The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-05 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5, 1868.

It was hardly to be expected that Mr. BRIGHT
would allow the House of Commons to meet with-
out again edifying the public with one of his pro-
vincial speeches. These occasions furnish im with

such delightful opportunities to say what he likes,
and to be independent of criticism aud free from
responsibility, at least as he regards the matter.
Last evening, at Birmingham, the hon. member
delivered one of his thundering orations. It is to
be premised, however, that some opposition was
manifested at the outset of the affair, and that for
about twenty minutes Mr. BRIGHT found it impos-
sible to begin. This is certainly something new,
and shows that all are not so eager to listen to these
inflammatory harangues as has been supposed. Mr.
BRIGHT plunged at once in medias res, and showed that
the object of his speech was to answer the remarks
made by Lord STANLEY a short time ago at Bristol.
He confessed that from the first moment when he
thought of coming to that meeting he felt that he
must direct his attention to the Irish question,
which he didactically explained as the question
which will be the cause of the fall of Ministries,
and the dissolution of Parliament. It is a matter of
regret that as Mr. BRIGHT persists in discussing
this question he cannot do so with some modera-
tion. But that is not his way at all, he abuses
everything right and left, and as good as says that
for all that has happened in Ireland the English
Government are to blame, and must take the con-
sequences. One part that specially calls for notice
in this speech is that while Mr. BRIGHT enters
fully into the history and recounts the
misdeeds of Fenianism, he scrupulously abstains
from speaking of the conspiracy in the manner it
deserves to be mentioned. In no place is it de-
nounced, but he mysteriously alludes to the violent
outrages such as this country has for a long period
been a stranger to. It is quite evident that the
sound sense which distinguished Lord STANLEY'S
speech has given great umbrage to Mr. BRIGHT,
and he actually goes so far as to say that Cabinet
Ministers who can offer no remedy have no right
to speak in a defiant manner, and that they are the
promoters of disaffection and separation. It ill
becomes one, so apt to use extravagant expressions
himself as the hon. member for Birmingham is, to
find fault with others for being decided in giving
utterance to their opinions. We might search
in the speech of Lord STANLEY in order to find any-
thing that is put forward to make an effect that
cannot be substantiated by proof and stand the test
of experience. How different is it in the discourses of
the orator of Birmingham. He cannot speak of the
Church and land in Ireland without declaring that
these are much more than " questions of Parlia-
ment and controversy : they are questions on which
may depend the duration or the decay of the Em-
pire."

It is difficult to arrive at Mr. BRIGHT'S meaning,
but if he intends to convey any definition, it
must be that Feniansm is the result of a long course
of war and oppression in our government of
Ireland, and that a change for the better must
speedily take place, or peace and order cannot
possibly be restored. We do not learn
by what right he does so, but Mr. BRIGHT assumes
to himself a perfect knowledge of the Irish cha-
racter, and informs his hearers that those who
think this or that must believe that Ireland is
nothing better than a huge lunatic asylum. He
has, however, in his zeal and excitement to perfect
his acquaintance with those on the other side of the
Irish Channel, forgotten some of the characteristics
of Englishmen ; they are not be threatened with
a change of policy, and no matter how expedient
or desirable a certain plan or scheme may be in it-
self, it is not the way to declare that it must be
speedily agreed to, or the consequences must be
taken. After quoting BURKE, and going over the
" sad story" of the land from the days of Queen
ELIZABETH to those Of WILLIAM 111., Mr. BRIGHT
falls back upon Prussia for a remedy. About a
year ago, as will be remembered, the hon. member
made a speech in Dublin, and be seeks to disarm
Criticism by admitting that he is repeating, in some
measure, the remarks he then and there made, he
has found that " true things, and right things, in
this country require to be repeatLd a great many
times. At that banquet he made a proposition
or suggestion, which was misrepresented by
some, misunderstood by others, and was chaffed
at and ridiculed by many more." Mr. BRIGHT is
is not going to be put out of conceit by anything
like this, however, and he still recurs with pride
and interest to the notion of a Parliamentary Com-
mission being instituted for the purpose of acting as
the Rent Banks in Prussia.

It is really a relief to meet with a scrap of fact
amid all the fiction that pervades this discourse, and
Mr.Bmorrr's description of the House of Common's
part of the subject is worthy of notice. There are,
he says, a hundred and fifty members there that
come from Ireland ; " they are divided like some
other people, but the Irish members never
act together, so far as I have seen, for the
benefit of Ireland, and as a united body I never saw
them act for the benefit of the United Kingdom."
Lord STANLEY'S notion of compensating tenants
for
.improvements will not do, Mr. BRIGHT
asserts; and he enters into a long explanation
which seems to make the matter hopeless unless
they can have the compensation first and see
about the improvements afterwards. Towards
the close of his long address, Mr. BRIGHT
indulges in a sort of prophetic strain of the good
days that may yet be in store for us if we are wise
enough to follow his advice, and sufficiently credu-
lous to put his theories into practice. When these
long embittered questions have been rescued from
what Lord STANLEY calls the field of Parliamentary
controversy, and Irish members have united to
work together for Ireland, and have also joined in
unison with the members of Great Britain for the
services of the United Kingdom, there will still re-
main this question, the national feelings of Ireland.
It has been declared by some that there exists in
Ireland a craving, a positive hunger after the exis-
tence of a separate independent Irish Legis-
lature. Mr. BRIGHT does not agree with this
altogether, but believed that the adoption
of timely reforms would do away with all this idea
on the part of the majority, and that as justice was
seen and felt irritation and passion would depart,
and the " union which is now one of mere parch-
ment would become a union of interest and senti-
ment between the two nations." The Irish and
American press would also be with their sympathy
for those who made Ireland their own, and it is
worth while to look at the accuracy of their feel-
ings just now. "At present they look upon insur-
rection and conspiracy with a feeling that there
is something or other a root of bitterness, which if
it be not the justification, is at least the cause of
If this be so they show themselves to be
totally oblivious of the fact that two wrongs do
not make one right.

During the whole of this speech an under cur-
rent of bitterness is discernible, and Lord STANLEY,
who is generally fortunate enough to find favour
with Mr. BRIGHT, came in for no end of taunts
and sarcasms. The reason of this appears at the
close of these remarks, when the hon. member in-
dignantly exclaims—" You have been advised by a
Cabinet Minister, the son of the Prime Minister,
not to call in quacks for consultation." This
Mr. BRIGHT has taken to himself, and resents ac-
cordingly. Orthodox Ministers before now have
soight to reap reputation by following his advice,

and he gives the following astounding definition of
his views ; he keeps •' his mind impartial on political
questions, and his eye undimmed by prejudices
which obscure the vision." If Mr. BRIGHT could for
a moment see himself as others see him, he might
understand why his most impassioned words are
powerless to impress and influence those of sober
judgment and calm reflecticn, and when, to use
his own expression, he urges upon the Government
with a vehehement earnest the desirability of this
or that change they do not regard as a warning
or heed the counsel, but till that day arrives it
is useless to expect that he will be more circum-
spect or more moderate, or even possess
discrimination enough not to touch upon
topics like that of Ireland in so inop-
portune a manner. how much better it would
have been to say less of the wrongs of Ireland and
more of the danger of giving way to excited pas-
sions ? And if he had done so no cultivated states-
man but would have admired the eloquence which
gave force to the language of wisdom and lent a
charm to the voice of truth.

The position of affairs in the Thames shipbuild-
ing yards has lately attracted a good deal of atten-
tion. The distress and the destitution at the east
end of London have spread so widely, and involved
so many of the better classes in their range, that
those
-most indifferent to the sufferings of the poor
can hardly pass them by unnoticed. With the poor
rates in one parish at nine shillings in the pound
matters must be admitted to have assumed a serious
aspect ; and public charity, however ready, is not
well able to support a population larger than that
of many provincial towns. The great complaint is
slackness of work, and masters and men accuse one
another of being the cause of the deficiency. The
masters say it is impossible for them to take con-
tracts at the present rate of wages ; the men say
that it is the masters' fault that they are idle, as
they declare they have no orders. Into the details
of the dispute, and the differences as to the manner
of payment, it is not easy for the uninitiated to enter,
but certainly on the face of it the masters' interest
appears to be to keep the men fully employed.
With their capital unemployed, and their machinery
standing idle, they are losing money every day,
though they may not, in the eyes of the men, be
suffering from the badness of the times. The meet-
ing which was held a few days since in Burdett
Hall was very largely attended, and efforts were
made by Mr. B ULU VA NT and others interested in the
welfare of the district to bring about a better
understanding between masters and men. Mr.
BuLuvaNT then stated that he was empowered to
offer payment at the rate of £5 per ton for the
finished iron work of two ships. At this meeting,
however, the men did not like those terms, but
they have since declared that they did not quite
understand the conditions on which they were
offered, and they affirm that they consider £5 per
ton a good price, and would be glad to take any
amount of work at that rate. At the conclusion of
the Burdett Hall meeting a committee was ap-
pointed, composed of workmen of various grades,
to confer with their fellows, and to arrive
at some definite conclusion as to their
wishes and their intentions. Yesterday the
members of this Committee invited the
masters to a conference in Mr. CARPENTER'S mis-
sion-house, Millwall, but from some unexplained
reasons the masters, with few exceptions, were not
present. Mr. 11. GREEN, jun., of the firm of that
name, one of the few employers who appeared, was
called upon to preside ; but as the meeting was so
thinly attended ;nothing definite was accom-
plished. It is very much to be regretted
that more of the employers were not present,
as some definite arrangement might have been
arrived at. The men resent with great indignation
the charge which has been brought against them
of driving the work away from the London yards.
Some of the speakers yesterday protested emphati-
cally against the idea that they would rather live
on charity than work for their masters on fair
terms. 1 hey said that from one end of the
kingdom to the other therewasnow an
impression that they were the cause of the depres-
sionve
in the Thames shipbuilding trade. They
however, themselves to thank for this, for last have,
however, year,a
when matters were not so bad as they are now, the
men employed in the Thames yards deliberately de-
clined to work for less than 6s. 6d. a day, alleging
the high price of provisions as a reason for so
doing. The same system which has driven a good
deal of our manufacturing business over to the
Continent has been applied only too successfully to
the shipbuilding trades. The men have acted upon
the idea that their employers were their natural
enemies, and the great object has been to wrest as
much as possible from them, and to make as few
concessions as they could. The antagonistic spirit
existing between capital and labour has been under-
mining our commercial prosperity for some years
past, and now, after a long course of
dull and unfavourable seasons we suddenly feel the
full effects of the evil. If the men had not given
the public too good reason to complain of their
assumptions when work was more plentiful, they
would not now find themselves accused of prefer-
ring gifts and alms to the wages of honest labour.
Trades unionism, toot has thoroughly shaken the
mutual confidence which ought to subsist between
masters and men, and which no arguments or
declarations will rightly restore. Yesterday, when
the terms of Mr. BULLIVANT'S proposal were dis-
cussed, that gentleman proposed that the men
should draw a certain sum daily, leaving the balance
in the hands of their employers as a guarantee for
the fulfilment of their part of the contract.
Some of the men were pained and in-
dignant that such a precaution should be
thought necessary, but, unhappily, it would be only
too consistent with the ethics of Trades' unionism
to force the masters to pay higher wages by sud-
denly leaving work in the middle. It does not do
for employers to rely on the instances of good faith
and high principle which they may have individually
met with among their men, since they have
to deal with them as a class and individual
action is controlled by the laws of their unions.
How many instances came out before the Sheffield
Commission in which meu had suddenly struck
work in the middle of a contract. Mr. S.&MUDA,
the other day, in going over the experience of the
last few years, stated that all the different grades
of workmen had stopped work just as their part
of the business became of the most importance.
It is this sort of thing which alienates the :con-
fidence of employers, and checks the sympathies of
the public. There is no lack of feeling for the
difficulties and drawbacks against which the men
have to conte.ad—there is no prejudice in favour
of capital, there is no indifference to the
sufferings a: the wives and children of those
who have trifled with their chances, but
there is an impression that the shipwrights have
overreached themselves, have driven away the work
which might; have supported their own families and
those of the labourers, whose work depends on
theirs, in comfort and independence. Mr. WHIT-
MORE, a Presbyterian clergyman, who has exerted
himself greatly for the relief of the distress in Mill-
wall, spoke strongly to the men, and declared, from
information -which he possessed that orders for half

a million sterling were pending in the market, and
that if the men would come to terms with their
masters the work might be executed on the Thames
instead of elsewhere. In the face of such statements
as these, and such offers as those made by Mr.
BULLIVANT, offers and statements put forward by
those who have only the interest of the men
at heart, surely we may hope that a wiser and
more conciliatory feeling will show itself among
the shipbuilding trades. The masters, it is to be
trusted, will meet the men half way, and not show
any inclination to take au unfair advantage of the
pressure of the times. As matters now stand all
parties are losing, and everyday makes the problem
more hopeless and more perplexing.

It is some satisfaction to those interested (and
who is not ?) in the story of the Clerkenwell suf-
ferers, to know that adequate funds have been sub-
scribed in relief of their present and future neces-
sities. Mr. MAGUIRE, the able and efficient chair-
man of the Relief Committee, and incumbent of
Clerkenwell, has published an interesting
though mournful statement of the case as it now
stands. The total amount subscribed has been

little under £lO,OOO, of which more than half has
been set aside as the provision for those perman-
ently injured. Unfortunately this list is a very
long one. One girl in weak health is now in Colney-
hatch in consequence of the shock. One child
totally blind is to be provided for by the kindness
of her MAJESTY in a blind asylum. Four other
persons lost the sight of one eye, with, of course,
some injury to the other. One poor child has a
fractured knee, of which she is never likely to re-
cover the use. Another little girl, who was
recovering from the scarlet fever, has died from
nervous disease brought on by the shock. All those
in the hospitals--and only four have been dis-
charged—are likely, Mr. MAGUIRE tells us, to be
maimed for life. A:terrible result this of a single
act of desperate wickedness. The sufferings of the
mothers of families have, in many instances,
been frightful, and a great number of deaths
among aged or infirm people have been hastened
by the shock. Clerkenwell -has, indeed, good rea-
son to remember the Fenians. It is some consola-
tion to the sufferers and their friends to know that
they are at least placed beyond the reach of want
for the remainder of their days, and that such
provision has not been made grudgingly or of
necessity, but with that eager outpouring of na-
tional sympathy which would have given tenfold
more if needed.

LATEST INTELL LGEN Oh

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

FRAN CE.

PARIS, Feb. 5.

The Illoniteur of this morning in its bulletin says :
--" On the occasion of M. Benedetti, the French
Ambassador, presenting his credentials as the re-
presentative of France to the North German Con-
federation, the King of Prussia said that he was
happy to behold in that step a certain pledge of
friendly relations between the two Governments.
He also spoke of the remembrance he should
always retain of the reception he met with at Pads
from the Emperor and Empress of the French."
The Constitutionnel publishes a letter from
Bucharest stating that three bands of armed
individuals, each band 45a strong, are assembled at
different points of the Danubian Principalities.
They appear to be under the command of foreign
leaders, and are preparing to enter Bulgarii, to set
fire to the Turkish villages and renew the scenes of
brigandage which were suppressed last year. The
Romnain Government having been warned off their
intention is preparing to disarm these bands, and to
prevent by every means at its command an expeli-
tion which would entail upon it so heavy a respell-

sibility.
BOURSE, FEB. 4.--The market is not altogether
satisfactory to-day.
Three o'clock. —The market closed as follows :•
4iyor Cant.

Bank Shares 3230
Itsl'an Loan
End of month 43 40
Mexican Loan
Do. Bonds
Spanish Threes
Jiome Debt —
Deferred

of month
3 por Cent
End of month 6B 4
Credit Mobilier
End of month 175
Credit Foncier _l3BO
End of month 1371 25

Account
Orleans .....1 BBO
Northern ll6O
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern..... 540
Western
Eastern ............ .. 5371
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard 355
North of Spain
Saragossa
Boman 47

RAILWA'

TIIE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH AND AORICUL-
TURE.—We understand that a letter has been received
from the Treasury stating that a sum of £l5O will be put
on the estimates in support of the chair of agriculture at
Edinburgh ; and that, in consideration of the liberality of
the Highland Society, which also voted a like sum to aid
the salary of the professor, the Senatus Academicus are
now engaged in organising a department of agriculture in
Pfoasrsing degrees,
through
their theul
samerric manner
the as s othere vea l fstudentsaeul t
es
in-
stead of being in a complete state of isolation, as they have
cu
hitherto been.—Scotsman.
l

REPRESENTATION OF BRIGHTON.—In consequence
of a rumour which has been extensively circulated that
Lord Pelham, eldest son of the Earl of Chichester, Lord
Lieutenant of the county, will be a candidate for Brighton
at the next general election, his lordship has written to the
secretary of the local Liberal Association denying the
statement ; and adds, "Under no circumstances will I en-
deavour to divide the Liberal party by standing against
the present members for Brighton."

THE LATE ACCIDENT IN THE HOUSE OF Con-
RECTION.—The prisoners Injured on the treadmill of the
House of Correction on Monday last are in a satisfactory
state.whose leg is broken, lies at
present T
inh St.man
BarU neth°ortlobmerW's Hospital. A Swede, named
Johnson, one of whose fingers was torn off, is being treated
by Dr. Smiles, the prison surgeon. The other prisoners
(eleven in number) who Were hurt only received slight
injuries, and they are all recovered, or nearly so.
HEALTH OF ENGLAND.—The mortality of 1867
was below the average in almost every part of the king-
dom. The south-eastern division, as usual, stands first,
with a mortality of only 18.90 per thousand for this whole
section of the country, taking both bad and good. The
south-western also, as usual,
is next, having a mortality
of 19.13 per thousand; and then the eastern; 19'33- The
several midland divisions follow—the north midland,
20.31; the south midland, 20.32 ; the west midland, 20.70 ;
and Monmouthshire and Wales, 2 -68. The place of Lon-
don is next, the mortality of 1867 being as low as 22.98 ;
Yorkshire, which has been commonly above London, is
on this occasion below it, having a mortality of '23 61 per
thousand. The northern division makes
an extraordi-
nari y bad return of 24.73 per thousand ; but, now, as ever,
the north-western division (Lancashire and Cheshire) is
lowest of all, having to return a mortality of 25.59 per
thousand—a return which is a bad ono even for this
district.

DEATH FROM AN OVERDOSE OF CIILORODYNE.—
An inquest was held on Monday afternoon, at Bridgwater
on the body of Mr. Samuel Selie, aged 63, in the employ
of the dock company. It appeared from the evidence
that the deceased for several days past hat been a great
sufferer from toothache. On Thursday night last ho re-
mained upon the sofa in his parlour, instead of going to
bed, and at seven o'clock on the following morning, when
his housekeeper came downstairs, he appeared to be very
ill. Upon the table she saw two bottles, one labelled
" Laudanum Chlorodyne." Hu died that day, and a post
mortem examination, made by Dr. Bout, showed that de-
ceased had taken opium and chlorodyne. The Jury be-
lieved that he had taken an overdose of chlorodyno in his
effort to relieve the toothache, and returned a verdict
accordingly.
MESSAGE FROM THE SEX.--A bottle was picked
up on the Devon coast, about four miles from Barnstaple,
on Friday night, containing a piece of paper on which was
written the following, in pencil :—" S. S. Pollestine. We
are now sinking fast off the Smalls, and we are taking to
the boat. Signed. William Kelly, max., 18, 1, 1868."

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, TUESDAY, Feb. 4.

The Press Bill may be considered safe. The threat to
withdraw it was never seconded by an intention, and it is
now understood that it could have been carried out only
by the sacrifice of MM. Rouher and Pinard, and by
impeding seriously M. Magne's financial projects. No
doubt the Arcadians knew what they were doing; it may
be there was a veritable crisis, but most likely, as I think,
the design was to reproach the Opposition itith its thank-
lessness for favours received. M. 011ivier's amendment
was of course rejected, though supported with a very elo-
quent and forcible speech in favour of the absolute liberty
of the press. His argument was, that the evil of a free
press corrects itself. There is no struggle, he argued,
with liberty ; you have to struggle only with revolutions;
and, as Montesquien says : "Our histories are full Of
civil wars without revolutions ; but in despotic States
they are full of revolutions without civil wars."
He quoted Benjamin Constant and Royer-Collard, for
the principles on which a free press should be based—
the right, namely, for every man to think and to express
his thoughts without hit drance. He denied that journalists
could exercise such influence as the writers of books—such
influence as Urich Hutten, Erasmus, Voltaire, Montes-
quieu, Rousseau, Be'ranger, Lamartine, or Thiers. He
borrowed from Fiev6e the celebrated illustration, " The
laws we make against the press are only like the straw
you put before the windows of the sick ; they neither
prevent the carriages to roll past nor the sick to die." Men
speak of the dangers of party. But parties, really, said
M. 011ivier, are only small minorities of men. The
great bulk of a nation have no leisure for
party. They are observers, and pass from one party to
another. If they believe that order is compromised by the
Progressist party, they revert to the Conservatives; in
England they go to the Tories. Again : the more journals
there are the less dangerous. An advocate in New York
informed him that there were in the single State of New
York 800 more newspapers than in the whole of Europe.
But their power was nothing remarkable ; and why? Be-
cause, to use Girardin's phrase, there was la ponderation
des libertes. One liberty is weighed against another. The
freedom of meeting neutralises the freedom of the
press. When Bright and Cobden proclaimed free
trade in corn, the Times said "No ;" but the
meetings were stronger than the Times. 011ivier
did justice to the " magnanimous inspiration" of the 19th
January, but in conclusion he said : " I regret that the
Emperor, who on the 19th January saw things with such
an admirable clearness, should have allowed himself to
hesitate and be turned aside ; that he should have obeyed
narrow suggestions and fears unworthy of him ; that he
did not reply to all those prophets and apostles of little-
ness in the language, true and proud, of Cardinal de Retz:
All great things, when not practised, appear impossible
only to those who feel themselves incapable of great
things.'" After this speech there was a suspension of the
sitting for a few minutes. It was well delivered, though
I regret to say 'AI. 011ivier is still suffering from his recent
fall. His face was a good deal scarred. M. Nogent
Saint-Laurens replied. He maintained that 011ivier's
theories were impracticable. He ran the gauntlet of the
ages to show of what excesses the press had been guilty,
and quoted Barante, Chateaubriard, Lamartine, and Senard
as witnesses. Apropos of Chateaubriand, Belmontet, the
next speaker—the Tyrteeus of the Second Empire—cor-
rected a little historical error of 011ivier's. It was not
Louis Napoleon who took advice of Chateaubriand in
Switzerland, but the latter sought out Queen Hortense,
and, in addressing her, said, "Je viens saluter
l'Avenir." Belmontet recalled a curious little
fact, that when he in 1831 published his
brochure in defence of the Napoleonic dynasty, M. Thiers,
then Minister, threw him in prison for it. He recom-
mended entire liberty of the press, but_ his project fared no
better than that of M. 011ivier.

After M. 011ivier's speech, Emile de Girardin sent him
a telegram, beginning thus : " My dear friend, telegrams
not being interdicted, I send you one to declare that I
have just read your speech. It is incomparably the finest
you have ever delivered, and one of the most remarkable
that has ever been uttered since the discourse of Royer-
Collard against the law of September 1835," &c. In con-
clusion, he adds : " I retract and withdraw my article of
28th February, 1867." According to Girardin, 011ivier is
again " the Minister of the Public Conscience."
It appears that in the election at Lille there was a
decided majority in the town for the Opposition candidate,
but in the country districts he could hardly get a vote.
The same thing takes place at Bordeaux, Brest, Avignon,
and at other places—the rural communes swamp the
towns.

The latest from St. Petersburg is an extract from the
Jolos, which runs thus : " It is as clear as the day that
the reconciliation established between France and Prussia
is tantamount to a declaration of war against Russia."
The Gatos doubts if Prussia will throw away the immense
advantages of alliance with Russia. It is a great deal
more likely, I imagine, that Bismarck will use Napoleon
and the Czar as he needs them. .
We have news from Madrid to the Ist instant. A
private letter states that a tempest in the Philippine
Islands has destroyed 4,265 houses. There is no political
news of importance, beyond the rumour of continued
Carlist conspiracies. The heir of Don Carlos, it is said,
will pronounce shortly with the:English Constitution a Sr
main. 'Fire nine brigands who stopped a train recently
and were baulked of their expected booty, are in prison at
I3urgos.
We have an important telegram from Florence. It is
the effect that the dispossessed Italian princes have held
a meeting, at which Francis 11., late of Naples, presided,
and have agreed on a common policy.

Deaths from starvation among the Arabs in Algeria
continue to occur. Many are so reduced that succour
reaches them too late.
The value of French fisheries last year was 50,731,920 f.,
an increase of 1,623,466 f. over the previous year.
Alexander Dumas pere is about to farm a literary
Journal, the D'Artagnan.

The Austrian Red Book just published shews the ground-
lessness of the alarms that sprung from the Salzburg Con-
ference. It is now evident that Austria had at that time
resolved to abstain from political combinations, to reor-
ganise her institutions, and develope her resources.
The progress of Hungary during the last nine months
.ias formed the subject of a report to King Francis Joseph
by the Hungarian -Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.
It states that a plentiful harvest after several years of
ailure led to an unparalleled export trade, and the funds
coming back in return reanimated industrial and agri-
cultural enterprise. The proceeds of the Post Office
exceeded the estimate by 5 per cent., in spite of great
reductions in the charges ; the telegraphs yielded 45 per
cent. more than in the previous year ; the export of corn
amounted to 16,500,000 cwt. ; of flour, 1,890,000 cwt. ; and
that of other produce was in proportion. Credit and savings
banks and insurance companies have been established,
and a large number of industrial and commercial com-
panies organised. The iron industry has taken a new
start, and the Minister calculates an export this year of
600,000 cwt. of raw iron. Steam flour mills are among
the chief industries of the country, and the export of flour
will probably supersede that of grain. The Minister lays
great stress on the agricultural schools of the country. A
letter from Vienna states that Klapka and Perczel are
organising a grand national banquet, to which Francis
Joseph will be officially invited. He is becoming the most
popular sovereign on the Continent.
Russian correspondents continue to remark on tne
severity of the present winter. One of the evils of the
rigorous climate is the difficulty of keeping the telegraphs
in order. The chief injury is done by the accumulation of
ice round the wires, which look like cables of ice. The
wires often break under the weight. These evils have to
be contended against. The agent of an English company
is now negotiating with the Russian Government for a
telegraph to China and Japan, by way of the Amoor
Valley. The Russian part of the line would terminate at
Possiette harbour, in the Gulf of Tartary. By the time
this line is completed there will be continuous telegraphic
communication round the world.

An alliance betseen Roumania and Servia is talked of
at Pesth. These principalities contain five millions of
people. While they depend upon Russia for protection
against the Turk, they are anxious not to depend too
much. As Louis XVI., after 1789, had constantly before
him the fate of Charles I. of England, so Prince Charles
and Prince Michel remember the cost to Schleswig of the
protection of Prussia. Prince Michel remarked the other
day that Servia, might as easily come to be called Russia
as the Save becomes the Danube, " unless we take care
not to be too intimate with a very great Power."
There is a rumour to the effect that in case of Sir Charles
Selwyn being appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in the
room of Sir John Rolt, the University of Cambridge have
fixed upon Mr. Anthony Cleasby, Q.C., as a candidate.
The Conservatives have already spoken of Mr. Beresford
Hope ; the Liberals of the Marquis of Haqington. If
there is any truth in it, the partiality of our universities
f.,r those who are learned in the law will receive another
illustration. Of the six members now returned by the
Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, four are
barristers. Oxford sends Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the
Home Secretary ; Cambridge, Mr. Walpole and Sir C.
Selwyn, the Solicitor-General ; and Dublin sends Mr.
Warren, the Attorney-General for Ireland. Mr. Cleasby
unsuccessfully contested East Surrey in the Conservative
interest in 1852 and again in 1859.

According to the Irish Times, the Treasury have granted
£lOO,OOO for the purchase of the Exhibition Palace, the
site for the Royal Irish Institute of Art ; also £lOO,OOO for
the improvement of Cork Harbour ; and £1.00?000 for the
mstruction of a, harbour in Belfast

THE DUDLEY GALLERY.

[SECOND NOTICE.]

The post of honour is assigned to Mr. 11. S. Marks's
"May Day in the Olden Time" (173). This is a picture
in three divisions, and is of Considerable size, but has ono

subject, a May-day procession. The procession is led off
by a youth beating a drum, and two men, the one blowing
a bagpipe and the other a horn. A girl follows gaily
dressed, and bearing a Maypole adorned with a pyramid
of evergreens, flowers, and ribbons. Bullocks clad in
tapestry draw a low cart, and therein are seated the Queen
of the May and her consort, who might have been younger
and better looking. Behind the pair are a man seated on
a gaily-caparisoned horse, and another provided with a sea
monster's tail, and representing Neptune. Young children
follow his godship, and lead a hound who bears his honours
and decorations meekly. The father and the mother walk
next, as much impressed with the solemnity of the occa_
sion as the little ones in front of them. Men in scarlet and
armour bring up the rear. The figures are well drawn,
and there is an absence of stiffness not easy to attain in a
processional picture. But Mr. Marks has no idea of dis-
tance nor of atmosphere. The mediaeval buildings in the
background are as close to the spectator as the processioh
in the foreground. " Important News" (118), by the
same artist, represents a messenger dressed in red, who
has just brought a paper to the country parson decked out
in wig and black gown, such as country parsons used to
wear before the days of cassocks or M.B. waistcoats.
The Rev. Mr. Pompous is reading the news with an air
which shews that he is endeavouring to prevent the inte-
rest which he feels from compromising his dignity. "Waiting
for Orders" (616) gives us another of Mr. Marks's
favourite quaint figures in the brick-red costume which he
never seems weary of painting. Of the same class as to
subject is C. P. Slocombe's " The King's Pictures" (105).
On July 23, 1645, the House of Commons ordered that
" all such pictures as are without any superstition shall be
forthwith sold for the benefit of Ireland and the North."
Ireland was even then a trouble to our statesmen, and they
thought they could not do better than sell King Charles's
pictures, and give the money to the perennial grumblers
of the sister island. But, even to quiet them, there must
be no dealings in idolatrous pictures. The Whalleys of
that day :were numerous, and Mr. Slocombe presents us
with one in the shape of a long-visaged, sour-faced,
cropped-haired Puritan, who inspects every picture with
a contemptuous sneer, while a less acid companion,
who looks as though he had caroused in merrier days,
stoops down and hands up the pictures to his colleague.
Mr. Rossiter's " Caught in the Act" (152) will compare
with the two last-named pictures. He seems to have the
same liking for red costume that Mr. Marks has. A red
boy is up in an apple-tree, and a man with a red handker-
chief on his head is just about to use the birch lustily.
The picture is comic, and not badly drawn. Mr. Raymond
Tucker is an admirer of Mr. Hook. If the sincerest
flattery is imitation, the Academician ought to feel much
flattered by seeing his green seas and high horizons and
clear atmospheres and brown rocks, with which every
visitor to Trafalgar-square is so well acquainted, repro-
duced here in the Dudley Gallery, with water-colours
substituted for oils. Mr. Tucker has two pictures,
"Waiting for a Bite" (166) and "A Good Catch" (185),
A very remarkable piece is Mr. Trautschold's " Winter
Scene" (146). It is well placed,and deserves to be ; none more
so. A Northern pine forest has received its first coat of
snow. It scarcely covers as yet the fallen leaves and the
prostrate boughs. But a bear, the only sign of life, knows
that ChristmaS is coming, and is sallying forth on a foraging
expedition. If he had any doubt that King Frost was
near at hand, he need only look behind him, and see how
through the dark forest the sky burns with the gorgeous
hues of the winter sun in frosty weather. Danby himself
could not have surpassed this sunset. Another Northern
scene, hung too far above the line for its merits, is Mr.
Arthur Croft's "Rhuikan Fosse, Norway" (170), a really
grand scene, with its foaming torrent rushing from the
mountains in the background, and precipitating itself
through the gorge that gives its name to the picture. Mr.
Walter Storks has chosen a gloomy subject for his prin-
cipal picture. Macaulay has described it :

" Now from the Rock Tarpeian
Could the wan burghers spy
The line of blazing villages
Red in the midnight sky."

Through the darkness of the night a group of terrified
people stand on the famous rock looking across the black
waste to the lurid horizon, where the flames and smoke
are driven onward by the wind. The picture requires a
strong light ; Mr. Holman Hunt's a stronger. This (266)
is a very remarkable picture. The first time we saw it we
could make nothing of it, for the sun was far down in the
west. Coming to it a second time, when the light was
full, we were able to make out the subject. It is the Ponte
Vecchio at Florence as seen at night ; surely a very dark
night for so low alatitude. The Arno can be distinguished
dimly beneath the bridge, and in it are reflected the house
by means of a few faint lights that glimmer from the win-
dows. The colouring is eccentric ; all is sepia except the
sky,which is a greenish black. It is Mr. Hunt's only con-
tribution. We ought to have spoken earlier
of Mr. Ward's pictures, by virtue of that artist's
R.A.-ship. But we must confess that we care little for
either of his works. " A Votary (423) is tolerable ; but
" A Reverie" (562) is wholly unlike the idea which the
word suggests. Hair is made to assume wonderful forms
now-a-days, but "A Reverie" suggests a mop of black
frizzle (such as Mr. Ward presents us) as little as a chignon.
The principal picture by Mr. Cooke, .R.A., is " Catalan
Bay, Gibraltar" (521), which gives us on a smaller scale
and in water colours the same scene which Clarkson
Stanfield painted for the Royal Academy two or three
years ago. Mr. James Hallyar's " Mamma's Head
Nurse" (201) is a taking picture. "Mamma" is invisible.
We see only the hand stretched out from the bed curtain,
while to the bed draws nigh the " head nurse," in the
shape of a little girl, carrying a basin of what people in
health call slops. The drawing is very good. Mr. Jos.
M. Jopling has one noticeable picture, " Melissa" (243)
" a sweet girl-graduate with the golden hair" that comes
streaming from the violet college cap over the violet robe.
The cap is set off with a gold tassel, which gives Mr.
Jopling an opportunity, turned to good account, of con-
trasting the two golds—the gold of the tassel and the gold
of the hair. Beneath the violet robe a slight glimpse of a
red and green vest is seen, while in Melissa's hand there
is a clasped book, and in the book a marker of brilliant
sky-blue ; so that altogether the picture is a study of
colour harmony very well worked out. If we
were mentioning the artists in their order of merit we
should long ago have spoken of Mr. Arthur Ditchfield's
pictures. He has done for green what Mr. Hunt has done
for sepia and Mr. H. Marks for red, His two pictures,
250 and 251, are particularly good. His trees show close
observation of nature, and while they are minute in
detail they have a softness of atmosphere thrown
over them which is very rarely seen in these days. Mr.
J. C. Moore has two pictures—" The Tiber," three miles
from Rome, and " The Shady Sadness of a Vale,"— which
shew much careful drawing and finished execution. One
of the best pictures in the exhibition is Mr. Vicat Cole's
" Evening Shadow" (283). The effect of the gleam of light
striking across the country from the setting sun is perfect.
A very different scene is Mr. George Hall's " Arran from
the Sea " (258). The driving rain . and the glimpse
of the snowclad mountain through the rift are very
fine. Mr. Williams's " White Cliff, Beer, Devon—Sea-
fog coming on" (424), is another clever bit of atmospheric
representation. Mr. Oswald Brierly's large picture,
" South Sea Whaling " (445), is boldly painted. It
shews us the whaler's boats pulling for their
lives as the wounded monster rises to the surface
spouting forth streams of blood. Mr. J. G. Hodgson has
a similar but less exciting scene, " Within the Arctic
Circle" (31.1). Everybody will be glad to see the original-
sketch (624) of Mr. Poynter's " Israel in Egypt," which
attracted so much attention at the Royal Academy last
year. It is very small, and for a sketch highly finished.
The same artist has " A Portrait " (278), which shews
some very careful and painstaking work. The fruit and
flower pieces are nob so numerous as they generally are
in water-colour exhibitions. We notice four pictures by
Miss Caroline Eastlake, which shew that the love of art
which her name suggests is shared by another generation
of her family.

Dn the Gth of last October there was a gale off
Labrador, which destroyed SO vessels and numerous lives ;
on the 29th there was a hurricane at St. Thomas, which
destroyed nearly 100 vessels and nearly 1,000 lives ; on
the 30th there was a hurricane at St. Domingo ; on
November the Ist there was one at Hong Kong ; on the
2nd there was one at Calcutta, during which the loss of
life and property was very great ; on the 3rd the eruption
of Vesuvius commenced ; on the Sth there was a tornado
at Matamoros, which did damage to the amount of a
million sterling ; on the 20th there was a volcanic eruption
in Nicaragua ; and also on the 20th there was an earth-
quake felt at New York, Vermont, and Canada.

Mr. Jacob Bright, M. P., attended a ragged-school
meeting in Manchester, and made some observations on
the slate of education amongst the poorest classes. He
said he was disposed to measure the civilisation of a
country by the condition of its humblest inhabitants, and
thought we had dazzled the world long enough with the
munificence of men of large landed estates and of men
who had made colossal fortunes. By the side of these
there were no inconsiderable proportion of the people half
clad, half fed, and totally uneducated. He did not see
the necessity for a continuance of such a state of things;
nor did he see the continued necessitylor the existence of
ragged schools if those in whose hands the government of
the country was placed looked closely into the sources of
the mischief.

Court :113-t?-s:‹l3lrwirtuirr
)

HER MAJEST: V.

.~

U, 3BORNE, Feb. 4.

The Queen drove out yesterdi IT afternoon, ac-
companied by Princess Christi an and Princess
Henriette of Schleswig-Holstein, and attended by
the Duchess of Athole.

Lord Alfred Paget was in atta ndance on horse-
back.

Her Majesty went out this mon ling, accompanied
by Princess Louise and Prince Ai thur.

z -
THE PRESS IN FR, INCE.

The report of the discussion in 1 he Corps Legis-
atif on the bill on the press, an 1 mocking com-
mentaries on the subject of the Sixth Chamber,
which condemned ten journals tc > fines of £4O
each, continue to occupy the colum us of the Paris
journals. The Debuts leads off witl i the following :
—" Foreign journals will apprecia to in full secu-
rity the speech delivered by M. TI tiers, i❑ yester-
day's sitting of the Corps Legislatil We do not
enjoy the same privileges as the jo tuna's of Lon-
don, Berlin, and Vienna, and will not '; run the risk of
saying whether in our opinion the or .ator was above
or below himself on this occasion. 'We must refer
the reader to the shorthand report of ' the Moniteur,
with so much of an opinion, if it be allowed to us,
that he will not regret the time and labour he de-
votes to reading it."
The same journal contains au az title by John
Lemoinne, in which that writer says :—" Now that
we are dispensed from making speed les we dispense
ourselves from reading them. We may, however,
contemplate them in the sacred supf dements of the
Moniteur. But since we can no long :er occupy our-
selves with the dialogues of the Evil ig, let us seek
in the dialogues of the dead seine re: Sections on the
liberty of thinking, speaking, and Ni -riting."
The writer then proceeds to quote 3 from the well-
known epistle of Pliny the Younger to the Emperor
Trajan, from Dr. Johnson, Royard-1 Collard, Milton,
Pascal, and Swedenborg, and wino is up by observ-
ing :—" Truly, after having conversed will these,
we can console ourselves at not hay ing to read such
and such an orator, whom the Sixt h Chamber will
not allow us to name. We prefer the ' Dialogues
of the Dead.' "
The Avenir National observes :—" To tell ra-

tional beings—You have the right , to discuss, but
only within certain limits,' when it is impossible
to define these limits; to permit u s to judge of a
speech without being able to indic :ate its bearing ;
to support or combat the opinion c I a speaker with-
out being able to say what that opi uion is—is to out-
rage common sense and to get us into a net under
the delusion of asserting our right
The Liberte remarks that the experience of the
Governments which succeeded ea ch other from 1789
to 1852 show that it is impst ;ible to fetter the

liberty of the press. " But," it adds, "in spite of
evidence, in spite of history, which, it appears,
have neither rays of light nor instruction for it,
the Imperial Government persists in believing it
can be done."

The Temps commences au m .ticle thus :—" Yes-
terday's sitting in the Corps Legislatif"--here it
breaks off to speak of the pros, .edings in the Italian
Parliament.

The Union says :—" We ma it be mute. To be
silent, to be silent again, to 1 )e silent always, this
is what afflicts us ; not on o ar own account, but
on account of the representatives of universal suf-
frage ; on account of the hon .our of our country."
Even La France joins in as follows :—" But it
would be dangerous to appri .)ciate these speeches, to
give the names of those whr I made them, to refer to
the subject of which they treat, or to indicate the
impressio❑ which they ha' le produced. Our readers
will supply our forced sil 3nce by turning to the re-
port of the sitting."