The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-26 00:00:00

ITALY.

ROME, Feb. 24.
The Duke and Duelices of Modena and the
Prince of the Asturias have arrived here.

NAPLES, Feb. 25.
The King has left for Florence and Foggia to-

day.

SPAIN.

MADRID, Feb. 23 (Evening.)

The Impartial of this evening says that the Car-
List rising would take place within four days, under
he leadership of Don Carios.

AMERICA.
(Per French Atlantic Cable.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 25.

A disastrous fire occurred on Wednesday last at
Galveston. The loss is estimated at a million of
dollars.

The North German Lloyd steamer Ohio arrived
oat at 8 a.m. to day.

IVASIIINGTON, Feb. 25.

The Secretary of tha Navy, and many naval
officers and members di Congress, visited the
British ironclad Monarch at Annapolis to-day.
QUEENSTOWN, Feb. 2G.

The Cunard Royal mail steamer Java, from
New York on the 16th inst., passed Crookliaven
at 6 a.m. to-day. She brings no mails.

I'LYMOCTEI, Feb. 26.

The Hamburg and American Company's steamer

Westphalia, from New York, arrived here to-day
with 81 passengers, 81 sacks of mails, and $88,597
in specie. She landed 47 sacks of mails and
$40,179. The mails were forwarded by the
10.20 a.m. train.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 117 ; the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 1174 ; the lowest, 116,f.
Sterling Exchange on London lOBl.
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1882 ll5l.
" 1885 ll4l.
" 1867 ll3g.
10-40 46
Illinois 142.
Erie
Cotton—Mid. upland 234c.
Petroleum—Standard White 29c.
Flour, extra state, ss.oc. to $5.60c. Corn, old
mixed, sl.4c.

CANADA.

TORONTO, Feb. 25.

From Ottaway news has been received of the
arrival of Mr. Waddington, from London, on a
mission to urge the Government of the Dominion
to aid in the construction of the British Pacific
Railroad.

BOMBAY MAIL.
SUEZ, Feb. 25.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Rangoon, from Bombay 12th inst., arrived at eight
:his morning.

Urraff.—The Acts of.the Legislative Asgembly of
Utah, as officially published, exhibit an evident in-
tention to form a community entirely separate and
distinct from the other States of the Union. The
in(

Jost noticeable of these Acts is the one that pro-
vides that " no laws or parts of laws shall be read,
argued, cited, or adopted in any court, during any
trial, except those enacted by the Governor and Le-
gislative Assembly of Utah Territory, and those
passed by the Congress of the United States when
applicable ; and no report, decisions, or doings of
any court shall be read, argued, cited, or adopted as
precedent in any other trial." Heretofore, in organiz-
ing new territories, it has been customary for Con-
gress or the Territorial Assembly to provide that
the laws of some adjacent territory of older date
shall be in force until amended or repealed, the
supposition being that communities residing iu
neighbouring districts would have the same ideas
and wants. But Utah has acted upon the princ'ple
of casting off all old associations. It has been sug-
gested that the Utah law above cited is in conflict
with the section of the United States Censtitutio,i,
which provides that full faith and ertdit shall be
given iq each State to the public acts, records, and
judicial proceedings of every other State. In cases
where the judgment of a foreign Court or a con•
tract, express or implied, created under the laws of
another State is attempted to be enforced in Utah,
the exclusion of the record or of proof of the laws
NV -

amid undoubtedly be unconstitutional, but the act
of the Utl h Legislature may be construod only to for-
bid the citing of the laws or decisions of other St,,tcs
merely as precedents, and in this light the Utah
Act, althmigh highly illiberal, cannot be held un-
constitutional. Another Utah law allows the Judges
of the Courts to have absolute control over the
counsel,regulating the fees in everycaseondputi:sh-
ing him by fin and imprisonment for the use of ex-
citing lanuage, or for neglecting to present all
the facts in the case, whether they are calculated to
make against his client or not." Another chipter
incorporates the " Church of Jesus Christ of LActer
Day Saints," and establishes an ecclesiastical body,
with unrestricted powers over "solemnities, sacra-
ments, ceremonies, consecrations, endowurents,tith-
lugs, marriages, fellowship, or the religiot a duties
of man to his Maker."—Philadelphia Ledger.

TOWN TALK.

(From the TVestern Mail of this Morning.)

FRIDAY EVENING.
The Leadership of the Conservative party in the
House of Lords remains still undecided. Ex- Chan-
cellor Cairns has resigned that post of honour and
responsibility. Lord Derby has been offered it, but
bas declined. Who may eventually be selected to
occupy the position continues a matter of bewilder-
ing uncertainty. As Sir Robert Peel used to say,
there are before us one of three courses. First, for
the convenience of the party, Lord Cairns may
be induced to recall his resignation, and to re-
turn from Meatone after Easter as Leader of the
Opposition. Secondly, one of the Dukes may be
chosen as his successor. Thirdly and lastly, the
choice may fall upon the Marquis of Salisbury.
As for the Earl of Derby, every one feels that he
could hardly have declined the proffered responsi-
bility more befittingly. Ilia manly, yet modest,
reluctance to arrogate to himself either that ex-
perience or the possession of these personal
qualifications which are essential in the Leader of
a great political party, but more especi (one is
almost tempted to say) of a party actually at the
moment in Opposition, cannot but raise him in the
estimation alike of his peers and of his compatriots.
The offer to Lord Derby of the leadership of the
Conservatives was a signal mark of honour to one
who has only just crossed the threshold of that
august assembly, and was one in many
ways, I believe, altogether unexampled. It was
almost as if the party bad regarded the
leadership as hereditary in the house of Stanley.
It was a tribute, at one and the same moment,
to the late and to the present Earl. And,
as if expressly to disembarrass everyone concerned
in this most delicate negotiation, Lord Cairns, as
gracefully as graciously, took his departure from
London at the very time, en route for Mentone,
whence the noble and learned lord bad only returned
for a brief interval, in order to assist at the .open-
ing of Parliament. By Easter be may be wanted
again to resume, in the thick of the session, the
weighty responsibility of the Conservative leader-
ship in the Lords, to which it can hardly be insinu-
ated by any one that he clings very tenaciously.
Happily, the state of his health in no way necessi-
tates his return, at this moment, to the more genial
atmosphere of Mentone. He goes thither simply
because of his inclination—coupled with the oppor-
tunity afforded by the circumstance that nothing
just now remains for him to do in the House of
Peers, in consequence of the absurd system of post-
poning, until the parliamentary session has some-
what advanced, the more active labours of the
upper Chamber of the Legislature. The curious
fact is that the Conservatives in the House of Peers
have literally an emberras des richesses in the way of
possible leaders. There is something surely very
remarkable in the fact that there are at this moment
in the House of Lords, to the left of the Chancellor
as he sits there on the woolsack, several peers of the
highest distinction fully qualified by their endow-
ments ant their reputation, by their capacity and
by their ministerial experience, to occupy in the
Lords the post of chief of the Conservative Opp-
sition. Pending the selection of the right man
eventually Lord Cairns may still consent to watch
over the interests of the party, though, in that case
he would do so, almost, I had said, by an act of
self-abnegation.
The introduction of the educational measure by
Mr. Forster was signalised, immediately after the
close of his singularly able speech explanatory of
its details, by one of the most graceful incidents I
can recall to my recollection in the history of Par-
liament for many years past. I allude to the em-
phatic and magnanimous tribute offered to the
right hon. gentleman by- Sir John Pakington,
when the latter said that his only regret on the
occasion was that Mr. Forster had not introduced
his Lill to Parliament in the capacity of Minister
or Secretary of State at the head of a new and
entirely independent department—the Educational
Department. The House cheered the remark with
all the more cordiality becaus: of its having fallen
from the lips of one of the principal occupants of
the front Bench of the Opposition.
Accounts are, I regret to say, not so favourable
as to the state of Mr. Bright's health at Upper
Norwood. Mr. Disraeli, it i§ gratifying to add
has so far recovered from his rather sharp attach
of bronchitis as to have, since Monday eveoing
resumed his attendance in the House of Com.
moos. Mr. Bruce, again, has rather rapidly got
rid of the cold that, for a day or two only,
confined him to his house and has assi,ted at
the Cabiuet Council, with two other convalescent
colleagues, Lord Gran rine and Lord Clarendon.
Mr. Shirley Brooks, I am glad to learn, is better,
though prostrated by the combined effects of seve-
ral rather severe mala lies. During his illness he
has been sorely missed down in Whitefriars, where
he is the main-stay, the main-prop, the backbone,
the heart and soul, or, however you may like to ex-
preis it, of the Punch establishment. Mr. William
Brougb, everyone who knows him will be grieved
to hear, is verS, ill, as also is Mr. Robertson, the
dramatist. Mr. Leighton is better, though hardly
sufficiently recovered to render it probable that his
unfinished labours will be completed in time for
the Royal Academy. Exhibition. S:ill, one is
heartened in his regard by the recollection that last
year Sir Edwin Landseer's illness did not prevent
him from perfecting his wonderful picture of the

" Swannery," nor Mr. Millais's still sharper illness
prevent him from delighting our eyes with the
glory of colour lavished upon his portraiture of
"Nina Lehmann." Mr. Frith is preparing to en-
chant us all with his portraiture, not of a delicate
slip of a young maiden in her teens,but of one of the
most fascinating actresses who has for a long time
past stepped, like a lovely surprise, upon the Lon-
don stage—meaning Mrs. Rousby, of the Queen's,
now starring it (and a very " bright particular
star" she is !) in Mr. Tom Taylor's play of the " Axe
and the Crown." Besides his portrait of Mrs.Rousby,
Mr. Frith is meditating a great picture, illustrative
of Homburg, in the limning of which by our
modern Hogarth there will be reason for M. Gustave
Dori looking to his laurels, as the del icter of the
gambling lifeof Baden-Baden. Our modern Hogarth,
I have just now called Mr. Frith—hardly extrava-
gantly ; and the phrase is suggestive of the notion
of a book (and what a book it would make 1)
entitled " Frith's Works," after the fashion of that
famous book we all treasure up on our bookshelves,
containing the " Works of Hogarth."
Mr. Charles Dickens's new serial story, the name
of which was announced, as I told you it would be,

in last Saturday's Athenzum, will appear, that is,
No. 1 of it, will appear, on the last day of March.
The illustrative green cover, as 1 mentioned some

weeks back, is from the pencil of
igr. Dickens's

son-in-law, the brother of Mr. WilktA Collins, the
novelist, viz., Mr. Charles Allston Collins, the " Eye

witness" of All the Year Round. It foresbadows.

at once enticingly and tantalizingly, "The Mystery

of Edwin Drood." Wben, at the close of next
month, you come to look at it, you will see, in the

charmingly delicate and graceful design, grouped

- - - -
as a sort of animated framework all round the title

of the book on the centre of the page, incidental
indications of the drift of the tale, as it will be told

by the great master of serial fiction, in twelve
instalments—a spiral winding to the right, a start-

ling revelation at the bottom, with a picturesque
vista opened to view at the top of the drawing ;
while in the f,. reground, just a little to the left of
zh's up; er portion of the pieturel cover, there au
indication, in two daintily pictured figures of—in
one and the same breath as it were—of love and

estrangement. A glimpse of all this is certainly
an aipctizer, if we wanted one, wWch, I am bo'd
to say, \V assuredly none of us do, before sicting
down to devuur a new piecemeal fiction by the

wont popu'ar story-teller who ever livel
Art is looking up at the two great univer
_ .

fteetious'y refered; to by Thackeray in one of his
novels, as Oxbridge and Catnfnrd. Whit) Mr.
JJlin Ruskin is deliveling a course of lectures to
the alumni at Oxford, on the writs and influences

of Art, as a civiliser, Sir Digby Wyatt, in his
capacity as the Slado professor of fine arts, an-

nounces a course of thirteen lectures at the Uoi-

vcraity of Cambridge, on architecture, sculpture,

painting, and, among other congenial themes, Art
applied to ludustry.

Photography has recently had a new opening
afforded to it, that M. Daguerre Mr. Fox Talbot,
and their successors never could have dreamt of as
amongst the possibilities, or, at any rate, let me
say probabilities of its application. This, the public
earn through the rather odd medium of the latest
electioneering intelligence. The intimation came
from Nottingham, where it would seem that the
two daughters of the popular, but unsuccessful, can-
didate, Mr. Digby Seymour, Q.C., distributed in
the public street, and in the market-place, photo-
graphs of their father in his robes as the Recorder
of Newcastle. The photographs were accompanied
by a printed notification on the card running to
the effect " Nottingham election, 1870—Miss Sey-
mour solicits your vote and interest on behalf of
her father, W. Digby Seymour." The incident is
agreeably suggestive of a method for getting rid
of the intolerable nuisance of a personal canvass by
means of scattering cartes-de-visite of the candi-
dates broad-cast over the constituencies.

One of the most brilliant of the shilling :maga-
zines—one of not very lengthened existence, but
not of very high chatacter—will, I em given to
understand, before long cease to make its appear.-

ante.
Astley's, I also hear, is likely, under Mr. Batty's
management, to revert to its original purpose, viz.,
as an arena for horsemanship, as a circus or amphi-
theatre.

Two rather whimsical mistakes within these last
few days have appeared in two of the leading morn-
ing newspapers. On Saturday last, in the Standard,
there was given an official letter, addressed to the
Emperor Napoleon 111. by the virtual Prime Mi-
nister of the day, the Minister of Justice, the letter
ending deliciously, as it was printed in the Ran-
dard, "I have the honour to subscribe myself, Sire,
with the deepest regret, your Majesty's devoted
servant, Emile 011ivier." The other was rather a
slip of the pen than air error of the press, and ap-
peared in the. Times' special correspondence from
Rome, under date the 12th inst., descriptive of
" The Exposition of Catholic Art" in the Eternal
City. Hitherto I have certainly regarded Michel
Angelo as one of the longest-lived among the
greatest men of geniis of modern times. But the
limes' correspondent at Rome' evidently considers
that mightiest genius in art, even in his age, " above
Par !" For, lo ! and behold, this special Roman
correspondent of the Times, when describing the
cloister of the Carthusians, behind the immense
Church of S. Maria degli Angeli—the scene
at this moment of the exposition of Catho-
lic art deliberately penned the words here
immediately following:—" In the centre is a foun-
tain, and four cypresses, planted by Michel Angelo;
one of an immense size, abd hardly past its prime ;
a second as large, but going ; a third, once larger,
but now a wreck ; and the fourth younger by two
centuries." The inference alone deducible from this
astounding announcement is enough to raise the
ghost of George Cornewall Lewis, who was in-
credulous even in regard to the possibility of there
being found any well-authenticated case of a ve-
ritable centenarian
There have been recently issued from the press,
by Mr. Rotten, of Piccadilly, cheap and compact
pocket volumes, comprising within them the pick
of the speeches of Mr. Disraeli, of Mr. Bright, and
of Mr. Gladstone. The best of Mr. Disraeli's,
however, are, to my mind, entirely wanting—mean-
ing those through the medium of which the seath-
iug wit and scathing irony of the member for
Bucks first won for himself so very formidable a
reputation as the master-satirist of debate; this,
be it remembered, at that epoch in his Parliamen-
tary career when he stood alone and very cons' i-
cuously to the fore as, in both senses of the term,
the arch-antagonist of Sir Robert Peel's Go-

vernment.
Mr. Edmund Yates, the " Flaneur" of the Morn-
ing Star, when the Morning Star was still shining,
on Saturday last began a new series of letters,
giving the current metropolitan chit-chat in the
pages of the Court Circular. The title chosen by
the Flaneur liediviuus is one rather suggestive of
the novelist-journalist, hailing under his new as-
pect, from Crutchet Friars, to wit, " Asmocbus in
London."
Whether the Chancellor of the exchequer and
the Chid Commissioner of Public Works have been
trampling on the tenderest corns of the most suisi-
tive politicians yet more cruelly than ever I know
not ; but, n.ore Foiutly than ever, I have heard it
predicted of late in -Clubland that when the pre-
sent strong Government does come to grief, the
two men who, in all human probability, will bring
that event about will be ➢lr. Lowe and Mr. Ayrton.
It most certainly ought not to be forgotten by
them or their colleagues, that what broke up
the great Liberal party in the House of Commons
within a very few months after the death of Lord
Palmerston, was, more than any thing else that
c,eu'd be named, the insufferable temper at that
time manifested by the then member for South
Lancashire. Mr. Gladstone has moderated his tone
of arrogance wonderfully since then, especially since
he became member for Greenwich. Could not the
member for the Tower Hamlets and the member
for the Z.iniversity of London go and do likewise ?
It would, at least, be an act on their part of very
wise discretion.
Whatever complaints may have been made as to
the working of the telegraphic system by the Post-
office authorities at the time of the transference,
there cannot be two opinions as to the self-sacrificing
devotion of Mr. Scudamore to the enormously en-
hanced responsibilities of his position as Assistant-
Secretary. Night and day he has been haunting
the purlieus of Telegraph-street. The demands of
sleep he has ignored. No wonder that, after a
fortnight of this almost heartbreaking work, at
last, when going down in the train the other night,
towards the small hours, on h s way homewards,
somewhere in the direction of Lea-road, nature so
far succumbed that this indefatigable public servant
fell dead asleep—not waking up until he was seve-
ral miles beyond his place of destination. The
arrangements are now getting into complete form
under his assiduous and untiring supervision.
The Mordaunt divorce case has been the chief
sorrow of London during this last week. There
will be an exquisite sense of relief when the inquiry
is cleared out of the way, and, as much as may be
in any way possible, swept out of the popular recol-
lection. It is not simply a sorrow to what are vul-
garly spoken of as the Upper Ten Thousand, but
to all classes of the thoughtful community. The
marvel is how ladies can possibly sit there in court,
hour after hour, and day after day, listening to so
frightful an investigation. Yet they do—and un-
veiled
As I close my letter, there just now comes to me
the announcement of a new daily paper, price two-
pence, the first number of which will appear on
Tuesday next, entitled The Financier. The editor
of the new journal is the late City editor of the
Daily News. A capital twopenny periodical pub-
lication has just been commenced by the author
of " Enqiure Within ;" his new venture being
temptingly headed " Best of Everything."

The Owl s% i:1 make its appearance again in a fort-
night's time.

it is expected that Mr. John S. Clarke will ter-
minate his engagement, which has already extended be-
yond 400 consecutive nights, at the Strand Theatre, in
March, and will appear in New York at Easter.
A serious fire occurred this morning on the
praniees of Messrs, .Poulton and Co., woollen mer-
chants, Blackfriars-road. The whole of the stock was
d mtroyed.

It is stated that New Oa
in ans is at present al-
most dirkness at nicht, in consequence of the Oas
Company having cat off the supply of gas. The bills for
the gas furnish° t during the la.a t wo veers have not been
settled, and the comp my gave Lo:ico that unless payment
was made on February 1:4, the gas would be turned off.
Tho Spanish portion of the city still uses oil lamps, and
the appearance of tho streets in that district is very gloomy.
A correspondent of the Pull Mall Gazette states
that the Khedive has taken into his service thioc Ameri-
can generals Mott, Loring, and Sibley—who are soon to
be j 'hied by the gaff of American officers especially en-
gaged for the reorgaliisa,,ion of the Egyptian army.
Generals Loring and Sibley fought under the Confederate
flag. The appointment of these officers to Egyptian com-
mands would, if standing alone, have excited little remark,
but the same letter speaks of " the vigour with which the
fortifications of Alexandria are pushed on," and " the con-
tinued arrival of recruits."

ART, SCIENCE, AND LITERATURE.
The Athenceum has the following :—A new poem; hi
George Eliot, 806 lines in length, will appear in April
one of the magazines.—A correspondent tells us thas
ear.
autographs of Mr. Tennyson's ancestors are now bo o
and sold.—M. Renan has published a popular edition 0!
the " Vie de 'Mins," with a striking preface, addressed
chiefly chiefly " b, la d4mocratie Franeaise. '—The Dublin Unti•
versitg Magazine, after a long and honourable struggle to
be an essentially national periodical, has failed to
find the support in Ireland which it deserved,
and has passed into the hands of English proprietors.:-•
The Italian Government has appointed a comaus•
sion to investigate the laws regeerding literary property.
There is a project on foot in Paris for the formation of
museum containing the best examples that can be found
of the various types of the human race, not for scientite,
purposes only, but also in the interest of art.—M. Charles
ochet has introduced the su'oject in a lecture at the Sor
bonne.—lt is proposed to use hypophosphoric acid in
aericulture for the destruction of insects. Mr. Stanislei
Martin especially advocates its use against the Phylloxera
vagatrix, which is so injurious to the roots of vines;
A recent visit to the Royal Gallery, in the Houses 0'
Parliament, gave us cause to lament the too obvious dete-
rioration of Mr. Maclise's picture in that chamber, " The
Interview between Wellington and Blucher after
Waterloo." The whole of this work is now covered with
w'iat may aptly be compared to a glassy or semi-trans;
parent mildew. By examination as complete as want ,s 1
a scaffolding permits, we are, however, convinced that,
this appearance is superficial, and could be removed with
out injury to the pigments, and therefore without injurY
to the picture.—Those who are so earnest in pressini
" sensation dramas"—" Formosa," " Streets of London,
and other such intellectual dramatic shows, as the oxilY,
dramas of the day—are referred to two plain facts recorded
in the Times : the success of the revivals of "She Stoops
to Conquer," and of Colman's " Heir-at-Law." What,
again, do they make of the firm hold which a serious Play
in blank verse, such as " 'Twixt Axe and Crown," hal
taken of the public, or of the success which attended the
revival of " The Scornful Lady," some years ago, in which
the beauty and pride of Mrs. 'Warner, and the excellent
and quaint comedy of Miss Charlotte Saunders (before
she entered on " the jockey business ") are things not to
be forgotten 1--Miss Gabriel has completed another
operetta, " Lost and Found," of which one or two private
performances have been given before its representation in
public. The libretto is by Mr. George March, of the
Lord Chamberlain's office.—Le Menestrel gives a singular
proof of Mdlle. Nilsson's devotion to art. She joined the
Cercle des Patineurs of the Bois de Boulogne, but refused
to venture on the ice, lest she should compromise the,
representations of " Hamlet " and the rehearsals 01
" Robert."
Nature states on the authority of Mr. Scott, the director
of our own Meteorological Office that the French Minister
of the Marine Department has made arrangements for
hoisting the " drum " signal at at semaphore stations on
the French coast, between Dunkerque and Nantes, oa,
receipt of telegraphic intelligence from the Meteorologic' ,
Office. This signal will, therefore, have the same algae'
cance at those ports as on the Elbe and at our own stations.
--During the recent discussion on Easter Island at the
Royal Geographical Society, it was stated that the layers
of guano could be traced, and the deposit of each twenty;
four hours distinguished. It was calculated that it eau"
have taken 4000 years to form the twenty-feet deposits on
the Chincha Islands.—The town of Dantzic having give!n
a concession of the sewage to Messrs. Aird, of Berlin, and
granted them land for its utilisation, preparations are nor
being made for carrying out the work under the direction
of Mr. Baldwin Latham—The Bulletin de la &meta
d' Acclimatation contains an article on the use of the
skins of the kangaroo for glove-making, which seems to
promise a successful result in this respect, and as furnish'
ing a new source of animal food, as these animals thrive,
well in Europe.—ln consequence of the appointment 0'
Mr. Dyer to the chair of Botany in the College of Scieneet
Dablin, the Professorship of Natural History at the Roy
°
Agricultural College at Cirencester is vacant.
The Graillic has the following :—The Owl will hoot for
the first time this season in a fortnight hence.—lierri
Wagner has just published a pamphlet on the " Art 0'
Conducting an Orchestra," of which Le Minestrel promise!
a French translation.—M. Perrin, director of the Grand
MOeera, has, it appears, made a formal promise to the
inister of Fine Arts to produce two new operas and tWO
new ballets every year.
The Architect has an interesting article an forthcoming
pictures of the Royal Academy, Of the forthcoming
exhibition the Architect says, "We should be inclined to
surmise that, although in general interest it may not be
under the average of its prdecessors, the number of pictures
of importance will be smaller than usual. Mr. Leighton,
for instance is ill, though it is to be hoped he will recovef,
sufficiently to finish his "Andromache at the Well.,
His "Hercules struggling with the Angel of Death"
in progress. Millais is very strong. His most important
contributions will be an Inundation Scene, in which *
little child is seen floating in its cradle on the surface of
flooded stream, and smilingly holding out its tiny hands to
clasp a bird that hovers in the air above it, whilst, in the
distance, the father is seen putting off on a raft to rescue
his child from its impending fate. Another of Mr'
Millais' subjects is the young Raleighs sitting on the
sea-shore and listening in rapt attention to the wondrous.j
tales of a bronzed sailor from the Western main. A thou
and smaller painting represents a modern version of "The
Widow's Mite." Mr. Millais will also send some portraits.
Mr. Calderon has chosen for his principal theme two •
classic maidens drawing water on the banks of a streams
overhung by leafy boughs and a mass of clematis. Aci
second work shows us two beggar children—a girl and,
little boy—standing in the snow and fog of a wintry
day, whilst the first plays upon 'a harp. " Spring
driving away Winter" forms the subject of another pie'
tare' and Mr. Calderon may also exhibit one or two portraits.
Mr. E. M. Ward has taken for his subject an incident in
the life of Judge Jeffreys, whilst Mrs. Ward has selected
one from the history of Napoleon the Great —Mr. W, I.
Yeames has a large picture representing " Maundai
Thursday in the olden time," a lady of rank of the le-
ginning of the sixteenth century washing the feet of twe,.../e
old women.—Mr. Pettie will have no large work.—w°
E. Leslie is at work on a large canvas, on which he she's
us a bevy of fair girls in a woodland park, sitting on the
banks of a stream and watching the course of some roses
which one of their number has thrown on its surface. ,
Mr. Balfe, the composer, has been appointed a Knight
of the Legion of Honour.—Mr. Richard R. Holmes, °f
the British Museum, has been appointed librarian to the
Queen at Windsor Castle.

THE TAX ON LICENSED BREWERS.

FRIDAY.

This afternoon a numerously attended deputation of
members of Parliament and large and small private
brewers, had an interview with the Right Hon. the Chan'
cellor of the Exchequer, at his official residence, Downing'
street, to represent the injustice which is inflicted on
licensed brewers by the tax which is imposed on the beef
they brew. A memorial which had been forwarded to gr•
Lowe stated that licensed victuallers are put to more es"
penses for their brewing licenses than they were before
the hop duty was abolished, while those who are not
brewers are not affected by the change ; that it is unfair
that the substitute for the hop duty should not be borne
alike by all those who are brewers, instead of by only lb
portion ; that, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer hitt
fortunately a surplus revenue, the petitioners have no
the more reason to hope that he may favourably consider
their appeaL
Mr. PRIOR, of the firm of Truman, Hanbury, and Co.,
briefly addressed the right hon. gentleman on the question,
and represented what they thought was a great
injustice
inflicted on them by the present tax.
Mr. LOWE : It appears to me that it is a tax on beer.
Mr. BASS, M.P, : There are several brewers here who
pa Y 0,900 a year. It is an infringement on free trade. L
Mr. OWE : Every duty is an infringement. The ta%
is on the quantity of beer you brew. It may be vit.!
wrong to tax beer—upon that I say nothing—but le 1"
not a tax on beer, on the quantity brewed ?
Mr. PRIOR : W.() have to pay, while the private brewer
has not. We brew specially for the poorer classes.
Mr. LOWE : It seems to up a tax on beer neither more
nor less.

A Member of the Deputation : It is a tax we have to
pay to carry on our business.
Mr, LOWE : I believe that the malt duty was repealed
not so much to cheapen beer as because there were certain
objections to it—because of the gambling nature of the
thing. What you really ask me is to reduce
the tax on beer. I should like everybody to have beer as
cheap as possible ; but I cannot regard it as any particu-
lar injustice to your trade. You get it back from the
consumer.
A Member of the deputation : No, we do not. The
brewer must reduce the quality of his beer, to repay
himself.
Mr. LOWE : I cannot agree, as at present advised, that
it is a particularly heavy burden 9 on the trade. It is 0
burden on the consumer.
Mr. PRIOR : You cannot find any other trade 80
taxed.
Mr. BASS, M.P.: When you reduced the duty on
brandy from 225. 6d. to 10s. 6d., you did not put
a tax on the seller, neither did you do se
in the case of French' wines. We stand alone
and we say that it is a personal tax, equivalent to a pro;
perty.tax. We cannot divide a sum of 3d. on a barrel
worth 40s. It is, therefore, a tax on the brewer.. When
Mr. Gladstone introduced this impost he told us that We
should get our hops cheaper, but in the seven years since
the duty was taken off I have had to pay 20 per cent.
more than before: I said at the time that so fat
from being advantageous in the price of hops it woula,
have a contrary effect.
Mr. LOWE: It really seems to come to this—that it is a
tax on beer.
Mr. BASS, M.P.: No ;itis a property on brewers.
A Member of the Deputation : It is substantially
double what it seems to be.
Mr. BASS,
M.P. : Besides you are getting more money
than you did on the hops. Last year the tax amounted to
£410,000, and Mr. Gladstone said he only expected
2300,000.
Mr. LOWE : I fail to see the exact injustice. Is the
argument that you cannot recoup yourselves ?
Mr. PRIOR : Yes.

__. _ .......... - --.
Mr. Lowz : I can only say I will give the matter ml
best consideration.

Mr. Bess, M.P. : Will you kindly give us the reason--
and no man is more able to do so if there is a reason—why
we should be thus excepted?
Mr. LOWE : I did not impose the tax.
Mr. Bass, M.P.: But you maintain it.
Mr. LOWE : Mr. Gladstone wanted a substitute for the
Hop Duty. This was the substitute.
Mr. BASS, M.P.: I have paid £64,000 in four year*
and have not had sixty-four pence in return.
Mr. LOWE : I can only say I will give the matter /a
best consideration.

It is stated that a large and influential deputation
from Ireland is being organised to wait upon Mr. Giadston9
with reference to the Land Bill, and esvecially with regard
to the "'contracting out clauses, and the diminishing: seal"
of compensation," which, in the opinion of the obj.!ctord,
.dfords inducentouts to evict the small tenantry.
GREECE.—The law fir tke euttizr4 of the Isthmus
of Corinth, which was voted by the Greek Chamber, i 5
now beirn, carried out. The work will be Undertaken by
M. Challet, of Paris and M. Pict, engineer to the Cervi:ot
railways. The Ministry have granted to the contractor;
the possession of 500 hectares of State territory on both
banks of the Canal and various other privileges, while the
contractors, on their side, have engaged to lodge a su of
m 300,000 drachmas as a guarantee for the due fulfilment o!,
the contract. It is stated that M. Bak, senator 01_
Prance, and the Marquis de Plceuc, deputy-governor
of the Bank of France, will participate in the under-
taking.

Apetition has been lodged against Mr. Munster's
retrn for Mallow' b
on the ground ofribery and intimid4"
Lion. Major Knox dahlia the seat.

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