The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-02 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSIP.-THURSDAY,

To-day is "the first," the day associated by tradition
with sport, above all other days. What a contrast be-
tween here and there; between this country—with its
scattered bands of partridge shooters trudging gaily over
the stubbles, lunching heartily al fresco, and passing social
evenings in flirting with pretty women or in
discussing the day's bag and France, with its
wasted fields and ruined vineyards, with its
soil swarming with nigh a million of invaders
and its manhood armed, not with fowling-pieces, but
Chassepots, bringing down not partridges, but men, the
shooters themselves too often the victims of this battue.
The very elements seem to sympathise with the differ-
ence. In France there have been torrents of rain. Here
in England we have, after a few hours' rain,
brilliant sunshine once more, sunshine of many-
hued magnificence—days so clear that on that
land of mist, as it generally is—Dartmoor—
you might have seen a day or two ago from sea to sea,
have had sight of Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel,
in the one direction and the slopes of Torbay in the other.
And then think of the cities—think of London
with its quiet squares and deserted parks, and West-end
people such as are still at home leading soporific lives ; or
the City, with its tide of life and energy that never ceases,
whether it be in the season or out of the season ; and then
think of Paris with its pleasure population in full flight
away from the place, with its suburban population flee-
ing for shelter into it, with its streets resounding to the
roll of cannon and baggage waggons, with its Bois de
Boulogne, the most beautiful park in the world, the fold
of nigh a million cattle and sheep which browse upon the
choice plants and trample down the plantations, and
befoul the fountains ; think of Paris laying in food by the
ton against a siege, preparing for the departure of its
Government, never knowing any day what changes the
night may bring, what revolutions, what overthrow of
institutions, or think of the other towns of the two
countries : Brighton, Scarborough, Ilfracombe, Aberys-
with, and all other places of resort crowded with
gay visitors till there is scarce a place for them to lay
their heads in ; and Metz, beleaguered by myriads of sol-
diers, Strasburg battered and ruined, Phalsburg in flames,
until little more than the shell of a town is left; or think
of any of these open places which the Prussian Uhlans
have taken possession of while the inhabitants did not
venture to offer the slightest opposition. Think one
more of our Queen keeping holiday at Balmoral, and the
Prince of Wales making sport at Abergeldie ; and
then of the Emperor Napoleon, sick and broken-
hearted, following his retreating army, his only
child severed from him, and hovering on the
frontier of a neighbouring State, in order that he
may take refuge there directly necessity compels, and the

Empress alone, deserted, vainly straining every nerve to
prop a falling dynasty and ward off the impending crash.
Think of all this ye sportimen as you trudge the stubbles,
and then ask yourselves what ye would do if the evil case
in which Frenchmen find themselves were yours.
The desperate state of things in France has had one
good effect on this country. It has induced some of those
who care for the defence of England to declare that they
will no longer be responsible for that stupendous sham,
our reserve forces. I say purposely "some," for unfor-
tunately there is no proof at present that Mr. Cardwell
and his colleagues have awakened to the seriousness of
the position. We know that all England, except the
Government, knows that our Volunteer army would be all
but useless in the event of war. It forms the nucleus of a most
valuable defensive body, but it has no organisation, and

if we were invaded to-morrow, the Volunteers would be
simply so many sharpshooters acting almost independently
of each other, useful to carry on a desultory warfare from
behind hedges, but useless in the open. The Volunteers
themselves are fully aware of this, and they ask that the
evil may be remedied. But those who can do so offer no
assistance. The country is fully prepared to spend
the money that may be needed to make the citizen
soldiers an efficient army ; but the Government
will not take advantage of this readiness. This
is the more to be regretted, because the present demand is
not the result of a foolish panic. The volunteer force may
have originated in a panic ; but no one is frightened now,
and no one would think of disbanding the force. The fact
is simply that the nation has beeu looking on at the great
conflict abroad, has been taking to heart the lessons of the
war and would profit :by them, but Government will not
allow it to do so. Mr. Cardwell makes no sign, except
that he has sanctioned the volunteer campnear Plymouth,
which, I mentioned in my last letter, would probably
be formed. But as to arming the volunteers with Sniders,
or offering them inducements to become efficient, or
giving them that which they most need, efficient officers,
such things are not dreamt of. A large portion of our
boasted stock of Sniders is in Canada, for instance, and it

was but a few days ago that an official announcement
appeared, warning the successful candidates who had
recently passed the examination for direct commissions in
the army that only a small portion of them can hope for
appointments. All this is very provoking and very sad.
As for the head of the State, she turns a deaf ear to all
remonstrances. Journals of the highest class which are
usually the most cautiously loyal, are now speaking their
minds plainly about the absence of the Queen from her
Ministers. But this plain-speaking produces no effect-
except to elicit the announcement that her Majesty in-
tends to remain at Balmoral till November 2nd—consider,
ably longer than usual that is. November 2nd ! By that
time all Europe may be at war ; or, what is more likely,
a Republic will have been proclaimed at Paris. One
would have thought that the old Horatian maxim would
have been remembered at such a time as this—Tua res
agigur, parks cum proximus ardet.

The Pope, at all events, must be of this opinion now.
His position is very critical. A letter from Rome
tells me that much excitement was caused at Civita
Vecchia by the arrival of the armour-clad British
ship of war Defence from Malta. As soon
as she had anchored in the Roman port, Captain Salmon
sent a cypher letter to our representative at Rome, who
replied to the commander of the defence in the same way.
It was at once inferred that our Government had renewed
its offer to take Pius IX. to Malta, and to keep the ship
in readiness for him. Should his Holiness gratify English
pride by eating roast beef in the palace of the
Grand-Master of the Knights of Malta, it is scarcely
likely that he will go there in a British ironclad.

He has a charming yacht, which was built for him in
England, is called the Immaculata Concezione, and has a
perfect bijou of a chapel. By the way, who is going to
succeed Mr. Odo Russell at Rome now that he is coming
back to take the place held by the late Mr. Spring Rice ?
Lord Granville has no nephews, I believe ; but he has a

brother, the member for Bodmin, who might perhaps pre.

fer the post of Charge d'Affaires at Rome to that o'

whipper in at St. Stephen's which he refused some years

selected for the post should be a member of. the Westerp
Circuit, and should be of the same politics as the Govery
ment of the day. Now it so happens that the 'Wester!
Circuit just now does not possess many eminent Liberal
lawyers. There is, of course, Sir John Coleridge,
brit be
could hardly take the office which his colleaeve 11°';
declined on the ground that electori do not approve;
sinecures. Mr. Cole stands next, but he, even ,
his position satisfied the Bristolians, would sore%l
be likely to accept the Recordership, beeati'l
it is always expected that the Recorder will not practises:
Bristol, and Mr. Cole, who now finds the city on the ,tv;:i3
a productive field, would lose money by giving uPth
clients there in exchange for the local judgeship. 8
matter remains unsettled for the present, and ne
knows how it will be arranged. Meanwhile the Govew
ment are not best pleased that the Attorney General,
have brought them into their present dilemma simpl:
regard to a few noisy agitators in the west. The
to be learnt from this matter is one for the Bristol!
lay to heart. If they are so very particular as
maintenance of he dignity of their judge they plus'
him accordingly. For instance, Mr. Russell Guru,
Recorder of 1 i e"'on,makes £7,000 a year, and has
than once rein s ed a vuisne judgeship,
Some curiosity 'is felt as to what may be don'
Hertford House, Piccadilly, now that the ee,
Marquis has pas ;e craway from the world in the raj
his life as a Parisi t i ybarite. Hitherto it has bee
of the oddest lil >,-,1 in all the Metropolis—in thi
heart of the Metropolis—right in the middle of
grand and beautiful street with one
called Piccadilly. Hertford House, it
be said, has never in its present ' shape
quite built; it ;has never, at any rate,
finished. ,For years it has looked like a house m
ban. Not observe, like a house in Chancery—a
implying ever pane of glass in it smashed up to the g.,,„
rets or dormer windows if there were any, and otheorw'
in the last stage of squalid filth and dilapidation. Notbi°s
at all of this kind was visible in the town house of tbe
wealthy'Marquis who disdained to be a Londoner. 11,11 e
.
mansion stands there to this present moment, as it Pct,'.
stood there for years past, spick and span from the hand'
of the contractors—plate glass, stone from parapet
basement, nobly proportioned, lofty,, broad, deep,
i,..t o
ot
shell in fact of a superb residence. Nothing more ! •
a window blind visible. The spacious r°,,°.ll7iii
ghastly empty. The grand entrance a mere 11`7,
surface of door-pannelling, unperforated by a keYb°,,
unencrusted with a handle, unencumbered with a knocks:'
It is and has all along been too clearly opened to the 116,4
of day and night to admit of its ever being regavA
as a house inhabited even by a ghost. „
glass beehive might just as well be looked upon
anyone as haunted. It has simply, all this while, I repent,
appeared for all the world as if it were under some evill)a
,-e
or malediction. As a Londoner I hope and pray that h
very first thing the new Marquis will do in regard t°13513
property will be to take Hertford House in hand, to 611.,
it, to furnish it, and then to inhabit it ! I can then for 0„
;
first time for years, and I doubt not many other Londoie
would say the same thing, walk without a qualm al°/)g
the noble pavements of Piccadilly.
I hear great things about the Bishop:of Winchester':
visit to the Channel Islands. The churchmanship a toj
part of his diocese was of the lowest type, lax, lazy, het
slovenly. Dr. Wilberforce was not the man to sU
things to continue in that fashion, so he has been rs'l
and rousing the clergy in fine style, holding confirnasti°r
in churches where such an event had not been known'
a generation, and giving general directions to the clerfgo
rir
for their guidance, which, if they follow them, willity
duce a remarkable change in the religious condition of
island.
mot
At length it seems as if Dr. Arnold's dream were 374
to be fulfilled He long hoped for the time no'
the churches of England would be available for Dissent
as well as Churchmen, and it is probable that before 'l°,
we.shall see the leading Nonconformist preachers °cc
pying Church pulpits with the consent of the bfollo
This in itself is remarkable. Still stranger is the faeLt
the movement seems to be now directed .by the
Church party. This party has of ate shewn itself In.
laudably alive to the importance of reforms. The revisi:,
of the authorised version and the proposal to admit 14:e
conformists into their pulpits are great steps in advsn
for which they deserve the highest praise.
The discontinuance of the Tomahawk can scarcely - wife
g
taken any one by surprise. It had miserably fallen °l,
since the day when it electrified London by its auto
ously clever cartoons about the Prince of Wales and 'of
Emperor Maximilian. Those were real works ,
fte'
art. Latterly the engravings were week n 0
week substantially the same. In all of °I:0
the skeleton was the prominent figure, and be 'ir
neither novelty nor beauty. Some time ago when ,eif
William Russell borrowed money to extricate On- p
from his difficulties, he had to take the Tomahal4 5 a
part of the loan, just as Jew money lenders make Y°llol
borrowers take bad wine and worse pictures. I °il
No fin
hardly add that the member for
Norwich did not "'
the Tomaha.wk re-establish his fortune.
vt
Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., is the member of Parlia-;e4t
who contributed the interesting letter about "
Errants " on the battle-field to the Times on Wed''
day.
Mrs. Stowe has commenced a new story in a New -04
periodical. It is entitled " Pink and White TYO4I/1917e'
Judging from the opening chapters, the tale appears t°,o
directed against a phase of the ladies' side in the 'will, 51r.
rights' question. I learn also from America that fel,
Charles Reade has had a large sum paid him for his no to
" Put yourself in his place." Also that Dr. She: to
Mackenzie is writing a Memoir of Charles Dickens, b°
published by Messrs. Peterson, of Philadelphia.

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