1 JULY 1876

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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1N -0 eldot has been fired yet, but it is nearly impossible, as Lord Derby admitted on Thursday to the Duke of Argyll, that war should be averted. The Slavophil Committees in...

There was a singular Eastern-Question debate in the House of

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Lords on Thursday, in which all the pressure came from the pro- Turkish side, and the only vestige of anything like fairness to the Christian provinces of Turkey was to be found...

The American Democratic Convention assembled at St. Louis has nominated

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Mr. Tilden, of New York, as the party candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Tilden's followers, from the first, formed a majority in the Convention, and the ballots taken were only...

Mr. Forster asked the Prime Minister on Monday whether the

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statements which had recently appeared in the public papers, and especially in the Daily News of June 23, respecting the Turkish. cruelties in Bulgaria, were in any way...

No explanation whatever has been given by the British Govern-

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ment of its attitude in this quarrel, but it is believed that Sir Stafford Northcote's answer on Tuesday was much more important than the public believed. Mr. O'Reilly asked...

As usual at a great crisis, all kinds of rumours

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are circulated to prove that nothing can happen. The latest is a statement that Prince Nikita of Montenegro is ready to abandon the cause, if the Porte will recognise his...

4 *,,,* The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in anycase.

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Page 2

A despatch has been published this week in which Lord

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Car- narvon settles for the time the policy to be pursued in Malaya. The States are to be administered still through native Sultans, ad- vised, but not controlled, by British...

The Times' correspondent at Constantinople gives a graphic account of

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the assassination of Hussein Avni, which does not raise one's respect for Turkish nerve. The Circassian entered Midhat Pasha's Council-room—a large hall, with a bay window— and...

Marshal MacMahon has addressed a letter to the Minister at

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War, telling him that last year only fifty-two Communists were prosecuted, and in the last five months only ten, and that it is time to abandon such prosecutions, "except when...

The annual Report of the Suez Canal announces that the

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first dividend has at length been earned for the original shareholders -t being lf. 88c. per share. This is little, but the expenses are hardly increasing, while the traffic...

Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the ex-Mayor of Birmingham, was returned to

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Parliament on Tuesday, in place of Mr. George Dixon, without opposition, and made a speech on the occasion which, if not exactly remarkable, was at least clever and vigorous,...

M. Henri Germain has been elected President of the Left,

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Centre party in France. We wish, by the way, some one woulcf explain to us exactly what these unofficial French chiefs of parties within parties are supposed to do, whether it...

The Irish Domesday Book has appeared, but it is so

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badly drawn up that we hardly care to analyse it. Tbo aamation given is that of a quarter of a century ago, and the gross estimated .rutal cannot, accorcung to the compilers, be...

We regret to notice the death of Lord Sandhurst, at

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the age of fifty-seven, after an illness really protracted for five years. Owing to many causes, the principal of which were a certain hardness and asperity of nature, and an...

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The election for Pembrokeshire, to fill the vacancy caused by

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Sir John Scourfield's death, has ended, of course, in the return of the Conservative, Mr. Bowen, who had represented the county in a former Parliament—namely, between 1866 and...

Mr. Potter on Wednesday moved the second reading of his

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Intestacy Bill, which provides that when an owner dies without a will, his land shall descend like personalty. The debate was rather more imbecile than usual, Mr. Goldney asking...

Sir William Gull writes to the Times of Thursday to

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announce the division in the Senate of the University of London in favour of whittling away the only really effective provision in the Gov- ernment's Vivisection Bill, which We...

Mr. Buchanan is a man of genius, but we should

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doubt as to how far he is a man of sense. He has brought an action for libel against the Examiner, for treating him very rudely indeed, and perhaps very unfairly ; but then Mr....

Lord Carnarvon carried his Vivisection Bill through its third reading

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in the Lords on Tuesday night, and it has now to run the gauntlet of the Commons, where, we are inclined to hope, that it is more likely to be strengthened than further...

The death of Harriet Martineau on Tuesday, at the age

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of seventy-three, will cause regret wherever the English language is spoken. We are unable to take her friends' estimate of her powers, preferring to accept her own, as given in...

Mr. Moore, the curator of the Free Public Museum at

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Liver- pool, sent to the Times of this day week so fascinating an account of the young gorilla which the German South-African Expedition has brought to this country, that no one...

Consols were on Friday 931 to 93/.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE IMMEDIATE POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN. T HE point on which Englishmen have now to decide, and decide at once, is whether they will fight Russia in a great war, because from...

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THE WEAKNESS OF OUR SYSTEM IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

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T HERE is only one great fault in the English Parliamentary system, and perhaps it is not so much a fault of our system, as of all systems, and it is this,—that though it...

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trail CHANCES OF SERVIA. T HE `friends of the Turks are

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constantly twitting the friends of the Christians in Turkey with their confidence in the strength of the little Servian State. ' You always assume,' they say,' that the...

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THE NEW MEMBER FOR BIRMINGHAM.

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J r the new Member for Birmingham were any one else but 1 Mr. Chamberlain, we should be disposed to share his half- uttered doubt whether an earnest man can better serve his...

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THE PRESIDENT'S INFLUENCE ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA.

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E VERYBODY in this country appears to believe that a President who was in earnest could put an end to Cor- ruption, and almost everybody overlooks the two great obstacles In the...

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A NEW GLEAM OF RELIGIOUS GENIUS.

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TT is curious, and to some extent, no doubt, a bitter disappoint- ment ment to those who believe in the Christian faith, to see how very few traces we have had, of late years,...

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HARRIET MARTINEAU'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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T" • epitomised autobiography which Miss Martineau deposited with the Daily News, to be published immediately after her death, and which appeared in that journal on Thursday, is...

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THE LATE MR. JAMES BAIRD.

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O N Sunday last, exactly a month after the representative body of the Church of Scotland had formally expressed a hope that, its. well-known "princely benefactor" would live...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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BLAKE'S PICTURES IN SAVILE ROW. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.' ] have for many years been a lover of the "Pictor igh otus," and on the look-out for whatever things of his...

COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN NEW YORK CITY.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1 SIR,—Dtuing a visit to the United States, from which I have just returned, I have obtained the Report of the Board of Education for the City...

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THE PRISONS BILL.

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[TO TRH EDITOR OF Tall SPBOTATOE.1 Silt,--Mr. Cross's Bill has many features in it worthy of con- sideration and public support, but unfortunately, in its present form, it...

BOOKS.

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MR. DE VERE'S DRAMA OF " ST. THOMAS."• Tam is a poem of the same order,—and a high order it is,—as Mr. De Vere's Alexander the Great. From the first page to the last, it has in...

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MR. MIVART'S " CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTION."* Tins is an early specimen

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of a class of books which, unless we are mistaken, is likely to become more common every year. Mr. Mivart is a Roman Catholic layman, who upholds, and rejoices in, the recent...

Page 17

GIUSTINIA NI'S DESPATCHES.* (SECOND NOTICE.] IMPORTANT as are the notices

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in Giustiniani's despatches for our better knowledge of the political transactions in that period of troubled events, when Italy was being torn on the rack between France,...

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THOUGHTS ON ART, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION.* THIS posthumous work contains

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chiefly, as the name suggests, thoughts and outlines for future development, rather than com- pleted work. We fail to gather from the long introductory note prefixed to these...

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THE FERN PARADISE.*

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A FERN paradise !—how exquisitely cool and refreshing is the very name ! suggestive of stately and luxuriant tropical growths, of great, straggling lianas hanging from tree to...

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The Shipowner's Daughter. By John Saunders. 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.)—The

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title tells the story of the book. An unprincipled ship- owner has a lovely daughter, whose beauty and goodness interpose to mitigate, if not to avert, the punishment which his...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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Fragments of Science. By John Tyndall, F.R.S. (Longmans, Green, and Co.)—It is always a pleasure to read Dr. Tyndall. Whether we agree with him or not, there is a charm about...

The Vaux de Vire of Maistre Jean is Roux. Edited

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and translated by J. P. Muirhead. (John Murray.)—The town of Vire, as the river of the same name, in Lower Normandy, besides being the seat of manu- facturing industries, has a...

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We have before us the fifth edition of A Latin-English

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Dictionary, by the Rev. John T. White, D.D., and the Rev. J. E. Riddle. (Long- mans.)—This is the fullest form of the dictionary. and is indeed a very complete work. We have...

Lola: A Tale of the Rock. By Arthur Griffiths. 3

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vole. (Smith and Elder.)—This novel is clever and entertaining in no common degree. The "Rock," it will be understood, is Gibraltar ; and Lola is a beauty of that place,...

Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys. Deciphered, with Additional Notes,

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by the Rev. Mynors Bright. Vol. II. (Bickers & Son.) —This second volume of tho now edition proves quite convincingly that the book was wanted. A list of additions is given, and...

Llanthony Cocklewig. By the Rev. S. S. Maguth. 3 vole.

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(Samuel Tinsley.)—We can see nothing good about this book, except that a particularly silly title suits very well particularly silly contents. The name of " Cocklewig " is...

Under the Gridiron. By M. Davenport. (Tinsley Brothers.)—The " Gridiron

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" seems to be the slang for the American flag. Mr. Daven- port's book has no literary pretensions, but it is really likely to be useful as a plain practical guide to travellers,...

Country Life in Syria. By Harriet Rattray. (Seeley.)—This is a

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most amusing book, taking the illusion off Eastern life in the most un- compromising way. It consists of letters written at intervals during a period of ten years, and but for...

The Dramatic Works of Moliere. Rendered into English by Henry

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Van Lean. Vol. 4. (Patterson, Edinburgh.)—This volume contains six works, the chief of which are " Tartuffe," "George Dandin," and "Amphitryon." Two short pieces, entitled "...

Sights and Insights. By Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney. 3

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vols. (Sampson Low and Co.)—This is little more than an account of a tour made through portions of Europe by an American party, though the author makes some efforts, which we...

A Treatise on Gout and Rheumatic Gout. By A. B.

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Garrod, M.D., F.R.S. (Longman, Green, and Co.)—The first edition of Dr. Garrod's valuable work on Gout and Rheumatic Gout (or" Rheuinatoid Arthritis," as the latter disease is...

Memoir of the Rev. John Macfarlane, LL.D. By William Graham.

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(Oliphant, Edinburgh.)—Mr. Graham does not seem to understand that the first duty of a biographer is to efface himself. He displays an ornate and rhetorical style, not guided by...