Exchequer at Barnstaple on Wednesday, on occasion of his assuming the lead of the Conservative party in the House of Commons, Sir Stafford Northcote made a lively and good-...

new Prime Minister, with the portfolio of Minister of the Interior, in which he succeeds M. de Marcere. M. Martel, a Left-Centre man of a very moderate type, succeeds M. Dufaure...

is termed in France—addressed his statement of principles to the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, and read it later in the same day, from the notes of a shorthand reporter, to...

T HERE is a general opinion prevalent that the diplomatists at Constantinople see their way to an arrangement which will avoid war. The evidence for this opinion is of the...

not sooner) it will, of course, meet for the despatch of business ; nor is there any sign as yet of its being summoned earlier. Yet from the 8th February to " Maunday Thursday"...

four desperadoes contrived on the 5th inst. to enter the palace in which ex-Sultan Murad is confined, with the view -of carrying him off. They had a steamer in the Bosphorus,...

element in Sir Stafford .Northcote's was its comparison of the duties of a leader of the House of Commons to the duties of a master of fox-hounds. "In the first place, we are...

1870 the Panslavonic Committee at St. Petersburg expected assistance in their plans from the Khedive. M. Nemtchinow, a Russian resident in Alexandria, and M. Lex, the Russian...

who bluntly denies that the Russian Government broke faith with the British Foreign Office upon the sub- ject of Khiva. Whether or not the Emperor promised not to annex the...

well with the Khedive's private or Daira debt as with the Egyptian Bonds. He could not, he said, in a very frank speech delivered to the Daira bondholders on Tuesday, be quite...

it appears that the Houses consider they have a right to regulate by statute the counting of the votes. A Bill for this object, direct- ing the Supreme Court to count them, has...

the side of Lord Beaconsfield, though Lord Beaconsfield appears in this case to be not so much "on the side of the angels" as on the side of the demons. At Fishmongers' Hall on...

majority-167 to 53—a Bill making silver legal tender for all debts, public and private, except where payment in gold is fixed by law. It is still doubtful if the Senate will...

was certainly a mistake, for the meeting was a demon- stration, and not consultative at. all,—at St. James's Hall yesterday week was a very powerful one, and diffused great...

of the population of the world annually prepared by Drs. Behm and Wagner, and published by Perthes, from which it appears that the population in 1876 may be taken at...

week, as stage-manager at the Haymarket, from Mr. Sothern and Mr. Bunkstone, when he was suddenly dismissed by Mr. Sothern. He therefore claimed damages from Mr. Sothern, and...

of £20 a year for three years,—at University. College, London, has this year been gained by a lady, Miss Eliza Orme. Even Shakespeare, though he ventured to draw a picture of a...

apoint of law which will affect the willingnesa of every honest man tcr.give evidence in a Court of justice. Mr. Netherelift, the expert in..handwritings, had affirmed in a...

that he had not provided the sledge expeditions in his Arctic voyage with a ration of lime-juice for each man, but had provided only -enough for use as an occasional medicine,...

an interesting lecture on Monday at the London Institution on "Weather Knowledge." After mentioning that individuals greatly dependent on weather sometimes appeared to...

SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE AT BARNSTAPLE. S IR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE was perhaps hitting the Mark more nearly than he imagined, when,having compared his new position as Leader of the...

very decided majority,—should be regarded in France as Senate, with the Marshal-President of the Republic on its being in some respects even more entitled to consideration side,...

LL the makers of bulletins, except the Times' correspondent 13. in Berlin, concur in asserting that the chances of peace haveincreased, the diplomatists at Constantinople having...

B Y far the most important contribution yet made to the litera- ture of the Eastern Question is the pamphlet in whinlirSir G. Campbell gives us the result of his observations in...

IVO stone ever fell into the water with so little ripple as Mr. Horsman. Except that his death may clear the way for Mr. Leonard Courtney, and so increase the intellectual...

rpHE discussion in the German Parliament on the policy of 1 Russia in directing that from the 1st of January next import duties shall be paid in gold, would have been interest-...

Q 0 far as we know, no such honour as that paid this wee.k to Mr. George Moore has ever been paid, for the same reason, to an Englishman before. Mr. Moore was a man of humble...

T ORD MACAULAY thought he had proved that as civilise- 1.4 tion grew, poetry must decline. But that, we take it, is a delusion of the same type as those which beset men as they...

THE ALLEGED ANNEXATION OF KHIVA. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE .` SPECTATOR.") Sin,—It has been frequently stated, and is very generally be- lieved, that Russia promised not to annex...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.") SIR,—In your comments last week on Dr. Carpenter's lecture on Spiritualism, at the London Institution, you speak of the "re- markable mass of...

of School Boards and of the cumulative vote, I should be heartily glad to endorse all you say in your article of last week ; but I must point out that when you contrast the...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 SIR, —The facts of the election in Chelsea seem somewhat at variance with one of the conclusions in your interesting article on this subject....

THE LIFE OF THOMAS EDWARD.* THE interest of this book is so great and so unique, that Mr. Smiles may well be absolved from any blame implied in the circumstance that the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR-1 Si,—On my letter of last week you ask, "Why should an inference be transformed into an imaginary memory more in dream than in waking states?"...

WELL Iv stars were really watching eyes Of angel legions in the skies, I should forget the countless host, And seek your gazes still the most. And if your eyes were really...

Taxes are no ordinary sermons. Packed close with thought, characterised by a curiously-blended phase of scientific and poetic method,—the outline of each sermon being traced...

Turs is a work on which enormous labour has been expended,. as any one may see who examines it with even a moderate degree of attention. It must have required no little courage...

Stu HUMPHREY DAVY, on coming to himself after his first inha- lation of nitrous oxide, is reported to have exclaimed, "Nothing . exists except ideas ! " and we, as we closed Dr....

Mn. DurroN COOK has - seen many plays—it required, for instance, a large experience to produce the curious generalisation that the " drum " alone of all the orchestra-performers...

CHRISTMAS AND GIFT BOOKS. Bida's Illustrations to St. Luke. (Sampson Low and tlod)--As elaborate and handsomely printed volume in the same style and-illus- trated by the same...

The illustrations are very good, and the parody on "Daniel Deronda" is written with something of Bret Harte's skill in the parodying of novelists. It appears, however, on the...