The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONoON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 13 1867.

A letter from Rome, dated Aug. 3, says—We
continue perfectly quiet. No red shirt has crossed
the frontier nor disembarked on the shore of the
State. Whether of their own accord or under con-
straint, the Italian Government has been seriously
opposing the enlistment of Garibaldians, their con-
centration in the neighbouring provinces, or their
disembarkation on the coast of our little State.
Some 20,000 Italian soldiers are, however, sta-
tioned round the province of Viterbo either as a
protection or a menace. In an excursion I made
a few days ago to Fiumicino, situated at the
mouth of the Tiber, I found the inhabitants in a
state of great commotion. A muster of some fifty
or sixty were gathered round the mayor (priore),
the parroco, a venerable Capuchin, the French
Consul, and some half-a-dozen notabilities on the
platform of one of the mediaeval towers erected at
this point of the coast as a protection against
Saracen incursions. In their midst was the
brigadier of the gendarmi and an artillery officer
anxiously scouring the sea with a telescope. In the
offing were to be descried vessels bearing the
Italian flag, seemingly in close observation of the
coast.
It seems Rattazzi has had to give orders to the
squadron of Gaeta to cruise in the Pontifical waters
so as to intercept any attempt at a descent of
Garibaldians, for which the uninhabited line of
country between Fiumicino and Terracina would
be very likely to be selected. It would seem that
the Italian naval officers are tolerably scrupulous
in carrying out their instructions, for, on the night
of the 26-7th they stopped a Messageries
Imperiales steamer on suspicion of carrying Gari-
baldians. France has also a frigate, the Cato,
which, after a short stay at Civita Vecchia, has
been keeping a look-out at the variouspossible land-
ing-places.
If this vigilance is sustained, I am assured by
persons well acquainted with popular feeling here,
there is no danger of any disturbance. We hear
very little of the Junta Nazionale Romania : in fact,
no one seems to believe in it. The police is on the
watch, of course, but has no reason to depart from
its ordinary procedure. Thus the Giornale di Roma
denies, in its yesterday's impression, the report
which was current a day or two before, that 200
individuals who had made their way surreptitiously
into Rome had been arrested on the 23rd and
24th. -
We have nearly forgotten the brigands. Now
and then, however, we hear of captures of small
bands in the mountains. The gendarmi had an
encounter with a party on the 26th, in the neigh-
bourhood of Sezze, in which the chief was killed,
Panici by name. He was a native of the kingdom
of Naples. In his early years he was sacristan of
a country church, whence he was dismissed for
stealing some of the sacred vessels.
On the following day a detachment of gendarmi
were sent in pursuit of eight brigands who were
known to be lurking about. They had, in the
first instance, given themselves up, and had for a
time served as guides to the military in pursuit of
other bands, but got tired of their change of life
and took to brigandage again. They were over-
taken in a short time and showed fight. Four
were killed with arms in their hands, two escaped,
the other two were captured. Among the dead
were the two famous brothers Andreazzi, who have
for several years been the scourge of the provinces
of Frosinone and Velletri. They were also of
Naples. Both had been tolerably well educated ;
one of them had studied civil law.
The city of Rome itself has completely returned
to its normal condition ; our visitors have all taken
their departure ; the wealthy classes have as usual
gone into the country, as well as the members of
the corps diplomatique, also many of the Sacred
College. But we hear nothing of the Pope's visit
to Castel Gondolfo. The cholera, or the illness
which goes by that name just now, has been more
violent this week, and has carried off more than
eighty victims in poorest localities. The Pope has
put a sum of 25,000 lire at the disposal of the
parish clergy, for distribution among the most
suffering.
Padre Gigli has sent in his resignation. He
will be succeeded either by Padre Celle of
Bologna, or Padre Spada of Rome. Padre
Carvelli will be succeeded by Padre Salvini of
Rome, a distinguished theologian.
M. de Sartiges left to-day for Baden (in Swit-
zerland) to take the benefit of the waters. He
goes nominally for three months, but he is not
expected to return. It is thought he will be re-
placed by M. de Malaret, who now repre-
sents France at Florence.
General Dumont left with M. de Sartiges ; he
takes his report of the condition of the French
Legion. He advises raising the number of com-
panies in the Legion from eleven to twenty, and
sending back to their regiments in France those
who are affected by the climate or attacked by

nostalgia.
I have just received the report of the little army
of the Holy See for the year 1867, which had not
been published the last two years. The number of
officers and employe's in the service is 584, or 63
more than 1865. Of these, 410 are Italians, and
only 174 foreigners. The majority of these are, of
course, in the Zouaves and in the Antibes Legion.
The Lieutenant-General is Prince Orsini, ap-
pointed in February, 1850. Of the 45 generals
and superior officers, 28 are Italians ; 9, French ;
6, Swiss ; 1, German ; 1, Spaniard.
There was a drawing on Tuesday of 653 certi-
ficates of 1,000 francs ; 634 of 500 francs ; and
1,323 of 100 francs of the loan of 1860-64.
I select the following from among the numerous
traditions of the Centenary, which we are conti-
nually hearing. When the Bishop of Limoges was
here, he presented to the Holy Father the chaplain
of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, who laid
at his feet a casket containing a small sum in gold.
This, he said, was the offering of the nuns of his
order ; they were very poor, and unable to draw
on their community funds, but they had collected
their hair and sold it, and this money was the pro-
duce. The Holy Father could not conceal his emo-
tion at the message.
The excavations always going on in various parts
of Rome have lately brought to light on the Palatine
some terracotta lamps, ornamented with a device
not heretofore met with among those supposed to
be of the same date—namely, the fourth century.
In the centre hollow is the figure of our Lord, with
cruciform nimbus, trampling the serpent, whom
Ile is also piercing with a lance surmounted by
an ornamental cross which He holds in His right
hand ; at His feet are also another hideous reptile,
and a lion, the whole subject obviously illustrat-
ing Psalm xc., v. 13. Cay. Rossi mentions that
he has only met one other example of the subject
in the first five or six centuries. The object of the
immense number of these lamps—far exceeding
the requirements of domestic use—which are con-
tinually being met with, has long puzzled antiqua-
rians. Rossi suggests that they must have been
employed for illuminating houses on occasions of
public rejoicing, and that those I have described
above, from their Byzantine treatment of the sub-
ject, and the position in which they were disco-
vered, may be supposed to have been used in
celebrating the victory of Constantine over Max-
entius. I have myself seen lamps of this form
used in modern illuminations: ranged along cornices
and labels of windows they have a very brilliant
1 and sparkling effect.
Among the most remarkable discoveries of this
year, besides those to which I have alluded from
time to time, has been that of the lost catacomb of
Balbina, which has so long been searched for in
vain. The entrance has now been found in the spot
pointed out by the conjectures of Cavaliere Rossi,
between the Porta San Pancrazio and the closed
up Porta Ardeatina. It will be long before, it is
fully explored, as it is as extensive as all the already

known catacombs. Many relics will doubtless be
found in its recesses, although it is known to have
been pillaged by the piety of its early visitors ; it
is also the latest used of the catacombs.
The Church of St. Hedwige at Berlin, ambiti-
ously intended as a model of the Pantheon, was
the scene of a most interesting ceremony a few
days ago, on the occasion of Prince Edward
Radzewill, second cousin to the King of Prussia
(his grandmother Princess Louisa of Prussia being
the king's aunt) saying his first Mass ; it was
crowded to overflowing. His father, Prince Bogulas
Radzewill, has long identified himself with all
Catholic good works in Berlin ; one of his brothers
entered the Society of Jesus at Munster a few
years ago, and one of his sisters joined the nuns
of St. Charles Borromeo at Treves last year. The
family of the Radzewills is descended from the
ancient Grand Dukes of Lithuania.

By a telegram, dated New York, August 6, we
learn that the debt of the United States is now
$2,511,000,000. On the 30th June, 1866, the
debt was $2,650,538,238 10c. ; and on October 31,
1866, it was $2,551,310,005 72c. The statement
of the public debt on the first February gave the
figures $2,543,340,748.
Tennessee is in a very disturbed state. What-
ever may have been the origin of Kentucky, the
tc dark and bloody ground," Tennessee is earning
its right to such a name. Turbulence and disorder,
lynching, murders, and open fights reign para-
mount. Argument is met with a pistol-shot, and
shooting on sight is the order of the day. The
Governor is the notorious Parson Brownlow, and
the state of the country may be imagined when
such an unscrupulous chief rules, and the judgment-
seat is filled by men such as Houk. The State is
divided into the fiercest factions, who meet armed ;
the opposing leaders stand on the same platform, and
are shot at for giving utterance to their opinions,
while the shooter is himself shot by the supporters
of the speaker among the mob. Then a great com-
motion follows ; the crowd splits, two sides are
formed, and firing becomes general. On Tuesday,
23d July, a meeting was held at Rogersville. Mr.
Emerson Etheridge, the Democratic candidate for
Governor, addressed the black and white assemblage.
Mr. King, a Republican, gave the lie direct to a
statement made by Mr. Etheridge. To this Mr.
Etheridge replied with severity, on which he was
fired at, and a general scrimmage followed, when
two persons were killed on the spot, seven mortally
wounded, and thirty others severely. At Knox-
ville a Conservative meeting was held in a public
ball ; the proceedings were interrupted by cheers
for Brownlow, when another fight took place, and
two negroes were the victims. Another negro
was shot dead for shouting for Brownlow
at a meeting of the opposite faction. If
what Judge Ibuk said be truly reported,
' the condition of Tennessee can be better imagined
than described. A man charged with a felonious
assault was brought before him, and though the jury
found the prisoner " guilty," the judge sentenced
him to pay a fine of but 5 cents. In addressing the
defendant he is reported to have remarked :—" You
damned rascal, why didn't you kill him ? He is a
rebel and ought to be killed. If you do your duty
you will kill him yet. lam inclined to send you to
gaol for not completing the work. Rebels have no
right to come into courts in this state. No Union
man who kills a rebel shall ever be punished while I
hold this court." The cable informs us that the
the Republicans have carried the election, which
means that Brownlow bas been re-elected. The
news by the Cuba, which is to the 30th July, or
three days later, is to the effect that in consequence
of apprehensions of serious election riots in Ten-
nessee Federal troops were being distributed to
preserve order, and Brownlow's militia were ordered
to be under arms. The citizens also were generally
armed. It was reported that the negroes in some
counties would be intimidated from voting.
The Washington Government seems to be ac-
tively engaged in securing territory. It is stated
that negociations are in progress for the transfer of
the island of St. Thomas's, and the Times corre-
spondent says that the impression prevails at St.
Thomas's that it would be ceded to the United
States as a naval station. It is also positively as-
serted that despatches relating to British Columbia,
to the cession of which we alluded in our last issue,
have been passing between Washington and London.
'lhe inhabitants of Vancouver's Island are reported
to be strongly in favour of annexation.
There is little of interest regarding registration
in the South. Branches of the Union League,
ramifying over the country, are active on the Re-
publican side, while the Democrats are listless and
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quarrels have interfered with the operations of the
Commissioners, as well as with the improve-
ment of the Mississippi, no plan having yet
been agreed upon for deepening the channel, or
dredging the bar at the river's mouth. In
Charleston harbour nature appears to have neu-
tralised the work of man, who kindly sunk a stone
fleet at its mouth, over which, it was feared,
feet sand
would
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been
aameuoriourec
curious
manner. Mr. Utrritt Smith, the generous negro
suTit
philanthropist, in one of his liberal moods became
a bondsman for Jefferson Davis. Mr. Smith, who
had spent his life and his fortune in the cause of
emancipation, ought to have been allowed more
latitude of action than the Chicago Tribune was
inclined to give. In commenting on Smith's course
the Tribune described him as a pretended lunatic,
stating that on the occasion of John Brown's
raid that gentleman had feigned insanity to
escape the consequence of being connected with
that mad expedition. A suit was brought against
the proprietors of the journal, the damages being
laid at $50,000. All this is sufficiently- intelligible,
but the strange part of the story was the way in
which the dispute was settled. The Tribune re-
tracted the charge, admitting and bringing forward
proof to show that Mr. Smith was not a pretended,
but a real lunatic. In consideration of this hand-
some concession, the prosecution was abandoned.
We have a specimen of Mr. Smith's madness in
the following letter, written by him to Thaddeus
Stevens :—" Would to God that Congress were so
just and wise as, at this very session, to lend
$50,000,000 to the Confederate States—to each of
them so much of it as would be - proportionate to
her population, and to what she has suffered from
the ravages of the war; the share falling to each
State to be distributed throughout her territory in
loans upon adequate security. This, by proving
the love and pity of the North for her, would win
the heart of the South, and would thus produce a
true and lasting peace between them." But Mr.
Gcrritt Smith has furnished
for Ile the public
has note
only
still
better proof of his ma ,
dness
given away all his fortune, but actually announced
world.
his poverty to the lt is possible that
posterity may estimate
erritt Smith by a very adif-
ferent standard from the present generation, class-
ing him with such men as Howard.
The heirs of the Ingraham estate met on the
24th of July, at the Astor House, New York.
estate claimed is one of prodigious value, embracing
the site of the City of Leeds, and extending six
miles, so as to include many adjacent villages an
000
d
hamlets. It is estimated at more than 120,000,
sterling. Many members of the family have for
years past been prosecuting inquiries, which were
on the eve of success on the breaking out of the
war. At a previous meeting a reward of $20,000
was offered for the discovery of the will. The adver-
tisement was successful, the document being found,
but it remained for, the family to raise the money,
which was the object of the meeting. It was

thought that the instrument will give them im-
mediate possession, as the land is without an owner,
and many of those at present in possession are
anxious to obtain a secure title. Among the heirs
is Prentiss Ingraham, who was lately correspondent
for this newspaper in Paris.' It was resolved at the
meeting to raise this sum, get the will, and to take
possession of the town of Leeds at once.
On Monday, 22d July, the testimony for the
defence in the Surratt trial closed. The last evidence
tendered was that of the Roman Catholic priest,
Father Boucher,who concealed Surratt in his house
in Canada. From his testimony he was at first igno-
rant who Surratt was. On discovering his name and
character (as he held him to be an innocent man)
he did not inform against him. This witness en-
deavoured to throw discredit on Dr. Al‘Millan's
character, but as they were shown to have quar-
relled, and the priest had an evident leaning towards
Surratt, what he said had little weight. Since the 22d
ult. the Government has introduced rebutting tes-
timony, and the witnesses for the defence have un-
dergone the same dirty process of lying and slandering
as those for the prosecution. One witness swears
that he ferried Surratt across the Susquehanna at
William's Port on the 13th April. Others show
that a person could • have left Elmira, New York,
on the 13th April and be at Washington early next
day. At any rate the fact is certain that at least
two unimpeachable witnesses swear that Surratt
was at Elmira on the 13th April, and a larger num-
ber still swear that he was in Washington on the
14th. The weight of testimony is on the side of
the prosecution, but there is enough in the evidence
submitted on the other side to puzzle and perplex
a jury. The general impression appears to be;that
if the jury act honestly on the evidence before them
they will convict the prisoner. But as the trial has
assumed a political aspect it is not likely that the
jurors will agree.
The University boat race. between Harvard and
Yale came off at Worcester (Massachusetts), on
Friday, the 19th July, resulting in a victory for
Harvard. The course was three miles—the time
18 minutes 3i seconds, being a vast improvement
upon that of last year. The winning boat is 53
feet long, 20 inches wide, with a 7-inch tresselled
back-bone. The Yale boat is 49 feet long, 22
inches wide, with a 3i inch back-bone. The former
weighs 175 the latter 1601bs, and both are of
Spanish cedar. No accident occurred, in which
the crews this year were fortunate, but the inroad
of young men into the quiet New England town
gave irk to some serious disturbances, as they seem
to have used the greatest license with the persons
and property of the inhabitants. It is to be hoped
that Worcester will take measures next year to
enforce order and propriety, and if a few of the
ringleaders in the recent outrages received the
punishment they deserved, the young gentlemen
would be taught a merited lesson of self-control.
The Russian commissioner detailed by the Tzar's
Government to give over Walrussia to an officer
appointed from Washington, is daily expected in
New York. General Rousseau has been selected
for this duty, on the part of the United States.
Congress has not yet appropriated the sum de-
cided on for the purchase, which may create a
delay. A. steamer has, however, sailed from San
Francisco with a surveying party on board, to
make a topographical survey of the coast both
of the continent and of the adjacent islands. An
officer from the Treasury accompanies the party
to organise the affairs of the revenue depart-
ment. In connection with the sum to be paid
to Russia for the cession of the territory, a curious
application has been made by the heirs of Captain
W. Perkins of Worcester, Massachusetts, who
have petitioned that the sum of $385,231 be with-
held from the amount, being duo to the estate of
the deceased captain. It appears that during the
Crimean war Captain Perkins supplied Russia with
gunpowder and firearms, for which no payment has
been made, a debt which. Russia has persistently

Paris

ignored.
The steam ram Stonewall, whose name has been
changed to Japan, was to sail for Japan on the 16th
instant. She carries the armament originally on
board, with a special crew, and two officers of the
Japanese navy. The Dunacrberg arrived at Cher-
bour last Saturday, after making an excellent pas-
sage, which must be a consolation to Mr. Webb.
Some maintain that the ve,ssel is the most powerful
in the world ; others that she is a huge imposition.
But her purchasers will now have every opportunity
of judging for themselves.
It is raid that the President is preparing a pro-
clamation, warning citizens against joining in any
filibustering attempt on the territory of Mexico.
This criminal intention—if ever entertained—has
been abandoned, as it is known that the Govern-
ment would forcibly interfere. The intelligence
from the city of Mexico is to the Bth of July.
Juarez was expected at the capital, and has ordered
an election to be held for a successor to himself as
President of the Republic. This is necessary, as by
Mexican law Ortega, and not himself, is the rightful
President. Ortega, by the written constitution as
Vice-President, succeeded Juarez when the term of
that President expired. This is the law of Mexico, and
by it Juarez is simply an usurper, and has been so
for many months. His first step on his return to
the, capital will be to secure his own re-election
therefore he has named himself as successor, and,
if reports speak true, will secure his election by a
wer. Porfirio Diaz
moreN moderation in the
Mexican chiefs. The
judiciouscaapppietaa rlstthouasnie)
eois
fa hut
iisnsugamlwiliwitthiatrhy
French Minister is not detained, no obstacle being
placed in the way of his departure. But the
foreign ministers wait the arrival of Juarez to
secure the safety of their countrymen while on the
journey from Mexico to Vera Cruz. General Vida-
ncvre was arrested on the 7th of July by order of
and Mejia were Porfirio Diaz, and shot the same day.. The bodies
ian will be surrendered
of Maximilian em-
balmed.
ofMax
That
to Austria on demand. That Juarez is not des-
tined to walk over the course is clear from the news
by the Cuba. Escobedo has announced his candi-
dature for the Presidency, and proclaimed his
policy to be to exterminate or drive all foreigners
from Mexico. The only other items of news by the
Cuba arc that it is stated President Johnson has
positively decided to remove General Sheridan.
The Connecticut Legislature has rejected the Female
Suffrage Bill. Fifty deaths from cholera occur
daily at Memphis,
chiefly among the negroes.
Cholera is also raging among the garrisons of
the forts on the Western plains. Advices
from Brownsville to the 20th ultimo state that
all Imperial prefects in Mexico had been exiled
for six years. The Bishop of Jalapa had been
arrested on a charge of aiding the empire. A
general confiscation of Imperialist property had
commenced. Foreign prisoners are alleged to
have been marched through the streets of Quere-
taro. Lopez, the betrayer of 111aximilian, had
been arrested at Oajaca by the Governor, and
ordered to be tried by court-martial for ex-
cesses committed by him whilst an Imperial officer.
New Orleans advices state that the body of Maxi-
milian had been delivered to the Austrian Legation.
The remains are on the way to Vera Cruz, where
the Austrian steam
ceive them. That vessel is expected at New Orleans
on the 14th August. It is stated that the intense
indignation excited in Europe by the wanton and
criminal execution of Maximilian has not been
without its effect even in Mexico, and that Juarez is
preparing a defence of his course. Santa Anna is
reported to be still alive, confined in Campeacby.
The Pall Mall Gazette states :—" It is said on good
authority that a document was exhibited by Santa
Anna at Vera Cruz, signed and sealed by Presi-
dent Johnson and Mr. Seward, to the effect that if
Santa Anna would return to Mexico and establish
himself as President and Dictator, the United States
would recognise him as the head of the Government,
furnish him with loans to the extent of $200,000
per month, aid him with munitions of war, and
permit him to recruit in the United States. The
document was doubtless a forgery, and, if it was
exhibited, shows how desperate were the means to
which the celebrated intriguer was accustomed to
resort." It is not known what the turn of public
opinion will be on which the action of the Govern-
ment in this case depends. But Mexico might at
any time or by any false step bring on her shoulders
the weight of United States intervention. Mr.

Plomb, Consul-General at the city, will act as minis-
ter, as the Senate failed to nominate General John
A. M'Clernand, whose name was submitted, though
Mr. Otteubury's was not presented, in spite of Mr.
Seward's known desire.

We are informed that cholera bad disappeared
from Monte Video, and is visibly decreasing at
Buenos Ayres. General Lopez has succeeded in
raising a force in the United States of Columbia,
and has taken the field against General Santa Aosta,
who deposed Mosquera, and still keeps him a pri-
soner. Elsewhere we give an article from the
Standard, of Buenos Ayres, containing full particu-
lars of the war in Paraguay. _

It is state,' that Austria is prepared to join the
uternational Monetary Union, and that negocia-
ions for that purpose are shortly to be opened at

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—We live in an age of revolutions. The
Reform Bill, which was practically settled last night
when the Lords agreed to forego those amendments
they had made, but which the Commons refused to
approve, is, we arc told, nothing. It does, indeed,
admit to the franchise some hundreds of thousands
of voters, more or less, for the most part of the
working class •, but, as Mr. Disraeli has discovered
the effect of this enlargement of the electoral body
will not be apparent. England is unchangeable.
The House:of Commons " may be renovated ; it
cannot be reformed." What it did yesterday is the
same as what it will do to-morrow. But by the
side of this Reform Bill a real revolution is in pro-
aress. Only last week it was discovered that the
grave ceremonial " a call of the House" had become
a thing of the past. Mr. Bright was understood to
desire a revival of the old form, but, as on investi-
gation it appeared that the venerable Sergeant-at-
Arms would have to send his deputies in a hundred
directions at once in search of as many members
scattered in Scotland and Switzerland, in Norway
and Canada, the project was wisely abandoned.
And now it has become apparent that the days of
Conferences am over for ever. Never more will the
business of both Houses be suspended in order that
a few elderly gentlemen in cocked hats and seated
in arm chairs may receive from the hands of a few
others, equally respectable and elderly, standing
and uncovered, the written statement of reasons
why the latter venture, in all humility, to differ
from the Lords of Parliament. The Commons
found they could send their " reasons" by a clerk
without submitting to the indignity of waiting per-
sonally upon the managers of the Peers, and they
chose the alternative. The omen is terrible. The
first symptoms of the coming Revolution of 'B9
were the cries of " Couvrez vows" and " Decouvrez"
in the States General, but, threatening as the sign
is, we have still some confidence that we are not
entering on a similar era of convulsion. There
are, no doubt, rationalists who will ask whether
it was not better to upset once and for ever an
obsolete ceremonial. At this Conference of the
two Houses which bore such a mysterious sanctity
nothing used to be done beyond the handing of a
paper from a Commoner to a Peer, and if a clerk
can do the same office more expeditiously why should
not the change be made? We cannot bring our-
selves to argue with such audacious inquiries, and
turn with alacrity to consider the action of the House
of Lords when the " reasons" of the Commons were
brought before them. Lord Derby recommended
the Upper House to defer to the resolutions of the
Lower. There had only been three considerable
points of difference between the two houses, and
upon one of the three the Commons had yielded,
while on the others they had stood firm. Lord
Derby yesterday advised the Peers to give way on
these remaining points. Had he been content to
offer this advice his speech would have been brief.
Unfortunately he practised no such prudent self-
restraint. In the course of his remarks he quoted
Lord Eldon's advice to the barrister who was afraid
he might go wrong as a Colonial Judge—" Give
your judgment, but never give your reasons for it"
—as a condemnation of the " reasons" the Com-
mons had urged for dissenting from the Lords'
Amendments, but he seems to have forgotten that
it might tell equally against himself. The Lords
had made two amendments which the Commons
had flatly refused to accept. Lord Derby had
made up his mind to recommend the Lords to yield.
Had he simply pleaded the advanced period of the
session, and the necessity of preventinv all chance
of a failure of the Reform Bill, he would have said
enough, and would have consulted the dignity of
the house. What he preferred to do was to
insist at leng. h upon the superior policy of the
Lords' Amendments, and he thus contrived to
exalt the power of the Commons and to reduce
his own house to a position of insignificance.
The Lords were made to appear like au excellent
but hen-pecked husband who has made up Hs
mind to give way to the more resolute will of his
wife, and foolishly thinks he can save his own
dignity by proving to her the unreasonable cha-
racter of her demand. The worst of it is, too, that
dispassionate observers will come to the conclusion
that in this case the hen-pecked husband has not
got the wisdom on his side. Lord Derby began
by condemning any increase of three-cornered con-
stituencies. He thought they had not worked
well, and he appeared to be quite unconscious that
the experience of three-cornered constituencies in
the past is wholly irrelevant to what it may be in
the future. Lord Stanhope and Lord Harrowby
both repeated a desire to see more three-cornered con-
stituencies created, and we are content to wait with
perfect assurance that their wishes will be fulfilled.
The more important parts, however, of Lord Derby's
speech related to the rejection of Voting Papers
and the reduction of the Copyhold and Leasehold
Franchises —points upon which the Ccmmons had
disagreed with the Lords. Lord Derby went at
considerable length through the reasons why the
Leasehold Franchise should not have been reduced,
and concluded with the observation that with the
exception of two counties, and perhaps a part of a
third, the increase in the number of voters, conse-
quent upon the reduction,would be very insignifi-
cant, and would not exercise any material influence
in an election. It is impossible to imagine a con-
clusion mote condemnatory of the previous reason-
ing. It was no doubt a temptation to Lord Derby
to expose the confused phraseology of the Com-
mons' " reasons," but it would have been wiser to
refrain. Lord Derby treated the subject of Voting
Papers with more brevity, but declared his entire
approval of them. Ile even looked forward to a
time when they might be adopted, but the light
and careless way in which he referred to the possi-
bility of increased intimidation and corruption in
consequence will scarcely tend to diminish the jea-
lousy of the llouse of Commons. The result, how-
ever, of his elaborate demonstration of the Com-
mons' reasons for disagreeing with Voting Papers,
and for insisting on a reduction of the Copyhold and
Leasehold Franchises, was a recommendation to de-
fer to them which was immediately accepted. An Irish
Peer, Lord Clancarty, expressed some regret that a
collision between the two houses had not been preci-
pitated, to be followed by an appeal to the country,
in which the judgment of the Lords would he thought
be upheld ; but even this daring Peer silently, if
reluctantly, acquiesced in the more peaceful policy
of the Prime Minister. The supposed necessity of
his case led Lord Derby yesterday into a strange
series of contradictions. The reduction of the copy-
hold and leasehold franchises would be inoperative
except so far as to bring a certain additional number
of voters on to the register • yet the reduction ought"
to have been resisted. IVotine• papers might be
abused, and certainly they were brought forward by
Lord Salisbury at the latest moment, yet they ought
to have been adopted. Triangular constituencies
have not worked well without a provision for secur-
ing the representation of minorities, and they ought
not to be increased in number with such a provision
incorporated in the law. The enfranchisement of
voters is nothing ; the purity of election is a trifle ;
the direct representation of the several elements of
a large constituency is a dangerous heresy. On the
whole, the Commons were wrong on every point,
but they must be allowed to have their own way.
We confess to being rather of Lord Russell's
opinion. The Commons dissented from the objec-
tionable amendments made by the Lords ; they
accepted the amendment that was useful. The
Commons believed that the owners of copyholds
and leaseholds worth £5 a year are well qualified
for the franchise. The Commons believed that the
use of voting papers would facilitate undue influence
and corrupt practices. We join with Lord Russell
in concurring with both these conclusions. We join
with him also in the fixed conviction, unshaken by
the alarms of prejudice, come from what quarter
they may, that the amendment to which the Com-
mons did agree is the first expression of a just and
beneficial principle, the scope of which must be
progressively extended to the improvement of the
constitution of the House of Commons and to the
real emancipation of all sections of voters.
TILE "WESTMINSTER GAZETTE" ON THE POPE'S ENE-
MIES.—Under this heading we have copied else-
where an article from an American Catholic paper,
which mentions some striking instances of the visi-
ble vengeance of Providence on the unhappy men
who took part in the Italian Revolution, and in the
spoliation of the Church in the Kingdom of Pied-
mont and in the Duchies' and in the usurpation of
the dominions of the Holy See. Many additional
and still more startling facts might be added to
those collected by our able Transatlantic contem-
porary. We proceed to narrate some of those which
have come to our own knowledge, and we hope,