TOPICS OF THE DAY. Abyssinia, our Progress in _ 64 — the Moral of Magdala. 607 bysainian War, the last Scone of . the 784 Accumulation, the Possibilities of ... 1899 Adams,...

of North Germany, in words somewhat formally arranged. He thanked the Ambassador for assuring him of the friendship of the King of Prussia, and believed he would con- tinue his...

never yet failed us on Italian affairs, of the present position of parties and statesmen in the Peninsula. The writer traces the weakness of the Government to the self-will of...

Northcote has assured the Magistrates of Devon that Govern- ment know the conspirators to be a small "knot" of dangerous men ; but they must have numerous sympathizers, for all...

Government sustained the severest defeat it has ever borne since 1852. The Chamber was alarmed by the effect the Bill might have on the progress of population, and M. Calvet...

the entrance to Cork harbour, a martello occupied by two gunners, their wives and children, was entered on Thursday week by a band of five men, supposed to be Feniaus, who...

in Thursday's Times to confine their operations to Ireland, point- ing out to them, with undeniable wisdom, that instead of gaining anything by blowing up London streets and...

reorganizing the Army, which we believe to be based on this idea. France is to be garrisoned by exempt conscripts, formed into a Garde Mobile of 400,000 men, and the whole Army...

address to the English people, addressing them by the " most endearing title which the sons of men can apply in their inter- course with each other," to wit, as " the...

T HE Emperor of the French received the Diplomatic Body on New Year's Day as usual, bat made no sensational speech. He merely affirmed once more " his constant desire to remain...

to the United States. The Times objects to the selection, and says Lord Kimberley ought to have been sent. Doubtless Lord Kim- berley is the fitter man, perhaps the fittest in...

Mr. Johnson's Message. By a majority of 111 against 32, the House of Representatives has declared that Congress will adhere to the Reconstruction Act, and censured the President...

on opening the session on 27th December, is of amazing length, but contains little that is satisfactory. The Queen says she was ready to fight on behalf of the Pontiff ; boasts...

unintelligible, we mean with respect to its policy, but in- telligibly summoning a special meeting of shareholders for Wednes- day week, 15th January, at half-past one o'clock,...

Mena- brea can get no one to join him, the Departments have no chiefs, and public business gets on as it best can. A coalition Ministry is, it is said, quite possible, but...

London. At that time the first division had threaded the Koomaylee Pass, a gradual ascent improved by the sappers up to Senafe, 7,000 feet above the sea. The Times'...

of the Army, a new office, which makes that successful officer supreme over all departments of supply. He will be assisted by Major-General Balfour, the brilliant Indian...

stituents at Oxford on New Year's Day at a Druids' dinner, but they do not seem to have addressed anything particular to them. Mr. Cardwell commented, of course, on the Tory...

of Paraguay, has suddenly made peace. He has " ceded the Gran Chaco " and the free navigation of the Paraguay, and agreed to• banish himself from South America for two years....

Martin Theatre on Tuesday. Madlle. Silly was imitating Madlle. Schneider, when some. one in the stalls ventured to hiss. The audience in a rage called for his expulsion, and...

explaining his reasons for removing Mr. Stanton from the War Office—a message which was at once calm and cogent in argument,. if his facts are, as it would seem, accurate,—but...

fires in Nicaragua, about ten miles from Leon, near the foot of an extinct volcano called Rota. The first eruption sounded like the booming of heavy artillery to the people of...

of Brasenose College, Oxford, sometime head of a ball in, the University of Durham, and latterly second master at Winchester, has been elected to the Headmastership of Eton,...

Trevor and Lieutenant J. Douglas, for a very gallant deed in Bhootan. The Bhooteas, 180 strong, had barricaded themselves in a block- louse, to enter which " we had to climb up...

at Faversham, by which 11 lives were lost. The cause is still un- Icnown, and the coroner's jury have expressly exempted the manager • of the powder mill from any blame for...

the constitutional laws of Prussia, or rather the standing orders of its Parliament, with especial view to their applicability to the art of puffing. He has sent a petition to...

Friday. Dec. 27. Friday, Jan. 3 Great Eastern... 311 801 Great Northern ... 107 107 Great Western 441 44/ Lancashire and Yorkshire ... 122 1221 London and Brighton 50 411...

and really are not remarkably good, but they are not so bad as they seem. The deficiency on the corresponding quarter of last year is about 800,000/., but this is made up of a...

United States-of such force and magnitude that the day breaks,—we hope not so cold a day as we have had recently in England, —on hundreds of persons waiting in file at the box...

The British Consul at that place appeals to the public for aid for the starving peasantry, and the letter is headed in the Times, 4 ' Famine in Southern Russia." A correspondent...

Friday, Dec. 27. Friday, Jan. 3. Mexican 151 ... 151 Spanish New ... 35f ... 34 Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858 ... 591 ... 5J1 1862 611 ... 611 United States 5.20's 72 ... 721

In prices, however, very few changes have taken plaCe, the fall having been confined to 4 1 - per cent. Yesterday Consols, for money, closed at 92 exactly, and for the account,...

a letter by " A Briton " stating that certain " unspoken words" have come to the lips of hundreds of Englishmen with relation to Ireland, which they have been deterred from...

which Ireland now excites in the minds of many English statesmen will be sensibly deepened by the address from a body of the Catholic clergy published this week. It is already...

THE NEW FRENCH ARMY. B ARON VON MOLTKE, the Prussian Carnot, in his book upon the Campaign of 1866, lays it down as an axiom that the Prussian Reserves must never be mobilized...

UR. ARNOLD has returned to a very favourite position of .111. the ancient world in his recent polished essay in the new Cornleill Magazine in favour of reverence for the State....

W E are not amongst the warmest admirers of Geist,—and Mr. Grant Duff's reviews of English politics have always seemed to us deficient in ethical feeling, and a little even in...

IT seems probable that the curious sanguineness, the perfect confidence that " the country will pull through anything " which is the distinctive quality of American politicians,...

T COKED at cursorily from a distance, it must be confessed J Italy offers at this moment a spectacle of well nigh repulsive confusion. The first impression that cannot but come...

too much of the kind which George Eliot speaks of as " well known to pro- duce laughter," and, we fancy, with an amateur's hand, the subject of the delicate embarrassments of a...

us to make one mistake about English opinion. As a rule, say nine times out of ten, it succeeds in performing its self-imposed duty, that of reflecting every morning the opinion...

with little pleasure to the reign of Queen Mary, for besides the Religious persecutions, on the 1st of September, 1553, a forced loan of 20,000/. was demanded of the City for...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, —When I last addressed you on the Spiritual Advent, I did not think of troubling you with another communication soon, and, in- deed,...

fTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Allow me to express the pleasure I felt on reading, and to thank you for the very able article which appeared in a late impression of...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Your opinion is likely to have so much weight, that I trust you will forgive a remonstrance on the injustice done to a most useful...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—You have stated, with formidable pithiness, in your com- meats on my last letter, the objections to the introduction of the word "...

EIGHTY YEARS OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT.* THE want of a leading idea in this book, or rather the presence of two mutually destructive ideas, has to some extent impaired its merit....

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As I ventured to maintain that the Cretans were in terrible earnest half a year ago, when their submission was being daily an- nounced,...

A lively and neatly finished story of social life in a dull little French town, with central English figures to render the French character-painting more striking and piquant,...

voluminous life of Lacordaire by Pere Chocarne, that we shall confine ourselves here to charac- terizing what Miss Greenwell has added in this interesting little volume to make...

Tins little poem is a very remarkable production ; remarkable both for the degree and for the kind of excellence which it attains, though that excellence is not of the highest...

the Eastern nations is one of the greatest and most enduring facts in history. Each circle of nations has existed almost from the birth of history apart, knowing little and...

A BELATED BATCH OF GIFT-BOOKS.—In spite of our pre-Christmas efforts, some of the books of that season remain to be noticed. They wear a rather dejected appearance, coming in so...

Fabre. (Hachette.)—A rough, rude pastoral, true to many a modern Arcadia. English readers will have some difficulty in mastering the style, which is impregnated with a rustic...

de Gasparin. (Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.)—For an English public we fear that the tone of this book will seem too French, too gushing, too revolu- tionary. When Count Gasparin...

is as much wanted for croquet as for the higher branches of the law, and Mr. Routledgo's rules are so clumsy and illogi- cal that he by no means supplies the deficiency. If we...

by Pierre Irving. (Bell and Daldy.)—These papers will not add to their author's reputation, but some of them are not unworthy of his name, and will be read with interest. The...

By W. J. Fitz- patrick. (Dublin : Kelly.)—A rudis indigestaque moles of jobs and atroci- ties, some under cover of law, others under cover of order, and all of them a deep...

and how to Conduct them. By Samuel Neil. (llordston and Wright.)—We can hardly think that the first of these two little manuals will be useful to any one. The second may bo of...

which this volume is bound makes it fit to lie on a drawing- room table. The contents are a secondary consideration.

Rev. Thomas Hooke, M.A. (Tweedie.)—Certain clergymen have found that by signing the pledge they were able to persuade others to follow their example. If they exhorted the...

Principal Musical Forms. By Joseph Goddard. (Murby.)—Philosophical criticism of the high aesthetic order is apt to glide over the mind so imperceptibly that when you come to the...

English Terse in the Spenserian stanza. By Edward Fairfax Taylor. (Bell and Daldy.)—Whatever we may think of the wisdom of superaddirg the difficulties of the Spenserian stanza...