19 MAY 1866

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• NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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• THE feature of the week in foreign politics has been a revival of the rumour that the Emperor Napoleon was endeavouring to call a Congress, not indeed to settle "all pending...

The Prussian Government has completed its armaments, and has now

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500,000 men ready for action. As time advances, the lan- guage of the Court becomes higher, and the Government of Han- over appears to have received a severe warning against...

A very interesting debate on the Government's "Tenure and Improvement

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of Land (Ireland) Bill" took place on Thursday night, in which there was another duel between Mr. Lowe and Mr. J. S. Mill, the latter defeating his able adversary con-...

The panic has been dying slowly away during the week,

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and no further very great failures except that of Messrs. Pete and Betts for 4,000,000/. have been reported. It is calculated that the depreciation in the market value of the...

The Derby, of which a description will be found in

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another column, came off on Wednesday, Lord Lyon winning by a neck. The race was remarkable for the fact that the first three horses, Lord Lyon, Bribery, and Rustic—what demon...

In Italy the excitement has risen to fever height. Garibaldi

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has accepted the command of the volunteers, who are being enrolled in every district and municipality; the Heir Apparent has received the command of a brigade ; the King has...

As we expected last week, the Government empowered the Directors

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of the Bank early last Saturday morning to advance on As we expected last week, the Government empowered the Directors of the Bank early last Saturday morning to advance on...

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The second reading of the Redistribution Bill was passed on

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Monday, after a debate in which only Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Cardwell took part. Mr. Disraeli denied, like Mr. Gladstone, that the small boroughs were exceptionally corrupt, and...

One of the most - curious side-points in Mr. Disraeli's speech was

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an elaborate compliment to Lord Halifax. "He was perfectly master of the business of the great departments of the State, and there were few who had his quickness of perception."...

The Rind.erpest has appeared in Ireland, carried there, it is

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supposed, in the clothe of a drover, but possibly self-generated. The disease broke out on a farm at Drennan, county Down, and the infected cattle were immediately killed and...

The intelligence of the week front Atneriesi in unimportant, the

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quarrel between the President and Congress continuing without abatement, but with no marked incident. An effort is to be made to piss a Bill over the fresident'a head, greatly...

Sir Robert Peel seems anxious to justify the Government in

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having got rid of his counsels, by behaving in Parliament as much like a wild Irishman at Donnybrook fair, and as little like an Irish Secretary, whose duty it is to try to make...

Mr. Mill's rep'y weever,' powerful, bethin substasineantLastyle,, and as much

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more refined as it was more powerful than Mr. Lowe'st somewhat coarse cynicism. He pointed out that our English plan of vesting the ownership of the land in one class,...

The Times calls attention to the extraordinary rise lathe revenue

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of the Post Office, which it believes may one day relieve us of the whole burden of the income-tax. The surplus income is already 1,500,0001., it increase at the rate of...

The Spaniards have put in force their threat of bombarding

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Valparaiso. Their Admiral, Mendez Nunez, intended, it would seem, to destroy the city and its 100,000 inhabitants suddenly, but was warned by the British and American admirals...

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The governing body of Wadham College, Oxford, have recently decided

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to take such steps with respect to the religions discipline of the College as may be requisite to enable persons not being members of the Church of England to be admitted to the...

The return of the Bank of France shows It decrease

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in the stock of bullion of 224,000/. In the circulation there is an increase of 128,0001., in the bills discounted of 1,420,6701., and in the advances of 128,000/.

The present week's return of the Bank of England shows

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extra- ordinary changes. The decrease in bullion is 832,3351., whilst the increase in private securities amounts to 10,099,042/. The cir- culation has increased 3,776,600/....

Lord Chelmsford's Sunday Trading Bill, which began by making *too

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many exceptions for the Sabbatarian party and putting in too many restrictions for the Anti-Sabbatarian party, passed through - the Committee of the Lords on Tuesday night,—when...

Mr. Cardwell declines to give any opinion as to whether

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the .Jamaica Indemnity Act should be disallowed by the Queen or not, till after the evidence received by the Commissioners and appended to their report reaches him. We suppose...

In Aberdeenshire the Liberals have had their first triumph, and

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a great triumph it is. Mr. Fordyce was returned by a majority of no less than 1,087 over Sir J. Elphinstone, 2,173 voting for Mr. Fordyce, to 1,088 for Sir J. Elphinstone....

The Bank Directors are now charging 10 per cent. for

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dis- counts. In the open market very little capital can be obtained under that rate.

The closing prices of the leading Foreign Securities yesterday and

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on Friday week w ere as under :— Friday, May 11. Friday, May 18. Mexican .. 151 171 Spanish Passive .. Li} 201 Do. Certificates.. 14 14 Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858.. .• 59...

The purchases of Stock on account of the public having

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been extensive, the Consol market has been somewhat active this week, and prices have steadily advanced. On Saturday last Consols for money left off at 86/ /. Yesterday they...

Mr. Cardwell has introduced a Bill to enable the Colonial

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!Bishops to surrender their letters patent, and so to do away with all the ineffectual attempts which appear to have been uninten- tionally made by the Crown to establish...

Colonel Hobbs, who was so much, and we fear so

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justly, cen- -sured for his Jamaica campaign, seems to have been one of those excitable men who are probably hardly responsible for their own most culpable acts. The censure...

A schoolmaster of Bradford named Blum, a German by birth,

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has been murdered near Liverpool under somewhat peculiar cir- cumstances. He had been summoned to Liverpool, as is supposed from his own statement to his fianede by a letter...

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THE PRINCE OF WALES.

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T HERE is no man, and still less any woman, in England in so difficult a position as the Prince of Wales. One might almost wish that instead of a Salk law, we could have At all...

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE RUMOURED CONGRESS. IT is difficult to believe, though the Moniteur says it, that England, France, and Russia are seriously intent on reviving the proposal for a Congress....

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MR. DISRAELI'S SPEECH.

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T HE Tories, it is clear, do not heartily hate the Redistri- bution Bill, or Mr. Disraeli's speech would have been one of a different kind. It was very clever, very pungent, and...

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JUSTICE LEPROT.

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TH 'English system of Parliamentary government by party, a E long with its numerous advantages, has some counter- vailing defects. Among these we may certainly reckon the danger...

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THE BOMBARDMENT OF VALPARMSO.

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T HE question before Admiral Denman at Valparaiso was rather a moral than a political one, and a more difficult question was probably never raised. It is not necessary to the...

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THE PANIC AND THE PUBLIC.

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T HEpanic in the City is over, and people who last week looked suspiciously white about the lips are this week lecturing one another very comfortably for having shown so much...

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THE DERRY.

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I T may be doubted whether our national repugnance to describe things exactly as they are tends to promote or discourage morality. In France they are certainly more outspoken...

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YANKEE NOTIONS.

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[FROM OCR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] New York, April 27, 1866. Tits political world is very quiet. The problem of the reconstruc- tion of the Union is still studied in secret by...

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RELIGIOUS POETRY.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Si,—Will you permit me to make a few brief remarks on " E. V. N.'s" letter in your last on "Religious Poetry?" The allegations against Mr....

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LORD DERBY AND MR. NORGATE'S ILIADS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your last number, speaking of translations of Homer, you talk of Lord Derby's famous "Knee me no knees." I do not wish to detract...

THE REDISTRIBUTION BILL [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1

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Middlesborough, May 15 1866. SIR,—As surprise has been expressed in some quarters that Middlesborough should have been included in the Redistribution Bill, and Mr. Disraeli has...

ART.

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THE ROYAL 'ACADEMY. [SECOND NOTICE.] THE Royal Academy of Arts ought certainly to have the three words "except landscape painting" added to its title. Small as is the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sur,—As your liberality admits

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the discussion of opinions opposite to your own, may I ask for a space to state very shortly the mili- tary argument for universal suffrage, which seems to have slipt out of...

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BOOKS.

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VISIONS OF HELL.* M. DELEPIERRE, one of the most diligent and learned members, we believe, of the Philobiblon Society, has reprinted a few copies of a curious and interesting...

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CLXMENCY FRANKLYN.*

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THIS is a very pleasant little story, showing a good deal of artistic power, and containing one or two sketches of character far above the level of ordinary novel writers. It is...

PIONEERS OF FRANCE IN THE NEW WORLD.* Tuts book commends

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itself to the attention of all interested in tracing how far the civilization of the New World has been in- fluenced by the genius which contributed so largely to the mould- ing...

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THE CANTERBURY LETTERS.*

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THE story of the great struggle between Baldwin and Hubert, Archbishops of Canterbury, and the Convent of Christ Church, has been told by the chronicler Gervase. Gervase himself...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Dogrel& A Domestic Story. By the Viscountess Enfield. I voL (Warne.)--This is very domestic story indeed. It is all about a number of cousins of high degree, who live in the...

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Histoire de France au 18me Siècle, Louis XV: Par J.

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Blichelet. (Paris : Chamerot.)—The sixteenth volume of M. Michelet's great history, which has just come out, contains the perhaps most scandalous and disgusting thirty-three...

The United States during the War. By Auguste LaugeL (Bailliere.)

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—We are glad to find that M. Laugel has found a competent translator. No more interesting work than his appeared during the whole course of the American straggle. A little...

Alexander von Hwnboklt ; or, What Afay be Accomplished in

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a Lifetime. By F. A. Schwarzenberg. (Hardwicke.)--.A. very tiresome apotheosis of a great man. Mr. Schwarzenberg pitches his key so high at the you beginning that he loses his...

Miss Crosby's Matchmaking. 1 vol. Edited by Maine O'Hara. (13eaton.)—Miss

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Crosby is a good-natured bat rather twaddling old maid, who has a wild Irish girl on her hands. She keeps her out of scrapes, and gets her married and settled, not without some...

The Resources and Prospects of America. By Sir S. Morton

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Pato, Bart., (Strahan.)—Sir S. Pete lies produced a useful volume of statis- tics. As he informs us in the preface, he has avoided all political allu- sions, and has not...

Eastern Gleams. Metrical Essays and Poems on the Gospel History.

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(Longmans.)—Romances and Minor Poems. By H. Glasaford Bell. (Macmillan.)—We have here two volumes of pleasing verse, but scarcely of a character to interest any one out of the...

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Beyond the Church. 3 vols. (Hurst and Blackett.)—This is an

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ambitious attempt, we should think, by a young hand. We have sketches of parsons of every division in the Church, drawn with some humour, but blotchily coloured, and the satire...

The Victoria Magazine. Vol. VI. (November—April). No. 37. May. (Emily

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Faithf ulL) —The Victoria Magazine maintains a respectable position amongst the serials of the day. Its tales and criticism are quite of average merit, and it discusses the...

Index to the Pedigrees contained in the Printed Heralds' Visitations.

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By G. W. Marshall, LL.M., Barrister-at-Law. (Hardwicke.)—The Printed Heralds' Visitations are to be distinguished from those in manuscript, which are comprised in the Har'.ei in...

Clarkson Gray and Other Poems. By Mrs. James Morton. Illustrated.

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(Nimmo Edinburgh.)—Clarkson Gray has been written to move the Scottish heart to provide a hospital for incurables, and concludes with the following appeal :— " 0 Scotland, hear...

The Parables, Read in the Light of the Present Day.

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By Thomas Guthrie, D.D. (Strahan.)--We open this volume in the middle of the twenty- five pages that are alloted to the parable of the ten virgins, and we find a section which...

Fires, Fire - Engines, and Fire Brigades. By C. F. T. Young,

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C.E. With numerous illustrations. (Lockwood.)—In this bulky volume the author gives us the result of the observation of many years. He also gives us a bit of his mind, in the...

We have also received Miss Drury's clever novel, Misrepresentation, in

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Chapman and Hall's "Select Library of Fiction," fifth edition ; Miscellaneous Questions, with answers, embracing science, literature, arts, &c., by W. Chambers, F.R.S.E., &e....