The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-08 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday.

Political matters are in abeyance jus ow, and cre
likely to be so for another fortnight. Ministers are ex-
pected to return to town on the 25th, and to hold a Cabinet
Council on the following day. Meanwhile there are
rumours of serious difficulties with regard to the Irish
Church question, and one evening paper, which has not
yet lived long enough to be an authority, has published
with a good deal of detail, the nature of the difficulty,
declaring inter alia that Lord Westbury has determined to
oppose the secularisation of the Irish Church revenues ; so
that, though little serious opposition is likely to be offered
to disestablishment, disendowment will prove a far more
difficult task. Irish journalists seem to have heard
something of these rumours, for a leading Irish
newspaper has within the last few days threat-
ened Mr. Gladstone with very serious consequences
if he does not satisfy the just aspirations of Irishmen, and
he is given to understand that he receives the support of
the Irish party only dum se bene gesserit. By way of
allaying suspicions, one of the Irish Ministerial officials
(Sir Colman O'Loghlen), on being re-elected, assured his
constituents that Mr. Gladstone's programme would
include the Church, the land, and railways; all subjects in
which Irishmen take great interest.
There is consternation in the Government offices. If it
had depended upon the members of her Majesty's civil
servants, Mr. Gladstone's majority of 115 would have been
a minority of 230. They dread the rule of the economist
who for the first time is supreme, and has for col-
leagues men ready and eager to carry out his
financial reforms. Every day sees some new
order against some old abuse excessive telegraphing,
use of Government ships for private purposes, excessive
consumption of champagne (nominally by the sick), ex-
cessive consumption of whitewash. The last orders are
still more serious. Thirty clerks are under notice to quit
Whitehall, where their services are said to be " absolutely
superfluous ;" and if the same principle is adopted else-
where, there will be a wholesale deportation from
Pall-mall also—from the War Office, that is, as
we,l as from the Admiralty. Nor is this all.
As lucrative posts fall vacant they are no longer conferred
upon the men who thought they had the reversion of them,
but are abolished. Mr. James Disraeli's post at the Inland
Revenue Office was one of these ; General Travers's post as
Inspector-General of Marines is another; and to-day's papers
announce that the post of Master Attendant and Queen's
Harbour Master, at Chatham, which has become vacant
through the completion by Captain Stokes of the pre-
scribed five years' service, will be abolished, and £6OO a
year saved to the country.
It has been pretty generally rumoured during the last
week that the present Government are hesitating to
endorse the arrangement made by their predecessors for
the purchase of the telegraphs. Probably this rumour
has its rise in the known dislike felt by the President of
the Board of Trade to the intervention of Government in
public companies. But it is not likely that Mr. Bright
will set aside an agreement upon which so much depends.
I may state that the impression at St. Martin's-le-Grand
is that the arrangement will be fully carried out, and that
by July the telegraphs will be under the control of the
Post Office.

The adjourned meeting of High Church clergy who met
at the Freemasons' Tavern on December 30th, takes place
next Wednesday. No one of course knows what decision
will be arrived at, but I think in all probability a protest
against the judgment will be drawn up and sent to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and that sub-
mission will be made to the judgment subject
to this protest. The question of costs in the
suit will also have to be considered. I find
that, while there is every disposition to relieve the
defendant, there is great unwillingness to pay the plain-
tiff's costs. The argument is that it was not Mr. Macko-
nochie who appealed from the Court of Arches. He was
willing to accept Sir R. Phillimore's judgment. It is,
therefore, thought hard that High Churchmen should bear
the expense of an appeal which they did not desire. In
fact, some of the Low Church party themselves
think that the case is a hard one. Under these circum-
stances it is not improbable that Mr. Mackonochie
may be advised to pass through the Bankruptcy Court
(his own lawyers being paid, of course), rather than that
the English Church Union should be called upon to pay
the costs on both sides, which will not be much under
£20,000. Whether this judgment lead to a rupture or
not, it will certainly increase the chances of separation ,
between the Church and the State. I know
that men who were formerly high Tories of the
Church and Queen school, now declare themselves
Radicals, and prepared to make any change that may
relieve them from what they deem State thraldom. I
know, too, that the question of disestablishment is by no
means absent from the minds of our leading Liberal states-
men. There is at least one very distinguished Minister
who believes that this great revolution is inevitable, and
only hopes that it may not come in his time. Meanwhile
the open advocates of separation say that they do not
desire to hasten the event ; they would have it brought
about in consequence of, rather than in violence to the
convictions of the nation.
Sir Francis Grant is a lucky man. His salary as
President of the Royal Academy is to be doubled—
raised, that is, from £3OO to £6OO. It is possible that he
may live to have it tripled. It is not generally known, I
think, that the late Sir Francis Chantrey left his property
to the Royal Academy, subject to a life interest in it
reserved for his widow. That lady still survives ; but
should she die, £3OO a year of her husband's property will
go to the President of the Academy, whoever he may be.
While the chief officer of this institution is thus
flourishing, I do not hear a very good report of the
Academy generally. In the first place, it is said
that the Academicians have absolutely refused to increase
the number of R.A.'s, and have pretty broadly intimated
that they will not add even to the A.R.A.'s. There
are forty of the first and only twenty-six of the second,
although the number of the latter c'ass of dignities used
to he unlimited, and an artist was made an Associate
directly he was thought worthy of the honour. There
i 3 also an anticipatory grumble about the new
buildings of the Academy. It is rumoured that
the Hanging Committee will not henceforth hang nearly
so high as they have done hitherto. If this should prove
the case, there will be very little increase of space above
that of the old building ; in other words, outsiders will
fare as badly as they have done hitherto, thanks to the
selfishness of the portrait painters, who occupy acres with
their own pictures and deny inches to the common herd.
Mr. Theed is engaged on one of the groups of statues
for the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. This
memorial will cost £190,000, and as the public contribute
only a small amount, the greater portion of the expense
will have to be borne by the Queen. Large as the sum is,it
may be even still larger, for I learn that the architects are
striking for higher payment. Including the Mausoleum at
Frogmore, the Queen will have spent between £300,000
and £400,000 in commemorating her husband, who would
certainly have been the first to deprecate such excessive
lavishness.

During the present week a matter has turned up which
is likely to attract some notice in commercial circles. The
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company is at present an un-
profitable concern. The West Indian agents of the com-
pany have reported that a handsome dividend might be
earned if the company's steamers went to Cherbourg, for then
they would take all the French traffic. But as this would in-
volve the landing of all the English passengers at Plymouth,
the Southampton people, with Mr. Russell Gurney at
their head, have brought enormous influence to bear upon
the board. The result is that the recommendation of
the company's agents is not to be carried out, and some
miserable makeshift is to be tried, such as granting
through tickets to Havre, just by way of saying that
something is being done. Of course this will
not answer the purpose. French passengers will not
care to be kept waiting at Southampton until the Havre
boat leaves, nor to transfer all their luggage from one
steamer to another. The real fact is, the shareholders are
being sacrified to Southampton interests. lam glad to
see that the matter is being taken up in the London
papers.

This morning there was published a valuable series of
maps, illustrating the report of the Royal Commission on
Middle-class Schools. Each map is coloured, so as to chew
schools classical, semi-classical, non-classical, and schools
in abeyance in any part of England. Speaking of educa-
tional topics, I may mention that the old grammar-school
at Wantage, which dates from the time of King Alfred,
has just been reorganised. The new master, Mr. Henry
Cook, of Exmouth, who was chosen out of three hundred
candidates, has been elected on the principle recommended
by the above-mentioned commissioners, viz., that a small
fixed stipend should be paid, sufficient only to maintain the
master while he is getting a reputation for the school, but not
enough to induce an incompetent man to stay, and that he
shall receive a capitation grant on every scholar. Mr.
Cook has come to the conclusion that the old curriculum
is to a great extent obsolete. Classics aro still to be
taught, but English, modern languages, and practical
mathematics are to have especial attention.
Every week sees some alteration in journalism.
Echoes from the Clubs is reduced from 3d. to 2d. with the
new year. Its cartoon this week will not please Ritualists,
especially as the principal kneeling figure is—although by
no means flattering—too much of a likeness of Mr.
Mackonochie to be called a caricature. The Echo is to be
doubled in size, and will be eight pages and thirty-four
columns—an arithmetical problem which somewhat puzzles
me. The Illustrated Sporting .'V. w; has ceased to exist.
So, too, has the London Turkish paper, lifyabir. The
Architect is the title of the newest rival of the
Builder, and is very neatly got up. The news is printed
on toned paper, and the principal illustrations (the new