The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-08 00:00:00

IRISH LAND BILL.

The House then went into committee on this bill, but
a great difficulty arose as to the exact point at which
the discussion was to be renewed. After upwards of
twenty minutes had been consumed in trying to agree as
to the amendment that should take priority.
Mr. SYNAN moved an amendment to leave out " £10,"
and to substitute £5O, and to leave out "seven" and insert
" ten" in the compensation scale, the Government propo-
sition being £lO and seven years. The question the com-
mittee had to consider was whether seven years' compen-
sation would be more effectual for the purposes of the bill
and of the Government than ten years' compensation. The
object of the bill was to prevent eviction, and if they fixed
the amount of compensation for eviction less than was the
common practice of the country, the people of Ireland
would say that it was a bill for eviction.
Mr. GLADSTONE opposed the amendment. The word
" seven," he thought, could not be well judged of by the
committee except in cobjunction with the distinct view—
at least the intention—of the Government, so far as re-
garded the other vital matters which had been mixed up
with the debate on the subject of compensation for loss
by eviction. The Government proposed seven years as a
maximum for the lowest holder, with a diminishing
maximum for the large holder down to one year. The
right hon. gentleman quoted the recommendations of the
principal authorities on the land question, and remarked
that he thought it would be seen that the
Government had not been influenced by a disposition
to adopt extreme views. It would be very important for
the House to see thot what they give in one clause
they did not take away in-another. The right hon. gentle-
man then explained the exact position of the tenant with
respect to the scale of compensation, which he thought in
the main would be found to act fairly to
the tenant, with a due regard to the land-
lord. The' Government had endeavoured to
make the bill as clear as possible ; but if there was some
obscurity, and he was not prepared to say there was not,
that obscurity arose from the difficulty of reconciling con-
flislting interests ; but the desire of the Government had
bee,: to produce a measure that would give practical and
solid: good to the country. He was quite unable to consent
to t' ie fundamental change that was now proposed.

M r. HARDY criticised the manner in which the bill had
been ifirawn up, remarking that it was, in fact, a very
Irish kaa indeed. With respect to the amendment now
under,ronsideration, if the hon. member who proposed
it weAti to a division he should give him 4 v*.

Mr. Murray, the British Consul at Portland,
Maine, has communicated to the Mayor of that city a
despatch from the British Government, requesting him
to take such opportunities as he can to make known the
gratification of the Queen- and her Majesty's Govern-
ment at the cordiality and kindness shewn by the
United States authorities and people to the captain and
officers of her Majesty's ship Monarch.
THE TEN TRADE AND THE SUEZ CANAL.—TIIO
E 'stern Budget say that the opening of the Suez Canal
promises to cause quite a revolution in the tea trade
batween Russia and China. Tea is in future to be trans-
mitted between Russia and China rid Suez and Odessa,
instead of by the land route as hitherto. The princial
Chinese town on the new route will be Kalgan, and the
Russian merchants, wishing apparently to establish them-
selves there in the same manner as they have done in
Honkow and Kiachta, have asked the Chinese authorities
for permission to build warehouses &e. This permission
has not yet been granted ; and the Russian merchants are
now urging their Government to press their claims at
Pekin, representing that otherwise they will be forestalled
by the English.
PERSECUTION OP THE CHRISTIANS IN JAPAN.—
Letters from Catholic missionaries state that the persecu-
tions against the Christians have been renewed with in-
creased rigour in Japan. Those districts in which the
Christians formerly resided are now almost deserted, the
natives who had embraced Christianity were exposed to the
severest treatment, made prisoners, and carried off to the
idolatrous provinces. The foreign consuls have protested
against these proceedings, but the Government declines
to interfere in the matter. They declare themselves
willing to make treaties, and to allow the missionaries to
propagate their doctrine ; but they refuse to permit the
establishment of large bodies of Christians, believing such
a state of things to be prejudicial to the authority of the
Mikado, who is the Sovereign Pontiff of Japan.

WEALTHY AMERICAN POETS.—A paragraph lately
published, giving the ages of American poets, suggests a
statement of their property, and how, in each case, it was
acquired. Bryant is reputed worth $500,000, made chiefly
by journalism ; Longfellow is estimated at $200,000, the
gift of his father-in-law, Nathan Appleton, besides the
very considerable profit of his poems ; Holmes is rated at
$lOO,OOO hereditary property, increased by lecturing and
literature ; Whittier, who lives frugally, is worth $30,000.
inherited and earned by his popular pen : Saxe is reputed
worth $70,000, inherited and earned in law, lecturing, and
literature; Lowell is said to be worth $30,000 or $4OOOO.
hereditary and acquired in his chair as professor in Har-
vard College ; Booker is rich by inheritance, and worth
probably $100,000; Bayard Taylor is a man of indepen-
dent property—the profits of his literature, lecturing, and
dividends from his Tribune stock.

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS AT VIENNA.—A special
telegram of the Eastern Budget, dated the sth of April,
says that Count Potocki, late Minister of Agriculture in
the Taaffe Cabinet, and a staunch Liberal, has been en-
trusted by the Emperor with the task of forming the new
Ministry. He has opened negotiations with
Dr. Rechbaur, the leader of the extreme Left,
among the members of the Reichsrath, with a view to
drawing up a government programme of electoral reform
which shall both secure the position of the German
element in the State, and at the same time reconcile the
other nationalities. Dr. Brestel, the Finance Minister,
has been invited to retain his portfolio ; should he decline,
it will be offered to Herr Ho fens the Vice-President of
the Reichsrath. The late Ministers of Commerce, of
Agriculture, and of Education, will probably remain at
their posts. The appointment of Count Potocki as Presi-
dent of the new Vienna Cabinet has been very favourably
received at Pesth.

INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS IN EGYPT.— The
Memorial Diplomatique explains the purport of the NubarA
Pacha to Constantinople. As the judicial reforms, which
have been lately Introduced into Egypt, concerned that
country: only the firman of 1869 authorised the Khedive
to carry it out in conjunction with the powers who were
interested in it. The authorisation of the Porte was
therefore not requisite in the constitution of the inter.
national commission which was assembled at Cairo. The
Ottomon Government put in a proviso to the effect that
it must intervene in the event of the arrangements be-
tween the Great Powers and the Khedive assuming a
diplomatic form, the Porte fearing that if the signature of
the Viceroy appeared in the Act of Ratification he would
take rank with independent monarchs. France and Eng-
land agreed that if the judicial reform were concluded in a
diplomatic act, the Porte should be permitted to vindicate
his rights of sovereignty. To do away with the necessity
for the intervention of the Porte, who could not accord to
foreigners the same privileges which have been extended
to them by the Khedive, recourse has been had to an ex-
pedient. Diplomatic forms have been put aside, and an
arrangement has been entered into concerning
the judicial reforms between the Viceroy's Minister
of Justice and the foreign Consuls at Cairo.
Nubar Pacha has been sent to COnstantinople to explain
to the Porte that by this arrangement the sovereign
rights of the Sultan will not be interfered with, while the
Khedive can take the direct management of the judicial
reforms together with the powers that are interested in
them.

It is officially stated at Cairo ;that the neivs pnb-
fished relative to the new Egyptian loan, is incorrect.
The loan has been contracted by the administra-
tion of the Viceroy's private property, which i 9
independent of the Egyptian Government. The funds
are destined for the purchase of sugar refining machines,
the construction of railways through the private
property of the Khedive, and the extension of sugar cane
culture.

M, Victor Hugo has addre:sed the Guernsey Star
on the loss of the Normandy, enclosing 50f. for the
families of the seamen who perished in her. He says that
" had the vessel been provided with watertight compart-
ments' life-belts for the use of the passengers and crew,
and the Silas apparatus, which illumines the sea whatever
may be the darkness and the tempest, and which gives L.
clear view in the hour of danger—if these three conditions
of security had been fulfilled, it is probablo that nd,one
would have perished in the wreck of the Normandy."

tYYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE
Lessee and Manager—Mr. Benjamin Wel,ster.
THIS EVEN:NG, at 7, YOUR LIFE'S IN DANGER
After which, PAUL LAFARGE: Messrs. J. Rouse, W. Rig-
nold, Geo. Belmore, Voltaire ; Mesdames It. Leclercq and Le-
thiere.
With A DARK NIGHT'S WORK; Messrs W. Rignold, G.
Belmc re, H. Cretin ; Misses It. Leelercq. Barnett, &c.