The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-30 00:00:00

,7)11 0, LONDOIN, FRIvAI, DECEMBER 30, 167 u

METROPOLITAN GOSSIP.-THURSDAY

For once people seem not displeased to get rid of
Christmas. It is not without reason that so much has
been written about the peculiar melancholy of the last days
of 1870. Englishmen, so far as selfish interest goes, have
nothing to complain of ; but selfish interest is not the sole
thing considered even in this life. It is true that a
gloom seems to have settled upon the whole world. In
England the very weather seemed in mourning.
I do not remember that London ever presented
so miserable an appearance as on last Sunday.
The weather was dreadfully cold, and there was none of
the cheerfulness which often attends Christmas cold. The
thermometer was much below zero. Even those streets
which are usually full of life were deserted. Sunday night
is a sort of carnival in the Strand, and Christmas usually
makes no difference to it. This time scarce a soul was to
be seen in the great thoroughfare. We do not believe, as
people would of old, that the weather and the war had
any supernatural connection ; but none whose thoughts
turned towards central France would be raised in spirits
by one of the most steadily melancholy nights I ever
remember.

The combatants shew no sign of a disposition to make
peace. The more equal the contest is, the more likely
is it to be prolonged, and from this time to the
fall of Paris it will probably be more equal than
at any previous stage. Yet I think signs are not wanting
that the end is approaching. One symptom is the
weariness of the Germans, and another is the great at-
tention the French (who, of course, are wearier still,)
begin to pay to political affairs. The politics which will
follow the war will be even more interesting than the war.
itself, and some indications of the melee are becoming
manifest. Will Trochu make a throw for the Orleanists ?
Will the Imperialists have any remaining strength to chal-
lenge the decision in favour of the Emperor? Will the Repub-
licans lose the game through internal discord? The Cologne
Gazette says that General Trochu will retire to his now
famous entrenchments at Val6rien, and there make peace
in the Orleanist interests. Ido not credit this. I rather
believe the statement which reaches me that the
Governor of Paris will stand by the Republic, as he
has cast in his lot with it, and that he will be
a candidate for the Presidency, as undoubtedly
would Gambetta. It would be a tremendous contest be-
tween these two men. Both have great abilities, both
great services to their country in their favour. Trochu is
the safe man, holds moderate opinions, and would get the
support of the bourgeoisie. Gambetta is the favourite of the
Republicans, is an orator of the first rank, and would have
the towns on his side. There is, however, another ques-
tion. Could Trochu, without any well defined party on
his side, hold his ground in a national Assembly against the
greatparliamentary men who are now his colleagues if he
and they were to disagree, as they almost certainly would?
It would be premature to pursue this interesting question
any further. I mention these matters merely as shewing
the disposition of Frenchmen to look to what will
come after the war—as some sort a symptom
that they are thinking of peace. There is
another sign. The advocacy of revolutionary measures
has become very strong of late, just as if the Republicans
were anxious not to let their hold of the country slip
away from them.
I heard at one of the Clubs last night that Government
had taken prompt measures to obtain satisfaction for the
outrage upon the British flag by sinking vessels in the
Seine. Such measures are unavoidable. There is, how-
ever, some doubt as to how far international law will
sanction the Prussian proceedure—speaking of the act
in itself without reference to the manner
in which it was done. That the manner
was, however, most offensive, cannot be doubted; and this
is only one amongst many small but galling slights to
England on the part of the conquering invaders. It can-
not be expected that an English Government will allow
itself to be ridden roughshod over in this way. I
do not think that the German race will ever rival the
Marvels of the Roman or Anglo-Saxon peoples. It has
such a faculty, all its own, of making itself odious.
I find everybody's ideas very
_vague touching the
changes in the Ministry. Mr. Goschen, Mr. Stansfeld,
and Mr. Fortescue are almost the only names now men-
tioned as likely successors of Mr. Bright. It is thought
tiat the President of the Poor Law Board may transfer,
because the Board of Trade is a more suitable sphere
for his gieat commercial knowledge; but then
Mr. Goschen does fairly well in his present
office, which would require filling up if he left, without
any specially qualified man being ready to hand, and Mr.
Goschen's merits as a politician are scarcely of the kind
to fit him for succeeding Mr. Bright. Mr. Chichester
Fortescue is represented as tired of Hibernian business,
and desirous of casting anchor in the quiet harbour from
which Mr. Bright has just set sail. The Chief Secretary
for Ireland would no doubt figure respectably at the
Board of Trade, and Mr. Monsell, who is generally
regarded as the future Chief Secretary, would be a very
promising successor, especially as he is a Roman Ca-
tholic. But neither Mr. Goschen nor Mr, For-
tescue meets the case. The problem is to satisfy the
advanced party, who at present enjoy a share of the
sweets of office far from commensurate with their grow-
ing importance. Somebody is wanted to keep quiet
the troublesome knot below the gangway, to console them
for the inertia of Mr. Bruce, the frigidity of 2 Mr. Lowe,
and the influence of the higher spheres, so painfully evi-
dent in Mr. Cardwell, not to speak of one or two other
dismal shades, contact with whom is anything but in-
spiriting to the warm Radical heart. To this end Mr.
Stansfeld is a proper choice. He is not a Mr. Bright ;
but he is an able man, a fair representative of the ad-
vanced minority, and deserves some recompense for the
scarcely fair treatment he met with a few years ago. Had
Mr. Gladstone only his own inclinations to consult, Mr.
Stansfeld, so I am told, would be the man selected.

There is no knowing, however, what will be done if the
reconstruction of the Ministry takes a wider range. It
may do so. It is the common belief that Mr. Cardwell is
doomed, and that the only thing left to arrange about the
War Office is to provide some means of decently getting
rid of its present occupant. I believe the Government
are thoroughly aroused to the necessity of providing
against the danger of an attack upon their military ad-
ministration. But the difficulty lies not in the person of
Mr. Cardwell alone. He has filled all kinds of
offices, and has cut a better figure in any
than in the one he now holds, so there can be no difficulty
in making a little arrangement with respect to him. But
there is another important post, intimately connected
with the War Office, which also requires a change. To
what good is it to talk of army reform, or to procure a
reforming war secretary, whilst the chief officer of the
army consistently opposes all reform : declares against it
in public, employs his influence against it, and, when a
change is made, speedily reduces its operation to nil?
What is wanted is a Commandeg•in-Chief who will appre-
ciate the palpable fact that the times are changed, and
that we and our affairs must change with them.
Whether we increase cur military cxpcndituro,
diminish it, or leave it unaltered, the necessity remains
the same. All desire to see full value for whatever is laid
out, and under the present wasteful system we do not get
nearly full value. Until this alteration is brought about
Mr. Cardwell may remain where he is. He is an excel-
lent proficient in the art of explaining to Parliament why
this or that thing has not been done.
There are some rumours abroad that the Government
mean to make a stand on this army question. Mr. Bruce
will have to postpone his campaign another session ;
whilst no matter what may be said or done at the Horse
Guards, a root and branch reform will be submitted. The
news is too good to be true. When some great disaster
befalls us, it is not unlikely that " something will
be done." The army will cease to be a disgrace to the
nation and a laughing stock to Europe. Probably, too,
it will be found that a great deal will be accomplished for
the same sum that now yields so little. One thing, how-
ever, we shall achieve without a disaster. There will be
plenty of talk in Parliament. What with the attack
the Conservatives will undoubtedly make, and the bill the
Government will bring in—for it is no secret that a mea-
sure of some kind is preparing—the army question will at
least fill the coldinns of the Times.

The selection of Lord Enfield as Under Secretary for
Foreign Affairs is generally approved. It is surmising
that more has not been made of this sound and indus-
trious, if not brilliant, Liberal. Lord Enfield is well-con-
nected and influential, but quite untrammelled by pa-
trician prejudices. With regard to the Judge Advocate-
Generalship, the wonder is not that a most unexpected
choice has been made, but that the post has been filled up
at all. Have the Government, disheartened at the recep-
tion accorded to some of their economical movements,
given up frugality as part of their programme? Else,
why not abolish this sinecure ? Mr. Davison, who has
got the £2,000 a year, and next to nothing to do, is known
as member for Durham, as a leading barrister on the
Northern. Circuit, and as nothing more. He is a cypher

ea Parliament. But then these rewards are not always
given for services in debating.
It is said, that the Government are about to make in-
quiries into the causes of the railway accidents so horribly
numerous of late. This is the proper mode of pro-
cedure. Full information, gained by dispas-
sionate inquiry, is the only means by which
precautions likely to have any beneficial result
can be brought to light. Nothing is to to be gained
by the usual expedient of bullying directors at a period
of exceptional calamity. The inducements to railway
managers to do all in their power to avoid disaster cannot
well be greater than _they are. It is their interest
to prevent a panic amongst railway passengers. It is
their interest to avert the heavy c )mpensation awards
which are the invariable result of injury to life or limb.
To speak of them as if collisions were an amusement in
which they revelled is worse than useless.
Some Irish friends of mine are indignant at the Times
insinuating that Smith O'Brien, whose statue has just
been erected in Ireland, had no claim to national comme-
moration as a patriot, and that he will only be remom•
bered in connection with a battle in a Limerick cabbage
garden, with a trial and sentence and a return to Ireland,
after which the man who nearly brought calamity on his
country remained peaceable. Smith O'Brien was not
satisfied, after his pardon, with remaining loyal
and peaceable. Finding that he had miscal-
culated the direction in which his efforts for the
welfare of Ireland ought to be made, he encouraged the
labourers on his large properties in the South by paying
them higher wages and giving them better cottages ; and
he not only caused an improvement in the position of the
small farming classes in all the neighbouring counties,
but he gave away from his own purse a large number of
silver challenge plates and cups to the agri-
culturists of Ireland who produced annually the best cattle
at the Royal Dublin Society's shows.

So far as the Fine Arts are concerned, the Interna-
tional Exhibition next year, at South Kensington, will
present a large and successful show. The visitors to the
building will not be struck so much with the collection of
old and well-known paintings, as with ' the immense
number of small modern pictures, chiefly supplied to
the " hanging committee," by amateur as well as pro-
fessional artists, residing in and near London. The
lady students at the South Kensington and other metro-
politan schools of art intend to be represented in a very
worthy fashion, and the earnestness of the male students,
I understand, to have creditable works finished in time is
also remarkable. There is no doubt that the picture gal-
leries will afford proof that painting in water
colours and oils has been very widely taken
up as an accomplishment by English young ladies
and gentlemen within the past five years. It will be
for the public to say whether as much care is now taken
in finishing off a work of art as in those times when the
easel was only used by a few dainty damsels, and profes
sional painters to the Royal Courts. It may be added
that Mr. Frith is at work on a great picture for next
year's Academy, which is to rival— if not excel—the
famous " Derby Day." Mr. Marcus Stone will supply
two paintings—one of a general subject, the other a
portrait.

The regularity with which the morning papers make
their appearance is not one of the least remarkable
features of English industry and skill; but this week
an exception occurred. The " forms" 'of the Daily
Te'egraph, like those of most London newspapers,
are stereotyped ; and, whilst this operation was
being performed on Monday morning, one of
the pages was accidentally cast twice over, and at the
last moment it was four d necessary to commence
again. The paper did not appear until seven o'clock.
The consternation amongst the agents of the journal
which has the "largest circulation in the world," may be
imagined. Speaking of newspaper matters, I fear
that the project for a new first-class London
daily hangs fire, through the old cause—want
of capital. People naturally hesitate before embarking in
this kind of business. Starting a newspaper is, and pro-
bably ever shall be, like starting an Atlantic cable a few
years ago. The new daily paper to be commenced in Bir-
mingham at the opening of the year—the Birmingham
Morning News—will be edited jointly by Dr. Langford
and Mr. George Dawson, M.A.
Amongst the many old Christmas customs dropping out
of vogue is the fashion of pantomimic representation. A
few years ago pantomimes were the rule ; they are now—
in London at least—the exception. Several of the leading
theatres make no change in their programme ;
many more rely upon the modern substitute of
burlesque; not half a dozen have the regulation fare.
Covent Garden and Drury Lane maintain their time-
honoured policy ; it would be a disgrace if the vast
Standard had not a pantomime ; and the lately unfor-
tunate transpontine Surrey has a good entertainment of
the- fine old stamp. But the greatness of the
rest is fallen. It is a fine time, however,
for burlesque—plenty of scope for witty and satirical
points. The war personages, the railway companies, the
Pope, and (in a small way) the Ministry, all come in for
their share. It is wonderful how unanimous popular
theatrical feeling has become about the war. Vivid
sympathy displays itself for the French, and
such sallies as "Bismarck, butcher, German
street," are greeted with evident relish. The propriety of
putting directors into their own cattle trucks, and divers
other savage suggestions about men who would be only
too glad to keep their trucks intact, are alike rapturously
received. Sometimes the joke comes in awkwardly.
The author of the Covent Garden pantomime could not
persuade himself to let the old dockyard topic alone,
albeit so many fine new ones lay in his, way, and accor-
dingly introduced a shot about the mean, Lowe, way of
doing things. The Chancellor of the Exchequer happened
to be sitting in the stalls on Boxing Night, and very red
he looked when this sally came forth. But why do
Ministers go to pantomimes, when they know they are
fair game ?

All the pantomimes seem good this year ; burlesques
however, vary very much. Good are those at the Adelphi,
the Princess's, and the Strand, the latter especially so.
The author in this latter case, Mr. Strachan, originally of
Newcastle, has had a remarkably successful " run " in
this department of theatrical art. His burlesque at the
Strand, his pantomimes at Glasgow, Liverpool, and else-
where, have all met with an excellent reception. Last
Christmas this author had a provincial pantomime which
ran longer than any of the year.
I have left scant space for literary news, but there
is nothing to notice, besides Christmas books.
Mr. Dutton Cook is engaged on a new novel, and so is
Mr. Shirley Brooks. Those who are in want of some-
thing to read may advantageously laugh at Friswell's
criticisms on English writers.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS TELEGRAPH.-COMMU-
nication with Guernsey and Jersey was stopped throughout
the whole of Wednesday, owing to an interruption of the
land wire between Exeter and Dartmouth, occasioned, no
doubt, by snow or bad weather.
MAGisTErtiAL DISCORD IN LivEßpooL.—There
was a meeting of the borough magistrates of Liverpool on
Wednesday, at which Messrs. Samuelson and Whitty
made a warm complaint of the inattention and want of
courtesy shewn to them by the watch committee and the
head constable, in not dismissing a policeman whose dis-
charge they had recommended for prevarication. Mr.
Clint, as chairman of the watch committee, said that it
was not the practice to interfere with cases adjudicated
upon by magistrates. Messrs. Samuelson and Whitty
explained that they left it in courtesy to the head comta-
ble to discharge the policeman, but would not again act
with the same urbanity towards him or the committee.
DEATH AT A WORKHOUSE GATE ON CHRIST--
MAS DAY.—On Thursday Mr. Richards held an inquest
at the Approach Tavern, Btehnal-green, touching the death
of George Cecil, aged 80 years. The deceased was a
weaver, but old age and want of employment compelled
him to enter the Bethnal-green Workhouse. On Christ-
mas Day he obtained leave from the workhouse
authorities to go and dine with his daughter in
Cambridge-road, but one of the conditions of leave
was that he should return by five o'clock. While
enjoying his daughter's Christmas fare he became
very excited, and he said, " I shall be too late,"
and his anxiety became alarming when it reached twenty
minutes to five, and he then rose from the table and ran
down the road to the workhouse. Joseph Blinks, gate
porter at the workhouse, said that the deceased knocked
at the workhouse gate at ten minutes past five. He was
hi a great hurry, and he said, "I'm late." Witness said,
"never mind," and the deceased fell dead. The medical
evidence proved that the poor man was suffering from
disease of the heart, and that runninr,. and ex-
citement would have a tendency to accelerate death. The
jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical
evidence.

NOTTCE. LL. Whisky Depot. Kinahan
and Co. have removed to their new and spacious premises,
No. (la, Great Titchficld-street, Oxford-street, leading
from 'A targaret-street, Regent-street, and Market-street,
Oxford-street. Kinahan's LL. Whisky.—Tkis famous
and most delicious old mellow spirit is the very cream of
Irish whiskies, in quality unrivalled, perfectly pure,
and more wholesome than the finest cognac brandy.
Can be obtained all over the kingdom, in the well-known
sealed and labelled bottles, or in bond for exportation at
the London Docks. Wholesale Agents to Messrs. Bass,
Guinness, and Younger, and Dealers in Foreign Wines
and Spirits.

THE WA R.

THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

THE SORTIES.-FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORT.

The following is the report of Admiral de la Ronciere
to General Trochu, on the attack on Le Bourget :—" In
obedience to your orders, we have attacked Le Bourget
this morning. The Marine Pattalion and the 188th
Regiment, under the energetic command of Naval
Captain La,motte Trouet, stormed the northern part of
the village at the same time that an attack, vigorously
executed by General Lambique in the south part of the
village, found its advance arrested, notwithstanding its
gallant efforts, by strong barricades and loopholed walls,
which made it impossible to push further than the first
houses we had taken. During nearly three hours our
troops held their position in the north of Le Bourget,
even beyond the church, fighting hard for each
house under a hail of shot from windows and cellars.
They were forced to retire; this was done calmly. At
the same time an important demonstration was made by
the 10th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Regiments of Gardes Mo-
biles of the Seine and a detachment of the 82nd Battalion
of the Mobilised Guards of St. Denis, under the command
of Colonel Lausamont. Lastly, the 68th battalion of the
Mobilised National Guards of St. Denis made its appear-
ance in front of Epinay, while the two floating batteries,
No. 1 and No. 4, fired upon the village as well as upon
Orgemont and the Swan Enghien, whence the enemy
replied vigorously. Our losses are considerable, especially
in the 134th and 138th Regiments. Although our object
has not been attained, I cannot sufficiently praise the
valiant energy displayed by our troops. One hundred
Prussian prisoners were brought in from Le Bourget."