15 MAY 1875

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The Belgian incident is clearly not yet ..over. The German

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papers declare that the Belgian reply, which we summarised in our last issue, is thought very unsatisfactory at Berlin, and 'will, require a rejoinder. Professor Bliintschli,...

Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Budget yesterday week was a

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disappointing one. It was a series of pin-pricks in relation to details, followed by what seems to us, as we have elsewhere shown, avery inadequate attack on the principle of...

Sir. 'Stafford Northcote's reply was unusually bright and effee- tive.

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He complained that the only case in which the Liberals are hard upon the close-fit of a Budget should be the case in which the Go'vernment propose to do something towards paying...

Lord Salisbury has appointed the Duke of Buckingham and

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1 Chandes Governor of Madras. That is an opportunity lost. The Duke has held many posts with respectable credit, and ma administer the Southern Presidency fairly well, but he is...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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G ERMANY is contented, and the world is tranquil. It was understood throughout the previous week that the mainten- ,.. *nee of peace would depend upon an interview between the...

*,* The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

It is probable that, war being postponed, other questions were

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discussed between the two potentates and their Chancellors, for it is stated that Russia promised to use her good offices to induce Belgium to change her laws, and that Germany...

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The Tenant-right Bill passed the House of Lords on Thursday,

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amidst a general chorus of approval, which at least proved that the great landlords do not think it will do them much harm. The Duke of Richmond was quite effusive in his thanks...

La Volonle", the organ of Prince Jerome Napoleon in Paris,

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states, apparently on authority, that even if the Prince Imperial died, Prince Jerome would make no attempt to revive the Empire. Hereditary succession, it says, is dead in...

The Russian Government has concluded a treaty with that of

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Japan by which the Southern half of the Island of Saghalien is conceded to St. Petersburg for ever. The whole island now be- longs to Russia. It is believed that it is full of...

The Army Exchanges Bill passed its second reading in the

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Lords on Friday week by a majority of 137 to 60. The debate was on an exhausted subject, but it was a very fine one, and any one who wishes to understand both sides of the...

Mr. Richard, M.P. for Merthyr, moved on Tuesday the rejection

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of the Bishopric of St. Albans Bill, on the ground that it "increased and tended to perpetuate a class of political and ecclesiastical State officials, the existence of which...

Philanthropists sometimes get not a little despotic. The British and

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Foreign Anti-Slavery Society thinks, what is no doubt true, that a coolie trade may degenerate into a slave trade, and that "native" interests in the West Indies, Mauritius, and...

Another terrible wreck was reported in London on Saturday. The

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'Schiller,' a steamer of 3,500 tons, belonging to the Hamburg Steamship Company, left New York on the 28th April, with 268 pas- sengers ands crew of 124 officers and men. On...

The first act of the French Assembly after the recess

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has been to prohibit any more partial elections. The object of this unusual and unconstitutional proposal is, of course, to prevent any in- crease to the Liberal benches, but it...

M. John Lemoinne, political Editor of the Dibats, and the

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ablest serious journalist in France, has been elected to the Academy.

Page 3

A very good non-political judge has been just made. Mr.

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Lindley, Q.C., who is raised to the Bench in consequence of the death of Mr. Baron Pigott, and who was one of the leaders in the Court of Vice- Chancellor Charles Hall, is not...

England is a reservoir of capacities, but the death of

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Admiral Sherard Osborn at the early age of fifty-three is still a national loss. He was one of the best specimens of a very fine class, the educated Naval officer who knows his...

The Chairman of the Annual Assembly of the Congregational Union

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of England and Wales, the Rev. A. Thomson, of Manchester, seems to have delivered a very able address on Tuesday at the City Temple, Holborn Viaduct, on the gradual break-up of...

The Times published on Thursday a paper from some very

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well- informed correspondent on modern Burmese policy. It would appear that the King has two fixed ideas, from which he never swerves,—to recover his lost province of Pegs, and...

Sir Henry Thompson wrote a letter to Monday's Times against

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the Vivisection Bill of Lord Henniker,—which indeed, if it had any force, would tell quite as much against that of Dr. Lyon Playfair and his scientific friends, though the...

The prospects of the 'Bessemer' as a Channel steamer do

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not seem to be mending. The swinging saloon, which swings easily on land in response to any change in the vessel's level, does not seem to act properly at sea, and even on very...

The annual ceremony of admission to Degrees took place at

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the University of London on Wednesday, in the presence of the Chancellor, Lord Granville, when Mr. Lowe made a clever and effective attack,—of which we have spoken elsewhere,—on...

Consols were at the latest date 94-941.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE MEETING OF THE EMPERORS. H. BOURKE'S assurance that there is no "further" .111. danger of the peace of Europe being disturbed would not in ordinary times do much to...

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THE LIBERALS AND THE BUDGET.

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I T is impossible to be satisfied with the tone of the Liberal criticism on the Budget. That Mr. Gladstone's and Mr. Lowe's criticism of Sir Stafford Northcote's proposals fell...

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THE BELGIAN DEBATE.

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T HE Belgian Ministry,—which, as our readers are aware, is at present the Ministry of the Roman Catholic party,— in defending before the Chambers its policy in relation to the...

MR. LOWE'S WARNING "TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS."

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TORY Members of the House of Commons will do well to 1. utilise their Whitsuntide holidays by inquiring what their constituents really think about Competitive Examination. A...

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THE RECENT TRIAL FOR TRADE CONSPIRACY.

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T HE trial of the Cabinetmakers at the Central Criminal Court which took place on Wednesday and Thursday of last week adds another to the several important Trade protean- tions...

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SAD SUNDAY.

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T HE decision of the Bail Court in the ease of "Terry v. the Brighton Aquarium Company" has excited a good deal of attention, but not nearly so much as its importance seems to...

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AN ITALIAN SPRING- IN ENGLAND.

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W E were all of us grumbling all the winter, and not entirely without excuse, at the unprecedented length of the keen and gloomy weather. Most people caught cold in December,...

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THE FARMERS IN THE FAR WEST.

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DROBABLY the Farmers of the Western States of America are as honest a class-of people as the world can show; but they are not so well off as they could wish to be, and they feel...

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THE VIVISECTION-RESTRICTION RILLS.

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O N Wednesday afternoon last, Dr. Lyon Playfair laid on the table of the House of Commons a Bill for the Restriction of Vivisection, which has been drawn up by physiologist*, no...

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THE IRISH DISESTABLISHED CHURCH AND ATHANASIANISM.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—I do not think you have noticed the result of the delibera- tions of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland on the revision of the...

CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " smscrevnt...] SIR,—Mr. Farrer's article in the current Fortnightly Review ex- presses surprise that the recommendations of the Playfair Com- mission have...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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HUMANITY IN SCHOOLS. go THE EDITOR OF TEl "SPEOTATOR.1 SIR,—I am confident that you will be inclined to further the objects of the Highland Agricultural Society and of the...

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WOMEN AS POOR-LAW GUARDIANS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THR SPICOTATOR.1 have just come across an article with this heading in am old number of the Spectator, in which the writer asserts that "there is no public...

ART.

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THE ROYAL ACADEMY. [SECOND NOTICE.] To estimate fairly an artist's success, it is above all things necessary to ascertain his intention. Hence it may be inferred. that the best...

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BOOKS.

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LO RD SHELB URNE.* THE work of which the present volume is the first instalment is one the want of which has been felt by all who, in late years, have written on the early...

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BUSHNELL'S "FORGIVENESS AND LAW."*

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Dn. BUSHNELL begins by telling his readers that the present volume is intended as a substitute for the last half of his former treatise, entitled the Vicarious Sacrifice. To the...

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THE ITALIANS.* WERE a very improbable event to occur, and

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were Mrs. Elliot's novel to make its way in Italy beyond the range of those few circulating libraries which supply to the English tourist his accustomed literary diet of...

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LOTOS LEAVES:*

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A MISCELLANEOUS book like this, published for a charitable purpose (the profits will be given to the American Dramatic Fund) does not call for elaborate criticism. Of the...

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SOME OF THE MAGAZINES.

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AMONG over-reviewed books, the late Lord Lytton's "Speeches" finds a place as distinct as the late Lord Lytton himself has found among overrated men. The creditably-executed...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Dublin Review. April, 1875. The April number of the Dublin is not, unnaturally, so much occupied with the Vatican Conneil and its consequences, the anti-Vaticanist...

Bits and Bearing - Reins. By Edward Fordham Flower. Second Edition. (Ridgway.)—No

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one who reads this little pamphlet will fail to see that bearing-reins, and especially gag bearing-reins, are a mere waste of nervous power in the horse, as well as a cruelty...

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F. Grant and Co. By George L. Chaney. (Boston, U.S.:

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Roberts. London : Sampson Low and Co).—This is an amusing little story of American boy-life. Its second title is "Partnership," and it is described as a story for boys who "mean...

Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. By W. F. Hook,

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D.D., Dean of Chichester. VoL V. New Series. (Bentley.)—At the risk of seem- ing ungracious, we must say that this volume does not increase the nine of the series to which it is...

Two Strides of Destiny. By Brookes Buckle°. 3 vols. (Samuel

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Tinsley.)—The first thing that strikes us in this book is the extra- ordinary climate of the spot where the scone is laid. It is " in the heart of the mountainous district of...

Cremation of the Dead. By W. Eassie, C.E. (Smith and

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Elder.)— The best part of Mr. Eassie's book is the description and comparative estimate of the various processes of cremation. There is some danger lest the advocates of the...

The Philosophy of Modern Rumbug. (Longmans.)—A volume of easy and

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useless declamation against practices more or leas foolish or blameworthy. It is scarcely worth while to notice such things, but perhaps it is as well to tell the writer that he...

Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious

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Thought. Edited by the Rev. J. H. Blunt. (Rivingtons.)— That this is a work of some learning and research is a fact which soon becomes obvious to the reader. The title-page...