The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1867.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has addressed
a circular to the members of the Conservative party
in the House of Commons. This circular, dated
yesterday, informs the members that Mr. GLAD-
STONE has given notice of a series of amendments
which he proposes to move in committee on the
Reform Bill on Thursday next. These amend-
ments are Mr. COLERIDGE'S Instructions in another
form. The circular goes on to state that, if any
one of them be adopted, it will be impossible for the
Government to proceed with the bill. The attend-
ance of hon. members in the House of Commons
on that evening is earnestly requested. We
do not wonder that Mr. DISRAELI uses the term
" relinquished," for in that consists the full force of
the accusation to be brought against Mr. GLAD-
SIGNE, and the course he persists in following
will alienate from him the respect and confidence
of the country. It is a direct insult to the House
of Commons for him to begin his work over again,
and throw everything into confusion just when
people imagined themselves to be safe. He is
certainly conducting himself diametrically in op-
position to his party, for it was only the
other night that they gave him positive
proof of their unwillingness to damage the
Government measure. It appears to us that as he
was thwarted in his scheme for making a stand
upon the dual vote and the lodger franchise, the
right hon. gentleman the member for South Lanca-
shire has set his wits to work and found out the
most important part of the measure in order to
direct his attack upon it. With ingenuity worthy
of a better cause he has concentrated his energies
in this direction, and we must now await the conse-
quences of his manoeuvres till to-morrow. The first
of these amendments refers to the question of " re-
sidence," and that, as the Chancellor of the
Exchequer remarks,is a vital question of the measure.
All, however, strike at the root of the principle of
the bill, and that the insidious opponents of the Go-
vernment
,know full well. We do not anticipate
any unfortunate result from the production of these
amendments, but it will be necessary for the friends
of Reform to be on the alert, aLd not allow a march
to be stolen upon them.
A more unnecessary and impertinent interference
than this on the part of Mr. GLADSTONE has not
been met with in Parliamentary annals, and
when the strife and turmoil of the present
confusion is over, and people have leisure to go
into detail, those who have been foremost in their
admiration of the talents of, and grateful for public
services rendered by, the right hon. gentleman will
deeply regret the course they have pursued. All
must see that he is now animated by the spirit of
faction, and that he is what the French call so
entente, that reason and remonstrance are alike
thrown away upon him. No matter what may be
the consequences, he will go on to the end ; and if
the whole question of Reform be put off inde-
finitely, if the country is disappointed and the
session wasted, so long as his desires are gratified,

and so long as he prevents his political opponents
from succeeding in what he failed to accomplish
himself. We had hoped that the time was past
when English statesmen could thus forget the first
duties they owe to their country, and exhibit such
unfailing signs of selfishness and narrowness of
judgment. We now realise the fact that all
the indignation which Mr. GLADSTONE so
loudly professed last year was levelled
at the heads of the opponents of the
Government, and not at the enemies of Reform.
Had he really or truly lamented the wasted time
he would have rejoiced to see that this Session bid
fair to retrieve the errors of the past ; but no, he
must be the man to do the work, or he will do his
utmost to prevent any one else from achieving it.
Fortunately for every one concerned in the in-
terests of Reform people are by this time pretty
well aware of the state of the case, and
we rely upon the independent Liberals not to
fail the Government on Thursday, but to
complete and consolidate the victory they won on
Monday. Perhaps it is not too much to expect
that if a decided veto be put upon these proposi-
tions of Mr. GLADSTONE that he will consent to
abstain from any more of his vexatious moves for
the rest of the Session. At any rate, the members
of the House of Commons have their duty very i
plainly put before them, and it remains for '
them to do it totally irrespective of the freaks I.

and fallacies of the Leader of the Opposi-
tion. If these amendments be thrown out
by the committee by a large majority, the

House can separate for the Easter holidays with
the firm belief and the assured confidence that the

Reform Bill of 1867 is a fact, and not a fiction.

Without any exaggeration, we can assure Mr.

GLADSTONE that the part he is playing is calculated

,0 injure no one so deeply as himself. The worst of
,he danger is over, now that divisions in the Liberal

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 10, 1867

courts of justice. According to the Almanach Didot,
a work of good authority, the number of inhabi-
tants of the Duchy is 197,280, but in a statistical
publication the number is estimated at 206,000. It
is celebrated for its iron works, pottery, woollen
stuffs, and church clocks. There are four news-
' papers iu the Duchy, the Courrier, the Union, the
Wort, and the Annales Agricoles. The town of
Luxembourg bears evidence of civilisation, for it
possesses six sheriff officers or huissiers, five
notaries, 13 lawyers, three bankers, four booksellers,
six doctors, and a photographist. The chief
town of the Duchy, the ancient Luxembourg,
has an extent of 47 square miles. The town, pro-
perly so called, the upper town, has a population of
13,700 inhabitants, and a Prussian garrison com-
posed of 5,000 men. It is picturesquely situated on
a high plateau, formed by rocks, which rise on three
sides to a peak, above Petersburgh and Alcette. It
is in the lower town that the industrial establish-
ments are situated. The formidable fortifications
are for the most part formed in the rocks. One
rock, called the Bock, serves as a casemate. Each
Power who has by turns occupied Luxembourg has
augmented its means of defence, and the celebrated
engineer Vauban has left traces of his genius at
various forts. The Duchy of Luxembourg is
bounded to the east by France, to the north and
west by Belgium, and to the south by the Rhenish
Provinces of Prussia. It is the strongest place in
Europe, with the exception of Gibraltar. Several
rivers traverse the country—the Moselle, the Ab-
zeta, and the Ourthe. It is the private property of
the King, but not of the kingdom of Holland.
Prussia does not exclusively furnish the garrison.
One-fourth of it is composed of Dutch soldiers.
The Governor, however, is appointed by Prussia.
Luxembourg is a very ancient country. In the
olden times it was occupied by the Trevirians, the
Ceresians, and the Pemaniaus. After the first
union of Belgium with France there was a Depart-
ment des Forets, of which Luxembourg was the
chief town. At the Congress of Vienna, by a Con-
vention dated June 19, 1815, it was ceded to the
King of the Netherlands as an indemnity for his
States of Nassau, with the Duchy of Bouillon, a
grand duchy which formed an integral portion of
the Germanic Confederation. The first Count of
Luxembourg was Sigessoy, who flourished in the
middle of the tenth century. The branch of the
first Counts became extinct by the death of Conrad
the Second, which took place in 1136, and Henry
the Blind, son of Godefroud, Count of Luxembourg,
became successor to the county. The Countess
Ermesinda granted a charter enfranchising the capi-
tal. Thischarterisdated.Aug.,l243. ThisErmesinda,
daughter of Henry the Blind, married Thibaut,
Count de Bar, and the House of Bar became the
third race of the Sovereigns of Luxembourg. The
fourth is that of Linabourg. It was the Emperor
Charles IV. who raised the country into a duchy in
favour of his brother, Venceslas, by an act signed
on the 13th of March, 1354. Elizabeth de Goerlitz,
daughter of John of .Luxembourg,Duke de Gcerlitz,
son of the Emperor Charles IV., ceded that pro-
vince to Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, in
the year 1448. The heiress of the House of Bur-
gundy having married the Archduke Maximilian,
Luxembourg by that alliance passed to the posses-
sion of the House of Austria. The southern por-
tion of Luxembourg was ceded to France in 1659,
by the Treaty of the Pyrenees. It was then called
French Luxembourg, and included Thionville,
Marvette, Chauvancy, and Montmedy. By the
terms of the treaty of peace of Utrecht, Luxem-
bourg, with the exception of the portion given to
France, reverted to the House of Hapsburg, and
continued to form part with the Austrian Nether-
lands until 1795, the period when the French ac-
quired it by conquest. The peace of Campo Formio
gave them definitive possession of it, which they
maintained until 1814. In 1830 Luxembourg,
with the exception of the town and the federal
fortress and its radius, supported the revolution in
Belgium, and became incorporated with that coun-
try. This state of things continued until 1839,
at which period Holland and Belgium consented to
au arrangement, according to which, in exchang
for the Waliern portion of Luxembourg, ceded to
Belgium, a great part of Limliourg was united to
Luxembourg as au integral part of the German
Confederation.

A frightful but at present inexplicable attempt to
murder has caused great consternation at St. Ai,-
nan, near Blois. On Saturday evening piercing
cries were heard from a little girl, residing with her
father and mother, named Racine. Some neigh-
bours rushed into the room, when Racine was dis-
covered grasping his wife with one hand, while he
inflicted severe blows with a heavy piece of wood
with the other. The murderer was able to escape
in the confusion, but as he ran out of the room he
said, " You can let her alone. She has got enough."
The poor woman was taken to the hospital, but the
wounds on her head are so serious that she can
hardly survive. The assassin was pursued towards
the river Cher, into which he jumped, but the keeper
of the slaughter-house precipitated himself into the
river, caught hold of his smock-frock, and brought
him ashore. He was taken to the Commissary of
Police.

d
The Siecle has another andmtthoosruaerpao:n_iyht,,e
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atnh
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wi l
decide on maintaining possession of Luxembourg,
—that is to say, a
France—they will provoke us formally. They will
implicitly declare war against us, and we shall ac-
cept that war with resolution, throwing the respon-
sibility of the calamities which it will engender upon
the pride and blind ambition of neighbours who
were absolutely determined to become our enemies."
A peculiarly violent storm of wind raged all last
night, which must have done much damage, and
there has been a cold strong wind all day. The
weather, however, was bright and without rain.
The Emperor has visited the Exhibition at Bil-
lancourt. He examined the unions and important
agricultural machines with great interest, and also
inspected the stables where some remarkable speci-
mens of cattle and sheep are already installed. His
Majesty deigned to express his great satisfaction
with the Exhibition generally, and promised to
come again very often when all the arrangements
for this marvellous and interesting show shall be
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ACCIDENT TO LORD BURY.—An accident occurred
to Lord Bury on Monday, while trying a rifle at
the Kilburn
" I was trying rifle,
extracted from .4), letter addressed to a near relation :
range, The following is his own account as
converted into a breechloader by Mr.
George Prince, at the Kilburn Range yesterday. I had fired
about 80 rounds, partly for precision and partly for rapidity,
with very good result, when Mr. Prince, finding his own
ammunition expended, proposed to me to try another rifle,
which he had converted on his own principle, to take the
Boxer cartridge. At the very first shot the rifle exploded
at the breech,
blowing away the covering of the breech and
twisting the internal works. I found myself suddenly on
the ground, bleeding profusely, and with the cartilage of
my nose broken. Providentially my eyes escaped, but a con-
siderable quantity of powder was blown into my face. A
doctor who was sent for soon put me sufficiently to rights to
get home. I have kept the cartridge, and the part of the
breech that was blown backwards. I was not well enough
closely to examine the rifle, but from the appearance of the
cartridge it is evident that the primary cause of the acci-
dent is the bursting of the metal base of the cartridge. I
have known several instances in which cartridges with
metal bases have made dangerous explosions at the breech, ,
and as this is the cartridge on which many thousand
pounds of Government money have been expended, I
think it at least worthy of inquiry whether the accident
which so nearly proved fatal to me is likely to recur or not
before they are served out to our troops. I intend to send
the burst cartridge and the rifle to the War-office for exa-
mination. I like Prince's principle with his own ammuni-
tion, but not with the Boxer cartridge."

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER.—The father
of Tom Hoare, the celebrated sculler, was sailing about near
Chiswick on Monday evening, when his boat capsized, and
after trying in vain to swim to shore he was drowned before
assistance could reach him. A short time ago ho saved the
life of his own eon, and on Saturday last rescued three gen-
tlemen from drowning.