The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-09-26
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.


The. Adjournment and History of The
English Parliament, and Mc Death
/. roll among its Members. - London
Inconvenience, and Lack Of Enter.
prise. The Ptds Of sirty thousand
Men Recent A,yipals " rcmorha.
Ole Chogacfe,s. q ~ .
? LONDON, Eng, Sept. 8, 1879.
The Parliament which for the sixth
time has been prorogued, assembled OH
the 9th March, 1874. AT the end of its
sixth session II was therefore five years
five months, and ten days old. Its
predecessor, which was dissolved dur
ing the premiership of Mr.. Gladstone
on the 25th January, 1874, had lasted
five years, one month, and 10 days, and
the Parliament which was dissolved in
1868 had an existence of three years,
two months, and twenty-scven days.
The present Assemblyis, therefore, the
longest lived since The Parliament sum
moned by Lord Derby on the 31st NAV,
1859, and dissolved by Lord Palmers-
ton OIL the 9th July, 1866, six years, one
month, and six days. Although the
present session witnessed comparative
ly few changes, taking the life of this
Parliament as whole, the number of
new members returned is equal to that
which has often come back from the
country as result of general cleo
ton. Fifty-nine members have died
four in 1874, u in 1875, IA in 1876,
eight in 1877, Is in 1873, and six thus
far in 1879. Mr.. Charles Gilpin was
the first member removed by death,
Captain Stacpoole was tho last Up
to the end of 1877 the mortality was
greatest amongst the conservative party,
but since the beginning of 1878, of the
twenty-one members who have died
only seven were supporters of the Adj
ministration. the remainder being d.
vided between the Liberals and the
Home Rulers, much smaller body in
the House OF Commons. OF the six
deaths this year three were amongst
the Home Rulers and two amongst the
Liberals; the only Conservative MEM
bei who has died since the beginning
of 1879 was Mr.. Whitelaw.
II is not only in telephones that Lon
don is behind American cities; and
though in this respect 1t is said that the
metropolis is shortly to be placed ahead
of New York, there is but little pros
pect of improvement in other drcc-
tiOns. The conveyance of luggage is
one matter in which we are terribly be-
midland, YET nobody seems inclined Ia
adopt sS stem of checks and express
wagons such as has been so profiiably
and conveniently established in the
United States. In the same way the
organization ofImessengcrs, who are TO
he obtained at any hour of the dav or
night by the payment of small annual
fec, has never been attempted here,
though they would certainly be en-
ployed largely when once the plan was
understood. Even when London has
an advantage, it surrcnders it without
dcmur. A few years ago the District
Telegraph enabled any one to send n
despatch for sixpence. The govern
ment took the concern over, and since
then all Londoners have had TO pay a
shilling. Nothing, indeed, can well be
more surprising than the Indifference
of population of the largest city in the
world TO its own convenience. In the
matter of water stir is now being
made; but how calmly has the bad and
insufficient supply been tolerated for
years. Private enterprise, vigorous as
it is in this country, seems at times to
fall Gnaccountably short of its opportu-
miles, while general grumbling has iai
less effect in bringing about rapid
change than is sometimes imagined.
or all the man9uvres that will be at.
tended this autumn by British officers
commissioned by her Majesty's gov
crnmcnt to witness and report upon
these magnificent exercises, the most
interesting and instructive will proba-
bly, be those performed by the army
corps stationed oil Germany's western
frontier. They will take place under
The personal command and superintend-
ence of the venerable German emperor,
who, for the first time since its forma.
ton, will inspect in the field the splen-
did corps added TO Germany's national
army by the annexation of Elsass-
Lothringen. This corps is almost ex-
clusively composed of lcvies raised in
the provinces that only nine years ago
were an integral part of the French
Empire. 1t has been trained and is
commanded by Prussian officers, and
will have the honor, when brought I'M
der the notice of its warrior monarch,
Of taking part in what are called "Roy-
al ManGuvres"-that is TO say, manpu-
vres in which two entire army corps
act against each other, upon plans of
mutual attack and defence, roughly
sketched out for their commanders by
the most eminent Prussian strategists
OF the day. Nearly sixty thousand
men of all arms will be employed in
these gigantic operations of mimic war
fare, which will be followed by d.
visional manGuvres in every military
district of Germany. ALPHA.