, may forfeit any portion of those rights, the enslavement of is homogeneous people, either by foreign power or do mastic tyranny, cannot, under any circumstances, be jus tified. The God of nature, in placing between thd English and Irish nations not only the distinctions marked by diffe rences of national character, but also natural barriers, which—in vita of special legislation designed to obliterate the nationality of Ireland—have kept them separate and distinct as peoples, has written on imperishable record the deli= of our country to independent national existence, and made earth and sea the e itneases to the inviolability of our charter of freedom. Even had any generation of our race proved recreant, and voluntarily agreed to surrender their rights as men, the limits fixed to human existence, and the utter inability of man to legislate for anything appertaining to himself beyond this mortal sphere, are the seal and testimony set by the Almighty Creator on each of his creatures, to teach them, through all time, that the inalienable and indefeasible rights im parted with their being must come down to them un diminished or unimpaired by the follies or the crimes of their predecessors. But the title of our people upon this point is clear and unimpeachable. Through over •.90 sure missive generations they have never ceased to . protest and struggle against the plunder of their national rights. From age to age the legacy of patriotic e ff ort has been trans mitted from Fire to son, and the dungeon, the scaffold, and the battle-field hale proved the fidelity with which the sacred trust baa been discharged. The Irish people of to day are still the custodians of that great trust; and, in their name, the Fenian Brotherhood has been organised tr demand, and, with the blessing of heaven, to achieve, what so many of our race have attempted before —the liberation of our country from the domination of England. We demand it in the name of every man of Irish blood throughout the whole earth ; and we desire to accomplish it solely for the benefit of every Irishman, without distinction of creed, or class, or political idea. We claim the land of our fathers for the benefit of the people whose birthright it is, who love it with a filial affection, and who, by the eternal decree of their Maker, have earned, in the sweat of their brows, the right to live upon, to possess, and to enjoy it. We seek injury to no m..n ; our quarrels not with any clime, but with the government which has robbed and murdered our people, and with those who sustain it in its tyranny and usurpation. If on our onward march to liberty any such oppose us, arrayed under the tag of the op lreasor—which has been the symbol of slavery in Ire and, and is the ens4n of the enemy of liberty every where— on their beads, not ours, be the consequences. We ask only justice for ourselves and our kindred ; and the vindication of that principle requires that an alien power shall no loner be permitted, undisturbed, to devour our substance, whsle those who produce it by their toil wither and pine in bondage, which at once destroys their bodies and debase, their souls. Our motto is, " Ireland— free and independent," for her own people first ; and then, when her free will and action are tuitmmrucled and unquestioned, for the freedom, the elevation, and the happiness of humanity, the world over. In the language of our executive, " Faction we abhor ; sectionalism we scorn." We seek all the rights that, as men, belong to us, and we ceek them for the whole of our people ; we make no reservation, we tolerate no distinction that would divide the true children of Ireland. We have been accused of irreligion, and of seeking to undermine those great moral principles which, reminding men that their first duty is to their Creator, underlie and preserve the whole framework of society. The accusa tion is untrue and unjust. The genius of the Irish people is essentially religious ; their history is a record of en during faith ; of constancy under persecution ; of the noblest sacrifices cheerfully made in the sustainment of religion and morality ; of tolerance and charity in the hour of triumph ; and the whole county of our organization prover, that, in this respect, too, it truly rcpt. :scuts and accords with the character of our race. Religion—the pure and reverential homage which man offers to his Maker—we regard as a sentiment too sacred to be mixed up with the strife of earthly interests ; and we leave it, untouched, between the conscience of the individual and Him to whom the tribute is due. Content with the dis charge of the second great duty that devolves on man, we do not ask of our brother at what altar he worships, satisfied when he honestly serves his country, and leav ing to his own sense of right the obligations which he alone can discharge. Representing the power which 15,000,000 of the Irish people, scattered between the old world and the now, must necessarily exercise, if they be true to their coun try, we have adopted the alternative of revolution, because the slavery to which our kindred are subjected has became too galling for human endurance, too de grading to be submi tted to unresistingly by beings en dowed with the attributes of men. Our rights, the pos session of our native soil, are kept from us by force, by the power which grasped both with armed hands. By fore and arms alone can they be restored to us in their original integrity ; and by force and strength of our own arms we propose to win them back. The tusk of their recovery belongs to us in the first place; and by our efforts to consolidate and organise our people, we but record our acceptance of the duty, and our determination to acquit ourselves of it like true men and faithful chil dren of our country. Our cause is a just and holy one ; it is the struggle of right against wrong, of freedom against oppression. It is not alone the cause of a nation striving for its own independence ; it is the effort of enslaved humanity to emancipate itself from the thraldom and de basement of feudal tyranny. The elevation of a down-trodden people is a benefit con ferred upon the whole famiiy of nations ; and of none might this be said more truly than of Ireland, which, from her position and resources, is capable, if once free, not aloes of rendering her own population happy and pro sperous, but of diffusing, by example and influence, the spirit of independence throughout the world, wherever her scattered children are to be found. As a people, we have ever loved liberty, and struggled for its attainment; as a people, we are in favour of liberty to-day, not in the ungenerous sense of those who would monopolise its blemings, to the exclusion of their fellow-men—but liberty as universal as the benifieence of the Deity, of which it is the emanation ; as impartial as His justice, which commands that we shall do unto others as we would be done by. Save this, we desire nothing for our race or our country. And, as we have commenced this struggle, determined to persevere in it until Heaven and the power of our own right arms shall have crowned our efforts with sttos-sa, we ask the lovers of liberty every where to extend to our cause the aid and sympathy which it should receive from thine who profess to be the friends of human freedom. We ask them to regard us fairly, and to judge us, not by the standard of opinion of any individual, but by our own conduct, and the official acts and policy of o r own elected representatives, who are the only legitimate exponents of our sentiments and principles. And when the hour to strike shall have arrived, and we set our faces once more toward the foe—determined to do or die in the final effort —in the name of the God of Justice, whose inspiration and blessing we invoke for our cause ; for the sake of our common humanity, the advancement of which we seek and by the memory of our martyred, dead, who perish e d that others might live as freemen, we ask that the good wishes of all liberty-loving men, and especially the aid and influence of the great American nation, shall be cast on the aide of liberty and Ireland, in the struggle to which we now commit ourselves, "our lives, our fortunes, and nand honour." THE POSITION OP ITALY. The Times expects to see the storm which has been gathering upon Italy in consequence of last Sunday's vote blow over without any serious harm. Menabrea is the only peace minister possible, and no people are less likely to venture on impossibilities than the Italians. France is said to have sent strong remonstrances to the cabinet of Florence on the ground of the non-payment of the Italian quota of the pontifical debt. But so long as the French are at Rome or Civita Vecchia, they have a clear justification. It is not easy to see how by mere arguments France can shako the strength of the Italian position. France can, no doubt, constitute herself • judge in her own cause. She can weigh the Pope's tiara against the crown of the King of Italy, and throw her sword into the scale. She can cut the knot of the pontifical debt by restoring to the Pope thane provinces which she was mainly instru mental in taking from him. She has given, she may take away ; she has built up. she may puU down. The only question is whether France—lmperial France, at least— can break up the Italian edifice without bringing its ruins upon her own head. What France has now initiated is a work of reaction. Site knows where it begins ; she cannot say where is will end. The Herald regrets that a vote of confidence in the ministry was asked for. One thing seems certain. Italy has coo ceded as much to France as she can concede. The Emperor will act wisely, as well as justly, in being a little more con ciliatory than some of his spokesmen. raßn AFFATRI. The Daily News observes that the refusal of the English people to be urged by unparalleled outrages into lawlessness, exhibits the national character in a fair and honourable light. From this steady sense of justice the disturbers of society have noshing to hope. Meanwhile to allow Fenianism to prevent narrow redressing the just grievances of Ireland is to do just what the Fenian. would strongly desire, and is a part of their deliberate policy. The ex pedient of a money vote, which offers many temptations, would be a fatal measure, inflaming the disease it was in tended to heal. The main root of the hostility to Eng land lies in outraged and offended national sentiment, which is to be cultivated and conciliated and harmonised with loyalty to the common empire. The special shape to be given to it would disclose itself when the policy is once frankly determined upon ; but it does not require any ela borate mental analysis to Inform us that the alien esta bliahment is the most conspicuous affront to the patriotic sentiment of Ireland, and that the first concession to the one must be the abolition of the other. The land laws would also require to be reformed as the corn laws, and the combination laws needed repeal. Rebellious feeling, though it makes use of the physical sufferings of the poor, has its first source in the hearts of men not ground down so low as to be insensible of injuries to na tional pride and self-respect. It must be combated among them if it is to be combated successfully. The Standard represents Mr. Bright as an apologist for Fenianism, and asks what ono practical proposal he has ever suggested to parliament. Ireland has never occupied Mr. Bright's attention, except so far as it could supply materials for an attack upon the institutions of England. He has long used Irish discontent to abuse the English church and English landowners ; he now attempts to use the crimes which every honest man condemns to create embarrassments for the present government. His denun ciation of disloyalty is a rebuke given by Satan to sin. The Stamford also appeals to Irishmen to join in the common measures against the Fenian. They may have been led away by an ill-regulated sentiment of romantic generosity to talk of the murderers of an English police man as " glorious martyre;" but we are willing to excuse this as a fit of hysterics. Having had their cry out, and finished the " herein'" we may hope that they will speedily return to their senses. )rs TOPICS. The language which some of the less cautious supporters of the army scheme in the French Chamber employ with regard to Prussia, almost leads the Star to the conjecture that the partisans of the French government were already preparing occupation for the great army they are determined to have. The Telegraph, tat), thinks France will have no ground for surprise should due notice be taken of the warning implied in the reasons put forth to support the scheme under debate. It may, therefore, be fairly as sumed that the motive for the large augmentation con templated is not purely or in any great degree bounded by the law of self-preservation. The evidence and verdict in tho case of the Ferndale colliery explosion loads the Timm to remark that the fault of the present system appears to lie in a variety of slight defects at its several points. The men have their safety lamps, but they find the means of neutralising the safe guard; the owners ventilate the mine, but not always effectually, and there is no register of the air draught from day to day, as there might be ; the firemen aro on the look-out for firedamp, but there is no record of their reports ; and the outside, or independent inspection, which should keep all this machinery in order, is not sufficient for the purpose. The sources of danger are well known, and the requisite preventives are all presumed to be in action, but there is no security for the constant ef f iciency of the whole organization. The Daily News feels it would bo an unpardonable heresy to suggest that the best Read Masters of Eton might possibly be discovered beyond the sacred circles of Eton and of King's. Fortunately or unfortunately the Provost and Fellows are little disposed to stray beyond their own precincts in search of a finished scholar and a judicious and vigorous administrator. l'iliateve: may be their choice, it is sure to fall upon a perfect gentleman, and probably on a finished scholar. The plant " gentle man" is indigenous at Eton ; nor is the scholar abso lutely an exotic in the playing fields. But will the Pro ved and Fellows be persuaded that • perfect gentleman and *finished scholar may, without some other, and per haps more modern, qualification, prove inadequate to the successful administration of a great public school in these trying times? A letter from Philadelphia says :—" The United Senate has had a debate upon the Abyssinian war. It is believed that various adventurous spirits in the United States are contemplating the fitting out of privateers under letters of marque, which they expect to get from Abyssinia. A few days ago Senator Chandler, of Michigan, well known for his hatred of England, offered a resolution that both England and Abyssinia should be granted the same belli gerent rights in the ports of the United States, and yester day he called it up, and in advocating it s►id it only differed from the British proclamation of neutrality in the American civil war in the substitution of names. Re believed Abys sinian rummagers were on their way here to procure ships of war, and he wanted the Abyssinian flag fully recognised. Senator Anthony, of Rhode Island, strongly objected, and •o did Reverdy Johnson, who thought it would provoke war with Great Britain, which would be a great calamity. Peace between the two nations was necessary, and the Alabama claims controversy be thought could be settled without espousing the Abyssinian quarrL Chandler se cured but one ally, Nye of Nevada, and the subject was dropped without taking a vote." A new Sclavonic Congress has been summoned to meet at St. Petersburg, January 17. This time it is to be an assembly of doctors and natural philosophers, the programme inolnding every nation and creed. - - _ A pamphlet commending a more lenient course towards Poland has appeared at St. Petersburg, and is ascribed to M. Valueff, the Minister of the Interior. FATAL CARRIAGE ACCIDENT.—The death of the third son of the Dean of Maritzburg, a little boy of 7 years old, through the upsetting of a waggon in which he was, has excited a deep feeling of sympathy throughout the city, u might be seen from the large oonomuse of people of all classes at the funeral on Sunday, the 13th of October. The body was borne from the deanery by six of the cathe dral choristers in their robes. The coffin was enclosed in white silk, end on thepall, which was also white, was worked a cross in crimson velvet, in which wan laid a cross worked of white roses. The Rev. Mr. Robinson officiated. Dean Green and the family were followed from the cathedral to the burial-ground by a large number of gentlemen, among whom wo were pleased to observe the Bishop Colenso a n d Canon Gray, with several more of the Dean's theological opponents. The burial-ground was densely crowded, the great part of the assembly oonsisting of ladies and children, many of whom bore bouquet, of flowers, which they laid upon the coffin. Others who could not approach near enough to the grave handed their flowers over the heads of the crowd. On the following Sunday the bishop preached a touching sermon on the Saviour's welcome of children, "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."—lV ceut Witseat 'LATEST INTELLIGENCE. THE POPE'S ALLOCUTION. The Giortude di Boma publishes the Latin text of the allocution which the Pope addressed to the secret conaistory held on the 20th inst. The fol lowing is a translation of the document : Venerable Brethren,—Rich in mercy, God, who consoles us in all our tribulations, mingles joys with sorrows, venerable brethren, in order that, hoping always in JIM), and not being intimidated by obstacles, we may walk with a step which is always firmer in the way of righteous ness, and that, supporting without fear the canoe of His holy church, we may devote all our strength to the complete discharge of our apostolic ministry. Every one sees most clearly how many testimonies of His divine goodness the most merciful Lord deigns to lavish upon us in the midst of the most serious calamities with which the church in these times of gnat iniquity is afflicted, and in the midst of the grave perils with which this apostolic see is tried and surrounded in all directions. While Satan, his satellites, and his children, do not cease to let loose their fury in the most horrible manner against our Divine religion, against us, and agninvt the chair of St. Peter, oppreaskg and tormenting the popu lations of most unhappy Italy, so Ion.; devoted to us. the God of mercy and goodness unveils Himself in en open and wonderful way to His church ; He hastens to its aid, and grants to it the support of His all-powerful might. And hence it is, venerable brethren, that all the prelates of the catholic world, closely united to us by the bonds of faith and of charity, unanimous in supporting the Holy See, and moved by one solo thought, ono common senti ment, constantly defend, some by the living voice, others with the pen, the cause of catholicity, ourselves, and the Holy See, Even the laity in the great public assemblies of Europe raise their voice for the protection of the catholic church and of this Holy See, onbehalfof our temporal power end of the sovereignty of that use. Above all, the nause of our temporal power has, in the Senale of Paris and in the Corps Legialatif, just been splendidly and magnificently defended, almost with unanimous votes and with the applause and to the joy of all good men. The catholic populations, deeply execrating the abomin able perfidy of our enemies, have hastened and rejoiced to testify their filial affection for us by public and brilliant demonstrations, to proclaim their piety and their veneration for the Holy See, and to assuage its sorrows by frequent contributions; and the faithful of both sexes, even the poor, have brought us the aid of their money. And one can point, among ecclesiastics as among laymen, to the most illustrious writers who in their works, and the most eloquent orators who to their speeches in the midst of great political assemblies, glory in defending and sup porting the venerable and indisputable principles of righteousness, of truth, and of the Holy See; and they have defended them with ardour and talent, victoriously refuting all the falsehoods of the adversaries. And how many men of the noblest birth, in almost all countries, full of fervour fur the cense of religion, leaving their relations, their wives, and their children, have hastened to the defence of our city, and, disre garding all fatigues and all perils, have not hesitated to enrol themselves in our army and to expose their lives for the church, for ourselves, end for the sove reignty of our Holy See. Catholic patents themselves, in flamed with the spirit of their religion, have sent their sons, even an o•Iy one, for the defence of the Holy See ; •nd, imitating the illustrious example of the mother of the Maccabees, they have gloried and rejoiced at seeing them shed their blood for such • cause. Moreover, the people subject to our civil authority, &Rho* ex poseti to the most t criminal snares front the most perverse men, to menaces and evils of every kind, have nevertheless remained firm and stable in their duty towards us and the Holy See. Among them the people of Home, who are especially dear to us and merit all our praise, have greatly dis tinguished themselves ; for nearly all the citizens of every order, of every grade, and of every condition in our holy city, have vied in proving to us their affection and their submission towards us, and their obedience to the civil authority of ourselves and our Holy See, and have burnt with a desire to assist us. You know also, venerable brethren, how our soldiers, worthy beyond contradiction of all praise, have distinguished themselves by their fidelity ; with what admirable bravery they have fought against the bands of those criminal men, and with what glory they have fallen on the. field of battle in the - - - - 7 , 7-w cause of the 4:hutch...we . Moreover, yoifare norigeorant, venerable brethren, how greate has been the fidelity of our soldiers, bow worthy of all praise and with what admirable valour they have fought against a band of most wicked men, and with what glory they have died in combating for the church. And you well know that the most serene and mot power ful Emperor of the French nation, considering our moat serious perils, sent his valiant troops, who, with their most excellent leaders, were glad to aid, with all joy and zeal, our army, especially in the combats of Mentana and Monte Rotondo, to fight bravely by their silo and to face death to the glory of their high fame. Nor are you igno rant that, especially in the field of sacred missions, the Divine light of the gospel, every day more splendid, receives, with the help of God and our most holy religion, greater increase every day, and that those who stand in the darkness and in the shadow of death take refuge in the bosom of holy Mother Church, when the darkness of their minds is dispersed ; and that everywhere various pious institutions, most useful to all cla•ses and for the needs of Christian and civil society, are every day on the increase. All these thinss, briefly referred to by us, together with the manifold snares of wicked men, discovered and defeated in a wonderful manner, evidently show how the omnipo- tent and merciful Lord, in whose hands are the hearts of men, most miraculously defends and protects His church, confirms most clearly the promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, end that He is with us for ever until the consummation of all time. Wherefore, venerable brethren, let us always give our deepest and never-ending thanks to the moat clement Father of mercies for so many favours received ; and, placing in Him alone all our hope and confidence, let us not *ease to be seech Him with most fervent prayers that, through the merits of His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, Ho may continue to save His church from all calamities, and free us from His and our enemies, and to confound and make vain their impious counsels and desires. And let us beseech Him likewise that he may deign to bring back to a saving penitence, and to a true sense of justice, those enemies, and likewise those who, fighting against us, were made our prisoners, and who, treated moat charitably by us, persist in their obstinacy. And in order that God may the more readily hear our prayers, let us make use of, first of all, the intercession of the immaculate Virgin Mary who is our most loving mother and the most powerful help of Christians, who ob- tains what she seeks, and cannot be frustrated; next of the most holy St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of the co-Apostle Paul, and all the saints who reign with Christ in Heaven. Before concluding, however, we cannot refrain from rendering deserved and most ample praise and to express the most grateful sentiments of our mind to all and each of those who by voice or writing, or by aid in any respect have endeavoured even to the peril of their lives to defend, to the great glory of their names, our cause, the cause of the Holy See, and of the Church. And let us not fail in all our prayers and orisons to humbly and fervently beseech Ged. from whom proceeds every good and perfect gift, that He may deign to heap upon those sons of the church, who are most dear to us, and its most valorous defenders the richest gifts of the Divine grace and all heavenly blessings. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Mr. Thomas E. P. Lefroy, barrister-at-law, to be a judge of county courts, circuit No. 55, in the place of Mr. E. Everett, alio has resigned. Mr. Lefroy was called to the bar in 1544 sod for many years was deputy judge of the Bloom s b ur y County Court. The ship Lord Brougham, from Hamburg, ar rived at New York on the Gth, with cholera on board. The day after the vessel left Hamburg the disease first appeared and it raged for 46 days with great malignity. She !touted with 383 passengers, Germans seeking homes in the New World, and during the voyage 73 died, while at one time 100 were ill with the cholera. The ravages of the disease caused a panic, and it was very difficult for the muter at times to preserve order. There were 20 cases on board when the ship reached New York, and the well passengers when taken off looked like living skeleton,. The New York health officers report this to be the worst rase that has yet been recorded is that port. EDUCATION IN NORTH STAJPORDSBIDE: The annual meeting in connexion with the North Staffordshire EducatimalAssociation wits held a few days ag., in the Town-hall, Stoke-on-Trent, under the presidency of the klexl of LICHFIELD lord-lieutenant of the county. The attendance was much smaller than usual, but the wee. they was most unfavourable. Mr. Wane(Stone67ammar School), the examiner, read the report of the recent examination of the competitora for the prizes offered by the association. Lord LICHFIELD then said that several persons had sent excuses for non-attendance, and amongst them the Arch. deacon of Stafford. The attendance was very null fur a meeting of so mach interest as that ought to he in the Pot. teries. Whatever the causes of the small attendance, he hoped want of interest in the subject of education was not one of them. They were able to congratulate themselves that they had in Bishop Selwyn a worthy successor totheir late bishop. (Hear, hear.) But however worthy a suc cessor they might have in him, they knew, at any r..t e what they had lost in the de ath of their late tlioc eaae: (Hear, hear.) It was now four years since he (Lord Lich field) himself occupied the chair at • meeting of that society and distributed the prizes ; and be could not help renumbering that the circumstances then existieg with regard to eutication in the district were very different from what they were now. At that time (December, 1.63) they had just sent an appeal from the principal maim. lecturers of that district to parliament to irquire into the whole subje ct of education in the Potteries, which appeal was followed by legislative restrictions upon the employment of children. He remembered the difference of opinion which then prevailed as to the exact systate whi;a ought to be adopted, every one feeling agreed that war legislative interference in the employment of children was absolutely necessary. The great difference of opinion that then existed was as to whether the employment of dress under ten should be altogether prohibited, or the half-time system should be adopted, as in some othsr di.. tricts. It might be too soon to refer to the results which had followed the legislation which then took place ; but from all he bad heard, from the reports of the inspectors of factories and schools, and from all the information lie had been able to obtain, those results, as far as they had gone, were eminently satisfactory ; so much so that ho was %cry much disposed to believe that there was a general concur rence in the adoption of the half-time system. Moreover, the evils that were expected to follow from half. timers coming in contact with children who attend.' all day at school had proved to be unfounded. At the time he had been referring to (the meeting of 1863) he had occasion to remark as a feet then well known by everybody who bed read the reports of the inspectors of schools and factories, that of the whelk number of cell. dren at school, 75 per cent. left before they were ten years of age. So far as the working of the factory acts had borne upon that state of things, they knew from statistics that there were at that moment in the schools of that die. trict no less than 3,000 children who had been pre' tangly employed, and no doubt contributed to that 75 tar cent, who left school before ten. These children were now en. joying the advantages of a certain amount of education up to the age of thirteen. (Hear, hear.) As they knew, the object of that scheme was, from the first, to encourage, by giving prises, those who remained at school beyond a certain age—the age at which it was well known very many were in the habit of leaving school. Thcy gave prises that children who had been in the habit of leaving school at eleven continued up to twelve ; and to thaw who, staying there till twelve, were in • position w com pete under a more severe examination. It appeared to him that the objects of the society were, to a certain degree, if not wholly, met by the legislative restrictions upon the employment of children up to the age of 13, and it struck him that the society was no longer required for the purpose for which it had hitherto existed. Is ought for the future to have for its object inducing children to attend school the whole of their time up to a certain age, and keeping them from going to work at all under that age—it should, in fact, confine itself to the encoura.-euient of education after the age when legislative interf erence ceased—after the age of 13. He did not think anyone who looked upon what was going on, both in this couniry and abroad, in the improvements which were continually taking place in the different manufactures, some of which the Potteries were so famous for could help seeing that the continuation of education after the age of 13 was of the utmost importance to the future prosperity of the trade of that district. (Hear, hear.) So far as he could understand, the managers of that society had put the half-tinier on precisely the same footing as the whole-timer—that was that the half-timers might compete with the whole-timam being put of course to the disadvantage, if it was one, of being at school only half their time instead of the whole of it. This required a little consideration. He had heard it said that the progress made by half-timers was really so remarkable that it was found that they got as much edu cation as those who were at school the whole of their time. If that was really the case, the necessity for giv ing encouragement to children to remain at school the whole of their time, instead of half their time, would not exist; but upon this subject he should like to hear some remarks from those who were taking an active pert in the affairs of the society. However, they might at any rate congratulate themselves not only upon the improvement which had been brought shout by the operations of that association in inducing children to remain at school, but also upon the very great increase in the number of children educated. (Hear, hear.) But, unfortunately, with all they had in that respect to con gratulate themselves upon, be was afraid there was • great deal still to be done ; that although the number receiving education had very much incens ed , at the same time there was • vast number of children who were receiving no edit cation at all, neither at school nor at work. The number of these in some of our large manufacturing towns hal been stated at something almost incredible to those who were not already aware of the facts. They had been told of the enormous number of children in places like 51.sn , cheater who were turned into the streets, and neither west to school nor to work. He thought that, upon inquiry, it would be found that there was a very large number of children in the Potteries who were uneducated—(bear)- 1 and if, as he suspected, • large number of these were toe children of persons receiving out-door relief, itwas a subject worthy of the consideration of the guardians whether they were doing as much as they ought to do for education. (Ala plause.) With respect to the education of children in the workhouses, which was a most important subject, he had heard with great satisfaction that Stoke had provided, 3 largo expense, separate sohcol buildings attached to CI workhouse, where poor children would be educated, and their parents assisted thereby, instead of receiving money assist ance from the parish. That was a plan which could baldly fail to work most admirably, and it was gte itly to the credit of the parish that such • large sum of mousy (13,000 L) had been expended on such an admirable insti tution as that school must infallibly prove to be. (thee bear.) Afterall, though they might oongratulate thennelras upon the improvements in education which had taken place, there was no doubt that in many parts of the cote: try some very different system would have to be adopted than that which had been hitherto the general system of education in this country. Before long the whole subject would not only occupy the attention of parliament to a greater extent than it had done hitherto, but public atten tion as well. (Hear.) There were some places in which the voluntary system had undoubtedly failed, and SAM other system must be had recourse to ; but such +la don should take place as would secure to every pert of the country the same advantages which were derived by those parts where education had really been successfully applied. (Hear, hear.) So far as regarded that district, the voluntary principle had worked in a very remarkably succesaful manner. (Hear, hear.) He bad been aakinz Sir Lovelace Starnerhowtheyhail succeeded in securin; the large amount of additional accommodation that must nave been required for the great accession of children ealuottol under the half-time system (something like 3.000). Ac commodation had been provided for these in the last three years, and there had been no difficulty in pro viding it. He heard this with great satisfaction. because it was not long ago that there was a meeting In South Staffordshire to ascertair. what steps it would be necessary to take in order to provide the additional accommodation which would be required there to educate the large number of children who would be brought in that district under the operation of the Factory Act. Although they were told there was a considerable amount of surplus accommodation for children in the schools of that district, they certainly did contemplate a very serious difficulty in how the remainder of the required accommodation was to be got. But when he foetid that the difficulty had been so comfy and so adiabatically over come in the Potteries, he felt very sanguine that it would he as easily surmounted in the south. (Hear, hear.) Alta some further remarks the noble chairman concluded his address, and then distributed the prizes. The annual distribution of prizes to the pupils attending the School of Art in connection with this in stitution took pleas os Monday at the society's Louse. Kildare-street, Dublin. The attendance was very including a number of ladies. Amongst those prts, were—Lord Strathnairn, Commander of the 1' ••• Judge Lynch, Sir George Hodson, Bart., and Lady Bed. eon, Sir Robert Kano, Mr. Laurence Waldron. Colonel Adamson, Mr. George Woods Mauneell, Ea' toss Netterville and the Hon. Eliza Netterville. Ilan. Louisa Yelverton, General and Mrs. Irving, the Lori Mater elect and Mrs. Carroll, the Rev. J. J. BlscSor! W. R. Meredith, Mr. Pierce Creagh, Mr. Geer- , 11. Me!. van P..H.A., Mr. Kirk R.H.A., Mr. Darling: 11r. P. Read, Mr. Henry Macanums, 1t.H..1 Mr. 1,111..,:: . Sanders Commissary-General and Mn. Hingston, Mr. B. Meredith, LL.B., Mr. end Mr, Pielys and Miss Vandelear, Mrs. Hutchinson, Mn. Lloyd. Nr. B. D. Drunker, solicitor ; the Collector of Custow , . taro Simeon, Mr. Thomas P. Beetle, Mr. G. ....nos . Secretary General Post-ofilos, end MrsCorner:di, t.er 14v. N. P. Spellacy, Dr. and the Misses Dirbanids.c. FEIENDLEAS AND FALLEN ItEnswwatouv, 4 c , Office, 200, Easton-road, N.W.—B. W. Thome... Tet..ry• gratefully acknowledges the following :•-Mr. 10s. 6d. ; Darlington, 10s. ; ditto, 10s. ; M. P.. IV., a Friend, 11. ; for Night Refuge, L. E., ss. • Chill'""" 2s. ;R. E. lip, 21. 641. • a Woman, On. ; 11. M.. ; Canterbury Friend, 24..61; E. H. L, Is. ; Jocoi , e. ; Tiverton, 'A. 6d. ;T.H. W. 2s. ; 8., ; Anonymous, sa. ; Well - wi sher, ss. ; Ann Der-hose. 2s. lid. ; Mr. Grower, ss. ; Mr. Smith. 10f. ; en Il`t Soldier. Is. ; Jersey.; H. G., 2s. 6d. ; Rotherham. ••s• • Mr.. Gordon. 2f. 51. Further help before the 51st earnestly solicited. r I