The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-20 00:00:00

TILE 1J krE EDITION of " THE SUN " at
W. SlU.nrs, .‘ Camden Stores," 78, Park7street, Caixtdeia

to WEL

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AY 20, 1863.

Another night of excitement, or would-be such,
for some hon. members are resolved, conic qui coute,
to drive the Government to resign, and fancy that,
by continually suggesting the subject to them they
may at last induce them to do so. Mr. DISRAELI
is too sharp for them, and we should not be
surprised if he disappointed their expecta-
tations of ter all, and contrive to meet the new Par-
ment, as he has every right to do. If he do, it will
not be without having accomplished many a hard
struggle. Mr. BOUVERIF.'S amendment had so
excited and elated some of these worthies that
Mr. DISRAELI was beset on all sides, in order
to draw from him a statement of his
intentions. Mr. GLADSTONE first manifested
curiosity, and very innocently inquired what course
the Government meant to take with respect to the
Suspensory Bill. This, it will be remembered,
stands for Friday as at present arranged, and
the right hon. gentleman intimated that the
Ministry had had sufficient time to make
up their minds as to their policy. This
ingenious hint was replied to by Mr. DISRAELI, to
the effect that looking upon the Suspensory Bill as
the first step towards the disestablishment of the
Irish Church they would oppose it to the utmost
of their power. With respect to the Scotch Re-
form Bill, Mr. DISRAELI declared that on Thurs-
day he would state the intentions of Government
with respect to it. So then we have till
to-morrow to wonder and speculate, and ex-
cited politicians may speak and write in the
most extravagant style. We wonder what would
be said if Mr. DISRAELI had conducted affairs after
the fashion of Mr. GLADSTONE, what virtuous in-
dignation would not be excited, and what taunts of
abuse would not the Conservative party have been
assailed with. But reason and justice should not
thus be trampled under foot, and made subservient
to party purposes. If it would have ben uncon-
stitutional for the Conservative leader to have in-
terfered with the course of public business, and the
conduct off affairs during the last session of Parlia-
ment, it must be equally so with the Liberal chief,
and even more so, iu one sense, because he should
understand better the popular desire for the Re-
formed Parliament to meet. The Irish Church
has, in fact, no more to do with this
confusion in the House than the most
trivial bill thrown out a year or two ago can affect
present legislation. It is the struggle for place, the
thirst for power that possesses the Opposition, and
has once again drawn more compactly together
that desultory body of waverers. The idea of Mr.
DISRAELI meeting the Reformed Parliament as
leader drives Mr. GLADSTONE to a state of distrac-
tion that knows no license and can have no counsel.
Accordingly we are treated night by night to spec-
tacles such as the English House of Commons has
long been a stranger to, and which we trust it
may be long before it is again called upon
to witness. The most important matters are
put aside, the most interesting measures
neglected in order that a few perverted
politicians may play out their game, and seek to
effect their purpose. In the hurry-scurry of events
one is very apt to forget what is said or done a few
weeks back, and hence it is as well to assume
that Mr. GLADSTONE merely expressed a desire at
first that the opinion of this Parliament should
be recorded on the subject of the disesta-
b!ishment ; but to what lengths has he
not gone since, and how widely has he diverged
from the line he marked out for himself. It seems
strange that some.of those hon. members who fol-
low on his track so closely do not reflect upon the
position they are putting themselves in, and how
they are compromising themselves before the coun-
try. The object at present in view appears to be
to force Mr. DISRAELI into awkward predica-
tnents, and then to prevent a dissolution. As
we said before, we expect that he will get
out of them, and if he does we shall regard it as
a triumph over the manoeuvres of a selfish faction,
and not at all in the light of the settlement of the
Irish Church disestablishment. Mr. GLADSTONE
was too impatient and irritable to keep his place,
and do the work he assigned to himself, and has
been ever since smarting with disappointment in
consequence of his rival having done it better, and
contriving to excel in the display of those qualities of
moderation in which he himself was so lamentably
deficient, as shown by his determination to get
into place, by hook or by crook, during this
session, and with a zeal worthy of a better cause
he is working with might and main to effect that
object. To say that such a line of action is unfair
and ungenerous, is treating the matter leniently.
We might go a good deal further, and declare that
by the exhibition of these qualities he is showing
himself deficient in the chief requisites of a states-
man—moderation and reflection. The state of
public business and the wishes of the country ought
to rank higher than the mere desire for place. If
rs....sans-roNE must cer-
tainly have many chances of coming in
during the next few years in the usual
changes that befal administrations, but that
does not content him—he must and will have
his own way at once. All that we can fall
back upon is the good sense of the independent
members of the House of Commons, let them
turn to the public interest as they did last year and
stop this disgraceful struggle for place. If they
all fail Mr. DISRAELI must dissolve at all hazards,
and appeal to the country for its verdict on this
strange and most unworthy struggle for place at
cost of all precedent and in defiance of all pro-
priety.

Last evening in the House of Commons Mr.
TREVELYAN proposed his scheme for army reform.
The more pressing claims and general interest of
Parliamentary Reform have of late thrust this im-
portant question somewhat into the shade ;
but it is one which cannot be for ever laid
on the shelf, but which sooner or later
must assume its proper position. No doubt there
is very great difficulty in the way of that particular
reform which 11lr. TREVELYAN is most anxious
about. The system of promotion by purchase is of
old standing, and a strong opposition must natu-
rally be expected to any interference with
it. The manifest injustice of the method
which renders military skill and knowledge,
personal courage and character, and long and
arduous experience, comiletely subordinate to the
accidental possession of a few spare thousands,
cannot fail to strike every unprejudiced observer.
Its deleterious influence on the army itself is
naturally very great. Not only does it advance
mediocrity to onerous and responsible positions
which demand the highest capabilities, but it dis-
gusts men of talent and enterprise with the service,
and checks ambitious young men from entering so
uncertain and unsatisfactory a profession. Mr.
TREVELYAN proposes that, after a date to be fixed
for the purpose, the purchase and sale of military
commissions shall be discontinued; that from that
,date every officer on full pay shall be credited with

the then value of his commissions, taking into con-
sideration both regulation and the extra regulation
price ; that regimental promotion up to the rank
of captain shall be made according to a
combined system of seniority and selection,
and after that rank and selection that
suitable conditions of retirement shall be
provided at the expense of the State for officers of
every rank, and that a fixed proportion of the vacant
commissions in each regiment be filled by the pro-
motion of qualified non-commissioned officers.
Several minor points were dealt with, but these
were the main features of the scheme which Mr.
TREVELYAN last night submitted to the House.
The great objection, which the hon. member fore-
saw would be raised to it was that of expense,
and this he admitted to be considerable, but be
argued that great saving would follow the reduc-
tion in the number of officers, and in the half-pay
list. To the complaint that it would fill the army
with old officers, he replies by instancing the suc-
cessful scheme for promotion and retirement drawn
up by Mr. CHILDERS' committee for the non-pur-
chase corps, and he argued that the French army
and our own navy proved that a system of selection
did not necessarily open the field to favouritism.
Whatever merits may be claimed for the purchase
system, no one can pretend that we do the
business economically, and therefore it is
neither politic nor reasonable to refuse to lis-
ten to any scheme for improvement on the score
of expense. Mr. TREVELYAN'S scheme may not be the
best possible in all respects, but the principle of
abolishing a vicious and increasing system, which
men of spirit must feel to be derogatory to the pro-
fession, is a sound one, and sooner or later must
obtain recognition. Mr. TREVELYAN indeed de-
clared himself satisfied with having obtained a full
discussion of the subject, which he desired should
be brought fairly under the notice of the new con-
stituencies. When once its importance becomes
recognised we shall have plenty of suggestions put
forward, and even last night an amendment was
moved by Captain VIVIAN, who opposed the
wholesale alterations of Mr. TREVELYAN, and pro-
posed instead that purchase should be abolished
above the rank of captain, as is now the case in the
Brigade of Guards. By this means the officer will
only have one step to buy, that from lieutenant to
captain ; and the scheme also provides for a course
of practical professional training as a necessary pre-
liminary to a commission in the purchase corps.
Captain VIVIAN also advocated a considerable re-
duction in the number of regimental officers. It
was a little singular that the advocates of the pur-
chase system should take different and contradic-
tory lines of argument. Captain VIVIAN declared
that so far from its being a system of money
against merit, it frequently enabled men of merit
to supersede unfit men. General PEEL, on the
other hand, admitted the anomalies of the system,
but urged that in all walks of life—in the Church
and the Bar—money gave great advantages to its
possessor. Promotion by seniority would, he con-
tended, produce stagnation, and promotion by
selection jealousies. According to this no officer
could ever be selected for command without in-
juring the profession. Something can of course be
urgedjagainst every plan, but in no case can a
more faulty or anomalous system be at work than
at present. Sir ROBERT NAPIER, whose achieve-
ments have reflected so much honour on our army,
belongs to a non-purchase corps—a favourable in-
stance of what we may hope for with a change
of system.

It is pretty generally admitted that, scoundrel
as Theodore was, he was no coward. A passage
from Mr. Rassam's interesting " Last Days in
Magciala," in the Pall Mall Gazelle, shows that
the King could upon occasion display courage of a
very dignified order. One day, soon after his
crowing the Bashilo, the King suddenly ordered
Mr. Rassam's chains to be knocked off, treated
him and his companions with great civility, and
even sat down by Mr. Rassam, and, after pledging
him in a glass of mead, conversed with him on the
general conduct of the war, and the hopelessness
of his (Theodore's) cause, and his willingness to
submit to the decrees of his Creator. Mr. Rassam
probably thought that the King was not unwilling
to deprecate the anger of the British by this timely
display of gentleness to the captives, and he sent
a message to the King to the effect that, if his
Aajnest had no objection, he would write and in-
form the Commander-in-Chief of the British
army of his Majesty's late civility and kind-
ness. Mr. Rassam then adds :—" The King sent
me a reply, saying that I must not think that
the reason he opened the chains of my fellow-
captives was because he was afraid of the coercive
measures used against him by England, or for the
sake of the prisoners—he merely did so to please
me, and to prove his friendship towards me.
Therefore he thought it unnecessary for me to re-
port a matter to the general which was done out
of mere personal friendship. He told Messrs.
Flad and Waldmeier to reassure me of his un-
ceasing regard, and that he believed implicitly in
my friendship." Nothing could surpass the dignity
of this reply : it would have become Louis XIV. at
the highest period of his fortunes.

There is a difficulty about the vicarage of Leeds
and.the canonry in Ripon Cathedral, which have
become vacant by the preferment of Dr. Atlay.
Mr. Disraeli claims the nomination to the vicarage,
and is indisputably entitled to it ; but the Lord
Chancellor claims the canonry, and it is said to be
difficult to find a clergyman of any mark who can
take the vicarage without the canonry. The
vicarage of Leeds is worth about £1,500 a year,
but the claims upon the incumbent am so large
that no clergyman who has not private means can
accept it. The canonry is worth £5OO a year. The
vicarage of Leeds is understood to have been
offered to one of her Majesty's chaplains, who is
one of the most practical and energetic of the
London clergy, but he does not seem inclined to
take it. It is also said to have been offered to a
Lambeth clergyman, whose political claims upon
the Government are strong, but he too declines.

M. Feyonet, writing in a Paris journal, gives the
following anecdote of Lord Brougham :—Speaking
one n'ght in the House of Lords, his lordship ex-
perienced some interruption from a conversation
which was being carried on during his speech by
the Dukes of Cumberland and Wellington. Taking
occasion in the course of his argument to explain
the word-" illustrious," he said that we sometimes
use that word conventionally, and sometimes lite-
rally. " For instance," said the noble lord, "we
apply it by courtesy to the Royal Duke who is
talking so loudly, and who has done nothing what-
ever to deserve it, whilst we apply it in its pri-
mary and real significatio❑ to the illustrious duke
whom his Royal Highness is addressing."

On the 22nd of October, 1839, a hoax was
played off on the public by a report of Lord
Brougham's death from an accident. When the
truth came out, the general opinion was that, in
one of his eccentric moods, the noble lord had
himself used the stratagem to learn, while living,
what would be said of him when deal. The trick
is understood, however, to have been invented by
a gentleman who is at this time employed in a
Government office.
Letters from Carlsruhe mention that the Go-
vernment of the Grand Duchy of Baden is about
to follow the example of Prussia, and reduce its
army in the same proportion.

It is asserted that the committee appointed by
the House of Commons to report on the accom-
modation of the present Chamber have decided to
recommend that a new one, to hold 569 members,
be erected in what is known as the " Commons'
Court," the present House to be used as an
entrance lobby. The cost is estimated at
£120,000.

LATEST INTELL LGEN Ch.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, May 19, Evening.

A. Cabinet Council was held to-day, under the
presidency of the Emperor, when the Imperial
sanction was given to the law relative to the posi-
tion of the different religious denominations in
Austria.

Baron Meysenbug will leavo for Rome on
Saturday evening at the latest.

SW EDEN.

STOCKHOLM, May 19, Evening.

I'he King leaves:the capital on Friday next for
Schonen, but is expected to return before Whitsun-

tide.

Herr Carl Job Ann Rooth bas been appointed
Consul for Sweden at Kid.

AMERICA.

QUEENSTOWN, May 20.

The Inman Royal Mail steamer City of Boston,
from New York on the 9th inst., arrived here at
9 a.m. to-day. She landed mails and passengers,
and proceeded immediately for Liverpool. All
well.

FRANCE.
BOURSE, May 19.—Three o'clock.—The market
closed as follows :

4i. per Cent.
End of month —
3 per Cent
End of month 69 62-1-
Credit Mobilier 287 50
End of month 290
Credit Foncier 1473 75
End of month —
RAILWAI

Bank Shares
Ital'an Loan —
End of month —
Mexican Loan 21
Do. Bonds
Spanish Threes
Home Debt
Deferred —
s. Cash

Orleans ... 870
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern..... sB2k
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Roman..

5561
375

THE FIRST BLAST OF THE 2RUMPET.

The following letter has been addressed to a
contemporary :

Sir,—The word went forth at the great special
service in Westminster Abbey on Sunday exening
that to disestablish the Irish Church is to disown
Christ. Our uninstructed lay intellects had ima-
gined that the way to honour Christ was to do
justica, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
our God ; and we had begun to feel happy in the
idea that the last badge of conquest was about to
be removed, and that Protestant and Roman Ca-
tholic were going to live side by side as fellow-
subjects and fellow-Christians, as they do in
Canada, Australia, Germany, and other parts of
the world. Let it not be said with any show of
reason that the English, as a nation, love to bully
the Celt, and have no real desire to do justice to
Ireland. The Episcopal Church of Scotland was
disestablished 180 years ago, because the Scotch
refused to be treated as a conquered people ; and
the Irish Roman Catholics are now four or five
times as numerous as the Scotch Presbyterians
then were. However this may be, Dr. Words-
worth hasput himself forward as the fugleman of the
20,000 pulpits with which we were threatened ;
and as he has entered on the domain of politics,
he will acknowledge the fairness of publishing his
sermon in order that it may be seen what there is
in it to accept or answer.—l have the honour to
be, &c., AN ENGLISH CELT.

The Court of Assizes of the Gard has just been
occupied with the trial of a shoemaker, named Her-
mann, and his wife, for the murder in November
last, at Nimes, of their daughter, thirteen years old.
They were 48 hours in accomplishing the deed, and
when they had finished they passed the rest of the
night in singing hymns and uttering strange cries.
The woman had formerly been of light character,
and the deceased was born before Ler marriage.
But having reformed she felt the presence of the
child a perpetual reproach, and took an intense dis-
like to her, siying that she was possessed by the
devil. As the mother was in the habit of beating
her, the girl had been heard to say she was sure she
would not live long and that she should not die a
natural death. The jury found both the prisoners
guilty, the mother of murder without premedita-
tion, and the husband of being an accomplice.
The court sentenced the former to hard labour for
life, and the latter to 10 years of the same punish-
ment.

M. Dump, Minister of Education in France, is
about to send to Constantinople, to the College of
Galata-Serai, organised by the French Embassy, 12
of the best teachers to serve as superintendents or
inspectors; they are to be from 25 to 30 years of
age, and unmarried. They will remain attached to
the University, although passing into the Ottoman
service, and will be under the protection of the
French Ambassador. They are to be boarded and
lodged, with a salary varying from 2,000 fr., to
3,000 fr., subject to a deduction for a retiring pen-
sion to be paid by the French Treasury. Teachers
of all the departments are allowed to become can-
didates for employment in this mission."
A military tribunal at Grenoble has just tried a
man named Saunier for desertion to the Russians
in 1855, in the Crimea. He had stolen 470 f. from
his captain and was placed in confinement, but he
managed to escape and went over to the enemy.
He reached St. Petersburg and thence returned to
France. At Annecy he was sentenced to five years'
imprisonment for robbery, and while iu gaol was
discovered to be the deserter Saunier. He alleged
he had been taken prisoner, but a majority of the
Court did not believe him, and sentence of death
was pronounced.
Mr. Darby Griffith on an " early day " is to
" call attention to the manner in which the exercise
of the prerogative of the Crown in the granting of
titles and dignities has come to be considered to be
part of the ordinary patronage of the Prime Mi-
nister, and to the extent to which the exercise of
that power for political purposes may affect the
independence of the House of Commons.
In Monday's sittings of the Academy of Science
M. Dumas, Professor of Physics,
delivered an
eulogium upon the late Professor Faraday. llis
speech was much applauded.
In Tuesday's sitting of the Berlin Chamber the
Upper House, after a debate lasting seven hours,
the bill for the abolition of capital
punishment was
rejected by 22 against 15 votes. The three cleric al
members of the house voted for the retention of
the death penalty, and the Crown Prince in favour
of its abolition. The clause doing
away with
corporal punishment was unanimously agreed to.
In reference to an account of a train on the
Bologna and Pistoja line having
been in danger
from running down an incline, the directors of the
Upper Italy railways, considering
that this state.
ment was of a nature to do injury to the company,
publishes a rectification. The train in question
having acquired a certain momentum in the descent
passed the point at the Piteccio station, at which
it should have stopped. It was, in consequence,
run on to a safety line at the side, constructed with
a steep gradient in prevision of such cases, which
not unfrequently occur. The engine and carriages
were thus brought to a standstill before they had
made half the ascent, and their departure from
the main line was not the result of an accidental
manoeuvre, but was intentional.
A racing club, called " The Union," has just
been founded at Berlin. A considerable sum of
money has been subscribed by the members to be
given in prizes.
Mr. Thomas Cooper has written to the Lincoln
Gazette to say that he is not dead. He says :
" The Nottingham papers of Tuesday say I am
dead. I can assure you I don't think it is true. I
don't remember dying any day last week, though
l they say I died at Lincoln last Friday. ' Lord,
lord,' as Falstaff says,
I lying."
4 how the world-is given to

00141tEaEONDIACZ IPUOJILL'Aitia.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS. TUESDAY, May 19.

I mentioned in yesterday's letter that M. Pinard had
been very successful in his Management of the election&
But even while I was writing there was impending a most
severe defeat. Early in the month an election toot
place for the district of Tarn. There were three candi•
dates, one officially favoured, the others independent.
The result was, that the first was at the head
of the poll, but did not obtain the absolute
majority required by the law. A fresh election
therefore took place, and one of the Opposition candidate,
having withdrawn, the contest was fairly fought out on
equal terms. The result was that the official candidate
was beaten by more than 7,000 votes. Nor was this all
while at the first election he received 13,774 votes, at the
second he received 1,176 fewer ; on the other hand,
the Opposition candidate received 3,752 votes more than
both the Opposition candidates together received at the
first election. So that the Government has lost 5,000 votes
in that district during the past fortnight. The Govern-
ment journals had spoken confidently of their champion's
success. To-day they declare that when the second Oppo-
sition candidate withdrew the election lost all its interest,
for it became a mere question of personal preference—a
statement manifestly contrary to fact. This is a sore
rebuff for the Minister of the Interior.

Recently there has been some talk of a visit by the
Emperor to Berlin. The idea has been abandoned,
but it was at one time entertained. I believe that
this is what took place. When the King of Prussia
visited our Exhibition last year he gave a return invitation
to his host. It was accepted, and this year an attempt
has been made to give effect to it. M. Benedetti, our
Minister at Berlin, was charged to make the necessary
arrangements ; but he soon found that it would be better
for the visit not to be made at all. He had to tell his
master that the Emperor of France was by no means
popular in Germany, and that his receptiort, if he went
there, might be even more marked by unfriendliness than
that which he had at Salzburg last year. Under these
circumstances the project has been abandoned. It is far
more probable that the King of Prussia and the Emperor
of Russia will meet at some watering-place, probably
Kissingen.
The Archbishop of Algiers complains that there is a
religious influence at work at headquarters adverse to him.
Mgr. Lavigerie refers to a curious fact which is not gene.
rally known. There is a certain M. Urbain who is
attached to the Ministry of War, and who attended the
Emperor during his journey to Algeria. This official,
who is much consulted on all matters relating to
the colony, some time ago turned Mussulm an.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the Arch-
bishOp should suspect M. Urbain would use his
influence to prevent the education of Arab children in the
Christian faith against the wishes of their relatives.
The Commissioners of the Great. Exhibition have got
into deserved trouble. Last year they suddenly removed
all the chairs from the front of the restaurants, in order
that the public might he compelled to use the seats which
were the property of the Commissioners. For this they were
sued by M. Bernard, one of the contractors, and they
have been condemned by the Civil Tribunal of the Seine
to pay him an indemnity of more than £9,000 and all the
costs the trial.

Baron Hausmann is as merciless as death. He spares
neither the young nor the illustrious. He is pulling down
one of our finest streets, which is comparatively newly
built; and he has now doomed the house of our great
dramatist Corneille, 18, Rue d'Argenteuil, to destruction.
The air is full of the dust that comes from the baron's
demolitions, and it has produced a peculiar effect upon the
nasal and bronchial organs, which is called the Haussraann
oatarrh.

Both Chambers have been sitting this evening. In the
Senate the important subject of free teaching in the
higher grades of instruction—one which excites immense
interest here— was discussed by Baron Dupin and M. de
Sainte-Beuve. The latter senator is a rarer aria at
the Luxembourg Palace, and is considered by the great
majority of the senators a very black swan indeed. They
refused to listen to him the other day when speaking on
the Press Law. This afternoon he made a somewhat violent
speech in behalf of free thought.
In the Palais Bourbon the discussion on free trade was
resumed by M. Rouher. The Chamber was crammed in
expectation of this speech, and presented a very im-
posing spectacle. The Minister of State said that this
long debate had raised two fundamental questions,
which it was important not to confound. Had the Com-
mercial Treaty of 1860 proved injurious to the industry of
the nation, or had it not rather had the effect of an ener-
getic but most necessary stimulant? The second question
was, what were the causes of that general crbie "...hioh for
the last twelve or fifteen months bad weighed upon the
whole of Europe? The first was a permanent and general
question ; the other a special and transient one. This
distinction established, he would inquire into the
motives that led to the conclusion of the treaty, and the
promises which accompanied it ; and he would point out
that at the time the Government had not the advantage
of finding ready to hand a maturely-considered
system of legislation on matters of commerce and of public
works. Anterior to 1852, French legislation on these sub-
jects was in open contradiction with the moderate tariffs
of Colbert and the Liberal theories of Turgot, which led
to the commercial treaties of 1786. The system practised
anterior to 1852 was, in fact, an act of anger on the part
of the Convention, finding itself at war with all Europe.
That it had subsisted so long was to be explained
by the great wars of the Empire, and during the two
succeeding pacific Governments by the predominance
of privileged interests. Since the Treaty of Com-
merce had been signed, it had become the fruitful
basis of confidence between two nations upon
whose mutual good understanding depended the
peace of the world. But the treaty had not been
hastily concluded. It was preceded by an inquiry which
lasted eight months, and in which no interest had been
overlooked. As for the promises which accompanied the
treaty, and which removed any uneasiness the manufac-
turing interests might have felt, he would prove that the
programme then held out, so far from being neglected as
had been charged, was being persisted in with unremitting
perseverance. M. Rouher refuted the figures given by M.
Fouyer-Quertier to prove that taxes had increased in
France while they had diminished in England, and that
French Budgets had been constantly growing while
British ones followed the inverse direction. M. Pouyer-
Quertier had forgotten, said M. Rouher, that the English
budget was not that of a centralised Government. like
ours. Again, as for the valuation of exported articles,
which M. Pouyer-Quertier criticised so much—who fixed
the scale of that valuation? Not Government officials,
but a committee (la commission des valeurs) consisting of
80 of the most honourable merchants in Paris. All M.
rouyer-Quertier's figures vanished as soon as they were
touched with the end of a finger. During the progress of
his speech, which was delivered with M. Rouher's usual
effective eloquence, the orator was several times applauded
from the Opposition benches.

It was stated by one of the correspondents of the
morning papers that the Abyssinian captives had no love
for Mr. Rassam, and it was pretty broadly intimated that
he was a humbug who used his influence with Theodore to
his own advantage without caring for his fellow-prisoners.
A letter from that gentleman, published in the Pall
Gazette, gives a different account of the matter.
He mentions (without -reference to this accusation)
that when his chains were taken off by the
command of the King he used every favourable oppor-
tunity that offered to obtain the same concession for his com-
rades, and at length had the satisfaction of seeing his
exertions rewarded. He indignantly denies the charge of
which he had heard—that' he had appropriated to his own
use money which had been presented to him by Theodore.
He gives an amusing account of Theodore's great
gun, which had been named Sevastopol. The King
asked many questions about the English style of
warfare, and said that had he been as powerful as be once
was he would certainly have gone down to the coast to
meet our people on landing, or he would have sent and
asked them what they wanted in his country. " But
now," he added, " I have lost Abyssinia excepting this
rock ; and it would be quite foolish of me to say anything.
However, I am ready to meet them here, and I must sub-
mit to the will of my Creator." Surely never did more
pions words come out of the mouth of a blood-stained
monster.

Last week the Pope entered on his 77th year. He is
wonderfully vigorous for his age. He takes pleasure in
referring to the great longevity of his nearest relations.
His brother, Count Jelome, died at 84 ; his mother, the
Countess Catherine (née Polazzi), at 82 ; his paternal
grandfather, Count Hercules, at 9G. His two surviving
brothers, Counts Gabriel and Gaetano, are respectively 87
and 83 years old. His one surviving sister, Countess
flenigni, is only three years younger than himself. Very
different from some other Popes, Pius IX. has neither
enriched nor called to Rome any of his relations. There
are some in a condition of fortune not far removed from
embarrassment.

According to the re ply of Pius IX. to the bishops, the
great Church Council is to take place on the anniversary
of the promulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception, Dec. Bth ; but, as it is estimated that the
preparatory work to be done will take at least seventeen
nonths, it is not probable the Council will 1)0 convoked
',olo_ro Loccuilnr S. ISTC.'