23 JULY 1870

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As yet neither Power has secured an overt ally. The

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South- German States have declared war with unexpected speed, but they were bound by their treaties to declare it, and are rather subjects than allies of Prussia. The Crown...

Up to Friday evening no manifesto had been issued by

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the Emperor Napoleon. The King of Prussia, however, hadaddressed the North-German Parliament in a singularly frank and noble speech, which excited indescribable enthusiasm. The...

The latest rumours from the seat of war are that

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the Emperor is expected at Nancy on Sunday ; that no conflict on a great scale can be expected before the end of next week ; that "first blood" has been drawn by a troop of...

The North-German Parliament replied to this speech by an unanimous

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address declaring that, " as in the time of the War of Liberation, a Napoleon forces upon us a sacred struggle," A "hard and violent contest is before us. We rely upon the...

NE WS OF THE WEEK.

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HE destiny of Germany is culminating fast. Napoleon has flung down his glove to the Hohenzollerns, and it has been taken up by the united German people. The accounts of German...

The attitude of England is noteworthy. The leading statesmen of

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both sides are clearly of opinion that Germany is in the right, and silently anxious about Belgium, which the Cabinet has, as we believe, decided to protect. The Government,...

The French, though scarcely as enthusiastic, are as united and

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willing as the Germans. Paris is distinctly warlike, the Army is eager to measure swords with the Prussians, and the people are prepared for almost any sacrifices. There appears...

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

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case.

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Charles Dickens's will has been published. He had accumulated, it

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would seem, about £80,000, besides Gadshill and other property, and bequeaths the interest of 18,000 to his wife, £8,000 to her sister, Georgina Hogarth, and the remainder in...

Sir J. Hay on Friday se'nnight raised the question of

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the cession to France of the Gambia, a self-sustaining colony with 20,000 inhabitants, who are strongly opposed to the transfer. Mr. Monsell made a long speech in reply,...

The discussion about the origin of the war still continues,

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but it is a discussion in the air. The French Ambassador iu Spain knew months ago that Leopold of Hohenzollern would be selected, M. de Gramont in his last circular says M....

Statements as to the comparative strength of the two fighting

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Powers are of little importance in such a war, but there is a dis- position in this country to exaggeration on the subject. If the Landsturm were called out, Prussia has, of...

The Times addresses a serious remonstrance to the Queen for

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going to Osborne at such a time, when Ministers are overworked, the weather frightful to travel in, and events of the last import- ance occurring every hour. Supposing...

A variety of questions were asked in the House of

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Commons on Thursday about the war, but the answers were in the main formal. Mr. Gladstone, in reply to Mr. Horsman, stated that Russia and Austria used their best efforts to...

Prevost-Paradol, Orleanist man of letters, correspondent of the Times under

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the signature of "A Parisian," and Minister of France at Washington, shot himself on Wednesday. He suffered, it is said, a good deal from the excessive heat, but the real cause...

The French Generals are determined to retain the right of

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describing their own share in this war. Permission to send correspondents into camp has been refused, one general threaten- ing to hang any he might find. On the other hand, the...

An incident almost matchless in its ironic horror is reported

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from Ammergau. The miracle play there acting, which was to have been repeated every Sunday till September, has been sus- pended, the representative of our Saviour having been...

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The Vatican publishes the text of the decree of Infallibility

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passed on Monday, the 18th inst., by a majority of 553 Fathers to 2 dissentients. The non-contents stayed away. The essential words of the decree are :—" Docemus et divinites...

It is not improbable that a new party will soon

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be formed in t he United States pledged to prohibit immigration. The workmen 'already say that they will vote for any politicians who promise to Iceep out the Chinese, who...

There is one remarkable break in the unanimity of British

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opinion about this war. Every Irishman is emphatically upon the side of France. What with his Catholicism, his Celtic blood, and his history, the genuine Irishman feels himself...

Mr. Cardwell on Monday carried his Recruiting Bill through .Committee.

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The object of this Bill, which is greatly disliked by the soldiers in the House, is to exchange the present ten-year term of service for a twelve-year term, six years of which...

The debate on the third reading, as summarized in the

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Sun of Friday evening, was remarkable mainly for the decided tone taken by the Premier, who, in reply to Mr. Miall and Mr. Dixon, told them that they did not represent the...

It should be noted that America, though of course neutral,

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is very decidedly on the Prussian side. There are three millions of Germans in the Union, and consequently Mr. Washburne in Paris takes charge of American interests. Immense...

Sir R. J. H. Harvey, a wealthy Norfolk banker, and

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formerly Mem- ber for Thetford, committed suicide on Friday week. His bank immediately closed its doors. It was found that Sir Robert had been for three years speculating...

Consols were on Friday evening 891 to sq.

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The Education Bill passed through Committee on Thursday, and Teceived

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the third reading on Friday night. It has been debated for twenty-one days, during which the Vice-President in Council has never been absent from his place, never been assisted...

Mr. Craufurd, as old maid of the House of Commons,

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on Wednesday again banished the reporters—who in future should never report him—and the House debated in secret and, therefore, uselesalythe Contagious Diseases' Act. On...

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ENGLISH OPINION ON THE WAR.

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M OLLIVIER and the Parisian public are right in believ- . ing that English sympathies in this war are against France, wrong in the causes they are disposed to assign for that...

TOPICS OF THE th1 Y.

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THE WAR. G ERMANY has rushed together with a clang. That is the first, and for France the worst, result of the decla- ration of war. The Emperor Napoleon, with that strange...

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THE FINANCE OF THE WAR.

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I T may help us to a better idea of the great contest which has now begun if we look at its probable cost and the resources of the combatants to meet it. It is clear, we think,...

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HOW THEY MAKE LAWS AT WASHINGTON.

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T O the English mind, it seems an elementary truth that the' process of legislation in all countries where Constitutional Government prevails must be carried out according to...

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THE EDUCATION BILL. T HE Education Bill is safe, unless, indeed,

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Lord Salisbury should see fit to enroll himself a Member of the League ; and we may now look round calmly to see what it is we have obtained. The long discussion, the heated...

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J U RIES .

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I F there is any question that ought to be ripe for a settlement, it is one which has been before three Select Committees in successive sessions, and the Bill relating to which...

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GAMBLING ON 'CHANGE.

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T ELE popular view of cases like Sir Robert Harvey's does not, we confess, impress us very much. How, it is usually asked, could a man like him, with his means and his position,...

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PIGEON-SHOOTING.

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A NOTHER of our national institutions is in danger. Is it not enough to trample down the rights of property in Ireland, and to destroy the character of the English Universities...

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A WORKING-MAN'S WIFE.

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A FEW years ago the Paddlers were the best abused set of working-men in England. They were mere brawny savages, unable to listen to reason, incapable of political economy ;...

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ESTIMATES OF THE ENGLISH KINGS.

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NT-RICHARD I. I N one respect, if in no other, Richard Cceur de Lion has experienced the same fortune as his father. Both are among the most bepraised and best abused Kings in...

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UNDERGRADUATE SCEPTICISM.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your issue of July 16 you observe, following Dr. Temple's speech, that Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduates are accustomed to discuss...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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PUBLIC FEELING IN GERMANY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:] Siri„—If war in general, and the present imminent war in par- ticular, were not such a dreadful calamity, I...

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BOOKS.

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THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN.* THE high rank of Dryden in our literature has been acknowledged for more than a century and a half, and although the chief poets of modern...

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ius Loyda and the Early Jesuits.

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IGNATIUS LOYOLA AND THE EARLY JESUITS.* THE history of Jesuitism can never be without interest for any student of that most intricate of mechanisms the human mind ; and as we...

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MR. FREEMAN'S HISTORY OF THE SARACENS.* THE republication in a

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popular form of these Lectures may be taken as an experiment towards supplying a want which is already considerable, and must in the nature of things become still greater. Ever...

RECREATIONS OF A RECLUSE.*

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.OccasioNAL allusions in these essays to the Country Parson as a popular writer make us fear that we are to have a fresh instalment -of wire-drawn twaddle after the manner of...

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The "Oxford Graduate" who gives us a Prose Translation of

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Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics (Rivingtons), does his work fairly well, but not with the uniform good taste and judgment which we expect in a prose translation. We take an...

The Purpose of God in the Creation of Man (Edmonston

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and Douglas) is a posthumous fragment of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, part of an unfinished work which he had in hand at the time of his death, and published by his express...

Reminiscences of America in 1869. By Two Englishmen. (Sampson Low.).—This

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book contains the experiences of two observers, favourably disposed to the country and the people which they visited, but not blind to their faults. It is worth reading, and, as...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Jews : their Past, Present, and Future. By J. Alexander. (Partridge.)—The author, who bears a name well known among Christianized Jews, gives us here in a small compass an...

Rural and City Life; or, the Fortunes of the Stubble

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Family. By "Old Boomerang." (Sampson Low and Co.)—This story is a strange mixture of the comic, the pious, and the sensational. The more quiet scenes, where the author contents...

The Nations Around, by A. Seery (Macmillan), is a volume

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of a series which we have frequently had occasion to mention with great pleasure, the "Sunday Library." By the "Nations Around" are meant the neighbours more or less close to...

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Mr. Moorhouse's Jacob, Three Sermons preached before the University of

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Cambridge (Macmillan), without being of the highest order of pulpit eloquence, is a commentary on the significance of the patriarch's history, characterized throughout with...

Not in Vain. By Armor Groye. 2 vols. (Chapman and

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Hall.)— The title-page recalls to us a previous work of the same author, "One too Many." Of this all that we can remember is the dreary reflection, which seemed the only thing...

The Boy in the Bash, by E. Howe (Bell and

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Daldy), will be something of a novelty to the young readers for whom it is intended. The "Bush" is not the imaginary "Bash" evolved out of the consciousness of stay- at-home...

The Prometheus Vinclus of ./E'schylas, with Notes. By the Rev.

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J. S. Watson. (Williams and Norgate.)—This is a careful edition, in which Mr. Watson has gathered up with judicious selection the results of the labours of previous...

Sketches from the Border Land. (Kitto.)—This is the story of

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the life of a governess ; what it has to do with "the border land," except that the lady finally settled down there with the "indulgent husband," with whom we leave her, we...