The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-05 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.

THIS EVENING, at 7 o'clock, A KISS IN THE DARK.
After which, at 20 to 8, bEW MEN AND OLD ACRES• Mr
Buckstone, Mr Chippendale. Miss Robertson, &c. Concluding
with THE FAIR ONE WITH THE GOLDEN LOCKS:
Mr. A. Wood, Miss F. Wright, &c.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
TIM EVENING. at 7, AFTER DARK: Mr Vining. Followed
by THE STRKE SOF LONDON: Mr Vining; Messrs Philips,
Ashley, Stuart, Rignold, Taylor, Leeson, Eburne ; Mesdames
Barnett, Stoker, Brower.

THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.
THis EvEyING, at 7, OPEN TO CONVICTION. Messrs
George Belmore, J. D. Beveridge, C. H. Stephenson, Miss L.
Grey, and Mrs L. Murray. At 8, THE NIGHTINGALE:
Mr Benjamin Webster, Messrs Arthur Stirling, J. O. Beveridge,
Skinner, Miss Furtado, Mrs Alfred Mellon, Miss Eliza John-
stone, Mrs Caulfield, &c. To conclude with DOMESTIC
ECONOMY: Mr G. Belmore and Mrs Leigh Murray.

LYCEUM THEATRE.
THIS EVENING. at 7, CORRUPT PRACTICES. After which,
CHILPERIC: Messrs M. Manus, G Vincent, Odell, Lapierre,
Coghlan, and M. Herve; Mesdames Dolaro, Fitz Inman, Ho-
manolli, Nellie Nesbit, and Miss Emily Muir.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborongh.
Tsris EVENING, at 7, THE HEIR AT LAW: Mr Clarke, Mr
James, Miss Button, &c. With THE TOODLES. Concluding
with INO.

WOODIN'S CAIIPET - BAG AND SKETCH BOOK,
Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, every Evening (except Saturday; at
S; Saturday Mornings at 3. Admission, ls, 2s, 3s.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and ,Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL GI ARDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays' 6d. Children
under twelve, 6d.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA. PALACE.— THREE BALLETS
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. le. Box-office
open fromll to 4.

'Ar.,
n& c„
C7SI. fill

LONDON, SAI URDAY, FEB. 5, 1870.

1T is worthy or note that a considerable modifiCa-
tion has of late been effected in the practise of
the law :courts touching the duties and obli-
gations of married persons. Little by little
modern requirements are leading our legal
authorities to affirm the independent exist-
ence of man and wife. On more than one occa-
sion lately the county:court and superior court judges
have given decisions of quite a new tenour respecting
the liability of a husband for his wife's debts. Formerly
the law made a hard and fast distinction; whilst living
together, the husband was answerable for his partner's
debts on account of necessaries, but not for
luxuries out of keeping with his station in life. This
liability is now becoming moro and morn restricted.
Later judgments have laid down the unquestionably
novel doctrine that the wife is not to be regarded
as the husband's " better half," but only as his
avant. 11er power to contract debts depends entirely
upon the extent of the authority she derives from him.
If he forbid her to pledg' his credit, she has no
legal power to do so; and it would seem that only in
case of necessity, if the wife were insufficiently
supplied with proper requisites, would it be safe
on the part of a tradesman to trust her. The
case of " SunUBSOLE v. IhyTlin" is an example of
the practical application of this theory. Within
eleven months, ending August 1869, Mrs. HATTER was
supplied with credit goods, chiefly wearing apparel,
to the value of nearly £129. Mr. HAYTEn ad-
mitted his liability for £3O, but disputed the rest.
It was shown that he had forbidden his wife to
pledge his credit, and that he had supplied her
moderately well with money. Mrs. IIAYTER had
not previously been in the habit of running
bills, and, moreover, of the whole £129,
about £lOB had been contracted between
Juno and August. During the latter
portion of this period Mrs. ITAy-rEn made the
acqaintance of a Mr. SPRY, with whom she ulti-
mately left her home. Of the latter circumstance
nothing was made ; the vital question was whether
the articles were supplied by the authority,
express or implied, of the husband ; and on the evi-
dence that they were not, the case went in
favour of the defendant. These decisions are an
important warning. The application of the

principle to individual cases as yet remains
somewhat uncertain ; under some circiun-
stanc3s there can be no doubt that the bus-
ban I would be liable; but the necessity for
caution i 3 clear. As Mr. Justice KEATING
says, "it etnnot be too widely known that a man
who deals with a married woman gives her credit
lit his own very treat risk."

THE tocsin has been sounded amongst the brewing
fraternity. This body is angry with the Beerhouse
Act of 1869, which placed beer licences under the
control of the magistracy ; and it is apprehensive lest
worse things should happen in 1870. A meeting
has accordingly been held at Cambridge, to
form a brewers' union "for the special
defence of the rights and interests of the
trade." The height of impudence has been variously
defined, and is doubtless not easy to realise; but the
arguments used at this Cambridge meeting of brewers
must come very near the ideal perfection of audacity.
It was urged that by taking the control of beerhouses
from the Excise and giving it to the magistrates, the
number of licenses granted has been considerably
reduced. Further interference is threatened. But by
previous legislation the number of drinkshops
was made unlimited. On the faith of
previous legislation, brewers' money was largely in-
vested in public-houses, The reduction now being
made deteriorates the value of these investments, is
an interferenc—e with vested interests, and therefore a
clear injustice. Eliich is the neat syllogism by which
the logicians who gathered at Cambridge are
about to persuade the nation that the Act
of 1869 must be repealed, and that any
further legislation of the kind cannot be thought of.
We must, however, suggest that no Act of Parlia-
ment is irrevocable, and that capitalists who invest
money in consequence of any measure must do so
subject to the future will of the nation. If legisla-
tiou could not be altered to the inconvenience of
traders, when should we have any now laws ?
A. railway shareholder might employ a precisely
similar argument against a Railway Act he invbsted
money, he might say, under certain conditions, which
ought not to be infringed at the risk of meddlinkidth
his property. With equal justice might a
shipowner protest against the new Merchant
Shipping Bill. It is true that in the
reign of WILLIAM IV. Parliament was indifferent
enough and foolish enough to pass an Act by
which the Excise was virtually bound to
give a licence to everybody who chose to ask for
one. But is this flagitous transaction to bind
the nation eternally for the benefit of brewers ?
The Act was not passed primarily for the good
of "the trade," and subsequent Acts will not be
primarily for the opposite purpose. The investment
of capital was a secondary effect of the measure—it
was the brewers' own affair ; and the State has in
no wise any concern with it.
"The trade" affirms that forty millions sterling
were spent upon the brewers' houses, which are now
so sadly deteriorating in value. The figure
may be correct ; we have no wish to
doubt it, for we know that a great deal
too much was so spent. It is too true that a vas:
number of houses are under the control of brewer:=,
anq that very many are amongst the most noxious
and objectionable of the class. In them the liquor
traffic is to be found in its worst form
The beerhouse-lceoper, being entirely under
the control of his cuperior, is obliged to
sell whatever stuff may be rent him. Tho publican
divides the profit with the brewer, instead of getting
it all himself, and he therefore adulterates more freely
than his happier brethren. Betweorn the poison that
is originally sent from the brewer, and the additional
poison that is contributed by the seller, the beer of the
brewer's house becomes the most injurious of its
kind. The fact is notorious. That the business is
profitable, and that the original forty millions
have Droved an excellentlinvestment, which the

rraternity have every interest in keeping up, there
can be no doubt; but it is rather too much to have
the privilege of distributing this filth throughout the
land proclaimed as a sacred right, with which there
must be no interference. Nor is the trade only
injurious to the consumer. It is well
known that a regular system of fraud
upon publicans is practised by certain astute
brewers, esp ecially in the metropolis, where the field
for energy of this kind is great. These persons aro
in the habit of forcing up the trade of their houses
to a fictitious point by selling "good" drink at a low
price, and then disposing of the goodwill at a
preposterous figure ,to some unwary victim who
purposes getting a living out of the business. No
sooner are the "good" drink and the low thrill
withdrawn than the bubble bursts, and the worth-
less investment reveals itself. These practices are
not, indeed, universal, but they are far too com-
mon to be undeserving of consideration. Very
likely some of the forty millions has
been well spent in this way. If it has, the public
may rest assured that the outlay has been amply
recompensed. But whether recompensed or not is
no concern to the nation. Legislation is not for the
purpose of benefiting or injuring any special class
of the community, and if any class derives
exceptional profit from a law, it does so at the
risk of changes. The laws are for the people at large.
The good of the people requires that the licensing
system be revised ; and if, in securing this end, a most
iniquitous traffic be stopped, so much the better.

THE cost of the diplomatic service is an instructive
example of the sort of national economy to which we
have been accustomed in this highly-favoured land.
Only the other day we noticed a complaint to
the effect that business amongst ambassadors
and attaches was railing vir,
small States, with their embassies, had
vanished from the list of independent countries, and
that the number of appointments open to aspiring
diplomatists was much diminished. It might be
naturally inferred from such a complaint that the cost
of the service had been proportionately reduced. The
reverse, however, is the case. The vote for the various
embassies in different parts of the world has teen
augmented of late years by over £lO,OOO. It was
£129,955 in 1851, and it is now £140,450. The
money saved in one quarter has been spent in
another. By withdrawing our diplomatists from
Saxony, Hanover, and Frankfort, £lO,OOO a year was
gained; but part of this economy has been lost by a
rise in the Berlin charges from £4,300 to £9,500.
The events iu Italy in 1859 and following
years were a good thing for us, because they led
to the union of the embassies to the Two Sicilies,
Sardinia, and Tuscany into the one embassy to Italy.
This gain has, however , been more than spent in the
liberal increase of salaries all round. The cost of the
establishment at Paris has advanced 23,200 a year since
1851; that at St. Petersburgh, £3,000; that at Con-
stantinople, £950; that at Vienna, £4,050; and so on.
It would be rash to presume that all these
additions were not needed, or that the ad-
vance of salaries had not been earned. But
the increase all round is decidedly unsatisfactory.
Nothing is easier than to send an extra attache to

one place, or au additional secretary to another.
The temptation to patronage on such cheap
terms must be all but irresistible. Some
of the items are palpably unwarranted.
What dealings have we with Persia to need an esta-
bishment costing £7,000 a year ? Mexico is another
instance. This miserable country formerly involved
a diplomatic expenditure of £4,800, but since
JUAREZ has been in power he has happily re-
fused intercourse with our barbarous nation,
and the yearly tax of £4,800 is suspended. But
the British embassy will no doubt commence opera-
tions again, if the Mexican PRESIDENT will be hind
enough to permit it; and it is worth while inquiring
whether the privilege of sending an ambassador to
witness an unequalled number of revolutions and re-
bellions is worth paying so dear for. In the case of
divers other unimportant States, the increase of
diplom'atic expenses has been quite needless. The
original sum was fully as much as they were worth.
To gain in one quarter but to lose in another is very
dispiriting work.

It is rumoured that the Government will, if the
business of the Session permit, take the Real Property
Intestacy Bill out of Mr. Locke King's hands, and adopt it
as a Ministerial measure.

A clotli manufacturer of Guiseley, near Leeds, has
been charged with forging and uttering certain bills of ex-
change. Ile is committed for trial at the next Leeds Assizes,
bail being refused.

Figaro reprints an ordonnance which, it remarks,
M. Hausmann would not like to see applied in his day—
" Shall be flogged, any fellow or inhabitant of Paris who
shall presume to build a nowhouse. (Signed) Louis XV I'
The Record expresses dissatisfaction with many
points of Sir Robert Phillimore's judgment in the Purchas
ritual case, especially as regards vestments; but it
believes the Court of Appeal will reverse the Dean of
Arches' decision.

The Globe states that "sixty clerks are to be dis-
missed from the War Office; and ominous letters have been
sent to the heads of other departments inquiring what is
the lowest number of employes they can continue to go on
with-"
A large tenant-right demonstration took place yester-
day at Letterkenny, county Donegal. About ten thousand
persons were present. The meeting was ad
dressed by several Roman Catholic and Presbyterian
clergyman, and resolutions were passed in favour of
fixity of tenure at fair rents. During the proceedings
the platform gave way, and about two hundred persons
were precipitated to the ground. Many of them sus
tained fractures and contusions, but no one was seriously
injured.

A. very "serious difficulty is reported." between
the Government of Peru and the owners of two British
ships, Messrs. Moran, Golloway, and Co. The captains of
these vessels, the Prince Rupert and Star of Brunswick,
which had been detained for overloading, had been
prosecuted before the Peruvian Judicial Tribunal
for demurrage. The captain of the Star was fined
£3,616, and of the Prince £2,613. An animated diplomatic
correspondence between Earl Clarendon and the Peruvian
Alinister is anticipated.

Mr. H. F. Beaumont last night addressed the
members of the Barnsley Working Men's Liberal Associa-
tion. The hon. gentlemaA briefly reviewed the prin-
cipal measures of last session, and said that he had
expected the Irish Church Bill would have done more
towards the pacification of Ireland than it seemed to
have done. With regard to the future, he had great
•onfidence that the Government would be able to deal

with the Irish land question. He expresses his approval of
Mr. Leathara's bill for the adoption of the ballot, and was
sanguine of its success during the coming session. Mr.
Beaumont also referred with satisfaction to the reforms
effected in the army and navy, and spoke strongly In favour
4,ff an effort being made to reduce the national debt.

A general opinion prevails in Waterford that the
Government will act on the Rs•port of Baron llnghas, who
tried the petition against the return of Sir 11. W. Barron, and
issue a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the corruption
which was disclosed es having existed amongst the freemen
electors of the city.

Colonel Akroyd, M.P., in reply to a deputation
fro:n the Halifax blanch of the License Amendment
League, which waited upon him yesterday, expressed him-
self opposed to total prohibition of the liquor truffle, but
favourable to a considerable amendment of the law with
regard t) i t.

About eighty casks of oil, in petroleum casks,
have been picked np along the coast between Fowey har-
bour, Cornwall, and Charlestown. It is stated that
s3veral dead bodies have been seen floating some dis-
tance from the shore. The casks are in good condition.
and have apparently be n in the water but a very short
Una.

The L.,ncet states with " much satisfaction" that
the Admiralty have ft rwarded a formal and final offer tt
the Seamen's Hospital Society; that the sick sailors of the
mercantile marine will, Leforo many months are over, lit
housed in the infrtnary of Greenwich Hospital ; and that,
in consequAice, the Dreadnought will soon be numbered
among institutions of the past.

The inquiry touching the loss of the ship Kenil-
worth concluded at Liverpool yesterday. The captain in bi,
statement attributed the loss of the ship to the errors in
the chronometers. The court, however, was of opinion
&hat ho had not exercised sufficient caution in bringing hip
ship up Channel, and directed that Lie certificate should be
suspendod for six calendar mouths.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, 1870.

711 E OBSEQUIES OF MR. PEABODY.

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (Evening).
Prince Arthur will attend the final obsequies of
Peabody.
Ihe Secretary of the Navy has sent a letter to
Captain Commerell, congratulating and thanking
him for the faithful discharge of the duty of con-
veying Mr. Peabody's remains to America. The
Secretary expresses regret that the arrival of the
Monarch five days earlier than she was expected
had prevented the assembling of a larger fleet for
her reception.

THE RICH MAN'S BURIAL.

We come to the churchyard slowly,
For the rich man has passed away ;
And the words that bury the lowly
Must be over him read to-day.
And hushed is the voice of revel,
For the music end mirth are done,
And we come to the greensward level,
Where beggar and prince are one.

He moved amidst pomp and splendour,
His ccffers had wealth untold,
But "dust to dust" we render,
And nought we say of his gold.
For Death will not pause or tarry
While the rich man gathers his store,
Too heavy a load to carry,
The boundary passing o'er.

There is silence in place of laughter,
There is space whore his train should bow;
And his guests must join him hereafter,
But they shrink from his dwelling now.
There were suppliants round him daily;
But a long farewell they bid,
For the gold that glimmers so gaily
Shines not through the coffin lid.
He claims but a six.-foot measure
For all that he called his own ;
He bath said goodbye to his treasure,
And gone on his way alone.
Nay, wo are vainly guessing,
He carries wealth to the grave ;
He bath taken the poor man's blessing,
He bath taken all that ho gave.

Freely be spent his treasure,
Unfettered by creed or clan,
For as God had given full measure,
He gave to his brother man.

There were dwellings where vice held revel,
And the poor waged a deadly fight,
With all that could tempt to evil,
With all that could turn from right.

Where the light and the air of heaven
Were choked from their sight and breath,
And the water so scantily givon,
Hold lurking disease and death ;

Where the lessons of school and teacher
Were lost mid the oaths around,
And the voice of the earnest preacher
Seemed but a mocking sound;

For the heart and the hand were weary
Of the ceaseless struggle with siu,
And dreariness grew more dreary
Mid squalor, and blows, and gin.
And the sick must pine and wither,
And youth wear vice's brand ;
Then the rich man we mourn went thither
And gave with no spring hand;

Till through the thronging city
The noble buildings rose,
Showing a stranger's pity
For England's wants and woes.

Then the ties of home grew stronger,
And the skies shone forth above,
And the poor man was poor no longer,
With purity, health, and love.
And many a spire and college
In his own native land,
Temples of Faith and Knowledge,
Bear witness to his hand.

Whero lingered vengeful feeling,
Where kindred blood had poured.
Ile came with gifts of healing
More potent than the sword.
His hand hath linked two nations,
His gold hath bridged the wave,
And coming generations
Shall guard the gifts he gave.
So though we bear him sighing
Forth from the cheerful sun,
And leave him lowly lying
With all his good work done,
No gloom has that reposing,
Nor bitter are our tears,
His story fitly closing
I❑ honour, love, and years.
Vainly, Life's eager toiler
Clings to his gems and gold,
When Death, the mighty spoiler,
Draws near to loose his hold.

But at the mystic river
Earth claims the miser's hoard.
Heaven's blessing waits the giver
tiV ho lendeth to the Lord.

F. Y.

TRANSFER OF THE TELEGRAPHIC LINES
TO THE GOVERNMENT.

A ceremony, not in itself perhaps very imposing,
but nevertheless one in which the public have con-
siderable interest, was performed at the General
Post-office last night. The transfer of the tele-
graphic lines to the control of the Post-office was
made an occasion for the inspection of the " Metro-
politan Corpsof Telegraphic Messenger Boys," and a
large number of officials connected with the Postal
and Telegraphic Departments, accompanied by their
friend; assembled to witness it. As Mr. Scuda-
more, who presided on the occasion, remarked, the
public are closely concerned in the character and
conduct of the boys who have to carry telegrams to
their final destination. It is of little aval that a
message should travel at lightning speed from one
end of Great Britain to the other if the messenger
charged with delivering it to the person addresAd
dawdles over his work, and as the messenger is
usually very young this accident is by no
means uncommon—more time is frequently wasted
over the last 100 yards than over the first
100 miles. The Post-office authorities have, there-
fore, very wisely taken in hand the boys used as
messengers by the various telegraph companies,
and have organised them into a corps, drilled
and disciplined after the model of the Volun-
teers. Colonel Taylor, of the 49th Middle-
sex Volunteers—the Post-office corps—has under-
taken the task, and though he has only been
at it a fortnight, his juvenile regiment already pre-
sents a very respectable appearance, and last night
marched into the hall of assembly, and went
through the few movements necessary to get them
into proper position with credible precision. They
number about 600, and are between the ages of
13 and 15. They have been given a uniform
similar to that worn by the letter-carriers of the
Post-office, and every effort will be made by sing-
ling out for special reward and promotion those of
them who behave well, and who have become too
old for their present duties, to connect them per-
manently with the department, and infuse into
their ranks an esprit de corps. At least, this hope
was held out to them by Mr. Scudamore in a few
practical remarks thoroughly to the point, which
tkiey loudly cheered. Colonel Taylor ad.
dressed them to the same effect, and the
guests, who had already taken refreshment upstairs,
were then asked to withdraw, in order that the
boys might fall to work undisturbed at the supper
kindly provided for them by Mr. Scudamore.
Among the guests were many ladies employed
hitherto by the telegraph companies, but whose
services have now been transferred to the Post-
office. We believe the arrangements necessary for
the new system are already on a very satisfactory
footing, but it will probably take some little time to
get them into smooth working order. The public
will have good reason to congratulate itself if all
the arrangements are as judicious as that made t
.score an (flici,n.t, well-urganisA corps of Tele-
Altssenger Boys.

The very extensive Distillery now beiog erecttd
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufacture of
[rich whisky, by 3lessis. DUN VILLE & Co., who have gained
A, world-wide celebrity for their line old Irish whisky, is to be
called The Royal Irish Distillery."

LEIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Morning. Evening.
SATURDAY 8 min past 5 23 min past 5
SUNDAY 40 min past 5 56 min past 5
*IONDAY 10 min past 6 30 min past 6

TUESDAY. 5O min past t A ruin 'past 7

TOWN TALK.

WEDNESDAY 3O min past 7......54 min past 7
.......... 32 miu past 8 0 min past 9
FRIDAY B5 miu past 9 .10 min past 10

(From the Western Mail of this Morning.)
LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING.

As the Parliamentary Session is now close at
hand, the political forces are fast mustering for the
encounter. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli—hav-
ing both been invalided during the long vacation,
the latter suffering for a while from gout, the for-
mer from the profouud physical exhaustion caused
by the wear and tear of labour unusually hard even
for him—are sufficiently renovating in health to
confront each other on the green benches to the
right and left of Mr. Speaker. It is noticeable that.,
whatever changes of importance have taken place
among the leading members of the Lords and Coin-
mons, the chiefs of either party are unremoved,
and, for the time being, it would almost seem, un-
removable. As securely as the Prime Minister
holds his own in the Commons, the member for
Bucks retains his place undisputedly as leader there
of her Majesty's Opposition. While in the House
of Peels, Lcrd Cairns, still as a matter of course
(for it would be gratuitously ungracious to say as
a matter of necessity), heads the great Conserva-
tive party, just as Lord Granville, equally as a
matter of course, heads the ranks of the Whig
Radical Ministerialists. From the Government
bench in the Commons there will now be missed
the shock of grey hair and the bushy grey beard
of the " Member for Nineveh," now relegated
as, in every sense, Ambassador Extraordinary to
the all but vice-regal court of the Spanish Regent
Serrano. From the front Opposition bench, in
the same house, there will be missed, on the other
hand, the familiar John-Bullish features of the
Earl of Derby of to-day, the Lord Stanley of yes-
terday. As a substitute for the latter in his capacity,
now for some time past, of Mr. Disraeli's first lieu-
tenant, there is—no one Whereas, in lieu of Mr.
Layard's half-sullen, half-defiant countenance, the
of CULLIIIIVLIZ will lac abc
gratification of recognising the truculent smirk of
the " Constitutional-Radical" member, as he calls
himself, for the Tower Hamlets, recently promoted
from the post of Secretary at the Treasury to that
of the Chief Commissioner of—which is it ?
Public Works-, Woods, and Forests, or Parks and
Palaces.

Whichever of those titles may appertain the must
strictly by right to Mr. Ayrton, certain it is that in
dealing with the latter—that is, with the parks and
palaces—the member for the Tower Hamlets is
already contriving the most conspicuously to sig-
nalise his singular unfitness for the place allotted
to him. Ilis laconic acknowledgment of the M-
I quiry addressed to him by one of his constituents
as to whether it was his intention or not to
discontinue the cultivation of flowers in the parks,
beginning with the east-end park of Victoria,
was worthy of Mr. Lowe. It was as offerhively
reticent as any oracular utterance ever vouch-
safed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to any
one waiting upon him in deputation. The noto-
rious ignorance, moreover, of Mr. Ayrtoa in regard
to all matters of art renders it peculiarly unfortu-
nate that to him, by preference, should have been
allotted, just at this precise moment, the post of
the Chief Commissionership. For there can be no
doubt about it that we are exactly at a turning
point iu the history of the metropolis. Take, in
illustration of my meaning, the actual state of that
noblest of all our metropolitan improvements—the
Thames Embankment. An lE.lile worthy of his
place, and gifted with the artistic taste befitting
that office, might so avail himself of that superb
iit; as to transform London from the ugliest into
one of the most splendid cities in Christendom.
Granite pedestals are there already, placed at inter-
vals all along the whole of that grand esplanade.
Decorate those pedestals with appropriate groups
of sculpture—commemorate there in memorial sta-
tues of marble and bronze the great men, or, at any
rate, the pick of the greatest men adorning the his-
tory of the Three Kingdoms, and that superb and
imperial promenade would at once become one of
the most magnificent spectacles anywhere to be
found among the European capitals. Border
the roadway with trees, while thus adorning
it with masterpieces produced by the sculp-
tor's chisel and mallet, and, there, upon the
banks of the Thames—a noble river co.npared with
which the Spree, and even the Seine, dwindle to
insignificance—one might see our rn.:t7opolis cow-
petieg for beauty and splendour with Berlin, the
city of satu. s, and with Paris, the city of boule-
vards. As it is, think of Mr. Ayrton being our
littu.-stuann, and despair ! Thanks to a long series
of utterly incompLteut Chief Commissioners, the
statuary of the London squares and streets has
passed into a proverb of absurdity and hideousness.
The " intelligent foreigner" one so often bears of,
if he goes anywhere when he comes to London, for
a dead certainty goes to Leicester-square, than
which there is not a greater disgrace anywhere to
be found in this largest and wealthiest city in the
whole world. The long-ruined equestrian statue
in the centre of it is at the present moment in a
more flagrant state of dilapidation than ever. The
broken figure of the King has very iceently, by
some practical joker, been lifted from the saddle
during the night time, and deposited at the base
of the whole scarecrow monument—leaving the
pole-propped horse with a hole in its back, and
altogether a more ridiculous object than it
was rendered a year or two ago, when some
other humourist painted it all over with
red spots like the common hobby-horse on wheels
so:d in the toy shops. Imagine, for one
moment, any exhibition like this being tolerated for
years in one of the public places in the French
capital. Yet Queen, Lords, and Commons see In
quite powerless to sweep out of sight this ludicrous
abomination from the very heart and centre of the
great metropolis.

Even our costliest memorials somehow contrive
to get botched by an oversight—and this after the
most deliberate consideration and most lavish ex-
penditure. There is the Albert Memorial, for ex-
ample, now rapidly approaching its completion in
Hyde Park—a sumptuous work, that will have
cost in the end, at the very least, a million of
money. Yet already, now that the poles of the
scaffolding are being removed from the summit of
it--now that one can see the beautiful proportions
and designs of the golden cross by which the whole
is surmounted, as well as the clustered statues im-
mediately below the cross, each of them also of
shining gold—lo ! and behold the entire structure,
huge though it really is in itself, is dwarfed to com-
parative insignificance by the monstrous building
simultaneously in course of erection immediately
opposite it—that future shibboleth of Cock-
neydona —" Halbert 'All," as it is pretty cer-
tain to be designated by the majority of isi-
tors coming to it from the east of Temple
Bar. This same Albert Hall, by the way, after
looking in the earlier part of its growth, like a
gigantic gasometer, has of late assumed to itself
very much of the appearance of Miss Havish im's
bridal cake (upon a stupendous scale), worm-eaten
and blackened by age, just as it was so long known
to Pip and to the readers of " Great Expectations."

A kindred spectacle of desolation close by is
carrying disfigurement ruthlessly through a consi-
derable part of Hyde-park and Kensington-gardens.
Here, however, the design is unquestionably a great
metropolitan improvement—meaning the thorough
cleansing, at last, of that weedy and pestilential
bathing-place of the West-end, the lake-like cur-
rent of the Serpentine. The process of cleansing it
appears to involve au elabonite displ ty of engineer-
ing reminding one of the earthworks before Sebas-
topol, with railroads!, and spindling wood ~11 bridges,
and bal:ast tr,4ins running to and fro, as though
the work undertaken wor,3 redly one of au impe-
rial char:lett:l%

As for the other pieces of water scattered about
the metropolis, such as the Ornamental Water in
St. James's-park, the Round Pond near Kensing-
ton Palace, and the lake in Regent's-park, there is
an end this season to the short-lived delights of
skating, the weather here has so completely
broken. What with the alternation so very rapidly
of frost and thaw during the last few weeks, the
brittle, friable, rotting, crumbling stone with which,
by a most unhappy mischance, the elaborately orca
mented structure of the new Houses of Parliament
has been built, has given deplorable evidence again

that it is, in truth, only too rapidly perishing.
Lumps of the carving are perpetually dropping
about, not unfrequently to the endangerment of
life to the passers-by, and in one instance recently
to the imminent peril of one of the officials resident
in the palace of the Legislature.
If the outside of the Rouses of Parliament is
wasting away under the mere effects of wind and
rain, and heat and cold, the inside is being more and
more richly decorated. Oddly enough, at a time
when it is scarcely ever used, even for the few mi-
nutes set apart annually for a court ceremonial, the
canopy, hangings, and " furniture" generally of the
throne, have, wi.hi❑ a recent interval, been gor-
geously renovated and newly embroidered—to no
purpose apparently, as it happens, seeing that her
Majesty has intimated the impossibility of her
opening Parliament again this year in person.
So that those ridiculous-looking functionaries, the
Lords Commissioners, will once more have to
sit in a row huddled up i❑ their robes of office,
each of them wearing his cocked hat, there to await
the helter-skelter rush to the bar (like so many
over-grown schoolboys) of the honourable the mem-
bers of the House of Commons, meaning just a few
of them, hustling in their midst Mr. Speaker au d
the Sergeant-at-Arms—there to listen to the Royal
Speech intoned by the Lord Chancellor. Even
when the Queen went there last the Royal robes
were on the throne, not on the Sovereign. Yet,
though unworn for years, those insignia are:still of
importance, it would seem, in the eyes of her
Majesty. In consequence of the Duchess of Argyll's
recent seizure with paralysis; her Grace has been
constrained to tender her resignation as Mistress of
the Robes, being succeeded in that court office of
high dignity by her sister-in-law, the Duchess of
Sutherland. Until this nomination was announced
in the London Gazette, many half expected the post
might have been allotted to the Lady Constance
Grosvenor of old, now Marchioness of Westminster.
In rarliamentary circles the talk is still as to the
contest for precedence of the two great Government
measures now eagerly looked forward to in the com-
ing session—the Prime Minister's Irish Land
Bill, or Mr. W. E. Forster's Bill for the further.
ance of the cause of National Education. Either
of them would, in one sense, be work enough for
a session ; but both of them will have to be in-
troduced. The only doubt is as to which of these
two cumbrous and heavily laden legislative omni-
buses Hill contrive to slip in first through the
needle's eye or the Temple-bar, whichever you may
like to call it, of the Legislature at Westminster.
The over-economies upon which several of our pre-
sent administrators have adventured, especially
Mr. Childers and Mr. Cardwell, under the advice of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; the forestalling
the national income, a process as painful in the way
of drawing blood as paring John Bull's nails down
to the very quick ; but, above all, the arrogant
colonial policy inaugurated by aid. Granville—are
the weak points, the chinks iu the armour, at which
the deadliest blows of the Opposition will certainly
Le directed in their attack upon Mr. Gladstone's
strong Government. The vulnerable place, the
Achilles' heel of that powerful Government, is
certainly its most mistaken policy in regard to
the colonies.

There are distinct indications in the art world of
the approach of spring time. The private view of
the general exhibition of water-colour deawin,s,
for example, took place to=day iu the Dudley Gal-
lery, at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly; while to-
morrow week the private view will be held, at the
gallery in Conduit-street (No. 9), of the Society of
Female Artists, the press being admitted to the
latter exhibition on the previous day, namely, this
day week.

Let me direct your attention to a charming
paper on Miss Mitford, contributed by the author
of " Mary Powell " to the new number of Mac-
millan. It is especially worthy of note ; also, that
a fourth edition (revised) has just now come into
my hands of one of the most delightful collections of
essays and sketches of late years contributed to our
popular literature, meaning the "Every Day Papers"
(reprinted from All the Year Round) by Andrew Hal-
ii lay. They are so fresh, so sparkling, and so un-
studied, that no reader of them can wonder they are
running, thus, througheditiou after edition. Anyone
in scare.' of fun, " pure and simple," cannot possi-
bly do better than turn at once to the inerii,st
book " out" since Doyle's " Brown, Jones, and
Robinson"—naniely, to the splendid quarto volume
very recently published by the Messrs. Moxon and
Co., descriptive of the adventures of three English-
men at Paris—the drollery, here, being the joint
product of Mr. Moyr Smith and of Captain Bert-
rand Payne, the latter being the recognised head
of the great publishing house of Dover street, Pic-
cadilly.

One of the most remarkable political pamphlets
of modern times I have just received a "proof" of,
before publication. It is by Mr. Dudley Baxter,
and is entitled ".English Parties and Conser-
vatistn." Sub-divided into nine chapters, it ex-
tends to 76 octavo pages. It contains not only a
most lucid exposition of the past in regard to the
Tories, the Whigs, the Conservatives, and the
Radicals, but enforces very hopefully the need there
is now of developing and carrying out a compre-
hensive scheme of Progressive Conservatism.

THE NEW MOSAICS AT WESTMINSTER.

The figures designed by Mr. Poynter, A.R.A.,
and reproduced iu mosaic at Venice, are now fixed
in their place in the Central Hall of the Houses of
Parliament, and last evening the hall was lit up in
order that the effect of the new decorations might
be tested. Some persons will, no doubt, regret that
the stonework of the Hall has been touched at all,
and would have preferred the grained roof, the carv-
ing, and the clustered pillars in their original sim-
plicity. But those persons who thought that the
Hall was Cold and bare and wanted the warmth
that colour gives may rejoice, for at night the
enamelled panels overhead are nothing short of
dazzling. First in importance is the picture occu-
pying the vacant space over the entrance to the
Lords' lobby. This was shortly described some
days ago, but the tessera had not then been cemented
to the wall, and the picture could not be seen from
the floor. It is now visible enough, and the dull
glaze of the mosaic work does not prevent the sight
of it from most points of the hall. St. George is
the central figure, and in placueoefntwhheiechon;fer.nptioo.),nna-1
and somewhat vulgar dragon,eale figures representing p
ter has not ventured, female
4, Fortitude" and "Purity" stand on either side and
inspire our patron saint. Notwithstanding the ele-
vation, the proportions of the three figures are well
preserved, and Signor Salviati's workers at Venice
have faithfully reproduced a very noble composi-
tion. The base of the picture is formed of panels,
on which the rose and the lion are conspicuous,
and on the middle of which is the legend " St.
George for England !" The picture is on a gold
ground, but is sufficiently toned down by the
figures and their accessories. Not so the base,
which, from some points of view, refidcts the light
isf the gaselier so strongly on its surface of gold
enamel that there seems to be a row of foot-lights
directly in front of it. The illusion is com-
plete, and the roof, when seen by any one stand-
ing immediately below the gaselier, is equally
glittering. It used to be dark and gloomy ; now
each polished surface of the mosaic-work refleetb
the light, though not so as to obscure the archi-
tectural devices which fill the panels. Then
are over 14,000 square feet of these enain,2l
mosaic decorations in the roof, an..l 200 „pt. e fee‘
in the picture ; though that may seem a lanu
surveyor's mode of measuring artistic work. Two
uteri s which the material possess s are its pore:
of resisting the efl',!cts of cliniate, and the ease.
will which it, may be cleaned. If, two or thre,
hundred years hence, the nio,,aic3 are washed with
a little acid their many colours will shine forth a:
brilliantly as ever ; and it is doubtful whether a:
that time a vestige will be left of the beautifu
frescoes bene:lth, which have cast so much !about
and money. When the companion saints, St. An
drew, St. Patrick, and St. David till the vacan.
spaces assigned to them, the Central Hall
satisfy to repletion those who think that in ow
gloomy climate art should supply what it can 01
light and warmth to our interiors. Already thi.
favourite portion of the Houses of Parliamen!
has been transformed, and overhead is a blaze oh
colour.