The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-24 00:00:00

THE CELEBRATED RITUAL CASE.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council have
given judgment in the most important case of Martin v.
Mackonochie. It was an appeal from the Arches Court,
the appellant being Mr. John Martin, and the Rev. A.
H. Mackonochie, M.A., vicar of St. Alban's, Holborn,
the respondent. Sir R. J. Phillimore, the Dean of arches,
delivered a judgment in which Mr. Mackonochie and his
friends concurred. Mr. Martin and his friends appealed.
The case was heard before the Judicial Committee on the
17th of November.

the judgment in the Arches Court was pronounced by
Sir R. J. Phillimore on the 28th of March last, and the
appeal was on two of the charges—the kneeling and pros-
trating before the consecrated elements and the use of
lighted candles. In other respects the judgment was
acquiesced in by both parties. With respect to the kneel-
ing or prostrating, it appeared from the evidence
that Mr. Mackonochie, when officiating in the
" Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion"
twice knelt down or prostrated himself before the communion
table while saying the prayer of consecration, once after
the consecration of the bread, and again after the conse-
cration of the wine ; and another officiating minister did
the same in his presence. The allegation as to the use of
lighted candles during the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist was admitted. The following reason was alleged
for the appeal to their lordsl.ips :—" Because every clerk in
holy orders of the United Church of England and Ireland, in
administering the sacraments and other rites and cere-
monies of the Church, is bound to use the form and order
prescribed for the same in the Book of Common Prayer,
without any addition, alteration, or omission ; whereas
such kneeling or prostration before the consecrated ele-
ments, and such use of lighted candles as are respectively
proved or are admitted, in the said cause, are additions to
or alterations of the form and order as prescribed
aforesaid."

The judgment of the court was delivered by Lord Cairns,
who announced that the decision was against Mr. Mack°,
io,hie and the practices at St. Alban's.

The banns of marriage between eighty-eight
couples were proclaimed in the parish church of Dundee on
Sunday.

The supporters of Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Chief
Secretary for Ireland, and member for Louth, have deter-
mined to re-elect him, without putting him to the inconve-
nience of appearing on the hustings.

TAE ARREST OF THE EARL OF ROSSE.—The
two policemen, particulars of whose interference on a late
occasion with the Earl of Rosso and party were published
at the time in the Guardian, have been tried and dealt
with as their impudent freak deserved. Constable Burke
has been reduced to the lowest rank, and the sub-constable
summarily dismissed, the decision of the court being rati-
fied by the inspector-general. Constable Dawson, Roscrea,
is now in charge of the Annagh station, in place of Burke.
—Nenagh Guardian.

An insurance society upon a novel principle is
about to be started. It is an adaptation of the principle of
the Manchester Steam Boiler's Association ; and it will
enable colliery proprietors to insure their works against
explosion. The immediate effect of this proposal has been
tp make the pitmen declare that they will not work unless
they are insured too. They say that the masters, being
sure of a pecuniary compensation in the event of accidents,
will get careless about ve4ilating their works, and that
thus the lives of the pitmen will be in much greater danger
than before.

PROPOSED TESTIMONIAL TO SIR WILLIAM
STIRLING-MAXWELL.—A numerously- attended meeting
was held in the Royal George Hotel, Perth, a day or two
ago, for the purpose of taking steps for presenting Sir
William Stirling-Maxwell with some token of respect.
The following resolution was unanimously ageeed to:—
"That a piece of plate, bearing an inscription upon it,
stating the purpose, and by whom subscribed, be pre-
sented to Sir William." The meeting was most enthu-
siastic, and many regrets were expressed at the defeat of
the hon. baronet.

COUNT BISMARCK AT HOME. —A letter from
Stettin gives the following account of Count Bismarck
and his estate at Pomerania :—" No one thought anything
about that country before the Chancellor in 18G7 bought
his property there. At present the melancholy steppes
which border the Baltic are well-frequented, and Vertain is
now spoken of as Sans Souci was formerly. The railway
from this town to Kceslin ought certainly to burn tapers
in honour of Count de Bismarck. His residence is simply
a grand seignorial mansion, large and comfortable, but
without any architectural style, the ideal of the dwelling
of one who is half countryman and half townsman.
In front is a garden laid out with great regu-
larity ; and further on is a large park which is
well stocked with game. The count frequently invites
the neighbours to hunting•parties, at one of which
he had that fall last autumn which might have proved
fatal to Prussia. The sea is about fifteen miles off, and
during winter the north w;nd must be particularly keen
there. You will be astonished to learn that the proprietor
of this domain is engaged in numerous commercial pur-
suits. The Minister of his Prussian Majesty sells wool,
manufactures tiles and bricks, and distils brandy. His
sheep-walks are renowned, and the proceeds of the shear-
ing are sought for far and near. One of these days you
will hear that he is making paper, as he has entered into
partnership with one of the principal men of Kwslin, M.
Behrend, to establish a factory wheze this article will be
produced by a new process. I believe that the firm
Bismarck and Behrend is going to make their produce
from bark. The vast woods of Vartzin, Wussow, Cho,
mitz, and Charlottenthal, will furi*li the ray raAtviad
abundance

EXTRAORDINARY DISPUTE BET WEE 3
THE 211EMB_ERS FOR NOTTINGHAM.

--- ---a -

An extraordinary state of affairs has arisen in Notting-
ham in reference to the position of the two representatives
for the borough. It will be remembered that a petition
was drawn up on the part of Mr. Seely, one of the
defeated Liberal candidates, against the return of Sir
Robert Clifton, Independent, and Colonel Wright, Con-
servative. A few days before the borough petitions could
be finally lcdged, Colonel Wright and Mr. Seely
travelled to London together, the latter gentleman's
business being connected with the petition. They, had
some conversation together, which was continued the
next morning at the hotel where Colonel Wright was
staying. Tire effect of, it was that Mr. Seely withdrew
his support from the petition, which was afterwards
burnt. Sir Robert Clifton here appears upon the scene,
and what the hon. baronet saw and heard created such an
impression on his mind, that in reply to a telegraphic
despatch from a meeting in Nottingham as to the real con-
dition of affairs, he stated that he had defended Colonel
Wright against the intimidation of Messrs. Seely and
Richards, tie latter of whom is an election agent, and
meant to call the attention of the House of Commons to
the subject. The telegram was pastel on the walls of tile
town, and as great excitement prevailed during the
following day, Colonel Wright was communicated with,

his reply being simply that he Lad not resigned. S:r
Robert Clifton then wrote a letter to ere of the local
papers, repeating his charges of intimidation and coercion,
and again threatening to bring the case before the House,
defying Mr. Seely to disprove what he said. In the
course of a few days Colonel Wright published a letter in
the local papers, in which be said that he told Mr. Seely,
in consequence of Dr. Quain having advised him that
parliamentary duties would be dangerous to his health, he
should not remain lung in Parliament, petition or no petition.
Colonel Wright also said : "On hearing this, Mr. Seely at
once said he should withdraw his support the
petition, and I was afterwards informed that
it had been burnt. Mr. Seely's conduct in the matter,
as far as I was concerned, has been, in my opinionipper-
fectly fair and honourable. As to stories about threats
and intimidation, they are altogether too absurd to require
notice. If I do not remain long in Parliament it will be
on the sole ground of any health." This letter created
much surprise among members of the colonel's party, and
has had the effect of inducing Sir Robert Clifton to write
the following to the Daily Guardian :—" Colonel
Wright's letter has caused me utter astonishment.
In my former communication I challenged Mr. Seely
to publish an account of his conduct to Colonel Wright.
He has not answered that challenge. A man who refuses
a challenge is a coward. I await his r ply. If he does not
answer this appeal he shall have his next chance in the
House of Commons. The decision of that assembly shall
decide the veracity of my former communication.—Yours,
R. J. CLIFTON.— London, Dec. 21."

..73EFORE THE PANTOMIME.

The Daily News gives an interesting aescription of a

' visit to Covent Garden Theatre before the pantomime. "At
noon," says our contemporary, "the great place was in the full
tide of busy work. Quietly dressed young ladies peeped
in at the stage-door, and read the call-paper—' Boarding-
school at eleven for hall-past '—and ran in, or retired
slowly, as the announcement did or did not affect them.
Gentlemen with the blue line of much shaving running
down their cheeks, and with hair cropped close for
character-wigs, exchanged silent nods with the door-
keeper, pushed thr,ugh the swing-door, and went
' upstairs. Messages and notes for the lessee arrive
every few minutes, and are forwarded to him on the
stage, which is full of people. The foot-lights are lit, and
clown, pantaloon, and harlequin are all practising their
comic business for the eventful night. The walking gentle-
men who are to be beaten, the boys whose heads will be
cut off, the young women whose stage babies are to be
boiled, the aged wanderers, who are to be stimulated into
activity by an application of the clown's hot poker, the in-
teresting citizens who will be tripped up upon the same
public functionary's buttered slide, are all lounging about
the wings. Three or four pretty young ladies are sitting
on chairs with their backs to the auditorium and watching
the business ; two gentlemen, with open books in hand,
and one who beats time on his fingers, stand, also with
their backs to the place where the public sit, and give
directions and instructions to the men and boys who are
to act as pantomimic foils. Two of the private boxes
nearest the stage are occupied, and a flood of daylight
comes down from the unshuttered windows behind the
galleries. Otherwise the vast space is dark and shadowy;
boxes, dress-circle, and stalls are swathed in brown holland,
and look mysterious in their cavernous emptiness.
The desolate waste suggests the uninhabited country
on which Robinson Crusoe and Friday were thrown, far
more than the stage, where a theatrical shoeblack is busy
at his box, and where the pea-jacketed clown speedily
usurps his pace, to wrench the foot and otherwise
maltreat a subdued-looking man, whose appearance and
demeanour suggests a greengrocer who waits at
evening parties, and who has been some time out of
an engagement. The set scene behind, representing
` Lord's' on a fashionable day, reminds one a litte of
the large picture by Gustave Dm4 of Play at Baden.'
The figures are the same size, and the wistful
interested attitude of one stout gentleman, with mutton-
chop whiskers, who is apparently about to try to catch a
cricket-ball in hismouth, recalls the British Philistine of the
French artist. Nor is the analogy weakened by the fact
that at a comparatively short distance, and under all
the disadvantages of a hybrid light, which is neither
day nu. gas, this picture, or rather this group of
pictures, looks admirably real. The disposition
of the male and female figures in and about
the grand stand, their attention, and the general
life-like attitude they have been placed in, will, if
we mistake not, go straight to the heart of the gods
on Boxing Night. Some twenty dogs are chained on the
stage while the Messrs. Payne and Mr. Paulo are at prac-
tice, and these, after some preliminary growlings, fall to
in real earnest, and have to be separated by main force as
they are making their teeth meet in each other's hides. It is
like having a practical conundrum put before you t.) be
shewn theatrical proceedings such as these; with any view
of your understanding their bearing on the pantomime.
We preserved a discreet silence ; and whether these dogs
are to teach Friday's father the impropriety of cannibalism,
or to spew the advantages of civilisation by flying at
each other's throats, were as much mysteries to us when
we left the theatre as when we became aware of the pre-
sence of canine company on the stage. Up many stone
stairs, and after glancing through the armoury and the
dressing-rooms of the rank and file, we are in the property
shop at the top of the entire building, and over what
seems from the inside to be the roof of the theatre. The
armoury looked every bit as real, though not so extensive,
as that of the Tower. The wooden effigies of life
size, and each wearing a knight's full suit, are as
rigid and unmeaning at one place as the other, and
the rows of helmets and breast and arm plates on
the wall were all real metal, and as capable of good
service as those worn in veritable battle. The dressing-
rooms are like a school—clean, bare, and comfortless, and
with plain wooden desks all round them, the name of the
person sitting at each being chalked on the wall above.
The desk lifts up and is a looking-glass ; and as we took
the liberty of peeping into one of the drawers,we may mea
tion that the school books consisted of a pair of soiled silk
stockings, a stick of black cosmetique, and a pair of stage
dancing shoes. Up in the property room everything is unreal
and grotesque. Men in paint-14espattered suits of canvas
are energetically painting, gilding, moulding, modelling,
drying. Robinson Crusoe is very prevalent now, and
Man Friday too. The latter's relatives are represented
by the most hideous array of false heads, faces, and busts
it has been our good fortune to see. We trust we break no
confidence when we say that certain ostriches which we
saw stomachless and forlorn will be ridden by certain
blacks who are unsurpassed for frightfulness, and that
a procession of Amazons and Aztecs will be enough
to make one dream of horrors through the winter. Some
of the Amazons—stout men of jocund aspect and great
knowledge of life—are choosing their heads, and writing
their names inside the ones which fit them best, at the
time of our visit. We are able, moreover, to testify,
from personal experience, that the rutting on and
taking off a false pantomimic head is . a process
peculiar in itself, and that the latter part of it has a
tendency to turn the nose aspiringly upwards, and pro-
duces, indeed, the same ridgy effect upon the human
countenance as was attributed by Pip to Mrs. Gargery's
wedding-ring. Heath and faces are everywhere. They
lie on the floor in heaps, surmounted with gaily-coloured
feathers for the ' swell' savages, and they are sorted
according to squints and mouths upon shelves and tables.
The other cannibals will come up in the course of the day
and suit themselves in their turn, each man claiming the
privilege of wearing the same head as long as the panto
mime runs."

THE VACANT LORD-LIEUTENANCY.—The death
of Lord Belhaven renders vacant the office of Lora-Lien-
tenant of Lanarkshire, which is likely, we learn, to be
filled up by the appointment of Sir Thomas Edward Cole-
brooke, of Crawford, Bart., member for the northerr
division of the county.

INDIAN Humoun.—The following appears in the
Advertiser (of all other papers) :—" I am glad," said the
Rev, Dr. Young to the chief of the Little Ottawas,
" that you do not drink whisky, but it grieves me to find
that your people use so much of it." " Ay, yes," replied
the chief, and he fixed his eyes expressively upon the
doctor, which communicated the reproof before he uttered
it "we 14eau_,...se tgrea:t 1/71...auflaxt
1116111M1

ev.m....•

TURKEY.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec. 21.

Hobart Pasha's fleet is cruising about Syra.
The Porte insist upon the departure of Hellenic
subjects.

A disastrous collision has taken place near
Smyrna between two Egyptian mail steamers ; one
of the vessels foundered, but the details are as yet
unknown.

CHINA.

NEW YORK, Dec. 23.

Intelligence from Hongkong, via San Francisco,
to the 16th inst., states that the British fleet had
arrived before Nankin, and had demanded and re-
ceived reparation for the insults to the missionaries
at Yangclio R.

The rebellion under Sing was progressing in
Nurthern China.

Piociamations against the Christians Lad been
posted ihrou,Aiout the empire.
The Imperialists iu Japan had captured the chief
town of the rebels.

HONG KONG, Nov. 17.
The Cliefoo gold nuggets have fully confirmed
the finders, and also the natives, upon the question
of the remunerative character of digging.

The Viceroy, Tseng-Iiw•o-fau, has yielded every
point demanded in reference to the recent outrage
upon missionaries at Yangchow.

Her Majesty's ship Rodney, and other vessels,
proceed to Nankin.

It is reported that the French have decided to
abandon their naval depot at Wosung, and to wake
Yokohama their future head-quarters in the ex-
treme east.

The Canton Insurance Company has declared
a dividend of $750 per share.

INDIA.

BOMBAY. Dec. 5 (via Brill
The Pioneer states that the Cabul rnerchanta
confirm the assertion that the Russian authorities
have virtually prohibited the import of all goods
except indigo and mulls into Central Asia.
The army of Shere Ali and his nephew were
recently within a short distance of each other. The
press generally discredits the reported battle in

Lieutenant Brown, of the 18th Hussars, has been
killed in a steeplechase.

CALCUTTA, Dec. 1.

The Delhi Gazette publishes a rumour that Shera
Ali had been taken prisoner, but the statement re.
quires confirmation.
The Port Canning case has been postponed Intl'
January.
The prospects of the crop are unchanged.
It is stated that the Punjaub Tenancy Bill is
giving universal dissatisfaction throughout the Pun.
jaub.

JAPAN.

YOKOHAMA, Nov. 5.

The Japan rebels are still fighting doggedly.

A descent has been made by Admiral Ermonotto
in a frigate and seven ships upon the territories of
Prince Todo, who was a traitor to the late Shio-
goon. Immense damage was done. Other princes
have also been marked out for similar retribution.

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