26 NOVEMBER 1870

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The contents of Prince Gortschakoff's reply, which is to reach

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England on Saturday, will hardly be known till Monday, and -the telegraphic summaries of it do not strike us as true. At St. Petersburg it is described as "firm," and everywhere...

The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any case.

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HERE has been a curious lull in politics all through the week. Everybody has been waiting for one of those "melodramatic .catastrophes" which Mr. Disraeli, just after the...

The North-German Parliament was opened on Thursday with a speech

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from the throne read by the Minister of Justice, the King holding himself bound, like any other soldier, not to quit the front. The speech, though it exults in "the victories...

Mr. Odo Russell, permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, but

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now on a mission to Versailles, appears to have been most civilly entreated by the German chiefs. A heavy escort was sent to accompany him from Sedan, his bills were paid...

The battles of the week have been trifling skirmishes, if

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we except Ricciotti Garibaldi's surprise of the Prussians at Chatillon- sur-Seine, which also was but a small affair, and important only for the gallantry of the victory won by...

On the other hand, the French have had their small

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reverses. The recapture of Dreux by the Germans under the Duke of Mecklenberg on the 17th was really a repulse of the advanced posts of Keratry's Breton army. But Dreux was only...

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Mr. Forster, the Vice-President of the Council of Education, distributed

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the prizes to the students of the Birkbeck Literary Institute on Wednesday, and made a striking speech, in. which he said that 26 towns, with a collective population of...

General Trochu issued on 14th November—before be had heard of

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the recapture of Orleans—an address to the people of Paris which will impress Englishmen more favourably than Frenchmen. It is pervaded by a tone of melancholy common here,...

In his second letter, Lord Russell insisting again on the

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duty of embodying the Militia,—in which, we must say, he seems to us to talk plain sense,—adds, "with a sufficient bounty we might easily enlist 100,000 men for five years'...

Mr. John Stuart Mill on Saturday addressed a letter to

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the Times deprecating war with Russia merely because of the "manner in which Russia has thought fit to throw off an obliga- tion, the substance of which we all admit we ought to...

The Manchester School Board has been elected, and will consist,.

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it is said, of two Roman Catholics, one Wesleyan, six Unsectarians,. and one lady (Miss Becker), who is classed separately in the only account published, as if her sex were a...

Mr. Forster also complimented London on the class of candidates

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who had put themselves forward, saying, in regard to Lord Lawrence, "I knownot what chance of success he has, but it would be of immense advantage to the School Board if the...

Lord Russell has written twice this week to the Times

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about the Russian declaration, both times manfully and courageously,. but neither time with much of the tone of a statesman. In- the first letter, he urged the immediate...

The London School Board canvas goes on with really healthy

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enthusiasm. We have elsewhere given our views as to the sort of School Board which would have most chance of leading the educa- tion movement of the country. Here we will only...

In the north, Mantenffel, whose head-quarters are said to be

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at Compiegne, does not seem to be advancing in any force on Amiens, though a detachment was said to have been repulsed be- tween Domart-sur-la-Luce and Beaucourt, and to have...

From Paris it is stated that the line of defences

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has been en- larged, especially on the south-west. The German artillery had begun firing on the engineers' works in front of Fort Ivry between the 17th and 19th, but when Forts...

In the rural districts, partly owing to an administrative difficulty

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in defining the regulations under which School Boards are to be elected, no application had yet been made, but the activity in Supplying new and more efficient schools was...

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Mr. Fronde and the Duke of Cleveland also appear among

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those who protest against a war. Mr. Froude also talks of a "fault of ananner,"—as if theft and a request for a loan were the same thing,—and points out the danger to which...

The Times has an account of a very clever swindle

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indeed. A New York tobacconist sends out circulars marked " confidential " to many persons in England, offering them counterfeit sovereigns anade of aluminium found in the Rocky...

The news from China is, on the whole, favourable, and

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indicates that the party hostile to foreigners has received a check. Sixteen coolies have been executed for their share in the Tientsin murder, and though, of course, the...

A curious injustice is done to M. Gambetta by the

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telegrams. The first words of his decrees only are sent, and as they are generally of a strong kind, the impression usually created is that they are mere words. In fact,...

The Times' correspondent at Tours is writing in a tone

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curiously contrasted with that of the Times itself of a very few days ago. True, of late, the Tittles has begun to discover that the French cause is not hopeless, and therefore...

General Butler is stumping the States to induce the people

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to -declare war on Great Britain. With his usual cynical contempt for right, he declares in a speech delivered at Boston on the 23rd inst. that England had founded the Dominion...

The Times, with a faint touch of malice, republishes Mr.

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Carlyle's pompous utterance "about the American Iliad in a nut- shell." The Verities were then all on the side of the South, which only wanted, poor meek economist ! to hire its...

Mr. Mackonochie has been condemned by the Judicial Com- mittee

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of the Privy Council to be suspended for three months, and to bear the costs of the application to the Privy Council, fur con- tinuing to elevate the consecrated bread and wine,...

Consols were on Friday 92f to '921.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE MILITARY SITUATION IN FRANCE. T HE War, like everything else in France, tends to centraliza- tion. Paris, fortified and besieged, attracts the armies of Germany and France...

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THE PEACEMONGERS.

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W E almost begin to despair of the political effect of educa- tion. No success which is humanly possible in that department of effort could make our people the equals in...

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THE BEST METROPOLITAN SCHOOL BOARD.

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T HE excessive number of candidates for the Metropolitan School Board, and the difficulty of manipulating the cumulative vote, renders it a matter of the greatest importance to...

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THE STRENGTH OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

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T HE rumours which ooze out as to the intentions of the Government with respect to the Defences are not altogether satisfactory. It is a good thing, no doubt, that the...

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THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE POPE.

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E NGLISH CATHOLICS are greatly chagrined because the English politicians of to-day underrate the importance of the Pope, and the value to Europe of his independence ; and the...

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NATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESS. T HE extreme aversion with which the majority of

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Alsatians regard the prospect of a transfer to Germany seems to be admitted on all hands, even by the Professors who are recom- mending the ravishment as, on the whole, the most...

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THE INDIFFERENCE OF ANIMALS TO SPECULATIVE TRUTH.

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O NE of the rangers of Versailles and the forest of Marly, who lived in the middle of the last century, M. Charles Georges Leroy, wrote some very amusing letters on "The...

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ESTIMATES OF THE ENGLISH KINGS.

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XVL—EDWARD IV. A NY attempt to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion respecting the real conduct and character of Edward IV. is attended with the difficulty to which we have...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. [To THE EDITOR OF THE .EPECTATOR.1 SiR,—If any one has a word to say in favour of peace, I think it should be said now. I admit that Russia has, with inso-...

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MR. J. S.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR-1 SIR, —Will you allow me to trespass somewhat on your generosity while I advert to the remarkable letter which the Times of last. Saturday...

WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:) Sin,—We are to go to war with Russia, it seems, lest at some future time she should be powerful enough to go to war with us. We did so on one...

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BOOKS.

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SIR HARRY HOTSPUR OF H1JMBLE'rliWAITE.* .Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite is one of Mr. Trollope's -very best short tales. Mr. Trollope's genius demands space. Ile reels off...

THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN.

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go THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 `SIE i —I do not in the least care to have the last word in this 'controversy; but I mast protest against the ground on which Mr. Pearson...

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MODERN RUSSIA.*

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How little we know about the youngest of European nations ! We look at the map of Europe, and we see that Russia occupies more than a half of it. 1Ve know that the Russian...

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A HUNTER IN THE GREAT WEST.* As an old military

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man, the author of this book is probably entitled to the rank of Captain, and that convenient prefix seems to have been generally used by his companions when they addressed him....

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MR. D'ARCY McGEE'S POEMS.* IT is much to be regretted

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that the lady who has edited this remarkable volume did not exercise her discretion in omitting a very considerable proportion of its contents. This would be necessary to do...

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LORD LYTTON'S KING ARTHUR.*

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WE have always understood that Lord Lytton thinks King Arthur to be his greatest and most durable work. The world differs from him, as it differed, on a similar occasion, from...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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_History of the Church in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. By K. R. Hagenbach, D.D. Translated by the Rev. J. Hurst, D.D. 2 vols. (fodder and Stoughton.)—These two...

The Story of Don Quixote. By M. Jones. (Routledge.)—Mr. Jones

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"hopes that he has not spoiled the dear, delightful old Don, by cutting out some of the tediousness of his biographer ;" and by touching "other little matters which required...

boys and girls. And a very good sample it is

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; we only hope that the bulk may be anything like as good. Mr. Henty uses the well-known outline of a plot—a gentleman emigrating with his family—and fills it up with the...

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On Diet and Regimen in Sickness and Health. By H.

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Dobell, M.D. (Lewis.)—Dr. Dobell's lectures appear in a fourth edition "rewritten and much enlarged." They seem, if a layman may express an opinion, full of sound sense and good...