The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-15 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday,

The Government are evidently preparing for a session of
hard work. Cabinet Councils do not generally begin
until December, yet it is announced that the first will le
held this year during the last week of the present month.
There is good reason for this promptitude. The land ques-
tion alone will require much consultation, and not a little
mutual concession on the part of a body which has for
members men so different as the great Commoner, Mr.
Bright, and such a representative of the great landowners
as the Marquis of Hartington. Another Irish question, the
increasing and serious agitation for a political amnesty, will
have to be faced, and will, I trust, be faced firmly.
The whole subject of education—education as it affects
each of the three divisions of the kingdom—has to be
thoroughly discussed. Electoral Reform, including such
topics as the establishment of the Ballot and the abolition
of the hustings, is another large subject. Postal and tele-
graphic development will also be brought before the
Cabinet. The present insurance panic will doubtless stimu-
late the Government into introducing a measure for com-
pelling the publication of insurance returns. Then there
are foreign questions, especially the resumption of negotia-
tions with the United States Government, and the impend-
ing rupture between Turkey and Egypt, which will have to
be considered. The large question of legal reform has ap-
parently been staved off indefinitely by the appointment of
another Royal Commission, although some thought that
Lord Cairns's inquiry had obtainedall the information that
was needed.

Time was, and that not so very long ago, when the acces-
sion of a journalist to high office would have been signalised
by great prosperity on the part of the journal belonging to
him. There are abundant ways in which a Minister can
convert a pecuniarily unsuccessful into a pecuniarily
successful journal. He can give early informa-
tion of important State matters, and so obtain
for it a reputation which will largely increase its circula-
tion. He can flood it with Government advertisements,
and do as was done last year to a very large extent,
when notices of Admiralty contracts for rum and pork
were sent to a London journal, circulating almost
exclusively among the rural clergy. It is to Mr.
Brights credit that he has not done this. Before he
became a Minister he occasionally supplied the Morning
Star with special information which he had acquired by
virtue of his position as a Royal Commissioner. But
from the time that he took office he ceased to do this
Nor did he seek to subsidise his journal out of the public
purse by sending to the Star an unfair proportion of
Government advertisements. Thus it has come to pass
that the Star has ceased to exist at the very time when it
might have been expected to flourish. This ought to be
remembered to Mr. Bright's credit, even by his numerous
opponents, some of whom may perhaps have very
different experiences of journalism. As for the Star it has
made a gallant fight. It was started in 1856 as the advocate
of Free Trade, Liberalism and Peace. At that time Free Trade
was the only article of its creed which was in popular
favour. For Liberalism there was that spurious thing—
Palmerstonism ; for Peace there were China wars and
French panics and constant American bickerings. The
policy advocated then has prevailed ; but the original
advocate has had to give way to others. The union with
the Dial was a disastrous and well-nigh fatal partnership.
The proprietors of the Chamber of Agriculture Journal
have determined to make their paper one for the general
reader, as well as for the class on whose behalf it was
started. For this purpose it has been enlarged to twenty-
four pages of seventy-two columns. Subjects relating to
agriculture continue to be treated by competent hands,
with Mr. Algernon Clarke, of Long Sutton, for editor.
The latest corn and cattle markets are recorded, and home,
foreign, and general news are given in a condensed and
readable shape. Among the specialties of the journal are
articles on mechanical novelties, sport, and entertain-
ments.

It was stated recently in the A thewunt that Mr. Stephens,
the sculptor, had not begun his statue of the Duke of
Wellington for St. Paul's Cathedral. This statement was
inaccurate. Mr. Stephens' contract was for seven years,
of which two are unexpired. He has already made such
progress that the works have been commenced at. St.
Paul's for erecting the memorial. Mr. Stephens has pur-
chased an iron chapel at Haverstock-hill for his workshop.
and has there made his model in clay. Beneath the chapel
he has set up a foundry for executing the castings. Under
the roof of the chapel he is constructing a house, which
will remain when the iron structure is removed. Mr.
Stephens, far from being the dilatory man he is generally
supposed to be, is really most industrious, and works from
sixteen to eight' en hours a day.
The opposition which the appointment of Dr. Temple to

the Bishopric of Exeter has excited is becoming stronger.
The election will not be confined to the canons only, but
will rest with the "greater" chapter, which includes all
the prebendaries. Some of these, I have reason to know,

are prepared, or, at all events, threaten to resist the
nomination. This circumstance recalls the fact that
similar opposition was offered to the election of the late
Bishop. It seems difficult to imagine that Dr. Phillpotts
could ever have been objected to on the ground of his
Liberalism. Yet such was the case. He had then recently
" ratted " on the Catholic Emancipation Bill, and the
Exeter Chapter were furious that his "treachery" should be
rewarded by a mitre. I need hardly add that the opposi-
tion on this occasion died away in mere talk. Ido not say
that the present opposition will have a similar issue ; but it
may comfort the souls of vexed Exonians to recall this histo-
rical incident,and to remember that "the modern Athanasius"
was once in danger of rejection from the Episcopate because
of his supposed political heresy. Anyhow there can be no
question that the present mode of electing is a farce, and
a blasphemous farce. After all the High and Low church-
men of the West might have had a man whom they would
have deemed even worse. Had Dean Stanley been
appointed to the Exeter or any other Bishopric, Dr. Pusey
would at once have commenced an agitation for the separa-
tion of Church and State.

It is contemplated holding a special mission in London
just before Advent. The idea has originated with the
High Church party, and it is proposed that eminent
preachers of that party shall conduct services and preach
sermons simultaneously in some party churches. Among
these will not be Mr. Luke Rivington, who, though
known to the frequenters of All Saints, Margaret-street,
as one of the most rising preachers of the party, has
recently resigned his curacy, and will shortly retire into a
religious house which is now being built. He will pre-
viously attend the (Ecumenical Council at Rome.
Dr. Gale, the " blind inventor," has recently returned to
the West of England, and intends, I believe, to live at
Buckfast Abbey. A little while ago, one of our most
eminent surgeons was consulted by a very wealthy manu-
facturer, who was suffering from mortification of the foot.
The surgeon said that he could do nothing for him, that
the case would in all probability have a fatal issue, and
that, as a last chance, the patient had better try galvanism.
He went to Dr. Gale, and had the good fortune to find this
dernier ressort successful. Full of gratitude to the man who
had rescued him from the very jaws of death, the manu-
facturer made over to his deliverer property to a very large
amount, which I do not feel myself at liberty to mention.
But I may say that I have never heard of any fee which at
all approached this one in magnitude.
I gave you such a full budget of literary news in my last
letter that I have little fresh to tell you to-day. Strahans
's new volume. but do
nieerballtitnannirfnrecqeuaelnif .aTt6earantronhwith the author. The
same publishers announce a pocket edition of the Laureate's
works in ten volumes, and new poems by Gerald Massey,
who has been too long silent. Messrs. Strahan are also
republishing as separate volumes many of the serial articles
which have already appeared in the Contemporary Review
and Good Words, among:them the Rev. John Hunt's able theo-
logical biographies, which appeared in the former magazine,
and Dr. Macleod's "Peeps at the Far Rest," which appeared
in the latter. A work significant of the greater unity of
Christians is announced. It is entitled " Our Common
Faith," and consists of popular expositions of the
Apostles' Creed by Bishop Alexander, Dean Man.sel and
Dr. Vaughan among Churchmen, and Drs. Hannah,
Raleigh, D. Brown, and W. C. Alexander among Dissenters.
One of the works anticipated with the greatest interest is
Mr. William Michael Rosseti's forthcoming life of Shelley.
Professor Dellinger of Munich has in the press a new work
on the Religious Sects of the Middle Ages. Mr. Murray's
chief announcement is " The Correspondence of the late
Earl of Elgin," edited by Theodore Walrond. It
may interest your readers to know that the real name of
the gentleman who has written several works (among them
" Chaucer's England "), under the name of "Matthew
Browne," is Rands.
The health of sewing-machine workers has lately claimed
the attention of the medical journals, and a variety of ail-
meats have been attributed to the " jarring" noise made by
the machines. It is desirable that a matter which so
seriously affects the physical and social well-being of a large
class of workers should be thoroughly investigated, and any
improvements tending to ameliorate their condition
adopted. It would, however, be a pity to deal indis-
criminate condemnation to all machines. Some of
the old machines require much force to propel them,
and are difficult to stop, but most of those

newly constructed can be worked with very small
propelling force, and are easily stopped. A day or two
ago I had the opportunity of visiting the factory of ➢ir.
Grocott, of Barnsbury-rcad, where in a large, lofty, and
well ventilated room, a number of young women were
seated at machines, four in a row, engaged in the manufac-
ture of jackets and cloaks. The noise was comparatively
trifling, and appeared to proceed solely from the action of

the needle. The young women stated that they suffered
no ill effects from the character of their work.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.