The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-04 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

The revelations which have oozed out from time to time
respecting the state of the Russian army are well
founded. The Muscovite forces are so ill prepared for an
encounter ghat in any offensive war they must be
comparatively useless, though the Russians are
always formidable in defence. All soldiers on furlough
have been ordered to join their regiments. Those who
have served their term, but are still capable of bearing
arms, are offered the large bounty of £27 to re-enlist.
But, in spite of all efforts, the Russian army still remains
in a deplorable state ; only a few thousands of breech.
loaders have been supplied ; and one Warsaw correspon-
dent goes so far as to say that the troops are completely
demoralised.

THE ENGLISH IN PARAGUAY.
The scraps of trustworthy intelligence which occasion-
ally escape from the interior of Paraguay all servo to
throw discredit upon the reports of the atrocities
committed by Lopez. A French officer, who recently
returned from a voyage up the La Plata, testified
that his countrymen, and, so far as he could learn,
other Europeans, were well treated in Paraguay. Newt
just received at the English Foreign Office is to
the same purport. Not only is there no reign of terror in
Paraguay, no systematic barbarity exercised by Lopez,
but the English residents are so well satisfied with their
lot that they decline to leave. On the 14th of November
a number of women and children were brought down the
La Plata by a British gunboat, but the men who were
also offered the chance of quitting the country declined in
almost every instance. Some of them parted with their
wives and children rather than quit the service of Lopez.
Would they be likely to entertain this preference for a
ruler who enforced his own ideas of justice by miscellaneous
massacre? The love of adventure might induce many
Englishmen to share the romantic fortunes of the Para-
guayan dictator ; but Englishmen are not favourable to
the whipping of ladies or any other of the barbarities
accredited to Lopez. The case of Mr. Washburn, the
American Ambassador, becomes more and more unfa your-
able to him. lie actively interfered on behalf of European
residents because they were ill-treated. It is now ascer-
tained that he exceeded the prerogative of his office
without just reason. It remains to be seen whether
he sold the Paraguayans to the enemy, as they assert he
4:4

THE RESULT OF THE ELECTIONS.
In the opinion of MA. Goldwin Smith, who has
carefully studied the details of the late elections
which have reached him at Cornell University, the
House of Commons will be even more plutocratic
than it was before. So far, the effect of the extended
suffrage in breaking through the monopoly of the
governing classes is zero. Nor can he perceive the
slightest alteration in the composition of the house.
Scarcely a singleyoung man of promise has been elected.
Science and the higher political culture are now less
represented than before. Not a particle has been
added either to the brain 9r to the heart of PaHia-
ment. Not the slightest additional hope is afforded
of good to come from its deliberations to the great
body of the people. All this proves, thinks Mr.
Goldwin Smith, that in Parliamentary contests the
working man cannot hope to be powerful, at all
events for some time to come. The real seat of his
power lies in his industrial organisations. Though
trades unions nre often spoken of with fear and
hatred, they are never treated with contempt. They
should be maintained and extended, not fur the pur-
poses of industrial war, but as standing organisa-
tions of industry. The unions should not mix them-
selves up with mere party politics ; but they should
exert their influence, not merely in legislative ques-
tions directly affectinc, industry, but in broadquestions
akuclitjaj rj.dtansiZga the protection of the working