11 DECEMBER 1875

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The Spectator

NEWS OF THE WEEK THE Fishmongers' Company entertained the Duke of Cambridge 1 at dinner on Thursday, and his Royal Highness took occasion to deliver a rather important speech....

The French Assembly . commenced the election of the seventy- :five Members

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of the Senate whom it is authorised to ap- point, on Thursday. The Monarchists drew up their own list, and the Republicans drew up theirs; and as the Monarch- ists have a small...

The President's Message was not delivered this year till the

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Gth December, the 4th December falling on Saturday, and for some reason or other there was a day's delay in transmitting it, so that it was not received here till Wednesday, the...

The Government last week selected the Right Hon. Stephen Cave,

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lately Judge-Advocate-General, as Commissioner to Egypt, to assist the Khedive in-reforming his Treasury, and on Tuesday the names of his Staff were announced. The chief is...

The response from Europe on the Suez-Canal affair is becoming

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still more clear. Constantinople is alarmed, but silent, and unable to interfere. Berlin and Vienna are surprised, but, on the whole, pleased. Paris, though acquiescent, is...

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a good speech,—tbe general

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drift of which we have elsewhere criticised,—on Monday to the Conservatives of Manchester, in the Free-Trade Hall. He warmly repudiated Mr. Gorat's notion that the Govern:...

1 ",,,* The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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Mr. C. S. Read on Tuesday informed the Farmers' Club

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that he had reluctantly been compelled to resign office, and only re- tained his post until his successor could be found. His cause of complaint was that Her Majesty's...

Prince Bismarck's speech yesterday week in the Reichstag, on the

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proposed clause in the new penal code which provides a punishment for the disobedience of civilian subordinates, was, in fact, a covert recital of Count Arnim's sins, or at...

The Prince of Wales has been well received in Ceylon

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by everybody except the weather. He went to Kandy, saw Buddha's tooth, was received with characteristic devil-dances, hunted elephants, shot two, and was thrown out of his...

At the annual festival of the Knights of St. George,

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held in St. Petersburg on Thursday, the Emperor of Russia proposed the health of the Emperors of Germany and Austria, in a short speech, in which he said that the ancient...

The Telegraph asserts that the Porte has assented to twelve

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reforms in Bosnia and the Herzegovina. These reforms consist of the abolition of forced labour, the substitution of a land-tax in money for a tithe in kind, the appointment of...

On Foreign policy, Sir S. Northcote's remarks were still better

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in tone. In relation to the Suez Canal, he observed that the Government had not taken its line from any desire to favour an exclusive and selfish policy in relation to the...

Mr. E. J. Reed, formerly Constructor of the Navy, and

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now a Liberal M.P. for Pembroke District, made a speech this day week at Tenby, in which he gave a cordial support to the policy of the Government in relation to the Suez Canal....

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Lord Derby, in answer to a deputation yesterday week, which

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waited upon him to point out the danger of an Egyptain conquest of Abyssinia and the probable consequence,—a spread of the Egyptian slavery to Abyssinia—expressed his strong...

There is still probably more bitterness in France than in

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any other country under the sun on the subject of religious differences. A curious illustration of this occurred the other day, when Madame de Gasparin sent to a popular library...

W. B. Tweed,- the " Boas " of Tammany Hall,

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recently dictator and plunderer-general of New York, has been allowed to escape from custody. He had been condemned to a term of imprison- ment for peculation, but was allowed...

The Protectionists of Germany have sustained a severe defeat. The

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most ardent among them were the iron-masters, who had also the best case ; but the Parliament, after a debate of four hours, refused to entertain the petitions for retaining the...

Baron Bramwell delivered on Tuesday a charge to the Grand

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Jury which investigated the deaths caused by the collision between the ' Mistletoe' and the Royal yacht 'Alberta' in the Solent last August,—the Jury not having been able to...

A dreadful wreck took place on Monday morning off the

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coast of Suffolk, which was accompanied by a fearful loss of life. The Deutschland,' a large German emigrant steamer, from Bremen to the United States, left the Weser on Sunday...

Mr. Tenniel has achieved a stroke this week. He has

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seldom given us anything better or more suggestive than Mr. Disraeli, with the key of India in his hand, passing on his route the Sphinx, which, with a face of antique, weird,...

Consols were at the latest date- 981 to 94,

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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BM S. NORTHCOTE ON CONSERVATIVE ENGINEERING. W HOEVER is the real Moses of the present Ministry, there can be no question that Sir Stafford Northcote is its Aaron. Since he has...

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THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN EGYPT.

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I T is not perhaps to be regretted that the Government will, for another six weeks at least, be free from the necessity of defending its foreign policy in Parliament. The steps...

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

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I T is obvious that General Grant has not yet given up the idea of a Third Term, and we suspect that his new Mes- sage will do a good deal to render that proposal, if not agree-...

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PRINCE BISMARCK ON DIPLOMATIC CRIMES. PRINCE BISMARCK remarks that, in

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his double function of PRINCE of the-German • Empire and President of the Council of Prussian Ministers, he stands at the meeting-point of so many interests, that whenever...

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MR. CLARE SEIVELL READ.

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ATIZ. C. S. READ'S resignation illustrates at once the merits .1.11 and defects of his character as a politician, and one of the permanent difficulties with which every British...

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THE SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES.

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T HERE has been a brisk contention waged for some time through the columns of the Pall Mall Gazette as to the character and standing of the Scottish Universities. The dispute...

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE ON THE ARMY.

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T HE inability to make a good speech which has marked all the members of the House of Hanover extends to the Duke of Cambridge, and adds a good deal to the importance of his...

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THE LANDLORD OF NEW YORK.

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T HE career of Mr. W. B. Astor, the American millionaire who died at New York on 24th November, deserves more than a passing word. He was believed to be, perhaps erroneously,...

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THE LIMITS OF ILLUSTRATION.

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A S this is the season of the Illustrated Books, we propose to offer a few words of suggestion to the public and the pub- lishers on a subject which is too little considered...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE HEAD MASTER ON FELSTED SCHOOL. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR"] Sin,—Severity is disarmed by the pathetic humility of the Chairman of the Felsted Trustees. The Bishop...

AN ASSISTANT-MASTER ON FELSTED SCHOOL.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE ".SPECTATDR. " ] SIli,—" The Chairman of the Trustees," in your last number, speak- ing of the period immediately preceding Mr. Grignon's dismissal,...

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WOMEN'S COLLEGES.

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:'] SIRS Will you allow me, while thanking you sincerely for your advocacy of the higher education of women, to call attention to a singular...

THE FELSTED TRUSTEES. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]

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SIR,—I had hoped that you and your readers might have been spared any further mention of Felsted. But your remarks on my last letter necessitate my once more addressing you on...

THE RIGHT OF APPEAL FOR ASSISTANT-MASTERS. [TO THE EDITOR OF

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THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sin,—Lord Lyttelton, to whom Assistant-Masters owe a debt of gratitude for the interest he has taken in their cause, is too sanguine in supposing that his...

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BOOKS.

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MR. BROWNING'S NEW WORK.* IT is always with hesitation and pain that we speak unfavourably of the work of any writer to whom the world owes as much as it does to Mr. Browning....

VON THIELMANN'S TRAVELS.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] 'Snt,—In a recent review of the English edition of Herr von Thielmann's "Journey in the Caucasus, &c.," the Spectator re- marks, " We are...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE"SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—While thanking you for your

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article on " Women's Colleges," and cordially acknowledging the sympathy shown with the work of Girton College, I am anxious to be allowed to correct a statement in which you...

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AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.*

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No books of travel are so dreary and dispiriting as the records, which succeed one another with melancholy monotony, of un- availing attempts to explore the hideous wastes which...

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WE AND OUR NEIGHBOURS.* Mits. BEECHER STOWE possesses, undoubtedly, to

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perfection the art of story-telling. Out of very slender materials she contrives to make up a book which is always readable, and generally enter- taining. No matter how much one...

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WARD'S HISTORY OF ENGLISH DRAMATIC LITERATURE.*

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" Arduum res galas scribere," wrote the man whom Milton held to be the greatest of ancient historians, and " Ardnum res gestas scribere" is the motto which the greatest of...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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CHRISTMAS BOOKS. Windsor Castle, Picturesque and Descriptive. The text by the late B. B. Woodward, B.A., F.S.A., Her Majesty's Librarian at Windsor. A Series of Photographic...

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Sonnets of the Sacred Year. By the Rev. S. J.

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Stone. (Religious Tract Society.)—Some of these sonnets are sweet and graceful, all of them show considerable skill in versification. The anther has chosen the form of the...

Air, and its Relations to Life. By Walter Noel Hartley,

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F.C.S. (Longmans, Green, and Co.)—Although scientific books have been issuing from the press in large numbers during the last few years, ranging over all the sciences and of...

Dorothea Waldegrave. By Ida, Countess Hahn-Hahn. Translated from the German,

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with a preface, by Lady Herbert. 2 vols. (Bentley.)— The preface tells us that the authoress wishes that this book may "destroy any contrary influence which earlier books of...

Letters of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. With an Introduction

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(John Murray.)—These Letters, we learn from the title-page, are "now just published from the original manuscripts at Madresfield Court." They give details about the change...

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Mamas Ward and Co.'s Christmas and New-Year Cards, 1875-6.— These

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pretty harbingers of Christmas, with their graceful designs of birds and flowers and quaint little children, are before us again, and seem to us even prettier and more ingenious...

The Philosophy of Laughter and Smiling. By George Vasey. (James

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Burns.)---Mr. Vasey, condemning laughter, promotes it. How can we help laughing when he says, "If people become studious and intelligent (which all human beings ought to...

A Scotch Wooing. By J. C. Ayrton. 2 vols. (Henry

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S. King and Co.)— This is a spirited story, reminding us, and intended to remind us, of "North and South." Arundel Fielding goes down to a Scotch manu- facturing town to be...

Wild Mike and his Rana. By the Author of "Misunderstood."

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/Richard Bentley.)—This is a very pretty little tale, evidently intended to obtain additional aid for the Victoria Hospital for Children, aid apparently richly deserved. The...

Lady Louise. By Kathleen Isabella Clarges. 3 vols. (Samuel Tinsley.)

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—Miss Clarges produces incidents well-worn already in the service of fiction, and does not contrive to give them any novelty by her method of treatment. A girl is deceived by...

Fair, Litt Not False. 3 vols. By Evelyn Campbell. (Samuel

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Tinsley.)—We have been frequently reminded in reading these volumes of the long, gossipy letters, not generally of the most intelligent sort, that young ladies in their teens...

Spiders and Flies. By Mrs. Hartley. 2 vols. (Chapman and

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Hall.) —The spiders, or rather the spider, in this story, is one Margery Doveton, better known as Miss Barlow's niece; the flies are, we might almost say, the human race, at...

The Indian Civil Service. By A. C. Tupp, B.C.S. (R.

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W. Brydges.) —This excellent little volume contains in a compact form all the facts and figures, and most of the arguments, necessary to a thorough com- prehension of the...