17 JULY 1875

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NEWS OF THE WEEK • T HE weather has been horrible

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all the week, one long succession of rainfalls, so heavy that the hay still on the ground may be considered lost, that the prospects of the harvest are seriously threatened, and...

The French Assembly has been agitated this week with Bona-

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partist debates. On Tuesday the report invalidating the election of the Baron de Bourgoing for the Nievre, on the ground of the aid afforded him by the Bonapartist Central...

• On Wednesday and Thursday the debate was in reality,

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though not in form, about a proposed censure on M. Rouher for pre- siding over the Bonapartist Central Committee. M. Rouher spoke for three hours, maintaining the right of the...

Lord Penzance put a question to Lord Derby on Monday,

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in relation to the German despatch to Belgium of the 3rd of February last, in which the German Minister lays it down as an "incontestable principle of international law" that "a...

The most noteworthy speeches in the debate were those of

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Mr. Bright and Sir Wilfrid Lawson. Mr. Bright's speech was nearly perfect in form. He supported the grant because he held it only reasonable that if the Heir of Great Britain...

The debate in the House of Commons on Thursday on

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the grant to the Prince of Wales for the expenses of his journey to India was tame, and on the whole, unsatisfactory. Mr. Disraeli made a turgid speech, the point of which was...

* * The Editors cannot undertalce to return Manuscript in

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any ease. •

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According to the latest intelligence from Burnish, the Viceroy of

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India has issued a notification declaring all disputes between Burmah and India ended, except as regards the right of the Indian Government to send an escort with its next...

Mr. Cross took his "Employers' and Workmen's Bill" and his

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"Conspiracy and Protection of Property Bill" almost through committee last Monday, and in relation to the latter, he made great concessions to Mr. Lowe's very wise suggestion...

Mr. Fawcett in seconding Sir Charles Dilke's motion, insisted on

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the necessity for either the cumulative vote or some better expe- dient equivalent to it in effect, advocating, not equal electoral dis- tricts, but the grouping of boroughs,...

The Turkish Budget for 1875-76 was published on the 12th

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July. The total revenue may be stated in round numbers at 119,000,000, and the total expenditure at £23,500,000, and the Ministers affirm that no reduction whatever can be made...

Mr. Forsyth made a feeble attempt to remedy that particular

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defect in the "Conspiracy and Protection of Property Bill" on which we have frequently insisted, namely, that a conspiracy to break a contract may be so infinitely more...

After a short reply from Mr. Goachen, in which he

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reminded the House that Mr. Disraeli was really committed to the right of • the agricultural labourer to the vote, and to the admission that this would involve a considerable...

On Thursday evening, Sir Charles Dllke proposed a resolution that

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"it is the duty of Her Majesty's Government to cause in- quiry to be made into the various methods of bringing about a juster distribution of political power, with a view of...

The Rev. E. Moore, Vicar of Spalding, Lincolnshire, with three

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or four other magistrates, recently sentenced a girl of thirteen to fourteen days' imprisonment and four years in a refotanatory, for plucking a geranium in the garden of the...

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The annual meeting of the Royal Society for the Prevention

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of Cruelty to Animals took place on Tuesday, and was signalised by a very eloquent speech from Mr. John Morley, who dilated on the services rendered by the lower animals to man,...

A discussion took place on the Law of Settlement at

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a confer- ence of Metropolitan Poor Law Guardians, held on Monday at the rooms of the Social Science Association, Adelphi, in which Mr. Valiance advocated very elaborate reforms...

The mania about Cricket is apparently on the increase, and

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though it is, on the whole, a harmless mania, yet it is one which will upset a good many boys' heads, and lead them to attach a sort of glory to making good hits with a bat and...

A meeting of patrons of livings hostile to the Bishop

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of Peter- borough's Bill for amending the Simony Laws was held on Friday week, at St. George's Hall, Langham Place, and was attended by a considerable number of laymen and...

The Secretary for War on Wednesday made a sanguine little

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speech to the Haberdashers' Company. He had that day seen a great deal of the armament of the country, and it had filled him with astonishment and admiration. We had instruments...

The Dean of Chester (Dr. Howson) wrote a long letter

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to the Times of Monday, in which he endeavoured to turn Mr. Glad- stone's " Contemporary " artillery against Mr. Gladstone's own position. He tried to show that all Mr....

The Judge of the Court of Arches has justified the

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Rev. Flavel Cook in refusing to give the Communion to Mr. Henry Jenkins, on the ground that the latter was a "depraver" of God's Word, and therefore disqualified, under the...

Consols were at the latest date 931-94.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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LORD DERBY ON GERMAN DEMANDS. T ORD DERBY is a real political force, but he is such a force as friction,—a force, namely, of the kind which is not apparent till elicited by...

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THE BONAPARTISTS IN FRANCE.

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T HE importance of the decision passed by the Assembly on Tuesday against the validity of M. de Bourgoing's election for the Nievre will be missed by those who do not understand...

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MR. DISRAELI ON THE REDISTRIBUTION OF SEATS.

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I T is obvious that the Conservative-Liberals, who strongly object to any immediate extension of Household Suffrage to the Counties, are,—perhaps indeed by reason of their Con-...

THE "INDIAN RING" AT WASHINGTON.

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T HERE is one point upon which the American method of government works exceedingly badly. It is too cumbrous to ensure sharp correction of official neglect or wrong. As the...

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THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.

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T HE Metropolitan Railway has been twice before the public this week, each time endeavouring to remedy in an im- perfect way one of the several imperfections which diminish the...

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LEGAL SINECURES.

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T HE golden days of the Law Courts came to an end about thirty years ago, but there is still, as Lord Frederick Caven- dish pointed out last week, a number of legal offices—not...

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THE SPALDING SCANDAL.

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THE Rev. Edward Moore, Vicar of Spalding, Lincolnshire,and Chairman of the Petty Sessions there, has thoroughly earned the reprimands he is receiving on all sides, and if the...

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published this week an instructive chapter from the "Confes- sions

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"of shabby Rascaldom, in the shape of a letter from an inmate of Sherborne Workhouse, who has now reached the age of sixty- three, and who appears to have made his living as a...

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"TO MEET 'MINOS.'"

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D ISTINGUISHED foreigners have n - ot been scarce this season, and they have received fitting attention, with one exception. We do not think the beautiful and wise little...

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CORRESPONDENCE.

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CALIFORNIA FOR EMIGRANTS. [FROM A CORRESPONDENT.] [In reviewing Mr. Nordhoff's book on "California for Health, Pleasure, and Residence," on November 28 of last year, we gave a...

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BOOKS.

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THE VIKINGS OF THE BALTIC.* IF Dr. Dasent had been willing to translate the Jumsvikinga Saga in the same straightforward way in which, years ago, he translated A'jcila, he...

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

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THE ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALISTS AND MR. BEECHER. [TO THIS EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—With the sentiments expressed in your article of last Saturday on this subject I...

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THE WIT AND HUMOUR OF SHIRLEY BROOKS.* This appears to

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be a collection of serious and comic verses contributed by Mr. Shirley Brooks to Punch, many of which, notably a poem on the Exhibition of 1851, when they were published, made a...

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FIJI: OUR NEW PROVINCE.*

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Now that Fiji has become a portion of the British Empire, it is no longer excusable to be ignorant of this interesting province. The least curious reader will be glad to know...

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THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE.* ON a careful estimate, we believe

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we have read five-sixths of this book,—we have read it, and survive. But we did not do it all at once,—it would have proved too much for us. It was only by taking it in small...

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SPEECH IN SEASON.*

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THESE discourses appear to have been spoken extempore, and prove Mr. Haweis to be the possessor of very rare gifts of eloquence. Unlike most extempore sermons, they are from...

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The Life and Character of Erasmus. By the Rev. A.

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R. Pennington. (Seeleys.)—It is somewhat unfortunate that Mr. Pennington has been anticipated by the laborious work of Mr. Drummond. His book has, however, the merit of being...

Letters from China and Japan. By L. D. S. (Henry

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S. King and Co.)—This prettily got-up little volume is one which ought to be held up to all lady travellers in either hemisphere as an example of the sort of thing they ought...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Original. By the late Thomas Walker. Fifth Edition, by W. A. Guy, M.B. (Renshaw.)—Dr. Guy deserves our thanks for sending out this new edition of a work full of instruction...

The Circassian Boy. Translated, through the German, from the Russian

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of Michail Lermontoff, by S S. Conant. (Boston : Osgood and Co.)—This is a remarkable book. The author of whose most popular work it gives us an English version was a great...

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Mr. Irving's Annals of Our Time as a careful and

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successful attempt to put into a compendious and accessible shape what are often so difficult to get at,—the facts of contemporary history. Mr. Irving now carries on his work in...

Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation upon Health. By

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Amariah Brigham, M.D. (Hatchard.)—This is a reprint from an American work which was published at Hartford in the United States rather more than forty years ago, and which then...

Oak, edge: an Old-Time Story. By J. Emerson Smith. (Boston,

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U.S.: Osgood. London : Triibner.)—Why this ehould ho called "an old-time story we cannot see, except it be that everything that goes back as far as the last century is "old-time...

German Poets and Their Times. A Series of Memoirs and

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Trans's- lions by Joseph Gostwick. With Portrait by C. Jiiger. (Bruckmann.)— "This is a handsome volume, which adds to some interesting notices of the life and works of German...