The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-26 00:00:00

ENGLISH PROSE FICTION.

Mr. Anthony Trollope has been lecturing at the
C irn Exchange, Stourbridge, on "English Prose
Fiction as ft Rational Amusement." The lecturer,
alluding to the great and increasing demand
for works of fiction, observed that the first question
which the editor of a new.periodical had to consider,
was whether it should start with a novel, and it
was generally decided in the affirmative. Bishops,
and ministers of religion frequently declaimed against
novel reading on the ground that it tended to injure
the minds of the young, but what was there in the
-writings of either Scott or Thackery that could have
an injurious effect upon the rising generation? Sir
Walter Scott had inaugurated a new era in English
prose fiction. Almost every writer wrote to suit
the taste of the age. The writings of Richardson
and Fielding were still read in private life, but
they were not suited to the tastes of the people
of the present d►ay. The same might be said
of Maria Edgworth, Miss Austen, Hannah More,
and Mrs. Gaskell's works.. Of Thackery
all
he had to say was that his novels were written
with great taste and finish in style, and were of a
very high class character. As to Dickens, why no
novels were so extensively read, especially " Pick-
wick." Some caustic allusion was made to the
sensational portion of prose fiction which Mr.
Trollope condemned in strong language; but he
b( Idly stated that without this introduction of
" spice " no work now published would obtain a
reputation. Lord Ly ttelton, who followed Mr. Trollope,
quoted in support of novel-reading the name of Sir
James Mackintosh, who wrote : "I may confess that
fictitious narrative, in all its forms, is one of the
grand instruments for the moral education of man-
kind." As the "moral education of mankind,"
is a question which is now engaging a great deal of
attention, we commend to the members of the new
School Boards this question for their consideration.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, JANUARY
25.

The Queen, accompanied by her Royal Highness
Princess Beatrice, and attended by Miss Macgregor,
drove out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty, Prince Arthur, and Princess Beatrice
walked in the grounds this morning.
Prince Leopold also went out.

THE TICHBORNE CASE.
In this action (Tichborne v. Lushington and others),
which is brought to try the right to the Tichborne estates,
an application was made on Wednesday to the Lord Chief
Justice Bovill on the part of the defendants to post-
pone the trial, which has been appointed for the
first day of the next sitting. The ground of
the application was that there were seven material
and necessary witnesses for the defendants at present
in France, six of them in Paris, and one, it was
believed, in some French army. After a long discussion
the trial was ordered to be postponed until the 9th of May
next, each party to pay his own costs of this and also of
the former application, which was by the plaintiff for a
postponement. It was said that the trial was expected to
occupy several weeks. The Solicitor-General appearedto
support the application, and Mr. Serjeant Ballantine was
I for the plaintiff.

THE ALBERT RECONSTRUCTION SCHEME. •
It will be remembered that Lord Justice James, when
Vice-Chancellor, investigated the proceedings in connec-
tion with the liquidation of the Albert Assurance Com-
pany, and that since his elevation he has consented to.
hear the petition for the reconstruction of the whole con-
cern. When the matter was last before the court, his
lordship directed that meetings of the policy-holders
belonging to the four principal companies should be held
for the purpose of discovering whether they approved or dis-
approved of the scheme, these meetings to be attended by
the official liquidators, who should report the result.
Mr. Waller now applied to the Lords Justices in the
Court of Appeal to fix Monday next for finally disposing
of the whole question, stating that as the meetings which
were ordered bad been held, it was of importance that no
avoidable delay should occur. Mr. Philp, Q.C., as repre-
senting Mr. Robert Bristowe and five other policy-holders,
said the time suggested was far too early, as the official
liquidator had not yet filed his report, and the policy-
holders had not received notice of the preseni application.
Mr. J. Napier Higgins appeared for the Reconstruction
Committee, and said that the official liquidator could not
possibly be ready by Monday next. Lord Justice James,
under those circumstances, declined to proceed with the
petition during Hilary Term, but directed that when the
official liquidator had prepared his report the application
I should be renewed.

CREDIT FONCIER ET MOBILIER OF
ENGLAND.

Vice-Chancellor Malins had before him on Wednesday
the case of the Credit Foncier et Mobilier of England v.
Childs and others, in which a bill had been filed by the
official liquidators of that Company, seeking to recover from
Mr. Jas. Childs and four other defendants sums of money,
amounting altogether to about £250,000, which it was
contended by the bill had been improperly expended by
the defendants and others, in contravention of the prin-
ciples of the Company of which they were directors,
by giving a fictitious value to the shares, or, as it is
called, "rigging the market," and in various other irre-
gular and improper practices. Mr. Childs pleaded not to
the whole, but to a part of the bill. His pleas
were that four or five of his co-directors, who had taken
part with him in the proceedings complained of, and who
were jointly and severally liable with him, had been re-
leased (by a compromise), and that he himself had made
payments in respect of other demands.—The Vice-Chan-
cellor, without hearing Mr. Cotton and Mr. Jackson, who
appeared for the official liquidators, said if the argu-
ment of Mr. Childs' counsel, that the release of other
directors was also a release to him, was well founded, Mr.
Childs would have the benefit of that contention at the
hearing of the cause, when the whole merits of the case
would be discussed. The Court was of opinion that it
would best consult the wishes of all parties by ordering
that the pleas should stand for an answer, with liberty to
the plaintiffs to except.

THE CRISIS IN FR ONCE.

London has been agitated by conflicting reports of
the most momentous character. Yesterday it was said
that M. Jules Favre had arrived at Versailles with
proposals for a capitulation. The Times appeared
with a remarkable leader, evidently supplied by Count
Bernstorff, to the effect that the Empress had granted the
German terms, with the consent of the captive at
WilhelmshOhe, and that a restoration was im-
minent. In the afternoon came the intelligence
that M. Jules Favre had arrived at Dover to
take part in the Conference, and that he would
be in London between two and three in the afternoon. A
great crowd assembled at the Charing Cross Railway
Station to meet him, Messrs. Odger, Merriman, and
others being present. M. Favre did not come, and now
it is positively asserted that he has not yet landed in Eng-
land. It is obvious that if he were at Versailleson Tues-
day afternoon he could not in the existing state of com-
munication have reached England the following morn-
ing. Mr. Odo Russell took nearly a week to get
from London to Versailles—though there is good
reason for believing that the diplomatist was not instructed
,to make too much haste on the occasion. The state of
affairs is, therefore, in doubt.
The following remarks upon the reported surrender
are from the Pall Mall Gazette :—" The Paris Govern-
ment, knowing as they probably do that all attempts to
relieve the city have failed, may well have thought this a
favourable opportunity of ascertaining how high a price
the German commanders are willing to pay for an imme-
diate and unopposed entry. If this attempt ls to be
made at all, it can only be made when there is still some
power of resistance left in the population, and
consequently some chance that if the terms demanded
by the Germans are too ignominious the Parisians will
prefer to hold out a few days or even weeks longer.
The prima facie probability therefore was that M. Favre
had only stopped at Versailles on his way to London, and
had turned his stay there to account in this fashion. It
would thus be strictly true to say, he is here with pro-
posals, though it would not have been strictly true to says
he has come here to make proposols. If it had been ob-
jected that he was not likely to leave France after negoti.
ations for surrender had actually begun, the answer would
have been that he may think, not quite unreasonably, that
he has more chance of securing the good offices of the
neutral Powers when Paris has offered terms, and so
opened up a way to peace, than when she was obstinately
bent on resistance. If he comes to London he will be able
to say to the Plenipotentiaries, Paris is no longer an obstacle
to peace. She is willing to capitulate on fair terms ;
your Governments look on without remonstrance while
the war is prolonged merely to make the German victory
a little more complete ? If M. Favre had remained at
Versailles the error of this speculation would have been
demonstrated, and we should no longer have doubted that
he had -gone with the full intention of remaining there
until terms of some kind had been arranged. 10
the report that M. Favre is now on his way to Loadoo
points to the conclusion that the fate of Paris has not yet
been determined. The preliminary conversations wide'
would be the inevitable accompaniment of M. Favrel
passing through Versailles have no doubt taken place, and
the French Minister has probably sounded Cone."
Bismarck's intention in the hope of discovering a possl;
ble chance of getting better terms by capitulating nosy
than by capitulating a week hence."

THE C UMULATIVE VOTE.—A more notabl°
instance of the power of the cumulative vote could WO
be adduced than the Rochester School Board electioil°
:
The Rev. C. Bosanquet, who had 1,244 voters in
11,,1a
favour, received only 1,507 votes. Mr. Edwards, 1"::,
appeared as an independent candidate, polled 2,803, tP"
highest number polled, and yet he had only 451 votersi
or less than half the number of the gentleman who We
the lowest on the poll.—Maidstone Journal.
l
A PERTINENT QUESTION.—A well-known barrioteii
once won a suit, it which the opposite party was so totiej
enraged that he declared that whenever he met his leg-j
adversary he would pitch into him. They encounteree
each other at an oyster counter. The gentleman at Oleo
addressed him : " Mr.--, is there a cause so bad, nr
of
individual so infamous, that your services cannot be
tained?"—" I cannot say," replied the barrister, swain
ing another oyster; and then, stooping over, he as
:0
an undertone that everybody could hear, " What Wl'
you been doing !"
THE MEMBERS FOR BIRMINGHAM.—The arraate:
ment for the usual addresses of the borough inerobel.°4l
their constituents are now completed. • The meeting Dir.
take place on Monday next in the Town Hal htbe
Dixon and Mr. Muntz will be present ; but, 913 alf",,re.
expected, the state of 11r. Bright's health unhaPrilY 'rot
vents his attendance. A communication of much initiliest
will, however, be read from him ; and the public ~,,n'o
with sincere pleasure that the right hon. gentle.;t Ile
health is so far restored as to give strong hoPe? %ripe'
will before long be able to take his place again itt oove
ment. The communication from Mr. Brigbt, fof
referred to, expresses his willingness to resign hoseiepre.
Birmingham, if his constituents desire that by
vr_ge'
sentation shall be immediately made complete bY
sence of all three of their members in Parliament ; to 0,0
we have already mentioned, Mr. Bright intimates_ ilotr4
hopes in a short period to resume his place in th°,A
thereeCreomismnoontsa.n
elOecftocrourinsße
iritmiisnngednler
offowrhuastteov:r?cite3;o'
who would not most heartily join in negativing, 511101
of Mr. Bright's retirement from the representation •
borough.--Birmingham Post.