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

AIETROPOLITA.N GOSSIP,-THvitBDAY

The news of the week I need scarcely say is the negotia-
tions that have been undoubtedly opened for the
surrender of Paris. It would be premature to express an y
conclusion on a subject which is yet involved in so much
doubt. But the general belief here is that the negotia-
tions have failed, like the first overtures of Bazaine, that
the city will stand a few days more, and then give in.
The extraordinary leader in the Times of yesterday, res-
pecting a Bonapartist restoration, confirms what I have
previously said about Bismarck playing off one French party
against another in order'to gain compliance with his demands.
The Empress " accepts" the German terms, and in re-
turn hopes to be reseated on the throne in some shape or
other. Count Bismarck expects to frighten the Repub-
licans by this scheme. All that I can say is that the
Republicans are made of very poor stuff if they are afraid.
Their difficulties and dangers are great, but the chances
are small indeed that the dethroned family will ever
become formidable to them. The French are divided
on many points ; they are unanimous in their
hatred of Imperialism. They have longer memo-
ries than many English journalists. Where is the
force that could be employed to place Napoleon or his
son on the throne, and to keep him there ? The captive
army ? The French officers in Germany have declared by
thousands that they will have nothing to do with such a
project ; and even if a complaisant section were found, it
would have to face the numerous French provincial
armies, which, though they cannot compete with the
Germans, are quite equal to disposing of a horde of
returned prisoners.
The Times must have been inspired by Count Bern-
storff : yet it should be noticed that it condemns the pro-
ject of a restoration, and pronounces it hopeless. This ie
strange. It would seem that Count Bismarck could not
be much aided by the publication of his scheme in a
journal which immediately exposes its uselessness; nor
can the Empress profit much by the open announcement
that she was willing to make any terms the Germans
offered provided she got back to power. Indeed, it is
difficult to imagine anything better calculated to
give the coup de grdce to the whole restora-
tion business than the article in the Times
which contains this semi-official announcement
respecting it. The plot is dark indeed. Touching the
Empress's share in it, I can only say that her most faith-
ful adherents, and her most intimate English friends,
were all impressed with the notion that she would at-
tempt no such suicid t
al project as hat of securing a resto-
ration by assuming the burden of a disastrous peace. If
she has done so, " Vive la Rdpublique 1" People here
g nerally assume that the Republic is at an end if peace
be made. I advise your readers to credit no such as-
sumption. Let it be remembered that there is no rival
to the Republic in the field except the disgraced, obsolete,
lost Empire. Let it be remembered, too, that though
Englishmen generally are so prejudiced against Republi-
canism that they refuse it the commonest justice in argu-
ment, yet the French people do not all regard these things
from a Philistine point of view. The Times and several
other journals are now preferring the foolish charge that
the Ministers of Defence carried on a hopeless war merely
to prolong their own tenure of power. It is not convenientwhich
the war was prolonged—the integrity of French territory
—was upheld by the whole nation, and openly proclaimed
by the Empress herself. France clearly preferred to try
the desperate chance of fighting with untrained levies to
yielding territory. The decision was spontaneous and
unanimous. The attempt has failed, but those who do
not estimate a nation's greatness on the basis of £ s. d.
will agree that the position of the people in its own eyes
and in the eyes of the world is far superior to what it was
immediately after Sedan.
The rumour is very current here that Sing Leopold
will be offered the crown of France should the monarchi-
cal party come to the surface. The report has no serious
aspect, but it is worth keeping in mind. If the Republic
cannot stand, I should decidedly prefer the chances of '
some new combination to the worn-out causes of Impe-
rialism, Orleanism, and Legitimism.
Count Bismarck oan scarcely credit himself upon his
address in fabricating the grossly insulting note
to M. Fevre, in which he declares that he cannot give the
Frenchman a safe conduct, since by doing so M. Fevre
would be recognised as the legitimate Foreign Minister of
France, and that therefore the Republican representative
must apply to the military authorities, whose concession
of a safe conduct would not prejudge any issue. It is
difficult to imagine behaviour more detestable. Earl
Granville's invitation to M. Fevre presumed that the
French Minister could bind his country to a decision
respecting the Black Sea, but no further. Count Bismarck's
note is a plain statement that M. Fevre can make
no decision of any kind. Such a proceeding has given, as
VMS likely, grave dissatisfaction to the English and
Austrian Ministers. The Vienna press of all shades con-
demn it in the strongest terms. At Berlin the belief is
common that the Chancellor has gone too far_ I have
reason for thinking that this matter occupied much of the
sitting of the Conference on Tuesday, and that so far
as the Black Sea business is concerned, very little has
been done. There can be only one course for Earl Gran-
ville to take—either the competence of M. Favre to repre-
sent France on this question must be admitted, or
England withdraw from the Conference. We have
invited M. Fevre. The policy of France in the East is
identical with ours.
Much regret is felt at the prospect, still considered
probable, of Mr. Childers's retirement. Like Sir Cornwall
Lewis, and Sir Sydney Herbert, Mr. Childers, a
thoroughly energetic man, was two years since asked to
accept an office about which he then knew nothing. Like
Lewis and Herbert, he has almost killed himself learning
his duties and accomplishing them at the same time. The
consequence of this practice is that just when our naval
and military administrators are getting most useful to the
Government and the country, they are obliged to retire
from all toil, if life is to be spared them in any Manner.
The clubs, which are always sure that some Minister or
other is about to drop away from his colleagues, have been
very positive this day or two that Mr. Ayrton meant to
retire. No doubt the Chief Commissioner was
unspeakably dismayed at his reception the other
night in the Tower Hamlets. Thick - skinned
as he is, he made no secret of his chagrin that in a borough
where he was once popular scarce any but his enemies
should care to meet him. Yet if he resigns, what is the
Government to do ? They gave him office to keep him
quiet, and if he goes out of office, then he will not
be quiet. There is no immediate prospect of a
general election, otherwise the Tower Hamlets might
not again place Mr. Ayrton at the top of the poll some
3,000 votes over a. host of competitors. Rather am I in-
clined to believe the statement of a friend, who himself
possesses a snug post, that Mr. Ayrton will shortly accept
a nice berth where—l will not say the wick
Fed cease from
troubling—but the weary Bay
she
rest. " or you
know,,, says my friend, "the Chief Commissionership
is a place where a Radical can be put, and it is getting
necessary to put a Radical somewhere."
I should say it was. The unfavourable reception
of three members of the Government, and the
favourable reception of one gentleman who has
just left the Government, are signs not to be
mistaken. The town constituencies are displaying an
" advanced" spirit of no ambiguous type. Their demands
are well calculated to dispel the illusionp of
those who supposed that the English su-
i
frage could be made the most democratic
in the whole world (the American House of Representa-
tives, be it remembered, has not nearly so much power as
the English House of Commons), and yet that we should
be able to go along in the old jog-trot style of Liberalism.
The small Radical party that already exists is making
ready for an active campaign. Messrs. White,
Fawcett, Taylor, and others are determined that
they will not give their constituents the same
cause of complaint as Mr. Forster and Mr. Stansfeld.
For one thing, they will make a vigorous attack
upon the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. I could
mention the name of the member who is likely to open
this part of the campaign, which, of course, the Conserva-
tives will entirely reject. It is to be wished that the
Radicals may have all success in this direction at least.
The principle that twice our present military strength, or
more, could be had, with proper management, for the
fourteen millions now spent, is one which the whole
country ought to uphold.
It is very unlikely that Sir William Mansfield will
return to Ireland as Commander-in-Chief of the troops
there. Letters from that country inform me that
this
his
horses and household property have been sent to
country, and that his Irish establishment has been ipso
facto broken up.
It may interest some of your readers to know the reason
of the quarrel now going on between all parties in Ireland
respecting the title of the newly established Church. It

seems the Romau Catholics object to the church of the
minority being called the " Church of Ireland " while it is
only under this title the Protestant clergy as a a rule will
dentifyy. their own community. The Presbyterians moreover
are inclined to side with the view of the Roman Catholics,
holding that even in the title of an ecclesiastical body
there should be religious equality.
Military men continue to express the gravest dissatis-
faction at the rifles given to our soldiers. The last batch
of rifles, the " improved Snider " as they are officially
called, are lighter weapons than the regular Sniders, and
in this their advantage consists. No longer, it is proudly
said, will the infantry have a weighed-down appearance
as they march along. "We have given them
light knapsacks and light rifles, and if the latter
prove worthy arms, all that we want as a good soldier's
equipment is secured for them." It is, however, a matter
of serious question whether the Snider-made rifle is good
for anything but immediate use. The two years during
which the first Snider has been in the hands of the troops
have satisfied commanding officers too clearly, it is
alleged, that the barrels of Snider rifles, and the
many other " pieces " of the weapon become foul
and almost useless after wear and tear. In the late panic
raised by the negotiations with Russia the " improved
Suiders " were given to a few regiments, merely in order
to shew that we, at least, had some really fresh arms in
hand ready for an immediate war. Some officers say
that the Henry• Martini rifle—that rifle, namely
which has a Henry steel barrel and a Martini lock—is
too complicated a machine to give to the
troops, inasmuch as the " pieces " of the gun are innume-
rable. I am glad, while on this subject, td be able
to say that the 56th (Pompadours), leaving the garrison at
Cork for India on the 27th instant, and the drafts of the
depots of the 64th and 31st Regiments, leaving for Malta
on the last days of the month, are going away from this
country well provided with rifles after the improved

pattern.
Respecting our big guns, there is considerable agitation
going on still about the bronze question. The bronze in all
the guns recently sent to India, I am told, has " roughed "
and softened, and every effort has been made by some of
our artillerists to have steel barrels only put in all forth-
coming muzzle-loading guns. This has been done in
cannon recently manufactured, the steel barrel being
placed within an iron coating ; but the slow manner in
which the guns are being cast and apportioned to the
arsenal yards chews that the authorities have not yet assured
themselves thoroughly as to the superiority of steel barrels.
Business at the Divorce Court has been considered
" slack " this term by the professionals. There may
be a day when it will fall off altogether. The movement in
the Church against the present Act—a movement which
has languished much of late—will The agitation revived thi
for s year
with greatly augmented energy.
repeal, or at least a modificatio of the Act,
is organising on a large scale. I do not say
that it has any chance of success. On the other
side of the question, I hear that an eccentric member of
Parliament is preparing a bill to carry out Bentham's
proposal that people should be allowed to contract mar-
riages for a fixed space. Truly every proposition has its
turn in these enlightened days.
I hear from Ireland that the farmers are cast down at
the long-continued frost in that country. All ploughing,
usually accomplished in the months of December and
January, has been seriously prevented, and the conse-
quence is that the spring sowing of whest and barley will
be thrown back a month or two later. As far as the
sowing of oats is concerned, the frost will lead to no dis-
advantage, as oats are scattered on Irish farm lands in
March, and it is well known that thenearer the ploughing
is to the sowing the better for the oat crop. It is not im-
probable that on account of the frost, and also by reason
of oats being the staple corn crop of the Irish, more oats
than ever will be reaped in Ireland next autumn.
" Among the numerous war books issuing from the press
a very interesting one is " From Sedan to Saarbruck," by
an officer of the Royal Artillery. It contains some lively
writing and likewise various valuable military criticisms.
One point I may notice. The writer paid a visit to
Luxemburg, and he is in a position to confirm what has
been before hinted touching the condition of this fortress.
The stipulation in the Treaty of 1867 that the works
should be dismantled remains to this day a dead letter.
A few minor works have been ostentatiously razed, a
few revetments demolished, a few ditches filled ;
but the damage can be repaired easily, whilst the chief
part of the fortress is as strong as any in Europe. The
works are in an excellent state of preservation—almost
impregnable in fact. Some time ago I saw in a foreign
paper a comical statement to the effect that the whole out-
lay in demolishing the works did not exceed thirty shillings
a week ! The Treaty of London is in this respect com-
pletely set at nought. The Daily News war correspon-
dence is out, and is very satisfactory. Some of the later
events are allowed rather scanty space ; but more
could not be given to them without impairing other por-
tions of the narrative, or swelling the volume of the book.
The letters are generally remarkable for their accuracy
and fairness, with the notable exception of the " Besieged
Resident," whose diary of the siege of Paris is the most
unjust caricature that has yet found a place in the Eng-
lish press. This worthy's letters have lately altered much
in tone ; and, moreover, are greatly curtailed in space.

The Berlin correspondent of the Dresden Journal
says that the general election for the Reichstag will pro-
bably take place on March 3rd, and the convocation on
the 9th. The Federal Council will be convoked on the

20th March.
OXFORD SCHOOL BOARD.—The right of women
to sit on school boards is to be vindicated at Oxford,
where Miss Ellen Smith, the sister of Professor Henry
Smith, is a candidate for a seat on the school board ; and,
from the active part this lady has taken in the local
charities of the University town, there is every reason
to believe that she will prove as successful in her
candidature as Miss Garrett and Miss Davies proved in

London. 1
HORRIBLE SUICIDE. The other afternoon a
woman named Mitchell, the wife of one of the master
shipwrights at Sheerness Dockyard, threw herself from an
attic window of her house in Naval-terrace, Sheerness.
She fell from a height of between thirty and forty feet
upon an iron fence, on which she became impaled, one of
the spikes papsing completely through her neck. She was
promptly extricated by a corporal of artillery, who saw
her fall, and medical aid was instantly procured, but the
unfortunate woman was found to be dead. It was stated
that she had been in a low and desponding state for some
days.
THE EARLY IRISH SA LAlON.—lrish salmon comes
in steadily but slowly, the quality being of very fair de-
scription, although coming a month before its time. This
arrangement has given very great satisfaction to the
trade, as from the bad season for Dutch salmon, coupled ,
with the fact that mullets, smelts, and dories are exces-
sively scarce, there would have been hardly any fish of a
delicate description for the table. Some other salmon,
said to be Norway, has been offered, but this we must
consider as a phenomenon, and we generally expect
Norway salmon very much later in the season,—Fishing
Gazette.
EXTRAORDINARY MARRYING PEOPLE.—St. Jerome
mentions a widow that married her twenty-third husband,
who in his turn had been married to twenty wives—
surely an experienced couple ! A woman named Elizabeth
Masi, who died at Florence in 1768, had been married to
seven husbands, all of whom she outlived. She espoused
the last at the mature age of 70. When on her deathbed
she recalled the good and bad points in each of her hus-
bands, and having impartially weighed them in the
balance, she singled out her fifth spouse as her favourite,
and desired that her remains might be interred near his.
The death of a soldier is recorded in 1784, who had had
five wives, and his widow, aged 90, wept over the grave of
her fourth husband. The writer who mentioned these
facts naively added, " The said soldier was much attached
to the marriage state."

MOUNT VESUVIUS.-A. correspondent at Naples
says that for the last year Vesuvius has been shaking,
and that Palmieri, on consulting his scismornater, re-
garded the movements as indicative of earthquakes in
Calabria and elsewhere, which predictions were fulfilled.
The Government has consulted Palmieri as to what parts
of the kingdom it would be advisable to fix scis-
mornaters, as their accuracy has been tested on many
occasions, and he has proposed that they should be placed
at the chief railway stations in Romagna, Calabria, and
other parts. Vesuvious is still covered with snow, but a
black line marks the course of the lava. Palmieri consi-
ders that this indicates the increase of the present erup-
tion, and that this agitation will be the cessation of the
period of earthquakes which have affected Europe for
months past, and Italy more particularly. Should Pal-
mieri be as successful in his last prediction as he has
hitherto been in foretelling the occurrences of earthquakes,
an extensive eruption may be expected in a short time.
For the last two months the weather has been so bad at
Naples that it was difficult to discern any object beyond
a mile,