The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-16 00:00:00

•
IRE -SON, A)NDON,, FlittliA.V, DECEMBER 16, 1.87 G.

METROPOLITAN GOSSIP,-TH URSDAY.

There is a fresh " question " every week now. Russia,
the Alabama claims, and Luxemburg—these are stirring
times. We now learn that another treaty is to be. set
aside. It would, perhaps, be premature to pronoUnce
very definitely on this Luxemburg affair until the real
nature of the case is fully known; but of this there can
unfortunately, be very little doubt. Yet various
stories find credit. It is said that the transfer of Luxem-
burg is being negotiated with the approval of the French
Ministry as a substitute for part of Lorraine. This is
very improbable. Secondly, it is affirmed, with greater•
appearance -of truth, that the English Government,
without any concert with Vrance, is ~ trying
to induce Prussia to accept: . the little duchy
instead of Metz. I have reasons for stating, almost with
certainty, that such is not the case. The remaining theory
is that Prussia means to have the Duchy because she would
like it, and is therefore , preparing to deaf with. the treaty
of 1867 as she is accustomed to deal with other
treaties. A miserable pretext has been got up, and step
by step (very large steps) the annexation Will .be consum-
mated.

The breach of faith involved in this phase of the
transaction is much more flagrant than that which.
Russia is accused of committing. The neutrality of the
Black Sea is a humiliation to Russia. Its abolition.would
not affect the material rights of any other State. It is
indeed agreed On all hands that the time has come for
reconsidering the Treaty of Paris, and that the offence
of the Czar in his claim to repudiate a treaty of his
own will. But the neutrality of Luxemburg is no
humiliation to Prussia, for she never possessed the little
territory. In claiming it she sets aside the Powers
that signed the treaty. She insults France by availing
herself of the helplessness of that State to break
a bargain which has nothing to do with the present war.
And she does injury to the unfortunate Luxembuigers,
who would like to be annexed to France .any day, but hate
Prussia, and would almost sooner own allegiance to the
Celestial Empire. Strange that these " German popula-
tions " should think so lightly of the Fatherland !.

What may we expect from these proceedings ? What
will be the upshot of a condition of public Morality which
resembles that of the 9th century rather than what we
ought to expect in the 19th? I see a laughable
paragraph in a foreign ' paper, which seems
to shew that the example of the two great Powers will
not be lost. It is hinted that Turkey will soon
seek to withdraw some of the privileges granted to Chris-
tian subjects on the principle that the age of treaties is
passed ! Why are we not a South American Republic ?
In that happy western region nobody makes any profes-
sions, and therefore nobody is deceived.
The policy of the Government in the Black Sea qnes--
tion must be guided in great measure by the attitude of
the Turkish Government. The news, before hinted at, now
comes in a sort of semi-official form from Constantinople,
to the effect that Turkey cares nothing at all about the
neutrality of the Black Sea. There seems no doubt of
this fact. Aali Pasha and General Ignatieff have come to
the conclusion that there is nothing to quarrel about. The
Porte in fact sees that it must henceforth rely
upon its own resources, and it is therefore careful not to
offend Russian susceptibilities by keeping up a humilia-
ting condition. Moreover, Turkey now posseses fifteen
ironclads, well armed, well equipecl, and under the com-
mand of an Englishman— altogether a force which it will
require some exertion on the part of Russia to outstrip,
mid very
,different from. the miserable armament that
perished at Sinope.
I heard some rumours early in the week about a split in

the Cabinet, which might result in the retirement of Mr.
Childers at least,, if not of another Minister. lam bound
to say that it was a Conservative M.P. who attached
importance to this bit of club gossip ; but there is just
one element of truth in it—the deliberations of the
Cabinet have been- less smooth and unanimous since
domestic affairs ceased to occupy its attention. The
Irish Church Bill, the Land Bill, and even the Education
Bill, presented no difficulty of any moment ; but the:e
foreign affairs raise questions which seriously threaten
the unity of the Administration. It is far from being
the case that all the Ministers rely solely upon "moral
influence " as the only instrument to be employed in
deciding qu,!,tions beyond our own shores. Itowever we
have, it must be confessed, seen few outward and visible
signs of the influence of the war. party. Little
preparation seems to be making ag,ainpt any eventuality.
Something was done in that way when the first Russian
circular came, but they appear to have dropped off.
If the Cabinet does not contain within itself the causes
of its own disruption, the Opposition will not fail to
try to supply the deficiency. That they would do so is
an obvious conclusion that every body might
have formed for himself, and I know as a

fact that they meditate a serious attack. Such a
chance has never presented itself since that gloomy
day when the three resolutions, brought up in the nick of
time, settled both the Irish Church and the hopes of the
Conservative party. Whilst everything looked dark and
unpromising fur next session nothing but Mines
Regulation, Bills, &c. these foreign complications
have arisen, and afforded an opportunity for
the display of the traditional Conservative policy.
Provided the Luxemburg question develops into
something serious, the party may have a double oppor-
tunity. It can attack the Government for not making
war on the round that England is being trampled upon;
and it can attack if war is made on the ground that the
army has been culpably neglected—it being taken for
granted that the military forces are in a most unprepared
state.

The Opposition can have no serious design of. getting
into power by these means. It is not desirous: of ilnme7
diate office. Government with a minority of 70 was dis-
couraging enough. GOvernment with a minority of over a
hundred would be heartrending. Moreover, the party
has not yet settled down, nor filially installed
a man as the heir apparent to the Premier-
ship, since it seems universally agreed. that the
late Premier cannot reign again. Yet a suc-
cessful attack on the enemy is always of use. It dis-
credits the foe, and it encourages friends; and the friendsoi
the Conservative cause greatly need encouragement at
present. But the game of the Opposition is again.
tially a waiting one. The party . has but one
chance, and that to wait for the time when
the,rise of democratic principles will drive a good many
aristocratic Whigs and very mild Liberals into the oppo-
site camp, and so once more equalise the battle. Such a
reinforcement ought not to be much longer delayed. Mk I
Conservative friend who has put his faith in the rumours
of a Cabinet dissension, expresses his warair hope that the
Red. Cap may be speedily donned in England. A develop-
went of extreme principles would infallibly give the
Conservatives that help which they look for vainly now.
Your readers will probably have noticed a paragraph in
the papers announcing the death of the Guild of Litera
ture and Art. The history of this institution is far from
reassuring to those lovers of literature whose admiration
of 'good writers, disposes them to make charitable provi-
sion for the maintenance of indifferent ones. The Guild
was not the first attempt to provide'for decayed authors ;
there was a Royal Literary Fund, which in 1850, excited
the wrath of the late Mr. Dickens, who, accordingly, re-
solved to found the Guild.. The Guild was formed, and
I great efforts were expended in promoting its interests.
Mr. Dickens made speeches, so did Lord Lytton ; one
author wrote a play expressly for the Guild, others acted
it ; and the Queen and a great many other people went
to see them act it. A , large sum, was raised, and
was employed to build a retreat at Stevenage, in. Sumer-
setshire, on land given by. Lord Lytt,m, and near the
sidence of th at nobleman. Everything was made ready;
the houses were good ; and nothing remained but to get
authors properly decayed to come and live in them.
But this essential condition to the success of the Guild was
never fulfilled. No author could be found' ufficiently de--
eayed and helpless to live in these almshouses. Authors
are too touchy a race to endure such a badge of serfdom ;
they would as readily have worn a uniform like commis-.
siouaires or dhoeblucks. The houses upon which so much
labour has been expended have never been occupied. And
60 at length it is found needful to confess the defeat;
rarlianiemtt Will be asked next session to colt-
sent to time sale of the property, and the appro-
priation of the money in, another way. Clearly, it
anything ever is to be done in this direction it must be in
the silent, secret way.
A man has been sent to prison for twelve months for
forging an order for admission to Drury Lane Theatre.
He committed the offence, not from an overmastering
desire to see Amy Bobsart, but from the less worthy
motive of wishing to secure five shillingS through the sale
of the forged order. This kind of fraud is probably not
very common. The risk and difficulty are too great " to
pay " ; moreover this man had an old order which he
altered, and the supply of unused admisions i;aunot tie

large. The great difficulty for managers is not to protect
themselves from the public, but from their own servants.
Everybody is aware of: • the frequent 'existence of
those combinations between money-taker and check-!
taker which no ingenuity has succeeded in
baffling. Very common likewise :is the practice of the:
pass-out check-taker doing a little business on his own
account. This individual is able to act without assistance. ',
His business is to give tickets for readmission to -visitors'
who wish to leave the-house during the intervals, and he
is thus enabled to pass in personS who have not previously
been in the theatre on the receipt of a gratnity. I have
noticed a check-taker thus deal with three Or four
"gentlemen" who haVe beeh aware of his proclivities.
No, precise contradiction seems to have been, given to
the report that General D'Aurelle de Paladine, is none
other than the Ducde Nemours. I seethe. Globe is disposed
to Hove that the Qrleanist Prince: has really taken the
-field in disguise. It shows that the name of the brigadier
who served, in the Crimea,„ is • not precisely that
assigned to the late commander of the Loire
ariny,; ;so that the .two may 'be different persons.
Moreover it is to be noticed that D'Aufelle de
Paladinc, whoever he -may be, disappeared suddenly
after the recapthre of Orleans and' nobody seems to have
since seen him, or to know what. has beconie of him. on
the 7th, hoWever, the Due do Nemours is announced to
have visited. the Queen, and nobody had heard anything
Of-the Duke for some time preViouly. In short, the Due
de Nemours disappeared whilst D'Aurelle was at the head
of the Loire 'army, and the late commander has
disappeared now that the OrNanist Prince is
heard of again. These are ISingulail facts,
against which :to be. set the: improbability .of
Gambetta, etnploying an Orlcanist prince, who might have
become the saviour of ..his_ country, And, the unlikelihood
of the Dud de Nonionrs. holding such a command SP tong
without somebody.rceog' nising him. Moreover, what has
become of the Crimean brigadiei.lAurelles or Aurelles,
who has always been credited with the leadership of the
French troops ? The Due de Nemours has ,oftendistin-

guished himself in the field. He is the second son of Louis
Philippe, and a man of considerahle.talent and of ,great
virtue.

Some facts have come to my knowledge which may serve
to exemplify the means employed by tho Emperor Napo-
leon to obtain information.• At the great Paris show of
1867 an inventor,who was exhibiting a discovery of general
utility, had in his employ .a young Pole.. This man in-
formed his fellow-workmen that he was one of five
confederates who had agreed to shoot the Emperor
of Russia , whilst he was in Paris. This cool an-
nouncement , came to the ears of the, inventor,
who forthwith communicated , with the police. He
did not receive much attention.. The astute agents said
that statements respecting nefarious plots were often
reaching them, but that. they „invariably proved to be
groundless. Everybody will remember the event .that
happened. • Two or three days afterwards the' Czar
was fired at, and the police then remembered Joseph.
The inventor was requested to attend at the Tuileries,
where ,he had a long interview with the Emperor. He
was summoned to the linperial presence on,- several occa-
sions, and Napoleon was so much pleased with the
tact and ability displayed. by-his. visitor that he proposed
to him to 'travel. through , South Germany for
the purpose of ascertaining the state of feeling
there on the gread questiOu of union with
Prussia whether: Eismaield.sin had made any
progress in the Southern -States, and - whether the
latter would be likely -- -to • join Prussia in case
of a war. Napoleon:'.suggekted • that by ad-
vertising • his -invention extensively he would be. brought
into contact with the editors Of newspapers, of Whick•eir-
crunstance he could take advantage to gain information.
All expenSes of ' travelling) and advertising were to
he -paid by the 'French Government, whilst the
envoy' would -reap whatever benefit might accrue
from the sale of his invention. • The terms
were accepted, and reports'were from time to time for-
warded to the Tuileries. Up to the present moment the
inventor, whNe labours in South Germany have termi-
nated from more than one reason, continues in confidential
terms with King William's illustrious "guest." It is to
be hoped that the emissary's services were worth
the price paid fur theM. It is obvious; however, that if
he sent trustworthy information, it was not acted upon,
for the'Emperor says himself that he • Made war in •the
hope that the Southern States would not join.
Prussia. No- doubt a ,great deal of dissatisfaction with
Prussia existed in Bavaria and Warterabf•rg, and the
advertising inventor may have faithfUlly recorded what he'
saw ; but when German soil was !menaced all minor dif-
ferences disappeared.

A few weeks ago I spoke of the arrival in town of M.
Yvon, the eminent Parisian artist, who painted . the
storming of the Malakoff, which was so much admired in.
the last Paris exhibition. He has been remarkably: suc
cessful since in London, and has had the honour of
visiting the Orleanist family. Mr. -Hall, 'of
the Art Journal, has purchased some of his
pictures. Another refugee. is Dr. Le Gouest,
the medical ' attendant of Marshal McMahon.
He was at Sedan, and with the rest of his compatriots
saw some hard fighting. - Unfortunately he Was in
health, and froM that cause came over to England.
In literature Christmas books' of all kinds form the
staple. There is very little of any other kind announced,
but an immense variety in this department, Amongst,
the many excellent illustrated books I have seen, I may.,
particularly recommend : " The Coa'st-of Norway from,
Christiana to flanniaerfest," by Mr. Elijah Walton,---twelve
beautiful views ; " Riviera, ske%ches from Cannes to
Genoa," by Dean Stanley ; and " Mountains :and Lakes
of Switzerland" sixty-four fine little prints . after
drawings by Mr. C. Pyne. Messrs. ,Cassell publish a.
collection of 250 drawings by , Dort% selected from the
various works of that artist. These-are merely a few
specimens amongst many. Messrs. Bell and
Daldy .have a collection of -.engravings after
Landseer; and a Raffaele Gallery. Macmillan
has a list 'of Williiam MOre's Ridiculi, 'by Mr: Rogers,..
is the chief: Mr. Murray; illustrates Mr. Whymper's
"Scrambles amongst the Allis," noticeable specially for'
fine views of the Matterhorn: Messrs. Cassell have besides
Dore's collection, a masterpfece called " PiCtUres of 'Eng-
lishLiterature," illustrating tWenty scenes from Chaucer
to Tenriykain. The list is endlesS, and too
long to follow further. In general literature
Sir E. creasy's second volume of his history reaches
from Edward I. (1307) to the accession of the Tudor
House (1485)—only, one king behind Fronde. Thus, with
Freeman's Norman Conquest and , Macaulay, the range
of first-class histories extends over well nigh the whole

period.
A capital German history. of the war is being published
in monthly parts at Berlin. It is by Dr. -Ilernoann

Fechner. •
The Premier took a little holiday 'yesterday, on. the
occasion of his niece's marriage. He looked very well,
"quite jaunty," says one observer.

ANONYMOUS BENEvOT,F,N F..- b AN] the lastth.
few days the following donations have been received by
the charities named :—The National Hospital for the
Paralysed and Epileptic £l,OOO from 'W. X. -" the
Royal Westminster Ophthalmici Hospital, 1;1,000,, from
"W.R.T. ;" and the Royal Hospital for Incurables,
£5OO from "IL"

IMPIIOVED TELEGRAPHIC INTESSAC4; FoitmS.-L—The
authorities of the Post -Offiee haVe introduced a novelty in
telegraphy,which at presentigknown only ton very limited
extent, but which will, doubtless;. before long come • into
general use. lndeed, the novelty, has hardly as yet gone
beyond the region of • experiment. Its nature is
the issue of interleaved books" of stamped message
forms, with, in smile instances, -the naive of the sender
printed on each forth; And in others, where it has been re
in -
quired, and where a person or firth is the habit of sending
numerous messages to the same addresses, the names
,of
both sender and Addressee. - It does net require much.
shrewdness to see that the advantages of this arrange-
ment are important. By it can' be gained a saving of
time in the writing out of the messages, and. a guarantee
as to.. the correctness and legibility of the address, as
well as the grea,ter- ease. and rapidity with which the
naines.. " from and ' are signalled. Books. of
forms of ' this very convenient description can he had
at the usual rate- of, for each stamped form,- the
only new condition being that. • persons- requiring
them shall talio not Jess thau...1;50 , worth,
time and 1,;(5, on delivery.. Some r,0,000 of these forms have
been alre:tl osned, and about. 100,900 firms through-
out -tle 'nted Kin-doni have commeeced using them.
Most persons iu the riabit of receiving regularly many tele-
grams know that envelopes with their addresses printed in
large and legible characters have for some -past. time been
issued by the Post Offi ce to the public on the condition
that the person using them should receive ' certain
number of messages, a day. The number is either four_ or
five. The latter arrangement has become very extensively
used, It , promises well the future of this iin-
portant service to find the authorities at St. Martin's-le-
Grand indulging in swill experiments as these.
CAN I AFFORD Jr ?-,--Pay your Stationer 6(1. for a reply.
Map of the World gratis in all Letts's Office Diaries. Letts's
6d. and 15. Diaries give, most value for your money. •tetts's
Housekeepers' and Ladies' Diaries are much improved. Letts's.
'lnvisible Ink for Postal Cards, ed. per bottle.

THE WAR.

THE SIEGE OF PARIS.

FOOD.

• Herr Wachenhusen, writing to the Cologne Gazette from
Versailles, makes some important admissions :—" It will
have been known already that the French prisoners
were provided with supplies of meat for a week, from
whict may be concluded that the food question in
.Paris is not so important as it has been represented.
But is an established fact that the army outside the
walls of the town has had to provision itself, having
drawn its supplies from the district of country between
the town and the forts, and hence nothing can be drawn
from this circumstance which can be regarded as conclu-
sive. It is generally believed that Paris is provisioned
till the end of the year, or even till the middle of January,
and if such is the case the affair may last some time yet,
for there is, no longer any talk of bombarding the city."

THE 02V1IPAIGN ON THE LOIRE.

UNEASINESS AT VERSAILLES.

Dr. Russell writes from Versailles on the 11th : The
news from. Beaugency received last night at headquarters
caused grave faces. The Duke of Mecklenburg reports
40,000 Bretons, apparently of new levies from that sturdy
population, on his flank, and D'AUrellee successor has
turned to bay in front of Blois: Von Wittich, with the
10th Corps, now much reduced by fighting, has marched
to strengthen the Grand Duke, who has some 50,000 men,
and any other troops the Prince can spare will, no doubt, be
sent to enable the army to continue its progress to Blois
and Tours. The 10th, Corps was, I think, the corps
which occupied Orleans, the 3rd and 9th Corps having
been sent forwards towards Bourges. It is to be inferred
that the Prince has received the means of holding the city
`froth 'other sources. A report has reached me of an
engagement at Beaugeney yesterday. If it be true, the
Duke.has been attacked this time, and must be standing
on the defensive till he receives support. That is a result
which the French would call a victory. The sight of a
German General on the defensive would inspire them with
the liveliest as well as novel emotions. It might produce
a change in the morale of the army. But it needs a great
change.