, 1875-12-22

fore it can be repaired The nearest point is
now Rangoon, and news from Perak, therefore,
even if sent every day, will be a week old.
This week there is none, beyond statements
that Mr.. Birch's murder was not premeditated,
which may or may not be true that General
Colborne has started from Hong Kong with
800 men, and will therefore command in any
operations at Perak; and that the Ord Bluffs,
q Goorkha regiment, and some artillery have
started or are starting from Calcutta. Quite
a little feet of gunboats is concentrating at
Perak, and General Colborne will have at his
disposal above 1900 Regulars, 500 Blue-jack-
cts and Marines, 800 Goorkh&s, and 200 or 800
armed police. This force is quite sufficient
for any probable operations, more especially as
the Chinese miners, as usual, are enthusiastic
at the prospect of legally killing Maays, whom
they regard very much as Western Americans
regard Red Indians. The Chinese merchants
have, it is stated, offered to place 2 1000 Chinese
at Sir w. JerVois's disposal.
The French Elections are to come off before
March, and NJ. Buffet is busily providing gags.
handouts, and strait. waistcoats for the electors.
He has already, by allowing only one member
to each reimbursement, reduced the Chamber
from 1856 members to $40. and has now further
diminished this by striking off four votes from
Algeria, which is Republican, and is to be
allowed, therefore, six votes instead of ten;
and by DISTINGUISHING the colonies, which are
also Republican, altogether. He has further
refused to abandon the right of appointing q
mayor wherever he pleases, instead of allowing
the Municipal Council to elect him, and has
proposed a Press law so stringent that the
Assembly has appointed a Radical Commission
to examine it, and will probably prefer that the
state Of siege, under which any journal can be
suspended by military order, should continue.
To hoo affirmed mnrooUor IN q Onoooh an Aba
Mares, that Marshal MacMahon has the right
to select a Cabinet outside the Assembly and
through M. Dufaure, in q speech on The Press
Laws, that it is the intention of Government to
"make its ideas prevail" The Republicans
bear all this impatiently, but without serious
resistance, hoping that the Elections, whatever
the pressure, will give them a considerable
majority.
Count Arnim has forwarded o letter to the
Times, denying in the most solemn manner
that he ever had any correspondence with the
Empress of Germany, or any Interchange of
ideas, public or private, with Her Majesty that
he ever forwarded to the Emperor any letter
or report, except through the Foreign Office;
or that he has ever knowingly opposed the
politics of the Chancellor. He refuses "to Law
himself open to the reprOach of having glOrifed
himself by an intimacy which never existed,
ana an lnuu6nCo WHlCu n6 never uau ana never
wished to acquire" This letter makes the
imbroglio deeper than ever. 1t is impossible
that the Count should not be exact, for any
failure in accuracy would be patent to the
Emperor, who knows all the facts, yet he ad-
mits that Prince Bismarck did speak to him
about the subject. He is only perfectly
ignorant of the facts, real or imaginary, from
which Prince Bismarck may have drawn the
conviction which made him say what he said
to me about this subject" Letters from Count
Arnim may, of course, have been shown to the
Emperor or Empress without his knowledge.
Mr.. Plimsoll, in a letter to the Times of
Wednesday, says that o single telegram from
the British Government to the ConsuIs and
Vice-Oonsuls, authorizing them to spend &c 2s.
on the proper inspection Of each grain loaded
vessel, is all that is needed "to make the Act
of 1875 virtually operative, and so to save
many many lives; the neglect of this will con-
sign them to a watery grave,'-and Mr.. Plim-
soil shows conclusively that this will probably
be SO. The Ismes cordially supports his pro-
posal, and assures Lord Derby that Parliament
wonld at once grant him an indemnity for the
responsibility involved in taking such a step
and the Times only expresses the opinion of the
whole nation, on this head. Without proper
inspection, the mode of fulfilling the provisions
of the Act varies so much with different ships,
that In many cases the Act is imperative.
Tt is not easy to get the better of Mr.. Dis
raeli, The SLOWLY sinking reputafion of tha