11 AUGUST 1866

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The King of Prussia has returned to Berlin, meeting of

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course a splendid reception from the people, and on Sunday, the 5th inst., opened the Parliament in person, in a speech not without dignity. After thanking God for His gracious...

It is understood in Prussia that this speech restores to

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the- people the control of taxation, and it has been well received. The Centre will, it is said, vote with the Conservatives, and the bill of indemnity will therefore be passed...

The prospect of peace has been clouded by an announcement

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that Napoleon has formally demanded of Berlin the boundary of 1814. This demand is understood to imply the cession to France of Sarrelouis and Landau, German fortresses and...

The American " House Committee on Foreign Affairs " has

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recommended, and the House of Representatives has passed, a Bill relaxing the neutrelitsr lawn, abollehing in pautictilar the law which . requires the owners of waned 'fess*...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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DARLIAMENT was prorogued by Commission on Friday, the 1 Royal Message being read by the Lord Chancellor. It does not contain much, but, as usual when Mr. Disraeli leads the...

The preliminaries of peace have been published in full, but

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they contain little that is new, except a distinct provision that the Southern States may bind themselves to Prussia on terms to be arranged by themselves, without Austria....

The week has been full of rumours about Italy, but

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the facts which appear certain are, that under the preliminaries of peace France is to be a party in some way to the cession of Venetia, that Ricasoli demanded Trent, that this...

THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY of ENGLAND.—A Series of Articles will be

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commenced in the SPECTATOR in September, containing the history of each province in England so far as it is separate from that of the nation, its geography, its ethnology, and...

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An official report has been published upon the mortality among

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the troops in Hong Kong last year, and its verdict is sufficiently clear. The troops were not cantoned, but hutted, and so they get fever and died, as in the tropics under such...

The Extradition Rill lies passed with a "rider." It is

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to last only for one year, so that the discussion may be. renewed, and we may be able to see what France really does mean. It is possible to be over suspicions on the liberal as...

There is a story going about and attracting some attention,

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which looks to us very like an invention. M. Charles Bernard has, it is said, invented a " light coat" which musket balls will not pierce. Ile wore it at the Tir National in...

This letter very closely resembles in tone, too closely, one

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on which we have commented elsewhere to Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen. That gentleman asked Mr. Gladstone's opinion of Sir E. Daring, who had voted for Lord Dunkellin's motion, but is...

A curious hoax has been played off upon the Scotch

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papers. It has been reported for some days, falsely or truly, that a fleet of armed steamers, three, five, or eight according to taste, had made a rendezvous at the Faroe...

Sir John Pakington made a very grave statement on Saturday.

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Mr. Graves asked him the names of the ships in the reserve at present available for service, and the First Lord replied, " My hon. friend will excuse me if I do not give him the...

Mr. Horsfall, intending, we presume, to get Mr. Gladstone if

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possible into a scrape, wrote to him on the 6th as a constituent to ask his opinion of the Reform. League and recent disturbances, to which queries 14r. Gladstone returned the...

The Registrar-General's report on cholera is not very reassuring. In

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the week ending the 4th inst. 1,053 persons died in London of cholera and 354 of diarrhoea—which is only cholera modified. The virulence of the disease is still, however,...

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The Moniteur of Friday, for the first time since the

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coup d'etat, acknowledged that the Emperor Napoleon had been W. Ile left Vichy, it says, by the advice of his physicians, but has been better since his arrival at St. Cloud. The...

People are dying in hundreds in Orissa because the Indian

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Government will not keep its pledges. It has promised a per- petual settlement over and over again, but only granted one for thirty years; the last is just expiring, and the...

Home Securities have been rather depressed during the week, and

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prices have had a downward tendency. Yesterday, by the nature of the news from Paris, Consols for money declined to 87k, 11-, but the market, owing to the more favourable...

A great meeting of workmen was held on Wednesday evening

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at the Mansion House to support the Reform Bill. The Lord Mayor was in the chair, but there were no notabilities and very few middle-class people there. The meeting was...

Lord Cranborne has agreed to remedy two grievances in the

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'Indian Army. Officers left out of the Staff Corps complain that promotion is slow, and officers who paid bonuses to induce their seniors to retire consider themselves swindled...

Oxford is anxious to establish a Hall of poor scholats

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only. The sub-committee appointed to consider the extension of the Univer- sity reports in favour of a Hall in which the fees shall be only 51/. a year, in which breakfast and...

4‘ 10 per cent.," which a few weeks ago was

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only a nuisance, is liecoming a calamity, checking not only speculation, but ordinary trade. No one will do anything he can help while he has 10 per -cent. to deduct from his...

A remarkable speech was made in the House of Lords

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on Monday, Lord Kimberley taking advantage of the Bill for con- tinuing the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act to deliver his views upon the condition of Ireland. He believed...

Earl Russell presided on Wednesday at an annual meeting of

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the Devon Association for the Advaneement,of Literature, and of course strayed in his speech into polities. His observations, how- ever, were general, and of unusual interest....

Yesterday and on Friday week the leading Foreign Seenoities left

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off at the annexed quotations :— Friday, Augl. Friday, dogs 10- liffikORII Spanish Passive • • Do. Certificates . • Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858.. 1862., United States 5.20's...

The closing prices of the leading British Railways yesterday

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and on Friday week were :— Tau, Aug. 3. Priddy, Aug.10. GrearEastern Great Northern. .. • • Great Western.. Lancashire and Yorkshire London and Brighton . • London and...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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PRUSSIA AND THE FRENCH OPPOSITION. I F the Emperor of the French is not wiser than the French Opposition, the disarmament for which Europe longs will be further off than ever....

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THE LIBERAL LEADERS AND SIR E. DERING.

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T HE correspondence about Sir Edward Dering, published in Monday's papers, will not, we fear, be received by thoughtful Liberals—we use the term, in spite of the outcry against...

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ITALY ANI) HER ADVISERS.

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IF Venetia is ceded to Italy without conditions, we trust that in spite of the national exasperation, or even of a cry for his own abdication, Victor Emanuel will make peace. If...

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NAVAL ADMINISTRATION.

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S IR JOHN PAKINGTON will have a great deal to think of during the recess. Mr. Seely kindly gives him that time for weighing the suggestions made in the last debate, and since...

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THE APPROACHING CRISIS IN AMERICA.

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IT is time for Europe to glance once more at the course of American politics. Great battles have their interest when they are fought so near home, new empires seem in these...

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THE DISCONTENT OF THE INDIAN SERVICES: L ORD CRANBORNE has had

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the advantage of commencing his career as Secretary of State for India with an act of grace towards the officers of the late Company's army, which will at once secure him...

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THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY 07 ENGLAND AND WALES.

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WT E propose to publish, though not, we fear, till September, the vacation having interfered with our arrangements, some essays upon a portion of English history which has...

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PRUSSIAN SOLDIERS AND BRITISH VOLUNTEERS.

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T HE Prussian soldier, after a lapse of a hundred years, has again made himself famous. Not that it required the Bohemian marches and battles to prove that Prussians could march...

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THE PERSONNEL OF PARLIAMENT.

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T HROUGHOUT the Session which terminated yesterday after- noon the deaths of nineteen Peers were recorded. Their names and ages are as follows : —The Marquises Camden, 67 ;...

MIRACLES AND REVELATION. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

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SIR,--At the risk of giving rise to a discussion which some of your readers may perhaps deprecate, I wish to call attention through your columns to what seems to me a very...

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MR. BUXTON'S RESOLUTIONS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

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Fox Warren, Cobham, August 8, 1866. SIR, —While I have every reason to be personally gratified by your article on the Jamaica debate last week, I extremely regret that you...

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BOOKS.

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HANDBOOK OF ALLUSIONS.* MR. WHEELER'S title scarcely describes his volume, and we think our title an improvement. If we were to take the book strictly as containing nothing...

ATHENAIS."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—A review having appeared in your columns of Alheniiis, a recent poem, or rather half-poem, of mine, I beg to be allowed to make one or...

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SWEDEN AND FREDRIKA BREMER.*

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WE particularly dislike the tone in which this book is written,. yet a great many estimable people would particularly like it, and we should shock them very much by disclosing...

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THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT.*

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Miss BRADDON has just republished a tale called The Trail of the Serpent, which appeared, it would seem, originally in some penny illustrated paper. At least its author declares...

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JAMAICA AND THE COLONIAL OFFICE.* THE writer of the volume

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just published--Jamaica and the Colonial Office—takes a very desponding view of the prospects of that island. So far from his believing that Mr. Eyre by his " vigorous action"...

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DAYS OF YORE.* Citoyenne Jacqueline earned for its author a

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foremost place among living English novelists. Readers and critics were alike surprised into admiration of the brilliant yet sterling merits of a work coming from a pen...

A TREASURY OF THOUGHT FROM SHAKESPEARE.* WE consider this, on

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the whole, a good selection. The time is now past when the great doctor's well known simile was held sufficient to damn a work of this kind. Certainly, no one in his senses...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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We feel inclined to ask with great diffidence whether Dr. Vaughan recognizes any distinction between an ordinary sermon and one that is intended for publication? If he is of...

The Billiard Book. By Captain Crawley. With illustrative diagrams. (Longmans.)—Our

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author is already favourably known by his treatise on billiards, and he has now produced a volume which exhausts the subject. The rules and principles of the game are explained...

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made to better the condition of our own heathen. The

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little book. before us contains interesting details on this head, tinged with a warm. sectarian hue, and, as it seems to us, a little anticipatory of, rather than chronicling;...

Pcpular Agricultural and Commercial Fallacies. By W. Walter Good. (Stanford.)—Twenty

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years of free trade have brought the nation to the verge of ruin. Our author does not appear bold enough to deny that we are prosperous to-day. The increase in the...

Messiah the Prince. By J. W. Bosanqnet, F.R.A.S. (Longmann.)— More

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last words touching the seventy weeks , of the Book of Daniel.. Mr. Bosanquet has read Dr. Pusey's book, and Dr. Williams' book, and the books of a host of other commentators,...

Duke Ernest and Other Poems. By Rosamund Hervey. (Macmillan.) —The

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tragedy of "Duke Ernest," which constitutes the staple of this elegant volume, is founded on a German tradition which in another shape employed the pen of Hartman von der Ado as...

The Making of the American Nation. By J. A. Partridge.

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(Stanford.) On Democracy. By J. A. Partridge. (Stanford.)—The first of these volumes is an elaborate study on the great precedent of Democracy, and the other is a consideration...