The Sun. — London, England, 1871-01-27 00:00:00

)ates ss by LATEST INTELLIGENCE SUN OFFICE, 8 A.M. THE WAIL THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR CAPITULATION, VERSAILLES, January 25. M. Faire came again from Paris yesterday, and slept here last night. He had a long interview with the Imperial Chancellor. General Trochu has resigned, and General Vinoy has tie command of the troops. An enzeute was - s.uppressed by the troops firing on the mob, who demanded more sorties, with cries of " A Berlin !" The bombardment of St. Denis contnued yester day. The forts could scarcely reply. The fire has been increased against the enceinte and the works. GERMAN PEACE DEMANDS. BERLIN, January 25. France being charged here with wantonly draw ing on the *ar, Germany, upon the conclusion of peace, will possibly insist upon the line of the Meuse, instead of the line of the Moselle, as first asked. If this intention be carried out, the new line will extend from Givet, on the Belgian frontier, to M6zieres and Sedan; from Sedan to Verdun and Pagny. The frontier will be formed by the Meuse, thence it will go due east as far as Toul on the Moselle, and follow the course of the latter river as far as Epinal. From Epinal it will proceed south-east to the hills and river protecting Belfort and 111ontb6liard. Such a frontier will render the invasion of Ger many by the French very difficult, but expose Paris to a siege after the loss of a single battle. The German Government is about to make a semi official declaration, intended to discourage all attempts at mediation. As the war has been local ised, the German Government insists upon localising the negotiations for peace. THE NEGOTIATIONS AT VERSAILLES, The Manchester Guardian says:—" We under stand that the Prussian Embassy, up to noon on Wednesday, had received no information that Paris had capitulated. From what the Embassy has known, however, during the last three days, it has no doubt that negotiations for the capitulation are in progress." The following telegrams come through Reuter's agency : THE CAPTURE OF LONGW Y. ARLON, January 26. The Germans entered Longwy at ten o'clock yes terday morning. The prisoners taken in the for tress have been sent to Thionville and Metz. The National Guards were not made prisoners. NEWS FROM ANGERS. ANGERS, January 23. The Eclaireurs of ,:the Mayenne scattered yester day evening forty-four White Cuirassiers, who had arrived within five kilometres of Azay-le-Rideau, on the Indre, on the road from Tours to Chinon. The Prussians have destroyed the railway bridge on the Cher, near Tours. FRANCE AND KING LEOPOLD. M. Thiers, on the occasion of his mission to Vienna and St. Petersburg, repeatedly alluded to the advisability of offering the Crown of France to .the Ring of Belgium. An attempt to follow up this idea has been recently made.-7 lutes Telegram. HONOURS FOR THE NEW EMPEROR AND MOLTKE. BERLIN, January 25. A laurel wreath of gold has' been voted by the ladies of Munich to the Emperor William, and a Statue to Count Moltke. BON APARTIST RESTORATION. LILLE, January 26 (Evening). An unusual activity and agitation, as I f rom correspondents beyond the border, are re marked in the comings and goings of Bonapartist agents. Every day these movements become More noticeable, and, if I may so say, more fear less. Whispers of a Napoleonic restoration, of Which the preliminary condition should be a peace With Germany at any price, become louder every day in Imperial circles here. And I need not say Mere to indicate the activity and the business-like Purpose of the mines to which I have referred than the fact that M. Conti, the secretary of the ea- Emperor, is at present in Brussels—through which t own daily passmessengers carrying or bringing back despatches between the Emperor and the Empress and the German Court at Versailles.—Telegraph 2 degrams. RETREAT OF THE GERMANS IN THE NORTH. A. French telegram from Lille gives the following : - -The Prussians are ha3tening their retreat from the north east towards the. Somme, having raised the siege of Cambrai. They have also abandoned the siege of all the other fortresses in the east ° f the Department of the North. Lan urecies, which they had invested, has been 14 ° l 'e damaged than Cambrai. Th e t own was bom barded, and has suffered se ve r e ly. Th ree ho u ses ryebeen destroyed, and a large number more or Zs injured. The Prussian headquarters were o n 1 2 T iday at Crevecour, a place situated about ten ' 4o rnetre s to the south of Cambrai. No Prussians R P now in the district, except perhaps a few s mall ' et aehments of Uhlans in the east. PROTEST OF GENERAL FAIDHERBE. General Faidherbe has addressed a letter to the 1 ; 16 -Pref ec t o f P eronne, i n w hi c h h e accuses the "Illans of disregarding the laws of warfare, by bo mbarding cities instead of fortifications. General t , a ldherbe a l so ma i n t a i ns t h at i t was t h e duty of 13" C ommander of Peronne to hold out as long as a 1 ' 64 ' 11 had not been made by the besiegers. T HE BOMBARDMENT OF BELFORT. . 11 44 v;ees from Besancon, dated the 20th, state that - to wn and th e a d vance d f orts h ave b een placed ~,„1 1 Perfect s t ate of defence, and are well provisioned. en 'he bo m b ardment of Belfort is continued by the eillY with great vigour. The P russ i ans d o not rect the fire of their batteries against the ramparts, :ft a g ai nst houses and p u blic b u ildi ngs , an d h ave t o 1 118 ed Permission for old men, women, and children egeellent the city. The morale of the inhabitants is and they are firmly resolved to hold out." MORE PRUSSIAN REQUISITIONS. A " e sterday HAVRE, January 26. Prussians made requisitions at Pont Iner. the Th e , are in strong force between Brienne and Yest I.4y' a e ' -4 . e 3 1 20 0 Germans, w ith tw o pi eces o f artil -41%1 witpproached Lisieux, fired eight shells, and ild tew before the National Guard. waces and ant of sum among cle of it ex mabl e f the 6e the Since ioasly since ollect xlating nearer ilously motto ) event Ana ord as he data aementi m large =prise cidents cagraph The na, that 640,000. of the hf July' rent ill itely are =emcee i n the nber the s, on the the 10th )on, and . „ m i ng ly crowning the Rol' stall of his cou riefly the on futur e Ire w oula rt of the repea l °I e Fren ch the She 131 Y sae ° .A e r 1 coo l ", e exit to tLi o f the on e the ~ee of ti le _ 'new bid, s lately re e of these, 1 , is a CO lo' man e s the have 1) Auc tioef pro , ..,-,,.„ Le Iles' v'st the 19:g f f • struck enZ toos• w hich ttic y work w si fac Lr3r, . o w big ft ' I n 9 ,r 166 o Y f e e ° l3)vatin COO . by t."` 4 .. 0 the exed po' a bee° t s tl e o ce rst o st, re bee n 0,1 .1, 3wed " sfa , siO ite a aen e° c h t o txr ji aes'e 13" LETTER OF GARIBALDI. BORDEAUX, January 21.* The following letter from General Garibaldi to Colonel Frappoli has been published :- 4 ' DIJON, January 18. " Let us not think of the past, but only of the future. Organise as many Italians as you can, and I shall be grateful to you. Send them to me, and we shall march together. If you do this, publish these lines if you think they will be useful." * Delayed in transmission. THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND THE CONFERENCE. BOiIDEAUX, Jan. 25. The following official announcement is made :-- "Count Bismarck has decidedly refused to grant a safe conduct to M. Favre to attend the Confer ence, on the ground that Count Bismarck does not acknowledge the existence of any Government in France competent to take part in a European Conference. Count Bismarck at first delayed the invitation sent by Lord Granville to Paris, and finally refused to forward the promised safe conduct• The French Government is not at all dissatisfied with this decision, regarding all modifications of existing treaties which may be made under the cir cumstances as null and void." THE EMPRESS AUGUSTA'S GOD-SON. The Etoile Beige says ; —The Mobile Guards of Cambria have surprised a brigade of Uhlans. Among them was Max Abel, a god-son of the Empress Augusta; he was wounded and taken prisoner. The Germans having requested an exchange of prisoners the French Commandant refused, and added that in case of a bombardment he should place Max Abel in the hospital ward at Cambrai the most exposed to the shells. THE CORONATION OF THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY. BERLIN, January 26. The New Prussian (Cross) Gazette'of to-day says : "The intimations frequently made by correspondents from this capital of intentions having reference to the coronation ceremony, are, as we can emphatically state, unfoundel." THE NAVIGATION OF THE DANUBE. The Vienna Official Evening Post sriys there is no authentic foundation for any of the reports published in the newspapers respecting the instructions given the Austrian Plenipotentiary at the Conference, in reference to the question of guarantees for the free navigation of the Danube. It adds that the assertions of newspapers as to the facts of the case are based altogether on erroneous assumptions. ITALY. FLORENCE, January 20. After three days' discussion, the Senate has voted that the transfer of the capital, as proposed by the Minister, and, determined on by the Lower House, shall be made on the 30th of June. it has declared itself satisfied with the Minister's engagement con cerning the guarantees of the Pope's independence and the liberty o! the Church.-7inzes. ROME, January 26. The Prussian Minister, Baron von Arnim, was received to-day in private audience by Prince Humbert. The waters of the Tiber, the rising of which had caused apprehensions of another inundation, are to. day falling.—Reuter's Telegram. (CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.) MR. J. B. SMITH AND HIS CONSTITUENTS. Last night Mr. J. B. Smith, M.P., attended the annual meeting of the Stockport Liberal Associotion. Referring to the subject of the foreign policy of England, as bear ing upon .her national defences, the hon. member pointed out that this country had accumulated in wars, to maintain the balance of power in Europe, a debt on which the annual interest was £27,000,000. The object for which these wars had been taken had failed. The Bour bons, for whom England had spent life and treasure, had been banished from every throne in Europe which they had hell, and there was hardly a state or country which England had guar anteed by treaty during the last fifty years which had not been remodelled. Mr. Smith went on to point out that no good object had been attained by the Crimean war. He deprecated the growth of a war spirit in this country, and advocated the abandonment of such a foreign policy as required increased armaments to maintain it. The possession of her colonies and her East Indian possesssions sufficiently guaranteed the im portance and dignity of England, and with theso and her own internal affairs she had enough to do, without troubling herself about such a chimera as the balance of power. THE MEMBERS FOR GLASGOW AND THEIR CONSTITUENTS. Last night, Mr. Dalglish, M.P., Mr. Graham, M.P., and Mr. Anderson, M.P., the members for the city of Glasgow, addressed their constituents in the City Hall, the Lord Prevost presiding. The hon. members spoke strongly in favour of army reform, particularly condemn ing the purchase system and the Horse Guards. When at the close of the speeches a vote of confidence in the the three members was proposed, an amendment expres sive of want of confidence in Messrs. Dalglish and Graham, on account of their having voted for the motion for the inspection of convents, was passed by a large majority. THE EXETER SCHOOL BOARD, The Committee of Council on Education to whom Miss Temple, the sister of the Bishop of Exeter, submitted the question of alleged informality in her nomination to the Exeter School Board, have declined to decide it. Miss Temple's christian name, it will be remembered, was not inserted in the nomination paper. Miss Temple will not continue her canvass, but as it is too late to withdraw her nomination, her election is not improbable. THE OXFORD SCHOOL BOARD. The election for the Oxford School Board is fixed for the Ist February. Last night the four Liberal candidates —Alderman Hughes, Alderman Castle, Councillor Hawkins, and Mr. Reid—addressed a meeting, which, after hearing their speeches, pledged itself to support their candidature. On Monday next a meeting will be held in connection with the candidature of Miss Eleanor E. Smith. MEETING OF THE LEICESTER SCHOOL BOARD. The first meeting of the Leicester School Board, which consists of thirteen members, was held on Thursday. The first business transacted was the election of a chairman. Mr. Alderman Alfred Burgess was nominated. The opposition then nominated the Rev. Canon William Fry, churchman. The former gentleman was elected by seven votes against five, but the vote not being unanimous, he declined to accept the office The Rev. David James Vaughan, churchman, brother of Dr. Vaughan, of the Temple, was then nominated by the Dissenters. Canon Fry opposed Dr. Vaughan, although the latter supported the Canon. Ultimately, Dr. Vaughan was appointed by six votes against five. For the vice-chairmanship, the Rev. Dr. Hogcroft (Baptist), and Mr. James Roscoe (railway engineer, a Primitive Methodist), were nominated, and the votes were equal. The chairman refusing to vote, Mr. Roscoe was elected by six votes against five. It was decided to, admit reporters to all the meetings on condition that they retired when requested. A sub-committee was appointed to consider the standing orders to be made, and for the appointment of clerk, solicitor, and treasurer. It was decided that the seal of the Board should be the Borough Arms, with the words Leicester School Board round. The next meeting to be held on February 15. ALLEGED BRIBERY AT A SCHOOL BOARD • ELECTION. At the North Shields Police-court on Thursday, sum monses were granted against Ralph Turnbull, Catholic, and the Rev. Thos. Featherstone, Episcopalian, both members of the Tynemouth Borough School Board, for alleged bribery at the recent School Board election ; also against two other gentlemen for treating at the same. The Tyne mouth Municipal Registration Society Prosecuted. A DERELICT. William Smith, master of the smack Active, of Yar mouth, arrived in that harbour on Thursday. He report, THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, JAN•UAR - Y 27, 1871. that on Saturday last, when about forty miles east of Lowestoft, he saw a large vessel partly submerged in water and her masts gone. He bore down to her, and found that she was the brig or barque Active of Liverpool. There was no one on board, and the vessel was evidently left derelict. THE BOMBARDMENT OF pAlus The Telegraph's correspondents at Versailles forward the following by special despatch, under date January 23:—Yesterday a small demonstration was made upim the Saxon front, which was easily repelled. Since two p.m. the batteries having the range of Paris have kept up a steady but slow fire of shell' upon the city. It is known that shells fell the day before yes terday near Notre Dame, and several are re ported as having reached the very outside of the d raidii described on your map. The total of German losses, dead and wounded, during the last three days is nearly 2,000. Over 1,100 men are in the ambulances here. Many of them, however, are but slightly wounded, and will be able to return to duty in a very short time. On the 19th the German dead and wounded were generally found in groups, from which it would appear that if the French practice had beer, better the German loss would have been much heavier, for wherever French shells did fall. they were very de structive. No batteries except those in the south and south-west throw projectiles into Paris. Fires are still being kindled from time to time in the city. The French fire is, and has been for the last forty-eight hours, very slack. Six waggons with medical stores have been ordered to proceed to the neighbourhood of Chatillon to day. A fresh demonstration is looked for in that direc tion. The latest papers and intelligence from our agents in Paris exhibit strongly marked features of internal con vulsion and of increasing distrust of Trochu, who is the scapegoat of the hour. His offer to resign the direction of affairs to the other generals, conditionally on their dis playing a plan of defence better than his own, seems to have set him right with the thinking citizen warriors. Le Flo's nomination is heartily welcomed here amongst mili- tary men. Point-du-Jour and the Bridge battery are now the most lively among the French works ; but both the, bombardment and defence are alike tame and heartless. The St. Denis batteries are all ready, and the hesitation in opening their fire is induced by reasons which will suggest themselves to your military readers, but on which I am necessarily precluded from giving any direct communication. One hundred and forty of the wounded have been already forwarded to Germany, to clear the wards in the Chateau. The bombard - ment of St. Denis was actually commenced yesterday. The French defensive fire has been nearly quenched. Several fires are blazing away in St. Denis. The special correspondent of the Daily News at the headquarters of the Saxons thus writes from Margency January 21:--The town of St. Denis is reported to be burning. All Paris might be in one blaze for aught we here could tell to-night. But adventurous patrols have that a brought the fie i news in n on fromri in eeplaceprecinctsa ofnd w Vtillao smaller nteneuse ones elsewhere. A bad hour fhi the ladies of St. Denis, who, daintily gloved and booted, admired the stalwart limbs of the Prussian Guardsmen taken prisoners at Le Bourget, and likened the soldiers of their own garrison to dwarfs alongside of the big East Prussian men. There will be a bitter flitting to-night T ween along the straight road leading by the pretty suburb of St. Ouen into the already densely-packed Montmartre. And the citizens of Paris..will meet the exiled ones of St. Denis, and asking them " What cheer ?" will get for answer that the inexorable Prussian cannon are smashing and burning on the north as on the south. Will the strong hearts melt; the tension of the stern determi nation overstrain itself; and so relax into the conviction that enough has been done against fate, against possibility, against the luck that every Frenchman strives to hope for in the future to prove to the world that Paris is not a place of frivolous pleasure lovers only, but that the lovers of pleasure in the old luxurious peaceful city have known how to dare and to endure beyond all previous conception ? That God may send this impulse into their hearts, must be the prayer to-night of every one who feels for human suffering, and who can appreciate true fortitude. To-night the German fire is allowed to drop to one shot per hour from each gun—sixty per hour, or one shot per minute—mere snowflake busi ness in comparison with the day's cannonade; and that is said to have been comparatively mild on account of the fog. It seems to me that the whole war hardly affords a more strixing example of the military genius of von Molte than the opportune railway trip he ordered for the 16th Brigade, forming part of the beleaguering army. Calculation had furnished him with evidence that von Goeben would make his mark at St. Quentin all the deeper if he were strengthened by 4,000 or 5,000 men and a few guns ; calculation and good information told him the hour at which this help would be good at need. The brigade quietly went away for the fight just as a lawyer goes down to Reading or Gloucester for the circuit ; and the work done, it comes back to its quarters before Paris just as the lawyer comes back to his cases in the Court of Queen's Bench. This device has simply fop the time converted 5,000 men into 10,000 men. Napoleon I. was, perhaps, the greater utiliser of his soldiery, by means of rapid movements, of all von Moltke's predecessors ; but then Napoleon had not the locomotive and the militaire zug. Dense as the popu lation of France may be, the terrible and continuous drain as prisoners of what are nominally at least fighting men must be sorely felt. Twenty thousand in the Le Mans district, 7,000 at St. Quentin—for that is the now swollen return—besides 2,000 wounded derelicts, and 500 before Paris the day before yesterday ! Whenever I hear of prisoners, I think of the churches of Donchery and Lagny, with their unutterable squalor and misery. They say the French conscripts are eager to be made prisoners rather than face the fighting. If they knew the unavoidable horrors of the middle passage, to say nothing of the hard lot after they are interned, I think rather than undergo them they would chance what ever might be involved in fighting so long as they could stand. DISTURBANCES IN PARIS. The Journal Oificiel of Sunday morning contains the announcement that the Government of the National De fence had determined that the Command-in-Chief of the Army of Paris should henceforth be separated from the Presidency of the Government. General Vinoy is ap pointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Paris, and the title and functions of Governor of Paris are suppressed. General Trochu retains the Presidency of the Government. On the afternoon of the same day occurred disturbances at the Hotel (le Ville. In conse quence of those disturbances, the following decree was issued by the Government of the National Defence : " Whereas, in consequence of criminal instigations, of which certain clubs have been the centre, civil war has been entered upon by certain agitators, disa vowed by the entire population ; And whereas, it is necessary to put an end to these manoeuvres, which, under present circumstances, constitute a danger to the country, and which if renewed would tarnish the hitherto irreproachable honour of the defence of Paris,—lt is therefore decreed-Ist. The clubs are suppressed until the end of the siege. The buildings in which they hold their meetings will be immediately closed. Offenders will be punished in conformity with the law. 2nd. The Prefect of Police is entrusted with the execution of the present decree. " Done at Paris, 22nd January, 1871. "GENERAL TROCHU, JULES FAVRE, JULES FERRY, GARNIER - PAGES, EMMANUEL ARAGO, EUGENE PELLETAN, JULES SIMON, ERNEST PICARD. " On Saturday night the prison of Mazas, in which the rioters arrested on the 31st of October were confined, was forced open by the people, and the prisoners were released. It seems that when the battalion of National Guards which were to relieve guard went in the morning they found the post occupied by another battalion, composed of men devoted to M. Flourens, M. Pyat, and their friends, and who were there without written orders. Measures were taken to prevent disorder, but in the night the building was surrounded by a band of men armed with Chassepots, and the crowd forced their way in, obtained the keys, and liberated the prisoners. The special correspondent of the Telegraph, in his letter dated Paris, January 23, says :—The incidents which occurred yesterday at the Hotel de Ville fill many columns in the journals of this morning, but they have made only a slight impression upon the public mind. On the night of Saturday the prison of Mazas was forcibly broken open by some rioters, and from it were taken forth in triumph the political prisoners, Gustave Flourens and Milliere ; the latter of whom gained—thanks to your Special Correspondent at Tours—some celebrity in England as one of the most noticeable witnesses who gave evidence at Pierre Bona parte's trial. Immediately after his release, Gustave Flourens and his fellow rioters made a descent upon the Mairie of the Twentieth Arrondisse-, ment—that is to say, the Arrondissement of Menil montant, which comprise the turbulent quartiers of Belleville, St. Fargeau, Pere la Chaise, and La Cha ronne —and endeavoured there to instal the headquarters of the insurrection. Finding, however, that the insur gents were few in numbers and scantily provided with muskets, they determined to evacuate the Mairie, but not until they had appropriated 2,000 rations of bread, which were destined to be distributed next morning in the starving district of Belleville. Before leaving the Mairie they agreed and bound themselves together by an oath to meet next day at noon upon the Place in front of the Hotel de Ville. Thitherlaccordingly, at noon yesterday, repaired some hundred of the rioters— chiefly soldiers belonging to the 101st war battalion of the National Guards—and disposed themselves for a row. Shortly after one o'clock they proceeded to fire upon the few Mobiles to whose custody the Hotel de Ville was entrusted, and severely wounded the adjutant of a Breton regiment in the head and arm. -On seeing their adjutant fall, the Mobiles returned the fire, and the result is, that upon the Place de l'Hotel de Ville five persons —two of them . ehildren—were killed, and eighteen wounded. Simultaneously a musketry fire was poured into the windows of the Hotel de Ville from the first of Some houses occupied by the rioters on' the east side of the Place, and the old casemates above the equestrian statue of Henri Quatre were riddled with bullets. But presently the National Guards came pouring along the Rue de Rivoli, regiment after regiment ; and order was restored -after an interval of twenty minutes of turbulent anarchy. The one signifi cant fact which must not be overlooked is, that yester day, on the 128th day of the siege of Paris, blood was, for the first time, shed in an intestine ' brawl. I do not think the ultimate effects of thij riot will be other than beneficial as regards our pro spects of future tranquillity. In the Journal Officiel of this morning, the " clubs " are forbidden for the future ; and two most revolutionary indcendiary journals, the I Combat and the .Reveil, have been suppressed. These manifestations of stronghanded determination on the part of the Government and General Vinoy to put down internal disturbances have been everywhere greeted with satisfaction by the public. Despite the flut terings of disaffection, of which once and again the Hotel de Ville has been the scene, Paris was never so quiet or so. triste. You may traverse any part of the town at night, amid the profound obscurity of unlighted streets, without the least fear of molestation. The once gay capital of Paris, brilliant with midnight cafes, and radiant with innumerable theatres, has settled down into a darksome city, compared with which Bruges is an exciting and Antwerp an intoxicating place of abode. Meantime, the Prussians are still striving, though utterly without effect, to shell us into submission. We shall capitulate either when General Vinoy has caused some five or six thousand more of our hapless Mobiles to be killed and wounded; or when our stock of bread has run out. But, although under no circumstances can the event be far distant, it seems to me probable that until fifteen or twenty days have come and gone we shall not see the end. RAILWAY ACCIDENT. Another accident took place at the exchange Station, Bradford, on Thursday. Some waggons were being drawn out of the station, when at the mouth of the Broomfield Tunnel the axle box of one of tne waggons broke, and the waggon got foul of the down line just as a pas senger train from Huddersfield was coming in. The guard's van, and a compartment of a second class carriage of the passenger train was completely smashed. Mr. Samuel Hitchin, a manufacturer, of. Halifax, and Mr. Thomas Ogden, spinner, Halifax, were injured. Mr. Hitchin has his left leg broken. PRISONERS' PHOTOGRAPHS. The Liverpool magistrates yesterday decided to repre sent to the Home Secretary the advisability of a regula tion being adopted to compel prisoners to submit to their photographs being taken, and to secure punishment for them in the event of their non-compliance. SMUGGLING. A shipmaster, named Stephen Smith, was fined £lOO at Liverpool, yesterday, for having concealed in his ship a quantity of tobacco of foreign manufacture. BOILER EXPLOSION IN FIFESHIRE. Yesterday afternoon the boiler connected with a thrash ing mill on the estate of the Hon. Mrs. Douglas Newton, Westrathendy, near Leslie, Fifeshire, exploded, blowing the engine -house to pieces, and killing Mr. James Jack, the land steward, and a farm servant named Henderson. The cause of explosion has not been ascertained. THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS LOUISE. We learn on good ' authority that Tuesday, the 21st of March, has been fixed for the marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne. HEALTH OF MR. CHILDERS. Mr. Childers is still at Bedwell-park, and was visited there on Wednesday morning by Mr. Robert Ellis. The report given is that his health has improved a little since the last visit. It is confidently expected that with a more complete and prolonged rest, and with entire change of air, this improvement will continue. There is, in fact, a good prospect of the renewal of his strength, and that he will be able hereafter to transact business, THE MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. The Premier has addressed the following circular to the Liberal members of the House of Commons : "10, Downing-street, Jan 25. " Sir,—The Session of Parliament will open on the 9th proximo. The condition of affairs and the prospect of early legislation upon matters of deep interest to the country lead me earnestly to request your attendance at and subsequently to the meeting of the House of Commons. . "I have, &c., "NV. E. GLADSTONE." MR GLADSTONE AND HIS CONSTITUENTS. (CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAM.) The Greenwich requisition asking Mr. Gladstone to retire, is now repudiated by all political parties; a rumour having been circulated that it had emanated from the Carlton Club, the agent of the Conservative party at Woolwich instituted inquiries, and received the following reply : 53, Parliament-street, Westminster, S.W., January 25. My Dear Sir,—ln answer to your letter of the 23rd inst., I beg to state that neither the Carlton, nor any of the leaders of the Conservative party, have anything whatever to do with the proceedings at Greenwich.—l am yours truly, J. E. GORST. E. Hughes, Esq. ANOTHER MIDLAND RAILWAY ACCIDENT. A collision happened at Lenton Junction on the Mid land Railway, half a mile from Nottingham, on Thurs day. A goods train was coming from Derby to Nottingham at the same time that a passenger train was passing from the Mansfield branch to Nottingham, and the two were running on one line. The collision caused a shock which knocked both trains off the rails, doing muck damage to the rolling stock. No persons were killed, but several are injured. It is said that the signals were disregarded. In order to economise in horses, a tramway is to be constructed at Woolwich Arsenal to connect the new iron pier with the T pier. A light engine will be used thereon. The death is announced of Lady Alderson, widow of the late Sir E. H. Alderson, one of the Barons of the Exchequer. Her ladyship was the mother of the Mar chioness of Salisbury. A destructive fire has occurred at the cotton mills of Messrs. George A shworth and Sons, of Rochdale. The entire damage is estimated at about £B,OOO. About 200 operatives have been thrown out of employment. An army circular, relating to the army reserve forces, has just been issued, stating ,that no vacancies which may occur in the rank of quartermaster of militia while regiments are disembodied shall be filled up. CABINET COUNClL.—Summonses have been issued for a Cabinet Council this afternoon, at the First Lord of the Treasury's official residence, in Downing street. THE LIFEBOAT AND ITS WORK.—Richard Lewis, Esq., the respected and able secretary of the National Lifeboat Institution, delivered, last night, •his popular lecture on "The Lifeboat and its Work," in St. Michael's National School Rooms, Paddington. The hall was crowded with a most respectable and attentive audience, to whom Mr. Lewis delivered an interesting and instructive lecture on the great and national work now carried on on the shores of the British Isles by the 226 boats of the National Institution. The Rev. G. F. Bescott, who presided on the occasion, is making strenuous efforts, in conjunction with the parishioners and others, to present a lifeboat to the Insti. tution, and it was principally in aid of that humane object that Mr. Lewis gave his lecture. The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the lecturer. MIDDLE TEMPLE.—The undermentioned gentle men were yesterday called to the degree of the Utter Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple : Hector Graham Browne, Esq. ; James Henry Nelson, Esq., M.A., late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; Henry Denny Warr, Esq., M.A. and Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge ; Frederick John Staples-Browne, Esq. ; Benjamin Law, Esq., M.A., Queen's C o ll ege , O x f or d ; Walter Mytton Colvin, Esq., LL.B., Trinity Hall, Cam bridge ; Charles Metcalfe Dick, Esq.; Francis Smith, Esq.; George Laughton, Esq. ; Richard Ingram Dansey, Esq., 8.A., Queen's College, Oxford; James Cruickshank Roger, Esq. ; William Augustus Bonnaud, Esq. ; Ed mund Albert Nuttall Royds, Esq. ; George Charles Kilby, Esq. ; Charles Colman Dillon, Esq. ; Jacob Thomas Geoghegan, Esq., 8.A., Trinity College, Dublin; and Edgar Hutchinson Little, Esq., M.A., Brasenose College Oxford. AN ILL-rsnn ORACLE.—There is an amusing story told by the Pioneer of India as current just now in Chumba. Rajah Gopal Sing, it is said, anxious to know whether he really was as much detested as people pre tended, determined to inquire at the fountain-head, i.e., of the most popular Davee, or idol, in the State. The idol, by the mouth of one of its chelas, pionounced that it was a sad fact, and, moreover, Gopal Sing's raj would not continue two months longer. With a fine sense of justice, Gopal Sing in all his indignation allowed the audacious chela to go scatheless, considering him merely as the inno cent medium of the insolent oracle. But upon the idol itself he took shall) revenge by the infliction of a sound flogging. SOCIAL REFORM AMONG THE WORKING CLASSES IN INDIA.—The " Working Men's Club and Institute Union " have received an interesting letter from the elo quent social and religious reformer Baboo Keshub Chun der Sen, who states that his fellow-workers in Calcutta have just formed an " Indian Reform Association," which is anxious to maintain a correspondence with the London Union. They are about, he says, to establish morning and evening schools for workmen, and they started a cheap weekly paper for the enlighten ment of that class, at the price of less, than one halfpenny per number. Two thousand copies were sold on the first day of its appearance. The Baboo speaks of the social and mental condition of the poorer classes as deplorable, and he hopes to create an interest on their behalf on the part of their working brethren in India by communications made to the Working Men's Club Union in England. The Indian Reform Association will feel grateful for any gifts of money, books (for translation), periodicals, pictures, scientific and other education appa ratus. Tho Club and Institute Union in London will be glad to be the medium of any communication with the • Indian Association. THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. i Writing from Havre, January 25, the correspondent of the Standard says :—This place is the head-quarters of a large army, almost the only one which has not come to grief through the hardships of campaigning and the enemy's fire, but the process of waiting and watching until it does something, though it is full of interest for a keen observer, affords but few materials for a letter. It is a great misfortune that there is no commander-in-chief in France who could direct and control the movements of the various armies. There seems to be no general plan, and all the various " commanders-in-chief" appear to act each on his own hook. It is much to be regretted that, instead of venturing on his rash march to St. Quentin, which re sulted in disaster, Faidherbe should not have waited until General Loysel was able to co-operate with him with the Army of Havre. The defeat of Faidherbe must naturally interfere with the plans of the com mander here, and delay the advance from this place for some time longer. It is probable that no forward move will take place until Faidherbe is in a position to second it, for I cannot suppose that General Loysel would court defeat by encountering the victorious troops which Von Goeben— who holds a railway, and knows how to use it—has brought back to Rouen from St. Quentin and the neighbourhood of Amiens. There is a disposition in this town to make much of the victory alleged to have been won by Garibaldi at or near Dijon ; but this partial success, even if we admit it to be all that is represented a fact about which I am sorry to say I en tertain strong doubts—forms but a small item in the mass of discouraging advices which has suddenly come upon us. The failure of Trochu's sortie, the defeat of Faidherbe, coming so close after the discomfiture of Chanzy, and the check sustained by Bourbaki—all this accumulation of bad news is unquestionably disheartening, and does suggest the question whether France is justified in fighting on "to the bitter end " when every thing seems to be turning against her. But to argue this question fairly it is requisite to bear two things in mind—viz., the resources of the country, and the terms it would be likely to obtain from Prussia if she sued for peace at present. It is true that Chanzy and Faidherbe have been beaten ; it is also true that Trochu and Bourbaki have sustained a severe check ; but Chanzy and Faidherbe, and Bourbaki and Trochu are still in command of armies, and the proportion of the population able to bear arms that have not yet been incorporated is very great. If France is to perish, it is better that she should perish by the sword rather than be reduced to the condition of Poland "by treaty "—her resources in men and money are still unexhausted, and it is not unreasonable to hope that the improvised armies which have held their own against Goeben, and Frederick Charles, and Werder, may by a course of defeat be hammered into that firm stuff which victorious armies are made of. We should not forget that the armies of the first Republic, whose Italian and German successes are a favourite topic at present, had to be trained to conquer by three years of constant defeat. The improvised French armies that still hold the field are not yet a match for the Prussians, but they stand up to them, and though they lose too many prisoners, they do not surrender wholesale as the regulars did at the end of the first phase of the campaign. It may, perhaps, be urged that my estimate of the prospects of France is too favourable. I can only say that it has been arrived at after much deliberation and anxious consideration. Her sallies even now far out number her scientific assailants, and, as I believe, her resources and her firmness exceed those of Germany. It is her game to early on the war a routrance, with a prospect of being victorious in the end. But even if not victorious, she will have the satis faction of inflicting serious blows on her enemy, and of reducing him to the same degree of exhaustion as herself. In any case, when, bleeding and ruined, she is compelled to lay down her sword—and she is not by any means reduced to that plight now—she could not obtain worse terms than she is likely to obtain from the Prussians in the flush of their present unexpected—and I trust only temporary —success. CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day.—Thursday, January 26, 1871.—The admissions by season tickets were 2,354 ; ditto on payment, 1,770 ; total visitors, 4,124. .... THa EARL OF PEMBROKE SHIPWRECKED.—A eorresp2ndent of the •Sydney Morning Herald, who dates from Fiji on the oth of November, states that the Earl of Pembroke had arrived there in the character of a ship wrecked mariner. His lordship was in his yacht Albatross, bound from Samoa to Levuka. They sighted part of the Fiji Group, supposed to be Vanua Balavu ; but the weather being thick, Captain Braund stood off again, the wind being S.E. On the night of the 21st of October, at ten p.m., the vessel struck on a reef that surrounds the Island of. Nukusambanga, near Pambi, and for some time the position of those on board was perilous ; however, the vessel drove over the reef into comparatively smooth water. The live stock and necessaries of life were landed, but the valuable collection made the last twelve months was lost, and all personal effects. The shipwrecked party remained nine days on the islands, because the Admiralty directions declared the Fijian natives cannibals, so they waited for moonlight nights to creep through the group to Ovalu after dark. After nine days they took the lifeboat and made for Taviuni, and were about to camp for safety on Goat Island, in Soma Soma Strait, when they luckily saw the masts of the Duke of Edinburgh lying at Uariki. MARSHAL MARSIONTS OPINION OF PARIS FORTI FICATIONS.—The following remarks of Marshal Marmont, taken from the Esprit des Institutions Militaires, which was published in 1845, are of interest at the present moment as bearing on the importance of Paris as a fortified place :—Whatever be the result of the most disastrous campaign, 80,000 or 100,000 men would always form the remnant of a beaten army, and, supported by properly constructed forts, these 80,000 men would be perfectly safe from attact. With the resources which Paris possesses in personnel, in the number of its inhabitants, in the varied nature of its wealth, and in its vast mat4riel, assisted, moreover, as it would be by the adjoining departments, the cadres of such an army would soon be refilled, its losses repaired, and in less than a month's time an army of 300,000 men tho roughly equipped would be ready to march against the enemy with renewed spirit. An enemy would require an enormous number of men with which he would venture to encounter such an army, and were he to divide his forces his weakness at every point would lead to his speedy destruction. Should the enemy, on the other hand, keep his forces united for the purpose of fighting, how could be subsist ? And what would become of him after the slightest reverse ? Should, then, an enemy ad vance as far as Paris, the only thing left for him to do would be to withdraw before the reorganised army of the French could find him, and to hasten to carry on the war in the provinces within easy reach of his own_base. OUR CO TEMPORARIES—This. Morning PARIS AND THE CAPITULATION. The Times, commenting on the negotiations going on between the two contending parties, says :—The rumours respecting the impending capitulation of Paris are con flicting, and the only positive news seems to be that the negotiations are in progress. Paris consents to parley. She is, therefore, ready to capitulate. The Govern ment of National Defence have sent M. Jules Favre to Versailles, not so much with any hope of obtain ing favourable terms as from a necessity of submitting to any terms. They 'have ventured upon advances that must needs be construed into a desire to surrender. With that rashness which seems invariably to charac terise the utterance of French public men at this junc ture, General Trochu in a recent proclamation de clared that "the Governor of Paris would never capitulate." The 'stubborn fact is the Governor of Paris, whoever he may be, ' must either surrender the place or "burn it like a second Moscow," and M. Gambetta himself, who talks of adopting this latter alternative rather than allow the enemy to take posses sion of the town, would think twice before he set fire to it. The Governor of Paris must submit to the enemy's conditions, and it is by no means difficult to foresee what those conditions will be. • They were sketched by us in anticipation from the moment the earliest tidings of negotiation reached us. Substantially those con ditions must rest on two principles. The Germans must above all things consider their own safety, and then the feelings of the vanquished Parisians. Whatever in Paris comes under the denomination of an army or of a fortress n.ust be delivered up to them—all the fighting men, all the forts, and all the ramparts. With the city itself they will not interfere more than they can help, for their next object must be to shew forbearance to their vanquished enemy and spare a generous and only too susceptible people. It might be too much, perhaps, to say that the city will not have to receive a foreign garrison ; but with good will on both sides there need be no permanent occupation. 'What Government Frame may choose to place at her head after the conclusion of peace must surely be a matter of indifference to Count Bismarck. The only point which really concerns him is with what Go vernment he can make peace. It is this enormous difficulty which has made him turn his thoughts to Wilhelmshohe and Chiselhurst. But the convocation of a National Assembly would afford a much better solution of the difficulty than any such melodramatic formality, and it is but Ast that neither should war be continued or peace conclu*d without the people having a voice in the deliberation. The Telegraph says :—Up to a late hour last night no official communications had reached London concerning the discussions at Versailles. The head-quarters' rumours which have been received, however, are probably founded on fact ; and, though the ' final issue may be delayed while propositions and counter-propositions are duly considered, the end is near and certain. It is clear that the disastrous failure of the last sortie and the fatal news from the provinces have destroyed the fond illusions which had hitherto buoyed up the brave Parisians, and they behold them selves in the cruel strait of having to choose bet Ween the tender mercies of Count Bismarck on the one hand, or the ravages of famine on the other. It is a sad alternative ; but there is no humiliation in submitting to the inevitable. Paris will have deserved none the less of France for having despairingly suc cumbed to an irresistible fate. She has fulfilled, far beyond the hopes of. her friends and the calculations of her enemies, the task which she undertook so bravely. She Ikas given the provinces time to provo whether they could organise armies sufficient to raise the investment, and the provinces have responded gallantly, but ineffectually, to her appeal. Self sacrifice for a noble object is a sublime virtue, but self sacrifice without purpose would be a crime. It would have been no boon to France that the population of Paris should be decimated by hunger, and the beautiful 'city herself laid low by the fire of the be siegers. On the contrary, we believe that next to the fury against the Germans would be the indignation against the Government of National Defence if they allowed any feeling of false pride to bring about useless destruction of life and property. There is scarcely a capital in Europe, except our own, which has not been obliged, within the memory of men still living, to open its gates to an enemy ; and perhaps \lie owe our immunity, at least in part, to the fact that we are " compassed by the inviolate sea." Paris need not fear lest the world should fail in doing ample justice to the self-restraint and brave endurance which have enabled a population of two millions to hold out for more than four months against the privations and dangers incident to a close investment. At the time- we write, observes the Standard, nothing is known in London of the purpose of the journey of M. Favre to Versailles, or of the discussions he p-)ssibly may have had there with Count Bismarck, except, perhaps, at the Prussian Embassy. From all that we do know we are forced to suppose that this story of a proposal for a capitulation made by M. Jules Favre, and rejected at once by Count Bismarck, had really no better foundation than a request on the part of the French Minister visiting Versailles, in order to make it or to ask for a safe conduct to London, to know upon what terms the Emperor of Germany would allow Paris to surrender. That such a question should have been put was, under the circumstances, very natural. That the men in power in Paris contemplate a capitula tion this week or three weeks hence is very possible. But that Paris is ready to surrender at discretion without another struggle, that the capitulation announced as practically achieved will, upon the most unfavourable assumption for France, happen for some few days, we see no reason to believe. Paris can certainly hold out. for two or three weeks ; and weary as the population may be of the siege, such an answer as Count Bismarck is reported to have given to the proposal for surrender would nerve it to the utmost endurance, might drive it to an act of desperation, the German and h consequencei of which, fearful as they might be for ruinous ofall Paris, opes. and But for fo r the France, moment no speculations can only rest upon imaginings more or les s probable, or at the best upon calculations more or less sound. That the Government of Paris has yet made any proposals for a capitulation is very doubtful, and probable enough, assuming them to have been made, as the answer ascribed to Count Bismarck may be, it is but common prudence to wait before we speak of the capitulation of Paris and the terms upon which it is to be made, until those who have to negotiate show some sign of such an intention. At present there is no positive information upon the point, and probable enough as the surrender of Paris within a few days appears, it appears still more probable that it will only be made after a contest which for fierce ness and carnage none of those yet fought before the walls of Paris will have paralleled. THE GERMAN DEMANDS. So confident are the Germans in the power they wield, the Daily News remarks, that the future fate of Alsace and Lorraine has been sketched out —it is said, with the consent - of the Government. The old line of the Vosges, which was at first mooted, has apparently been abandoned. The Germans have increased their demands in proportion to the obstinacy of the defence; and the new fron tier will begin, not with the Moselle, but with the Meuse. According to this scheme, the frontier of the district which it is expected Prince William of Baden will rule over as Vice-Regent or Statthal ter, must begin at the peak of the department of the Ardennes, follow the line of the Meuse southward, include Toul on the Moselle, then strike down by Epinal, and finally join Switzerland at the southern extremity of the Department of the Haut Rhin. If there be any truth in these rumoured projects, all pretence of reclaiming territory which once telong,ed to Germany must be given up. At best, that plea was far from satisfactory ; for it left out of c onsideration the fact that although the land was once German, the people who owned and tilled it had become during two hunthed years almost wholly French in feeling. But no such excuse can be offered for the annexation of such thoroughly French towns as Metz and Nancy. Metz, indeed, was once a free city, over which the German Empire held protection; but it was no more a German city than Paris was an English city when the English held possession of it for six years. The victors at Versailles, if they effect the seizure of French' land, must either plead military reasons, or else abandon all excuse and boldly claim the rude rights of war, which give to a conqueror whatever of his enemy's territory he thinks it prudent'or possible for him to keep. In the former case, it would be difficult to persuade Europe that a frontier along the Moselle- or the Meuse would be safer for*Germany than the line of the Vosges. In the latter case, there is not a nation in Europe which will not deprecate a return to principles of warfare which it was fancied had become obsolete. we do not believe that any other European nation--whatever may be its past history—would now annex a large piece of territory without even consulting the wishes of the people dwelling on it. And if such a thing were to happen, none the less would it be incumbent on Europe to pronounce judgment on so barbarous an act of spoliation ; for it is necessary that we should have a court of public opinion, even though the ancestors of the judges have been themselves criminals. ing e ure the 11118 rons issift ister rlioz, r ex- now This rs of redly