The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-10 00:00:00

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

TILE NEW KING OF SPAIN.

MADRID, January 4.

The long looked for entry of the new King into his
capital is at last a fait accompli, and so far all has gone as
well as could be wished. The bullets of the assassins of
the Calle del Turco have served his cause better than
Prim living could have done, at all events for the
time being, since it has rallied the Montpensierists, Al-
fonsists, and others to the support of the new dynasty in
the interests of public order. King Amadeus has been
well received by the populace, and his personal appearance,
which weighs not a little in Spain, is all in his favour. He
rode a magnificent horse in his progress through the city,
and his aspect, according to a paper not usually a sup-
porter
of the Progressist party, revealed an energetic
character, and ' made a generally favourable
impreedion. When he received the representatives
of the several State bodies at the Palace, General
Izquierda was present in th© name of the garrison of the
district of New Castille, and gave in his adhesion to the
new order of things. A" Te Deum " was sung, at which
the Kivg and all the Ministers were present, after
which he went on the balcony of the palace
to see the troops file past. The King had a
good view of his new subjects, for the streets were thronged
between the station and the palace, notwithstanding a
temperature more suitable to Lapland than to Madrid.
The general aspect of the people was neither wildly
enthusiastic nor alarming, but there was not the
slightest disturbance of the general tranquillity.
His visit to the remains of the unfortunate
Marshal Prim, whom he had never seen in life, though he
owed him his crown, was a somewhat painful ordeal.
Having passed through this, he went to the Cortes, which
presenced an interesting scene. The Chamber was
thronged, as it well might be on such an important occa.
' sion, and though the journals were invited to send their
representatives no special place was reserved for the
press. It had been splendidly fitted up, and the company
____

Which filled the galleries with their brilliant attire and
glittering jewels added to the splendour of the scene. At
ten minutes past twelve the President Ruiz Zor-

rills entered and took up a central position,
Garcia Ruiz was the only Republican Deputy present.
The Act of November 16, electing King Amadeus, having
been read, as also the acceptance of the Spanish Crown
by the Duke d'Aosta, there was a pause, during which the
Ministers Nioret and Azala entered with the
members of the Italian Commission. After a few
more forms, the arrival of the king was announced, and
Amadeus entered on the right of the Regent, amidst
loud applause. President Zorrilla, took up his position on
the right of the King and the Regent seated himself on the

left. It was then announced that Zorrilla would read an
address from the Regent. All rose from their seats includ-
ing the King, and the President read the address stating
briefly that the Cortes had endeavoured to fulfil the wishes
of the people by establishing a Monarchy. They had
confided to him the direction of affairs in the interval;
but he was now happy to resign his powers, and they
had completed their work. The Constitutional Acts
were then read by one of the secretaries, and the
King, in a clear and distinct voice, took the oath to guard
the Constitution and the laws. The President then said :
" Cortes Constituyentes,—You have heard the oath of
the King to preserve the National Constitution and
laws. Proclaim him King of Spain, Amadeus I. Viva
el rey !" Enthusiastic vivas were raised in answer,
after which the King, the Regent, and other digni-
taries left the Chamber in the same state as they had
entered it. The President of the Cortes then, with some
emotion, declared to the Cortes that their work was done.
He paid a tribute to the impartiality of Serrano, the self-
abnegation of Prim, and the patriotism of both, while the
memory of the lamented Prim would, he declared to be
ever sacred to his countrymen. And thus ended this
memorable Cortes.

EARL DERBY ON NATIONAL DEFENCE.
We are enabled to give some of Earl Derby's remarks
ou the question of national defence, at Preston, more con-
cisely to-clay. The purport of the noble earl's speech has
already appeared in a brief telegram. Lord Derby
remarked that we were going to have a very military
session. He would not say a warlike one, because he
believed the outcry for war was confined to an exceeding*
small section of the public. With regard to the
volunteers he was quite sure that whatever may
be required of them in the way of stricter dis-
cipline and increased efficiency, that demand on their
time and energy they would meet with hearty goodwill ;
but he hoped that the volunteers would be allowed to re-
main as they are in two respects : first, in regard to the
absence of any compulsion, direct or indirect, to enter
their ranks ; and next, as to the practically gratuitous
character of the service which they give. As to the
general subject of military defence, the noble earl
said :—All I hope is—and it seems a modest
expectation—that before we, the Legislature, go
into that discussion, our masters, the public, may know
their own mind. A. distinguished friend of mine said, in
the House of Commons years ago, that armaments depend
upon policy ; and I will venture to expand his words, and
to add that, before you can reasonably make up your
minds as to what sort of navy and army you are to have,
you must first have formed some definite -idea as to
what you wish or expect them to do. I am
not going into any disputed question • I may have
my own ideas on that matter, but this is not the
place to enforce them. What I do urge upon you and
upon the public is that we shoald know clearly what we
are about. Everybody is agreed that national defence
ought to be made thoroughly effective. There is no ques-
tion about that; but if we mean only defence, let us say
so, and stick to that ; if we mean something more, as some
of us do, let those who do so acknowledge the fact to
themselves and to all whom it may concern. The one
sure way of coming to grief is not to be agreed
or certain as to what we mean, but to be looking
one way and pulling another. One thing more, and I
think it is an observation that will not hurt anybody's
sensibilities. We are going, no doubt, into an increased
expenditure ; the public expects it and wishes it,
including, to the credit of their patriotism, that
part of the public which pays income tax, and
on which of course the tax will fall; but let us recollect
that though in this country, with its highly-paid labour,
we cannot have efficiency without expense, still the
converse of that rule does not hold good, and, as our
unfortunate French friends have seen during the last six
months, it is possible to have a great deal of expense
with very little efficiency. The noble earl concluded by
suggesting the following scheme for increasing the reserve
forces :—Assess every district in the country—take it by
parishes if you please—calling on each, according to its
means, to contribute so many men to the militia or volun-
teers, or, in default of making up the number, to
pay a certain sum in money for each man deficient.
In that way you avoid the hardship of driving any indi-
vidual into the ranks, while you put upon every local
community a strong pressure to encourage recruiting for
the defensive service of the country. Probably, any man
willing to serve would have a purse made up for him by
his neighbours. I don't throw out that hint as supposing
it to be better than five hundred other similar schemes
• that might be devised, but it strikes me that, by adopting
some such principle, you might get over a difficulty which
will be more and more felt the more this subject is con-
sidered with a view to action.

After a fortnight's duration the arctic weather we have
experienced has subsided into an ordinary winter tempe-
rature, the change commencing about the middle of the
week. Should this milder period last, there will on the
subsidence of the snow, be a chance for the resumption of
field labour, with a view to spring sowings, which will
soon make their claims. The covering of snow which
has clad the soil for most of this severe time has kept the
young wheat from injury hitherto, but it has yet to pass
through many vicissitudes, great fluctuations being the
most dangerous. While the hard weather lasted the
wheat trade was generally looking Lane
Express.

Notwithstanding the unsafe condition of the ice
in the metropolitan parks several thousand persons ven-
tured upon its surface on Sunday. The ice in the Thames
is gradually disappearing.
OSSIAN'S POEMS.—We understand that the new
Gaelic and English edition of these celebrated poems,
edited by the Rev. Mr. Clark, of Klimallie, has been
published at the request and at the expense of Lord Bute.
—Buteman.

A. SUCCESSFUL CAREER.—Mr. William Betldard,
grocer, of Dudley, who recently died at the age of 70,
commenced business at the Duke of York public-house,
Snow-hill, Birmingham, about forty years ago. He then
became a higgler, dealing in eggs, butter, poultry, &c.,
attending all the markets between Hereford and Shrews-
bury, when Beddard's market carts were well-known in
the districts of Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and
Shropshire. Mr. Beddard afterwards opened a huckster's
shop opposite his former residence in Birmingham. Here
he laid the foundation of a large fortune. Being a man
of great energy and perseverance, seconded by the busi-
ness taut of his late ),yifea he cgerpa me all ordinary business
difficulties. He then removed into High-street: Dudley,
and carried on the business of grocer and provision dealer
for 20 years. It is stated that he died worth £BO,OOO.
Birmingham Gazette.
DR. NORM 4N MACLEOD AND HERESY.—Dr
Norman Macleod has entered the lists in defence of the
honour of the clan Macleod. In a letter to a contempo-
rary, the reverend doctor animadverts severely on a para-
graph which originally appeared in the John o' G roat Journal,
and went the round of the papers, headed " A Family of
Heretics," 'Under this sensation' heading, the writer in-
formed the public of an old man who lived sixty years
ago, and was the ancestor of more heretical ministers than
any other man in the Church of Scotland. The prolific
progenitor of heterodox clergy was of course a Macleod,
and his heretical progeny and relatives included not only
the popular editor of Good Words, but his late father, his
cousin of Dunse, the late Rev: Mr. Macleod, of Braca-
dale, and the Rev. Dr. Macleod Campbell, late of Row.
We need not enter into the reverend doctor's answer to
these sweeping allegations. It is enough to say that it is
quite satisfactory, and, we might almost add, quite
Superfluous. His own character, as well as that of his
relatives mentioned above, is too well known and re-
spected in Scotland to stand in need of any refutation of
what Dr. Macleod calfs ff the impertinent rubbish " of
the correspondent of the John a' Groat Jimrit4l; The
doctor expresses his surprise that the paragraph ever
obtained admission into respectable journals. We cannot
say we Share in hity-A ‘
stonishment. What great men do
the little of ;" and if the Doctor will be a
great man,. he Must just make up his mind to be talked
about----..sometimes in terms so flattering as to make him
blush--Lat othetg iii terms so different as to make him
write indignant letters of remonstrance to the papers.
Besides, there are many worse charges which can be
.15rought apiost a man than the charge of heresy; and an
accusation-which Galileo, Milton, and Colunibus had to
put I,ip with 'light be tolerated even by a Macleod.—
I (I lasftpw

A NEW LIBERAL CLUB.—lt is said. that the
scheme of a Junior Reform Club—for that is the nature,
although not the name, of the new venture—has not
been abandcned. A sufficiently large number of gentle-
men have offered themselves as members to ensure the
success of the undertaking, but the difficulty is the want
of a good site.

SARAH JANE'S ELOPEMENT.— A. Calcutta cor-
respondent writes :—" Some stir has been created amongst
the servant girls in Calcutta, by the disappearance of one
of the prettiest of their lot (and there are some pretty
()nes to be seen at the Eden Gardens of an evening) with
a Major. The fugitives have, it is stated, gone home via
Bombay. Those of the Upper Ten who are so unwise a
to bring out pretty servant girls with them should
beware of naughty designing Majors ! "—Miles of India.

-
THE REPRESENTATION OF I_,I3IERICK.—It is re-
ported that if Mr. Monsell, the new Postmaster-General,
has to seek re-election, his constituents in County Lime-
rick will be asked to return a pledged repealer in opposi-
tion to him. Mr. Isaac Butt, and one or two other gen-
tlemen of the county, have been named on behalf of
repeal or national principles. It was expected that Mr.
Sullivan, of the Nation newspaper, would arrive in. Lim-
erick to organise a contest.
GENERAL CHANZY.— General Chanzy, even by
the Prussian accounts, has displayed great stragetiCal
talent and military skill. The severe battle which he has
fought against the Duke of Mecklenhurgh, joined to the
troops of Prince Frederick Charles, has excited general
admiration. The despatches he sends to his generals and
colonels are characteristic of his energy, and leave no
room for doubt or hesitation. The head of a corps which
was ordered to make a night attack somewhere, sent to
say that his men required rest, to which Chanzy replied
that his troops were made of the same stuff as the Prus-
sians, and could do without rest the same as they did.
Another Colonel complained that he was sent to a perilous
post, and was told, !` We are not at a 411—fight first of
all, and make jokes afterwards."
BREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.--GRATEFUL AND COM.
FORTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparation has
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re
marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a
careful application of the fine isrtiperties of well-selected cocd a
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctor's
bills. Each packet is labelled—JAMES EPPS & Co., Homoeo-
pathic Chemists. London. Also, makers of Epps's Cacabine, a
very Inn evening beverage. —Ad vt.

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fulli ,St N, LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1871