The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

'TIE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON OUR NEW
FOREIGN POLICY.—Mr. Cowper not only enjoys
peculiar opportunities of knowing the opinions of
the chief to whom he is so nearly related, but has
also been endowed by nature with an ingenuous
mind which is incapable of a niggardly secrecy.
Accordingly, as might have been expected from one
in his position, he has taken the first opportunity
of explaining to the world his stepfather's foreign
policy. No one can say that the moment is inop-
portune. Lord Clarendon just now is trying to
influence the policy of Austria by threats of deser-
tion in one contingency, and promises of assistance
in the other. The phrases are vague enough, but
there is a possibility that Austria may construe
them according to the rules of language tradi-
tionally current among diplomatists. It was
highly necessary that Mr. Cowper should step in
to set her right, and to explain to her, in his
own lucid and forcible style, the exact practical
meaning of Lord Russell's sec et cassant lecture-
writing and Lord Clarendon's mysterious hints.
The principle was expressed with great clearness.
A previous speaker had been hoping that the opinion
of the country had been sufficiently declared in fa-
vour of allowing other people to look after their own
affairs. This aspiration did not suit Mr Cowper.
He denounced it as selfishness and isolation. "The
right principle," he said, " to be adopted in foreign
affairs is this—we are bound to do what we can, to
use what strength and influence we have, to support
right against wrong, to support the oppressed against
those who tyrannise over them." At first sight
this seems as belligerent language as that to which
we have been recently accustomed in Foreign
Office despatches. But, like its prototype, it is
capable of explanation. Mr Cowper goes on
to intimate that the Crimean war was a great
waste of money and blood, and that "this
nation did not attempt to assist the Danes by force
of arms for this reason—that the whole armies of
Germany were pouring their mighty strength upon
the little State of Denmark." That is something
like an heroic sentiment. Perhaps it might have
been more seemly and judicious, even if Mr Cowper
is himself Danish in feeling, still to use German
topics and arguments as the policy of his Governs
ment became eventually favourable to the Germans.
But nothing can restrain his candour in dissecting
the motives of his distinguished relative. Nature
has kindly put a difference between dogs and men
in respect to the expression of fear, and by cutting
off the tail from the human species, has enabled
them, when they experienced that depressing emo-
tion, to conceal it from the eyes of their fellows
creatures. But Mr Cowper disregards the bone.
ficent provision of nature, and will put his tail be-
tween his legs in public. That there may be no
mistake about it, he goes on, with the magic con-
ciseness of genius, to embody in a single sentence
the whole foreign policy of our
:
"Our
Government
business in foreign affairs is to express our
sympathy, and use that freedom of speech which is
the great privilege of Englishmen." This is the
interpretation clause by which we may construe the
former too bellicose declaration about using our
strength and influence to support right against
wrong. It is obvious that DO accusation of undue
pugnacity can be made against this principle, and
the most advanced political economist can find no
fault with it. It is baying the gratification of our
sympathies in the cheapest possible market. It is
supporting right against wrong in the most inexs
pensive manner in which that holy task was ever
performed. In one sane it may be regarded as an
actually profitable operation. The lack of matter
is a serious drawback to the enjoyment of
orators at those bucolic festivities at one of which
this remarkable manifesto was uttered; but a great
load will be taken off their minds if is is to be under-
stood that they may enlarge without limit in their
expressions of sympathy upon all possible foreign
affairs. This doctrine will have a tendency also to
ennoble after-dinner speechification. It has hitherto
been thought meanly of as a clumsy instrument for
trotting out notabilities, and enabling lionehunters
to gratify their curiosity and digest their dinners
at the same time, But now it wilt take rank as the
solemn performance of " our business in foreign
affairs." Every post-prandial orator is now in the
nature of a Foreign Secretary. Ho is transacting
in a free and easy way the business which the Fe-
reign Office exists to transact in a more formal way.
He is wielding England's chosen weapons against
tyranny and wroeg. If we are to vindicate that
righteous cause by the employment of freedom of
speech, it is pleasing to reilisct how full an arsenal
of that safe and comfortable weapon we
have at our command, and how many active
champions we rimy always count upon. What
the effect of this new system will probably
be is an interesting subject of inquiry. It opens a
;it-lolly novel and untrodden path. The plan of
resisting wrong and tyranny by freedom of speech
alone has never been tried on a large scale any w ere
except at Billingsgate; and it is impossible, with-
out further investigation, to ascertain the exact
amount of influence that has been acquired thereby
by the fishwives of that locality. It is not easy to
judge of its probable results by analogy, because
the polity of Europe is almost without a parallel.
It is the rudest and most ins rtifical system that was
ever applied to the maintenance of what is called
law. There is no tribunal to judge, no executive to
punish, no definite code of law to enforce, no repre-
sentative body to legislate. The nearest reseni.
blance that can be found for it is the internal self-
government of a public school, where the shifting
public opinion of the boys furnishes the code
of law, and where any boy who chooses to under-
take the office is combined judge and executioner.
We have to suppose that one of the biggest boys
suddenly announced that he had had enough of
licking other big boys. The last time he had at-
tempted to do it, he got so mauled that it was quite
unpleasant. Besides, the boys whom he tried to
lick had an awkward habit of kicking, and he did
so hate to have his shins kicked. He therefore in-
tended for the future never to interfere with any
big boy with his fists. He should continue to lick
the little boy; but if a big boy did anthing wrong,
or bullied a little boy, he should not touch him with
his fiats; but he warned the big boys if they would
do such things it was his full intention, as a matter
of sacred duty, to swear at them to the utmost of his
ability. The question is whether that boy would con-
tinue, on the strength of his swearing; to occupy an
ieflaential position in the school, Perhaps, at first,
the other boys might not believe him, and might
think it was only that he was chaffing, or had got a
lazy fit. But when, after a time, they had discovered
that he really was in earnest, and was too much
afraid of the consequences to venture on attacking
any boy of his own size, the question is whether
they would mind his swearing ? Would they not
rather think him a somewhat shabby and a very
impudent fellow, for venturing to slang boys whom
he dared not fight ? Would not their instinctive im-
pulse be, when his objurgations began, to tell him,
in scholastic vernacular, to " hold his jaw ? "
question whether England will obtain any other
answer than this to the unarmed counsels which it
appears she is to be perpetually proffering., There
are probably no set of men in the world so perfectly
impassive as the statesmen of the Continent to frees
dom of speech and expression of sympathy, so long
as these exhibitions are not, and cannot be suspected
theto
b e,
freedompreludesof
speech
easneb appealwb iebto
consistfor c e inchaof st
after
r partsdinner of
harangues they would probably pass over with
simple disregard. It is possible that they might
not even hoar of them. Official despatches cone
ceived in the same style of unwarlike menace and
fernenine objurgation would force themselves more
obtrusively into notice; but how long it would be
thought worth while at the various Chancelleries
to give them even a civil reply, Nvould depend much
upon the character of the Minister at each. M.
von Beust would probably dismiss them at once
with a contemptuous snub,
while Count Itechberg
might preserve his civility a little longer. But the
diplomatists would
most polite of dipget tired at last
of having sermons read to him on week-days by
British ambassaders. Knowing that they meant
nothing and could come to nothing, he would
The think the ceremony an intolerable bore. en-
cyclical letters of the Pope are bad enough,. but a
Minister need not Lear 'them unless he likes: It
would very eon come to be a matter of private
agreement between the Minister at each Court and
the British Ambassador that Lord Russell's horta-
tory deepatches,like a railway repert,shohld he taken
as read. And then, perhaps, we might discover that
it was not worth while to keep a Foreign Secretary
and a Foreign Office,'and an expensive corps
ori)sr)
liilo
matique, for the Tau-pose of writing a
receiving
despatches which nobody cared to read. Warlike
intervention i .
a vary serious thing,and is cHfiertlt
i
to exaggerate the advantages of avoiding t when
that can be done. But the possibility of war is the
only thing which give: the slightest value to Foreign
Office despatehes,or saves them from being the most
tiresome of waste paper.
Tam "EXAMINER" ON THE CONVEYANCE OF
GUNPOWDER.—Oce point alone is clearly ascer-
tained as to the explosion at Belvedere, that it
commenced with one of the barges, and, therefore,
most important is the inquiry into the rules re-
specting fire and lights in the barges, and the prac-
tices of the men, whether conforming or not to their

orders. Mr. Hall stated on the inquest—" No
lights are allowed in the magazine or in the barges.
When barges are conveying saltpetre or brimstone
from London to our mills at Faversham, cooking is
allowed on board, when the hatches are down and
two or three tarpaulings are over them ; but for
the up-trip with gunpowder, their food is cooked
at home before they start. They have never fires
on board when near the magazine. In case of ad-
verse winds the barges are sometimes a week coming
up. We do not allow smoking, in fact, at all, and
I am not aware that any of our bargemen were ac-
customed to smoke on board a barge." Mr. Mark,
the foreman of Faversham mills, was next examined,
and explained-4' The gunpowder is carried in the
hold, and there is a fireplace in the cabin of the
barge, The hold and cabin are separated by a
wooden partition, the cabin side of which is lined
with lead. The hold and the cabin are some dis-
tance apart." The Foreman—Has it been at all the
practice to permit the use the use of fires and cook-
ing apparatus on the voyage up ? Witness replied
that he could not say what the men did when they
got eway." This last answer sums up all to
be said on the matter. But the rule respecting fire
the men could hardly venture to break when be-
yound supervision, for the powder barges are
well known on the river, and the smoke from a
funnel could not escape notice, and would probably
be reported to the owners, If, however, the risk
were run of a fire on the passage up—the double
risk of the danger and of dismissal for disobedience
—it is not conceivable that it would be kept burn-
ing alongside the wharf, under the eyes of the store-
keeper. With contrary winds, when it sometimes
takes, as Mr Hall states, a week to beat up to Bel-
vedere, the men might, indeed, possibly be tempted
to make a fire to dress food ; but the extreme risk
of discovery makes the imprudence highly impro-
bable. If, then, the explosion began from a spark
in one of the barges, we suspect that a pipe was the
cause of the mischief. The temptation of the pipe
seems almost irresistible, and it can be indulged in
with the hope of escaping discovery. Bat would
men be so imprudent as to risk destruction for such
a gratification ? The imprudence of men in a'dan.
gerous occupation is in direct proportion to the peril.
Thus seamen are notoriously the most imprudent
of men, and it will be observed in all employments
that neglect of precaution prevails in exact accord-
ance with the need of it. To render the conveyance
of powder by land or water free from danger, we
take to be a sheer impossibility. To diminish risk
to the utmost is all that is practicable. A few years
ago a powder boat belonging, if we remember
rightly, to Dartford, blew up in Blackwell Reach,
without any discoverable cause. Her cargo was
hatched over, battened down, and tarpaulened. A
barge in beating up against a foul wind, from Faver-
sham to Erith, a direct distance of about 40 miles,
goes over about 120 miles of river in her zig-zag
course, and must be often crossing the course of
steamers with sparks flying from their funnels. She
must often, too, in her tacks in shore come within
reach of sparks from the land. Howcan these dangers
be guarded against ? The supposition was, that
the boat blown up off Blackwall was fired by a
spark from some steamer. And here we must ask
why the very slowest sailing craft is employed in a
bnsiness which cannot be too soon got over? Cut-
ters would make the passage against contrary
winds in a fourth of the time, but as their stowage
is not so large for their tonnage as that of barges
they cost more. Should this, however, be a con-
sideration where safety is concerned ?—and a whole
fleet of smacks would not cost so much as a single
accident. The calamity at Belvedere has drawn
attention to the Purfleet magazines, the explosion
of which would be the destruction of half London.
There is no isolation of those immense magazines.
They are surrounded by a wall, that :is all, They
abut upon the village, and are far nearer than they
should be to the mills and depots on the other side
of the river. It was a happy circumstance that the
wind blew from Purfleet when the Belvedere explo-
sion occurred. Bat it is assumed that the measures
for safety are so perfect as to provide against all
accidents, and so much was this presumed upon
that the powder used to be proved upon the pre-
mises. The proof was thus double-proof of the
strength of the powder, and proof of the construc-
tion of the magazines; but what if there had been
any defect in the latter We refer to the impru-
dent practice some thirty years ago, and know not
whether it is continued now. Bat the village is
not fireproof, and imagine what the peril and con-
sternation would be if Purfleet were in flames, with
a strong easterly wind. The safest and best spot
for a great powder depot on the river would be the
Isle of Canvey, half down the north side of Sea
Reach. The dreary place is quite clear of houses
for miles, excepting the public house at Old Haven,
which might, doubtless, be purchased if the cora-
pletest isolation were desired.
THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE PRINCE OP WALES AND
THE VICEROYALTY.—The idea of utilising the English
Princes as they rise to manhood seems to have taken a
strong hold on many minds. Lord Derby avowed two or
three years ago that it was one of his dreams to see them all
Vic roys, and the response from the other side of the House
was far from unfavourable to his dream. " A Colonist" in
a pamphlet before Ud argues vehemently in favour of the
election or appointment of one of them to the throne of the
Canadas, and changing kingship into hereditary viceroyalty,
that solution of the Colonial puzzle might have its recom-
mendations. The main difficulty would be to induce men
born to the position of Princes Arthur and Leopold--for
Prince Alfred has, as the public always forget, a Duchy of
his own not yet mediatised---to accept a rank at once so
doubtful, so onerous, and so distant. The most serious de-
mand cornea, however, from Ireland. The Irish have caught
at a suggestion that the Prince of Wales if resident for
three months in Dublin might be either an excellent sub-
stitute for the Viceroy or still better Viceroy for himself,
and every Irishman who makes a speech reiterates warm
approval. The strong monarchical feeling of the country,
which has shown itself time and again during the worst
periods of Irish discontent, is fixing itself upon this pro-
posal, and we should not be surprised to find the odd cry of
" Wales for the Irish" change into a serious popular de-
mand, It does not seem, if the Prince be willing, a very
unwise proposition. There is no doubt, in the first place,
that Ireland has some just ground of complaint in the course
pursued partly from policy, partly through accident, by the
reigning House. Ever since its accession it has treated the
island as if it were a colony, has visited it at long intervals,
has been received on every occasion with enthusiastic re-
spect, and has steadily avoided residing for more than a
few days at a time. Till the invention of steam and rail-
roads there was a reason for this apparent slight ;
it was inconvenient that the Sovereign should be
so far absent from the centre of business, and the
arrangements made while he was in Hanover would
have been almost indecorous as preparations for a tour
within his own dominions. The King, too, when in the
islands at all lived usually in London or its neighbourhood,
and the prior claim of the capital was acknowledged with-
out any serious heartburning. New facilities for locomo-
tion have, however, removed the physical difficulty, the
Queen resides habitually in the northern or southern extre-
mity of Great Britain, London does without a Court with
half-chagrined placidity, and Ireland asks a little sorely
why it is always avoided, why the Sovereign should make
a home in the Highlands and never see her third kingdom,
and the Heir fix himself in an out-of-the-way corner at the
eastern extremity of Great Britain. It is felt to be useless,
as well as unmannerly, to importune a lady naturally at-
tached to a spot where the happiest hours of her life have
been spent ; but the Prince, it is argued, might reasonably
show towards Ireland the "countenance" which has made
the Queen mistress of all Scottish hearts, and which would
in Ireland re-awaken the sentiment of personal loyalty
which her people understand so much better than loyalty
to an institution. The feeling is so much the deeper be-
cause Irishmen are not so much annoyed at the refusal of
rights of which their demagogues talk so much, as at the
air with which those rights, sometimes more than those
rights, are usually conceded. Ireland is the poor relation,
to be helped and excused, sometimes even to be petted, but
made to feel that she is the poor relation still. That is the
position from which her people desire to escape, and which
the residence of any part of the Royal family would do
much to end. The Castle is, even when considered as a
representative pageant, only a seeming Court, with sham
dignitaries, and a tinselly ceremonial, and the Irish, who
like all Cells, really appreciate splendour, would ltke some-
thing a little more real. That may be very absurd of
the Irish, but as the English have for ages been
occupied in at once defending their monarchy, and
reducing its active powers, and are now worrying the
Queen to allow them a little more of the colour
which the visible presence of a Court throws over aristo-
cratic life, the sarcasm does not lie very gracefully in their
mouths. if the personal presence of the Sovereign or her
son does tend to make the monarchy popular in Scotland, to
add to reasonable appreciation of its benefits the warmer
sentiment of personal liking, why should it be less efficacious
among a race in whom sentiment is so much stronger,
personal regard so much more of a motive power ? Nothing
would tend to remove the barrier between Irish and Eng-
lish feeling so much as the Prince's residence, nothing re-
lieve the country so rapidly from the sense, absurd but real,
of lacking its just grade in the empire, of a permanent and
most humiliating want of caste. Even the material advan-
tages of the step are not to be despised in a country which
esteems itself, through its habit of comparison with
England, so annoyingly poor. The citizens of Dublin say
the, Castle helps to enrich them, but all they have gained
by it since it was founded would be as nothing to the profit
of making Ireland fashionable among Englishmen, of turn-
ing the stream of gold which is now manuring the High-
lands over a hitherto neglected country. If Ireland, with
its lakes and mountains, its scenery and its sport, became a
favourite summer residence for the English wealthy, the
gain would be equal to that of a new commerce, and they
would follow the Prince as swallows follow the summer,
Above all the innovation would enable the Government to
abolish either visibly or in practice the sham Viceroyalty
which more than any other institution tends to reduce Ire.
land below its rank in the empire, and to make the people
believe that Government is but an instrument to be used for

party purposes, and assailed ex necessitate rei by the party
which happens to be out of power. Even if the Prince
were appointed Viceroy, an arrangement which would have
the advantage of giving him a distinct political position,
and consequently remove the temptation to become King of
the Opposition, he could not reside in Ireland more than
three months in the year, and the work of continuous
administration must be left to the Parliamentary Secretary
unembarrassed by the knot of prejudiced intriguers who
throng the backstairs of the Dublin establishment, The
Viceroyalty would gradually be transmuted into a Court
—the Viceregal residence into a " season" infinitely plea-
santer and much more profitable to trade. During the nine
months the country would be governed just as Scotland is
governed, and as it ought to have been governed ever since
the Union, by a Parliamentary department unimpeded by
the local jobbery and petty intrigues which are fostered
within the Castle. During the three it would find itself the
residence of a real and wealthy Court,second only to that of
the Sovereign, and subject to the influx of society, cultiva-
tion, and wealth, which annually turns the Highlands into
a kind of colossal park created for the enjoyment of Lon-
don. The Viceroy who as Prince had resided in Ireland
would be sure as king not to neglect it, and a new and
hitherto untried bond—that of personal liking between the
people and the Royal House—would be established be-
tween the countries. Of the two schemes suggested the
easier perhaps would be the mere residence—tbe establish-
ment of the unrecognised Court which always springs up
where the Prince is present, and which might reconcile the
people of Dublin to a formal extinction of their viceroyalty,
But either would be better than the present arrangement,
and the object being to content the people, their opinion,
however unwise, must be allowed its weight. It cannot
be too often repeated that the hearty conciliation of Ire-
land, the change of its present attitude into that which
Scotland maintains, wonld be a gain to the empire worth
half a century of progress—would add at a stroke one-
third to our effective resources. The first step towards
that end is to induce Englishmen to know Ireland, and
the Prince would be of all mankind the most effective
pioneer.

THE "LONDON REVIEW " ON THE GREAT PRIZE
FIGHT.—The assertors of the noble art of self-defence have
this week sustained a bitter disappointment. They had
assembled in Dublin, and had purchased railway tickets to
Cashel for the pleasure of witnessing the fight between
Mace and Coburn, which was fated not to come off, and
they are now fain to return to England with the object of
their journey unaccomplished. Why Ireland was chosen
for the scene of the encounter one can pretty well imagine.
Since the great fight between Heenan and Sayers there has
been a feeling on the part of the professors of the noble art
that the good old times had come back, and that pugilism
was destined again to show its facp in open day and enjoy
the patronage it once possessed, The belief and its practi-
cal expression have raised the indignation of the decent
portion of the community, and as these luckily constitute a
large majority, magistrates and police have been on the
alert to put a stop to prize fights, and have done so in some
instances with success. Pugilism thus beset in England
looked across St. George's Channel for a clear stage, It
thought, no doubt, that in Ireland a fight of any kind would
be a welcome spectacle ; and so, when Mace and Coburn had
resolved to try conclusions, they arranged that their meet-
ing should take place somewhere in the neighbourhood of
the Irish capital, not nearer than 20 miles, and not farther
off than 100. But it seems inherent in the Irish character
to baffle expectation; and though nothing could be more
logical than the reasoning which selected the sister country
for the scene of the promised mill, it was fated to be re-
versed by the result. The Irish police were actively on the
alert, and the temporel arm was aided by the spiritual in a
manner which promised to be effective. Dr Cullen issued
a short but vigorous pastoral, directing his clergy to warn
their flocks against any participation in the misdeeds, of
foreign gladiators ; and it is probable that if the men had
met they would, under this twofold agency, have been
prevented from carrying out their ruffianly intention.
It would appear, however, that the genius of the soil had
more to do with the fiasco in which their wager has ended
than even this well-meant obstruction. The insuperable
difficulty of getting Irishmen to agree upon any given sub-
ject extended itself, perhaps by atmospheric influence, to the
brace of pugilists. Everything was ready for the fight. A
goodly company of English lords and commoners, and even
clergy—if we may believe the correspondent of the Daily
Telegraph—had assembled on the railway platform, en route
for Tipperary, where the fight was to come off somewhere
between Goold's Cross and Cashel, and of course there was
the usual assemblage of gentlemen with broken noses and
foreheads villanously low, who keep the ring upon these
occasions. But when they arrived at Goold's Cross only
one of the men faced the spot. Mace was not forthcoming.
After going through the customary process of training, the
affair went off upon a dispute as to who should act as referee,
and the "immense multitude" which had assembled to
witness the encounter had to go without its promised
amusement. Thus, the only harm which has resulted from
the wager is, that a considerable number of the hangers-on
of the Fancy, who expected to turn it to pecuniary account,
have found themselves without means to return to Eng-
land. Some have got over this difficulty by borrowing
from benevolent supporters of the noble art ; others, we
may presume, have taken a shorter cut out of their embar-
rassment, by levying black-mail on the inhabitants of Dub-
lin, for we read that "cleptomania" had been prevalent, and
that much personal property had changed hands. But
though the fight was defeated by a squabble between the
parties themselves, there is no reason to doubt that the
police themselves were active enough to have prevented it,
even had the men agreed on the choice of a referee. And
we feel assured the t if equal vigilance were employed on
this side of the Channel, the disgusting exhibitions of the
Ring would not so often disgrace us. If the supporters of
the noble art can get the "office"—learn, that is to say,
when and where a fight is to come off—the police surely
can be equally successful, if they have a mind,
THE " READER, " ON THE INDEX TO TOTE TIMES,—
Few persons, we fancy, read the "Review of the Year"
which, on the 31st of December or the Ist of January, is
annually put forth by our industrious daily contemporaries.
Composed though it be by a writer of talents and attain-
ments, of matured experience and original thought, it is yet
impossible that so ever-recurring a composition should ex-
hibit very marked features, or avoid falling into a prescribed
form. A gentleman of great eminence in letters and science
told us that, when he first set forth on travels which have
since become famous, he tried to write a poetical adieu to
his native land. But Byron had been before him, and,
twist and turn the verses as he might, he could not keep
the " little foot-page" out of them ; so he abandoned the
attempt in disgust. For similar reasons it is difficult to
write a review of the year without an exordium upon the
progress of time ; and anybody who attempts to say any-
thing new upon that subject must have discovered that all
the fine reflectiJns of which it has been the occasion may
be summed up in the remark of Mr Dickens's philosopher
in the Fleet Prison—" What a rum thi4g time is 1" ad-
dressed to the gentleman who was paring the mud off his
shoes with a four-and-twenty-bladed pocket-knife. There
is no getting beyond this comprehensive view of the subject;
and, as the reader is as well aware of the fact as the writer,
there is at the outset a dangerous temptation to skip, which
the subsequent paragraphs about the year having been
marked (or not, as the case may be) by important events on
the Continent, which contrast (if they have any existence
with the continued tranquillity enjoyed at home,as well as the
remarks upon the struggle in America and our own supe-
rior way of doing things in this country. tend to foster and
encourage. The article, indeed, must of necessity amount to
little more than a Queen's Speech, elaborated, gifted with
unquestionable grammar, and raised generally to literary
pretensions. Such a performance, whatever its value as an
aid to reflection with persons in reduced intellectual circum-
stances, can furnish but scant fare to the active and vigor-
ous mind. As a reference for facts it is worth exactly
nothing. Its essential aim is generalisotiok ; and you con no
more extract details from the concoction than you can ladle
out the curacoa flavour from the champagne cup. It is
nothing more, in fact, than a gentle reminder for which the
reader has either no necessity or no use, Compare the con-
ventional "review of the year," such as we have described,
with the "Index to the Times for 1863," now lying before
us, You cannot turn over the leaves of the latter perform-
ance without being stimulated and invigorated. You have
traversed a country to which you can never possibly return;
but the Index will bring it back to you. There is not a spot
in that land. of the past from which you may not appro-
priate may object at will, and you may renew your acquaint-
ance with all whenever you please. The file of the Tunes,
to be sure, was always open—but so was a Pacific Ocean,
which men do not dream of navigating without a compass
and a chart. You might, it is true, find your way about
the Times territory if you happened to know it. You might
discover one place by remembering that it was near another
of whose direction you had some idea; or you might wander
about on speculation with ten thousand chances against you
and exposed to interruption from as many things you did
not come to see, but which would, nevertheless, excite
your curiosity. Here you would be caught by a leader
and falsely imprisoned for ten minutes or more. A
reviewer would perhaps follow with an interesting onslaught
upon your intimate friend who happened to have written a
book. Then would come a pelting of small paragraphs,
hitting your intelligence very hard, and inflicting severe
wounds upon your credulity. You might escape with only
these inflictions; but the chances are that you would get
into bad company and find yourself at a police-court or the
Old Bailey. In any case, your chances of tracing the re-
quired facts would be very small indeed. To bring this
chaos into order, to reduce it to rule by which it may be
explored on certain and recognised conditions, was a grand
idea; and, this present being the second year of its deve-
lopment, we may suppose that the design will be perma-
nently carried out. It is, indeed, a great field we have
before us. Mr Cobden to the contrary notwithstanding, we
cannot declare a single number of the Times newspaper to
be worth the whole history of Thueydi les ; but its value
(we take the Times as the representative of the daily press)
must be very great to have suggested the parallel to a sane
statesman. And here, in the present volume, are no less
than 313 numbers all reduced to order and obedience—pre-
pared to serve us in every possible way, like so many statis •
tical slaves.

THE " ATHENIEUNI" ON THE PERILS OF THE
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. -- Does anybody wish to
see the Houses of Parliament burnt down? If
so, there is some chance that he may be gratified.

If any one doubts that such is the case, let him go by steam
boat from Westminster to Du ibeth, and observe how near
to the south, or Great Tower e ad of the building stands a
vast heap of dry straw, somet, imes amounting to nearly 0
hundred tons, and let him calm elate also what may be the
burthens of the three, four, five or six barges which, laden
with the same material, lie at the foot of the heap aforesaid,
and would add not a little to 1 ;he impressiveness of a con'
flagration, should such a thin! ; happen. As these craft way
be moderately set down at frot n 25 to 20 tons burthen each,
the mass of inflammable ma ,tter is ecsily estimated. n
would be an extreme asserti an if we said the distance
between this mass and the wit allows of the Houses exceeds
80 or 100 feet. An officer of ti to Rouses assured us that the
heap has frequently been on fine, and we fully credited the
statement on observing how he a rtily the lady of the captain
of one of, the barges was enjoy i ng her pipe at the moment
we contemplated the pecular and thoroughly British
arrangement of straw and Pali .ce in such near neighbour-
hood to each other. The oue thing needed to bring them
together in disastrous conflagration was wanting that lay in
the good woman's peaceful pip We forecast the probable
effects upon English art, of bri Iging these things together
by that means, and perceived t hat more than one question
of moment might be solved thereby, and disposed of Or
ever—e g., the merits of storm lleorne and fresco painting,
the permanency, and even the a rtistic value of all the pie'
tures on the Palace walls, na3 , even the quality of the
stone of which the last are built, to say nothing of the O.
spective merits of the several pr lesses for preserving the
same. By the time we had arri vo d, in imagination, at thee
point of the consequences Bugg carted, which related to til
burning of Westminster Abbey, ribs lady in question had
finished her pipe, and having, ere wiping the deck of the
little caboose, thought fit to assume her crinoline, she 1104
having homely duties to perform, d ivested herself of that
garment by a simple but indescribable t process, and "wont
below." It is beyond question that a he poked the fire, 911"
that :we saw bright red sparks asce o.d from the domestic)
hearth beneath, and go overboard wit la much blue saioke•
The wind might have taken them the other way, in which
case, let us hope the fireman of the pa rish of St. John the
Evangelist, -Westminster, or whoevc r has charge of the
engine in the neighbouring church, w .ou Id have been a war/
active of body, courageous of heart, I and decisive in action ;
let us hope also, for the sake of cart Ain millions spent at
Westminster, that the tide would ha' ye been high, the Are
mains filled, and the turncock at hand ~

Industrial Exhibition at tho Agricultural
Hall.

Great preparations are making at thi 9 Agricultural Fla!'
Islington, for a North London Wor kin ig Classes Industrls
Exhibition, to be opened at that - vat .t establishment 0°
Monday, the 17th instant, by Earlll.u, ssell, who has under'
taken to preside on so interesting on 'se casion. The objects
of this exhibition, which is under the. patronage of the Barl
of Shaftesbury and a host of distingu isi ied and philanthropi°
gentlemen connected with the met ropolis, is to bring
together as large an assemblage as p os sible of works of en
artistic, scientific, end useful charac:te r, the production e
the artisan who is the exhibitor, ma sat tfactured in the ordr
nary way of business, being specimen s of superior worit.'
manship or of novelty in design; new inventions or °tar
nal contrivances to economise labour o r time ; and useful,
artistic, or ornamental articles, which may have been 11°.
duced in spare hours, whether by tv,orl king men or working
woman. For the most superior procln ctions in the various
departments prizes aro to be award ed in the respeetiT°
classes, and although during some ()A the day exhibition?
the Agricultural Hall is to be opened ito the general publ,lo
at a charge of 6d., with a view of ens:Wing working peolY°
to see it, and to bring its advantages within the roach °ft
every member of the industrious and! humbler classes Si
society, the admission fee is to be r educed each evenin;
from seven till ten o'clock to 2d. .A series of public)
meetings have been held in various p arts of the metre.'
polls in support of the project, and at the last, held on
day evening at the Parochial School-room, Arowell-street,/
Clerkenwell, Mr W. Watts, of the gen er al superintendent
department, of the London and North Western Railweit
the hon. secretary, gave some interesting details of the Pr°
grass and prospects of the forthcomi tag exhibition. I°
stated that the society had disposed of: 1,500 space paper's
upon application for space, and upw: ,rds of 200 had been
already returned, duly filled up, stating• the amount of span!
required and the character of the work to be exhibited, sin'
no doubt the whole of the remainder would be received b,
the day:and the hour specified in the en. using week, so as t°
be included in the catalogue. The Ag.eicultural Hall W
almost ready for the reception of article s, and on Monday
morning (to.morrow) the committee would commence with
the reception of pictures, which would require artistic st#
rangement, and the whole of the preparations would halo
to be completed by 8 o'clock on the morn ing of the openin
day, Monday, the 17th. Tho guarantee fund, from noble's
men, gentlemen, and others supporting tile movement, nes(
amounted to over £350, and Mr Samuel Morley had els°
given his guarantee personally for £lOO. The prograrate°
of the inaugural cerersony,which will be very imposinglin‘
eludes the services of Miss Louisa Pyne, Miss Leffler, ge
E. Gayler, Mr Lewis Thomas, and other of our first-rate
professional artistes, and a choir of u,pwards of 10
voices, the musical arrangements being conducted by
James Wesley, of Winchester Cathedral, who will preside'
at Willis's grand organ. Earl Russell, will be
conducted to the platform, as chairman, at 3 p.m., by tbe
committee and officers, and on being seated the choir will
sing the hundredth psalm, " All people that ou earth,
&c. At the conclusion Mr W. J. Watts, hon. sees
will read the report, and the chairman and company
l
inspect the exhibition. On returning to the platform
Russell will deliver an address, and declare the exhibition
open. A special ode, composed by Mr W. H. Bellarep
and set to music by Dr Wesley, will then be sung by Dill
Louisa Pyne and others; and prayer having been offered:.
up by the Rev Robert Maguire, M.A., incumbent of Clerk"
enwell, the inaugural ceremony will conclude by the ebnr
and assembly singing the National Anthem. The Object is
i
an excellent one, and the support it is receiving from the n:
dustrious classes themselves, as well as the general pub!lci
is calculated to insure for this novel and useful exbibitoil
the most perfect success.— Obset vor.