TOPICS OF THE DAY. • Abyealulan Expedition, some Dangers of the 96-5 — The.- _ 1132 — Sir Staff o rd dorthente upon the _. ... 1190 - — The Finance of the 1224 — Debate, the...

The daily papers bored the- ,blic, as usual on New Year's Day, by filling their columns with vary histories of 1866. We will not ask if anybody ever reach tl.se articles, but...

him, In order to break the habit of inflicting corporal punishment on negroes, flogging was prohibited by military order throughout the South, but Mr. Johnson has repealed the...

has "profoundly modified" his scheme for reorganizing the Army. The regular draft is to re.maiu. 100,000 a year, but every able-bodied man of twenty who escapes it is to be...

A HEAVY snowstorm broke over Landon on Tuesday night, filling the streets to the depth of four or five inches, a depth which, wherever the snow could drift, was speedily...

down. The fire broke out about two o'clock on Sunday, apparently from an explosion of gas, there was no one who knew how to turn on the great mains, the fire brigade was late, a...

usual on New Year's Day, and expressed "his wish for the stability of thrones and the prosperity of nations." He "hoped we were entering on a new era of peace and conciliation...

Year's Day were of a most impressive character. Even the Standard, which sometimes mimics " The Gaily Bellowgraph" so well, became lyrical itself, and did the trick commonly...

the SPECTATOR, and .communications upon matters of business, should not be addressed to the Editor, but to the Publisher, 1 Wellington Street, Strand, W. C. • TERNS OF...

with Prussia which preceded the late war. It appears that the design of an offensive alliance was officially sub- mitted to Prussia as early as 9th March, the bases being that...

the position of the Holy See. The majority tell their people to pray unceasingly, and predict that the Papacy will survive its foes, but one or two are more original. The Bishop...

are already over Mr. Gladstone's estimate, while the Income-Tax return shows, as usual, that there are very considerable . arrears to be pulled up in the last quarter. The...

Sunday she signed a decree dissolving the Cortes, but before it could be issued, S. Rios Rams, President of the Chamber, and 123 deputies, signed and presented to her , an...

called "Public Affairs," the only one unsigned in the Review, which appears to be written, in part at least, by Mr. Danby Seymour. That gentleman had quoted Mr. Bright a a a...

Indian and the Great Indian Peninsula, have declared dividends for the half-year in excess of the guarantee. The excess is only one-half per cent s , but even that is something,...

The Cretan rebellion, which the Pall Mall Gazette killed some months ago is far from over ; the Porte has complained to the Government of Athens of its complicity with rebels,...

has written a long and very respectful letter to Mr. Lowe, suggesting that the time has arrived when he may retract his accusations against the working men. Mr. Lowe, in reply,...

New York Yacht Club, Sir John Simeon, M.P., in the chair. The speeches were exceedingly affectionate on both the English and American side, and Mr. L. R. Jerome made, in the...

an active state. The crater called Linne, on the Mare Serenitatis, was noticed by an astronomer at Athens, a M. Schmidt, during the months of October and November, to be...

Church in South Australia for the Church at Melrose, the only English Church, or place of Christian worship between Clare and Lake Hope,—an area of about 50,000 square miles....

the election of a new Bishop,—the Rev. Mr. Butler, in the diocese of Oxford, being the Bishop Designate of the schisma- tics. It may interest our readers, however, to know what...

to ourselves by "M. A.," on the-subject of Professor Robertson's testimonials in applying for the chair at University College, London. The letter must, we suppose, have been...

and shows a revenue of 40,729,700/., as opposed to an expenditure of 43,389,6001.—a deficiency of 2,659,900/., which would not be very great, were not taxation so strained....

yesterday and on Friday week :— Friday, Dec. 28. Friday, Jam 4. Great Eastern Great Northern ••• ••1 Lancashire and Yorkshire . • London and Brighton London and Sonth-Western...

although the market has been occasionally depressed by heavy sales. Business for the February account, however, has been done as high as ; but the market closed yesterday at...

is 19,415,3621.; by the Bank of France, 27,002,156/. The minimum rate of discount here is Si ; at Paris, 3 per cent. At Amsterdam the minimum is reduced to 4 per cent.

Foreign Securities yesterday and on Friday week :— Friday, Deo, 28. Friday, Jan. 4. Biexican Spanish Passive .. Do. Certificates .. Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858 .. , 1862 ......

MR. NEATE'S DANGEROUS DOCTRINE. T ' junior Member for Oxford is, we believe,"a very sound Liberal, more especially upon Ecclesiastical questions and on the disputes between...

NVE E Spain in Europe, politically as well as geographi- cally, every capital would be ringing with the coup ,cre'tat which Queen Isabella has just struck. As it is, the...

W E are not of those who attach in the abstract or uni- versally any very high guilt to the sin of Schism. If a man is, or a number of men are, not able to think and speak their...

W E print the letter under the well known signature "J. M. L." for two reasons. One is, that Mr. Ludlow never has the fear of the " practical " men before his eyes, and is...

" THE whole month," says M. Dollfus, in the January num- ber of the Revue Moderne, " has been spent in discussing the project of military reorganization proposed by Government....

N OTHING is more striking, and let us add more dismaying, than the terrible ease with which Nature, without appa- rently exerting herself at all, can disarrange all human...

I T is an unfortunate consequence of the conditions under which we live at the present day, that the Stage, in England at least, has become less of an art and more of a trade....

[FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] New York, December 7, 1866. Two Sundays ago, as I was taking a constitutional walk, "my custom always in the afternoon," I saw on a door in a...

T "year just closed has witnessed a great number of changes in the personnel of - Parliament. Taking first the House of Lords, we find that twenty-four Peers have died. They are...

[To THE EDTTOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' Sin,—I think the views of your correspondents on the proposed North American Confederacy are more capable of reconcilement than they...

Sie,—In my former letter I stated my views as to the present state of Ireland with reference to the causes of the emigration ; I will now go on to the really important...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Au immense deal of ingenuity has been displayed in the discussions upon the subject of Reform, but I have not yet seen any attempt to...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sm,- - English Churchmen have been accustomed to acknowledge the authority of the first four General Councils, and usually of no others. Let...

SIR JOHN BOWRING AND PETUFI.* AN English translator of a Hungarian poet occupies a very peculiar position. Although the Magyars are a civilized, constitu- tional, nay, to a...

is in its way a masterly book,—not a book of many ideas, hit of a few very ably and powerfully put, by a man who has a real and accurate knowledge of many departments of natural...

THERE are only four illustrations out of the nine in this splendid edition of Tennyson's Elaine which seem to us to be fully worthy of Gustave Dore's genius,— the two pictures...

DR. FORBES WATSON has attempted to do, and, as we think, has succeeded in doing, a very considerable thing. There are at least two hundred millions of persons in India, under...

possibly as well done as it could be done, but it will not satisfy those interested in the subject. The writer has condensed much of the infor- mation in print about the...

is a yearly register of the astonishing progress of the English insurance system in one of the most prosperous, if not now the most prosperous, of our Insurance Societies. The...

Son, and Marston.)—Illustrated with sixty engravings by Harrison Weir. We look upon this volume as the result of a very happy inspira- tion. It contains all the pretty stories...

very good number. A more curious history than Mr. Thom's account of Archbishop Whately's procedure with respect to the memoir of Blanco White we have seldom read. It is a...

W. H. G. Kingston. Illustrated Edition. (Sampson Low, Son, and Marston.)— Mr. Kingston is quite in his glory here. The tale abounds in stirring incident—land villains and sea...

Tr Savage Club Papers. Edited by Andrew Halliday. (Tinsley Brothers.)—Most people who buy books at this time of the year will, we should hope, include this graceful volume in...

in oil colours. (Warne.)—This edition of the famous Vicar is handsomely got up, and in the .. matter of print and paper leaves nothing to be desired. But the...

by Ernest Griset. (J. C. Hotten.)—Messrs. Greenwood and Griset have again combined to produce one of those volumes of ex- travagant fun in which most people, grown up or...

With coloured illustrations. (Warne.)—This is a bright, pretty-looking little book, which will suit very good little girls. Quiet little creatures who never disturb the peace of...

volume, profusely illustrated with rough woodcuts, and smartened up with some of the popular coloured prints of the day, will please the little folks quite as much as a more...

seem never tired of presenting us with hand- some editions of Longfellow. They are justified, we believe, by the popularity of the poet ; everybody can appreciate the easy flow...