The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-31 00:00:00

An English summer is said to consist of " three fine days
and a thunderstorm." An English winter may be defined
as three days' frost and a gale. We have had rEal winter
weather in London since Christmas Day, though the cold
has not been nearly so severe as in the Eastern counties,
or even in generally mild Devon and Cornwall. Our
snow-fall, too, has been very scanty, and so we
have been spared that humiliating spectacle of
the greatest city in the world at its wits' end
for means to make locomotion possible. In the nearer
Southern counties sleighs have been called into requisition
to convey visitors to the parties at the various country
houses. The guests at a servants' ball in the house of an
M.P. baronet went in their masters' carriages, and dis-
played to the somewhat astonished hostess elaborate
costumes of tulle made after the latest fashions. What
would Sir Roger de Coverley have said ? Here in
London we have had but one day's skating, and it was
ticklish work. It was the finest fun in the world yesterday
afternoon to watch the people in Regent's Park suddenly
go down, and then standing with chattering teeth up to
their middles in water. Three years ago a plunge of this
sort would have been no laughing matter; but the great
lake is now only three feet deep, and so there is no danger
of anything worse than a bad cold, even though the ice
should break up in an instant, as it did with such lament-
able results in January, 1867. The ice-carts have been
driving a first-rate trade, and the long procession of them
reminded one of the even longer procession of sand-carts
that one meets on the road to Mont St. Michel. Now,
however, there is a thaw, under the influence of the strong
south-we.t wind.
The probability that Lord Derby will become the leader
of the Conservative Peers strengthens every day. Never-
theless there is great dissatisfaction at the prospect among
a certain section of the party who attach importance to
ecclesiastical politics. These persons, headed by a dis-
tinguished ecclesiastical politician, are moving heaven
and earth to got Lord Salisbury chosen chief, for they
have no confidence in his competitor, and they de-
clare that if ho be chosen, fifty votes will be
trausferred to Mr. Gladstone. The idea is strongly
prevalent among both sections that the present
Ministry is not a long-lived one, that the Radicals will
sooner or later compel the Whigs to secede. In that event
they consider that Lord Derby will be the best man for

the situation, as he will be'able to make a strong coalition
Government. Of course something more than the leader-
ship of the Peers is now at stake. Mr. Disraeli is getting
on in years—completes his 6-ith year to morrow—and
can hardly expect to be Premier more than once again.
Were he to die, the Conservative chieftainship
would pass from the Commons to the Lords,
and the Conservative Premier would be found
in the latter assembly. The prize is therefore well
worth contending for, and it is not surprising that there is
a considerable amount of bitterness just now between the
Derbyites and the Salisburyites.
The idea of a schism in the Liberal party, which I find
so strong among Conservatives, even those who are least
bigoted and most far-seeing, does not seem to be supported
by the rumours which are now current respecting the Irish
Land Bill. These all point in the direction which I men-

tioned some months ago—the adoption of Ulster tenant-
right. This is so mild and unrevolutionary a scheme that

a Opposition are scarcely likely to object to it ;

for they well remember the history of Parliamentary
Reform, and will fear lest, if they reject the Minis-
terial proposal, a worse thing than Ulster tenant-
right should befall them. Mr. Bright's speech to his
constituents at Birmingham is anticipated with much
interest, but there is reason to believe that the President
of the Board of Trade will make no important disclosures.
Ministers have been singularly reticent during th4aca-
tion ; indeed Liberal M.P.'s generally have been ye/ shy
of addressing their constituents. The bulk of them o not
understand the Irish question sufficiently to form an inde-
pendent judgment upon it, and as the Covernmetht has
given no indication of its intentions, discreet silence is the
order of the day.

I have authority to deny most positively the statement
of the Record that Mr. Gladstone importuned the Bishop
of Winchester to assist at the consecration of the Bishop
of Exeter. The Premier made no such request. I believe
timt.i3i.shop Temple,-having- boon ordatined -deacon- zrnd

priest by Bishop Wilberforce, would have liked his old
diocesan to have taken part in the proceedings of
December 21. The elder prelate, however, was
unwilling to do so, and is so little pleased with the
appointment that he is ready to join with the other
bishops who have declared that they will not sit on any
committee of Convocation with the new prelate, or hold
anything more than the most formal intercourse with him.
For this new, and I must add, most unnecessary protest,
the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, formerly Dean of
Exeter, is mainly responsible, and next to him the Bishop
of Lincoln. Dr. Ellicott and Dr. Wordsworth will find imi-
tators to some degree in Bishops 011ivant of Llandaff,
Magee of Peterborough, Selwyn of Lichfield, Atlay of
Hereford, Claughton of Rochester, and Campbell of
Bangor. It is greatly to the credit of Bishop Trower
that he counsels no further opposition.
The appointment to the Bishopric of Manchester has
not been made yet. It is generally thought that Dr.
Miller stands the best chance. He is a Liberal, and a
man of active business habits, and being also a Low
Churchman, will suit the diocese. There is, however,
another well-known cleric whose name I am not at liberty
to mention, but who has powerful support among those
who feel themselves at liberty to advise the Premier
on the subject. The late Bishop was not a popular
man. He quarrelled with the dean and chapter, and he
treated the High Church clergy with scant courtesy and
no favour. His conduct to Mr. Nihill was as unapo3tolic
and unfatherlike as it was possible to be. Though a
Liberal in politics, he had very strong opinions with
regard to the Irish Church, and was prevented only by
the persuasion of Bishop Wilberforce from voting against
the bill for disestablishment. The last-named prelate is
working his new diocese from his private residence,
Lavington, which, although in Chichester diocese, is on
the borders of Winchester. Last night he preached at
Guildford.

Before leaving ecclesiastical matters it may be as well
to mention that "A Broad Churchman," who described in
the Daily News this week "Midnight and Mid-day Mass,"
fell into a serious blunder. Because he saw few com-
municants at those services he thought that the people at
the two churches mentioned, St. Alban's, Holborn, and St.
Mary Magdalene's, Paddington, neglected communicating,
and contented themselves with looking on. He was not
aware that there were celebrations at six, seven, eight, and
nine on Christmas morning, all of them of rigid plainness,
without a note of music, and that at all these services
there was a crowd of communicants.

Great opposition will be offered in the coming session to
the proposed extension of the Contagious Diseases Act to
the civil population. A ladies' association has been formed
to resist this measure, and includes Miss Nightingale,
Miss Martineau, Mrs. Lucas, and Mrs. Jacob Bright. The
two last named of these ladies have, I believe, brought their
not inconsiderable influence to bear upon the Cabinet, and it
is probable that the measure will not now be introduced
by the Government ; but, if at all, by a private member.
Several strong letters have been written upon the subject
in the Daily News, and it is guessed that they are by an
old contributor to that journal, Miss Martineau. They
dwell chiefly upon the abuse of power by the
police, but (without passing any opinion upon
the real matter of controversy) surely that is not
a fair argument against the proper use of power. Every
now and then an innocent and sober man is brought up on
a false charge of drunkenness, and experience has shewn
that some of the London police are capable of any amount
of perjury. Yet we have not closed Scotland-yard.
Everyone will regret to hear of the death of Thomas
Creswick, the Royal Academician. He was born at Shef-
field in 1811, studied art in Birmingham, and then in
London, and commenced exhibiting at the Academy in
1828. He was best known by his Welsh scenes--by his
" Weald of Kent," " Home by the Sands," "Wind on the
Shore," and " The London Road a Century Ago." His
death leaves a vacancy among the Forty, to which select
body he was admitted eighteen years a;o.
The Science and Art Department intend commencing
in 1871 an Annual International Art Exhibition at South
Kensington under Government Superinten lence. This
will, in all probability, take precedence of the Academy
Exhibition as the exhibition of the seas an, and will cer-
tainly destroy the unfair monopoly which has been exercised
so long by the privileged Forty. Circulars announcing
this scheme have been already issued to art exhibitions.
It is stated that the modern exhibition of pictures
which was formerly held at the British Institution is to
be revived, the directors having £15,00) available for this

purpose.
The magazines open well with the new year. Mr. John
Dennis, late editor of the Fortnightly Review, has an article
in the Contemporary Review on Daniel Defoe, with special
reference, of course, to the newly-discovered writings
which Mr. Lee has lately edited, and Mr. Rotten has pub-