The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-11 00:00:00

111Li/iOPOLITAN GOSSIP—Feb. 10.

I cannot remember any more deplorable opening
day of the session than last Tuesday. There
was .a deluge of rain all day, with morasses of
mud underfoot, and a dull leaden sky above, so that it
seemed as if our legislators were come to bury the Consti-
tution, not to praise it. The Queen was ill with neuralgia;
Lord Granville was hoarse ; Lord Cairns ought to
have been at home, or better still, on the sunny
shores of the Mediterranean ; Mr. Bright was
done up ; and last, - and worst of all, the honourable
member for Tipperary was in prison. Sorely did we all
miss Jeremiah. Kind nature sympathised with us in,our
mood, and the heavens wept with us as we chanted our
Lamentations. If there' u'as little brilliant in the opening
spectacle there was no more in the opening debate. Mr.
Disraeli's speech was 'laboured and tedious to a degree not
often the case with him. He spoke for exactly an hour
and a half, and though he now and then raised laughter
over the woes of Ireland it was a lame performance.
Mr. Gladstone took exactly half the time •to make his
answer. (Do speakers time themselves by the dock, I
wonder, as parsons do?) He might have said his say
in half an hour. Mr. Disraeli's great point was that the
Goverrnment had refused to take any steps for the repres-
sion of outrage and the protection of life in Ireland until
the Government candidate and law adviser to the Castle,
Mr. Heron, was defeated in Tipperary. Then
there was dismay at the Castle, troops were sent
over hastily, and flying columns were organised. It was
a good story, and the ex-Premier told it well. Only, un-
fortunately, it did not happen to be true, as the Premier
very soon shewed. Mr. Heron is not, the law adviser to
the Castle, and has not been so for three years ; nor was
he the Government candidate. Thus the spear of the
Opposition chief was blunted at once. As Mr. Gladstone
said, and all the House knew well, Mr. Disraeli made a speech
simply in order to gratify some of his more vehement
supporters. The logical result of it, if it was
intended to have any, would have been to move that the
Habeas Corpus Act be suspended at once. This he did
not venture upon ; and-the Premiercongratulated himself
and the House that the Opposition leader and himself
were really of one mind. All roads lead to Rome, and so
as soon as Mr. Gladstone had finished, on the stroke of
eight, and members rushed out to secure their dinners
(the more knowing of them stole away when the Premier's
peroration began), Mr. Newdega,te rose to demonstrate that
this agreement between the two rival chiefs was the result
of Jesuit intrigue and Guy Fauxical plotting. The member
for North Warwickshire talked to green benches and
heedless reporters, and your correspondent was one of the
many who thought that there had been enough of Parlia-
mentary wisdom for one night.'
I hope your readers have noticed the long list of mea-
sures which both Ministers and private members have
introduced. Everything is to be reformed. The Welsh
Church is to be disestablished, and pig stealers are to
receive the due punishment of their offences. The coinage
is to be revised, and Chelsea Bridge is to be opened.
Parsons who have deparsoned themselves are to
be admitted into Parliament, and the deceased wife's
sister is to be married to the deceased wife's husband. An
Irish Land Bill is to be passed, and Epping Forest is to be
kept free and unappropriated for ever. Some of the
notices of motion elicited a good many of those " yah,
yahs," which by a reporter's fiction are called cheers.
Most a all did Mr. Gladstone's notice of his
Irish Bill; Mr. Forster's, of his Education Bill;
Mr. Leatham's, of his motion in favour of the
Ballot; and Mr. Hardcastle's for the repeal of the minority
clause. I fear it will go hard with that clause, the last
of the constitutional "safeguards " against democracy,
which General Peel so truly prophesied, were utterly
worthless. Some of the motions excited laughter, most of

all Mr. Peter Taylor's very " advanced " ones to abolish the
game laws, and to restore the ancient and consitutional
practice of paying members of the House of Commons.
'Whoever heard of being paid for becoming members
of a club ? And is not the House of Commons the
most select club in the world? But after all
if length counts, Mr. Heron was the hero of the evening.
Swarthy Sir Thomas Pkateson read a list of questions
respecting that gentleman which seemed as if they never
would come to an end, and which elicited laughter that
was rather severe than mirthful. One other point struck
me. If the Liberals are in the enjoyment of power, the.
Conservatives are in the enjoyment of place. While the
first were crowded together like pilchards in a Cornish
barrel, the second had comfortable elbow-room. If you go
In for comfort, let me strongly advise you to be a Con-
servative.

I have had an opportunity this week of visiting the
new works at South Kensington. These are very varied
and extensive. First of all there are the new science
class and lecture-rooms, &c., in Exhibition-road, and
attached to the Museum. These, when finished, will
make a very handsome building. But the works are
now making very slow progress in consequence of the
smallness of the grant allowed by Parliament. Passing
into the Royal Horticultural Gardens opposite, I found
the plot of ground lying between the eastern Arcade and
Exhibition-road, which has hitherto been a waste, occupied
by workmen who are erecting the new exhibition buildings.
• These, too, so far as 1 could judge from the drawings will
be a handsome pile, and are intended to be permanent.
They will be finished early in 1871, in time for the first of
the series of seven yearly international exhibitions, which
will be held there. The Commissioners of the Exhibition
of 1851 take great interest in this work. Nevertheless
' they do not know to what use the new building will be
put after the end of seven years; but possibly they, or at
all events Mr. Cole, have a shrewd suspicion that long before
1878 the British Museum will be so choked that it will be
absolutely necessary to remove some of the collections to
- "Albert-land." To the north of the conservatory, and
facing the main road to Kensington, is the huge Royal
- Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, which was incorporated
by Royal Charter in 1867. This building is an ellipse
built of brick and terracotta, so far as regards the walls,
and of iron and glass as regards the roof. It is certainly
most unfortunately placed. From the gardens all but the
top of it is hidden.by the great conservatory, and from
• Rotten-row it stands out in anything but sightly contrast
to Mr. Gilbert Scott's beautiful Gothic memorial to the
• Prince Consort, which is now slowly approaching com-
pletion. Entering the Albert Hall, I found a bewildering
maze of scaffolding, a perfect forest of fir poles. After
a time, however, I could make out the plan of the
building. The extreme length, excluding porches,
is 272 feet, and the extreme breadth 238.
The height from the level of the arena to the top
- of the roof is 102 feet. The thickness of the main wall
is 3 feet. The largest organ in the world will be erected
here by Willis, and the height from the floor of it to the
top of the longest pipe will be 70 feet. The contract is for
£199,748. The site is a grant from the Commissioners of the
1851 Exhibition, who give it on a nominal rent of
Is. per annum for 999 years, a gift estimated as
equal to a present of £BO,OOO. The Queen laid the foun-
dation stone in May, 1867, and it was intended that the
place should be completed by the present time ; but it has
been thought better to delay it till next year, so that the
'Albert Hall and the new International Exhibition
may be opened together. The hall is entirely fire-
proof, and there will be ample means of egress
'calculated
one door for every 200 persons. It is
calculated that there will be sitting room for 8,000 persons,
independently of an orchestra of about 1,500. Each of the
boxes tni th slower tier will hold twenty persons, and they are
so constructed that, while the back part is private, the
front is not partitioned off ; thus the boxes will present
the appearance of a dress circle. These boxes are sold for
.£l,OOO each, and every one of them has found a purchaser.
Among the purchasers are Mr. T. Baring, M.P., Mr. Dion
Boucicault, the Duke of Buceleuch, Mr. Chappell, the late
Lord Derby, Messrs. Elkington, Mr. Fowler, C.E, Mr. Freaks,
the builder, Earl Granville, General Grey, Mr. Hawk-
shaw, Mr. Kelk, builder, Messrs. Lucas, builders, Mr.
McClean, C.E., Messrs. Minton, Lord Alfred Paget, tho
late Mr. Peabody, Mr. Pender, the Duke of St. Albans,
the late Marquis of Salisbury, Mr. Titus Salt, Mr. Schenley,
Mr. Somes, Earl Stanhope, the Duke of Sutherland, and the
Duke of Wellington. The upper tier of boxes hold 10 persons
each, and each costs £5OO. A good many of these also are dis-
posed of. Above the upper tier is the balcony. The building
will be much decorated, both within and without. Terra
cotta, which is much more durable than stone, and costs
very much less, is freely used. On the frieze
will be mosaics, representing various allegorical
subjects. The designs for these are nearly
all completed, and moat of them are extremely
good. Tho artists inalaide Horsley, Poynter, Marks,
Pickorsgill, Armsteade Armitage, and Yeames. The
shape of the building rendered it very difficult to
construct a roof that would not thrust out the walls. In
a perfect ciTY,-.4 there is said to be no thrust, but in an
oval the case is difterent, aryl it was no c:oy th
the walls stand alone, without the help of any ccntigu(
building, to resist the weight of the roof, which is about
400 tons. That and all other architectural difflcultie.
have been overcome by Colonel Scott, E.E„ who has been
the only architect of this remarkable building.
There are now on view at Ward's, the fu.riers,
Wigmore-street, some very formidable trophies of hunting
prowess. One is a group of eight as ferocious looking beasts
as human eyes ever gazed upon. They are three huge
stuffed tigers engaged in the amiable amusement of tearing
each other to pieces. The spectacle is not a pleasing one,
but decidly more so than that which was offered
to Colonel Bagot when he saw these beasts in the jungle
full of fierce life. He had the good fortune to kill all
three. in ono day, he himself being on foot, moreover.

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