12 JUNE 1875

Page 1

A dispute of a somewhat serious kind exists as to

The Spectator

a sentence supposed to have been uttered by Lord Derby in his answer to Earl Russell about the British offer 'a mediation between France and Germany. According to the Wolff...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

The Spectator

T HE new Committee of Thirty at Versailles has reported on the Supplementary. Constitutional Laws. It accepts them as a -whole, but recommends that the President shall not...

The Fiji Islands have been annexed, and the islanders, as

The Spectator

usual, are passing away. A British ship, it appears, landed there some returned emigrants ill with measles, and these men scattered to their homes. The disease being considered...

No decisive news has arrived from Burmah, but the little

The Spectator

there is is unfavourable. The King, it is stated, has received the Chinese General Leesetahi, the reputed author of the attack on Mr. Margary, with the highest honours, and Sir...

At Tuesday's afternoon sitting took place the debate on the

The Spectator

- National Debt (Sinking Fund) Bill, in which Mr. Gladstone took even a more prominent part than in the attack on the Savings- banks Bill, charging Sir Stafford Northcote,...

Sir Stafford Northcote floundered through the Savings-bank Bill on Monday

The Spectator

night at great cost to himself, and without, as 'far as we can see, getting any substantial legislation out of it, except the permission to invest some of the funds in "Con-...

' 41 .* The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

The Spectator

case.

Page 2

The debate on the Judicature Bill commenced in the House

The Spectator

of Commons on Thursday, but none of the political leaders spoke, the discussion being left to the lawyers in the House. No new arguments were employed, and the only reason...

To this Mr. Forster replied that, in spite of these

The Spectator

figures, seven- eighths ef the town population had placed themselves under School Boards, while ninety-eight per cent of this population had accepted compulsion as the rule of...

The Home Secretary explained on Thursday night what he proposes

The Spectator

to do by way of change in the Labour laws, and in the Law of Conspiracy as it affects the Labour laws. Two Bills are to be introduced, one to effect the alteration necessary as...

An influential public meeting was held at the Mansion House

The Spectator

on Thursday to forward the application of the Cambridge Uni- versity Extension Scheme to London. Under this scheme the Cambridge Syndicate forwards to any place which desires...

Sir John D. Hay, Member for -Stamford, has again been

The Spectator

before the public this week. It will be remembered that he was Chair- man of the Canadian Oil Works Corporation, the Company which bought some exhausted oilworks of one...

The Belgian Minister of Justice has introduced into the Chamber

The Spectator

of „Deputies the Government Bill for preventing offences like that of Duchesne :—"Any person offering to commit or become an accomplice in any crime punishable by death or penal...

The Government is beginning to understand that it is not

The Spectator

se easy to act on Mr. Disraeli's apophthegm, " Omnia aanitaa," ancl that strong Health Bills are very difficult to pass. It seems quite easy to decree that rivers shall not be...

Among Sir Stafford Northcate'a recent weaknesses, not the least has

The Spectator

been the concession, in the Friendly Societies' Bill, of a maximum of a £6 insurance to cover the cost of a child's funeral. It is a most dangerous principle to let people...

Mr. Dixon brought forward on Wednesday his motion for extending

The Spectator

compulsory education, by the agency of School Boards, to the whole country, and received some valuable support in the shape of very emphatic testimony from Mr. Ramsay,—somewhat...

Page 3

Miss Cobbe calls attention, in an eloquent and able letter

The Spectator

to Thursday's Echo, which well deserves careful study, to the tone of Dr. Lyon Playfair's speech at the distribution of the prizes to the medical students of King's College last...

It is stated that a nugget of gold, forty-two pounds

The Spectator

in weight, has been discovered in Griqualand West. If that statement is correct, it means that rioh gold-fields have been discovered, that Griqualand is about to be colonised...

There is, as the City says, a "brisk inquiry" just

The Spectator

now for the heroes of Physical and Natural Science, and Oxford, at present the most modern of modern institutions, is not slow to reeoinise their merits. She conferred on...

The Spanish Government has arrested five Radical Generals, among them

The Spectator

the notorious General Hidalgo, whose quarrel with the artillery produced such results, and exported them to the Canary Islands. It is believed that this measure was caused by...

The "Peculiar People" are not so very peculiar, after all,

The Spectator

in thinking that in the case of illness good food without medical attend- ance may be quite as good as good food with it. John Robert Downes was tried on Wednesday, before Mr....

The British Medical Journal of last week contained a paragraph

The Spectator

on our expression of opinion in the Spectator of the 29th May that the Commission on Vivisection ought to have compulsory powers, --a paragraph, by the way, which, with an...

The " Authorities " of Oxford University do not seem

The Spectator

to have made much of their recent crusade against the festivities of Commemoration. There was as large an attendance as ever— larger, for the Royal Princes went down, and " drew...

Consols were at the latest 4(44 921 - 93.

The Spectator

Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Spectator

THE WEST-SUFFOLK ELECTION. T HE contest for West Suffolk, which will be decided on the 15th inst., is by far the most important which has occurred since the General Election....

Page 5

A THIRD BURMESE WAR.

The Spectator

thire is a war which the Indian Government, and the Imperial Government, and the natives of India, and the taxpayers at home do not seek or desire, it is a third war with...

Page 6

THE TWO FINANCIAL DEBATES.

The Spectator

T HE Session seems likely to be more remarkable for bring- ing out the weaknesses of the leading men in the House, than for exhibiting the strong side of either Liberal or Tory...

Page 7

THE BELGIAN DISORDERS.

The Spectator

I T would be easier to understand what is happening in the various countries of Europe, if the result of the war of 1870 had been the victory of France, instead of the victory...

Page 8

THE SOUTH-AFRICAN DOMINION.

The Spectator

I T is a comfort to find that there is one member of Her Majesty's Government who dare attempt big things. We can hardly imagine a heavier task than that which Lord Carnarvon...

Page 9

THE LIABILITY OF CARRIERS.

The Spectator

T HE two decisions on the liability of Carriers which were given last week, the one by the House of Lords, the other by the Court of Exchequer, have been spoken of as if they...

Page 10

THE LABOUR LAWS IN SWITZERLAND T the present moment, the

The Spectator

recent return to the House of Commons of a copy of the Reports on the Law of Master and Servant in Foreign Countries which were transmitted to the Home Office in 1873 and 1874...

Page 11

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON BEES AND ANTS.

The Spectator

rp HE Vice-Chancellor of the University of London has just 1 printed another paper in the Journal of the Linnean Society on "Bees, Wasps, and Ante," which contains some further...

Page 13

A GEOGRAPHICAL DAY-DREAM.

The Spectator

W E all admire M. de Lesseps, and all hope that some one as energetic, though perhaps less fluent, will obtain an equal success in the attack on the Isthmus of Panama ; but just...

Page 14

ANZES'rHETICS AND THE LOWER ANIMALS.

The Spectator

rro THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") letter on the above subject in your issue of May 29 , seems greatly to have troubled the Editor of the British Medical Journal, for in his...

MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR - OF THE ° BrzerATOV1 SIR,—Allow me to point out, with reference to your remarks On Dr. Badger's criticism of my lectures in the Contemporary Review, that I did...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

The Spectator

CHURCH AND DISSENT. (ro THE EDITOR OF THE 0 SPECTATOR.") SIR,—A fresh change of front is marked in the letter of "V. J. C.," who attacks the National Church for its want of...

Page 15

THE CIVIL SERVICE IN LOWER BENGAL

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR Or TEl ”STICOTAT01:1 SIB, —The article in your issue of May 29, on "The Grievance of the Bengal Civilians," was confined to the ill-treatment to which the...

Page 16

CONSCIOUS AUTOMATA.

The Spectator

('to THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—In an article published in the Lyon Medical for April 18, 1875, and quoted in the. London Medical Record, Mr. Cheville declares that...

BOOKS.

The Spectator

MR. MAcCOLL ON SACERDOTALISAL* WE do not profess to have read every page of this substantial volume. Indeed, the subjects discussed in it, though all of them, of course,...

POETRY.

The Spectator

ON SEEING A PICTURE CALLED "A WINTER GALE IN THE CHANNEL" (Painted by Henry Moore in 1872, when it was exhibited in the Royal Academy ; now in the possession of Mr. H. Smith...

Page 18

DUSTYPORE.*

The Spectator

IF any one wants to know why so many observant Anglo-Indians think their Empire built on sand, a dominion which might pass away suddenly, and men scarcely understand either the...

Page 19

A COUPLE OF MINOR POETS.* THE poet, like the artist,

The Spectator

looks at nature under a variety of aspects, and the reader who would judge fairly of the poet's work must remember that the divine art of poetry, like the divine beauty of the...

Page 21

MISS OTTE'S SCANDINAVIAN HISTORY.*

The Spectator

THOSE who know Miss ottes name only as that of the author , of the standard translation of Humboldt's Co.smos, and the scarcely less valuable versions of the writings of De...

Page 22

NOVEL AND MELODRAMA.*

The Spectator

Ax utterly preposterous story may make an effective melodrama, and Mr. Farjeon would have done well to offer his manuscript to some stage manager. Fine sentiments, an exciting...

Page 23

Abraham : his Life, Times, and Travels, as by a

The Spectator

Contemporary. By the Rev. R. Allen. (Henry S. King and Co.)—The author seeks in this book to give to the story of Abraham a more real appearance, and at the same time to...

Scripture Proverbs, Illustrated, Annotated, and Applied. By Francis Jacox. (Hodder

The Spectator

and Stoughton.)—We have always found it especially difficult to review Mr. Jacox's most remarkable books. Happily he is now so well known, that it is hardly necessary. Yet it...

Jocelyn's Mistake. By Mrs. J. K. Spender. (Hurst and Blackett.)—

The Spectator

The moderation of its title is the only instance of that quality in Mrs. Spender's novel. Jocelyn—who is a lady—does nothing throughout the three volumes devoted to her history...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

The Spectator

The Portfolio. June. (Seeleys.)—The feature of this number is M. Rend Mdnard's account of the great French painter M. Gerome, illustrated with an example of the master in...

in saying, without pledging ourselves to the accuracy of Mr.

The Spectator

Green- wood's observation or memory. For our own part s where we can test his accounts, we find them accurate as well as graphic. No dweller in the neighbourhood of Highgate,...

Page 24

Ram Dare. By Charles Felix. 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.)—The man

The Spectator

from whom the tale takes its title is an Indian merchant, located in some one of the manufacturing towns of the North. He is a villain of the deepest dye, a profligate, a...

Among new Guide-books, we may mention, a hfund-bookAr Travellers in

The Spectator

Algeria. (Murray.)—This, it should be explained, is an entirely new work, which has been substituted by the publisher for that which before appeared under the same title. The...

Zincke's "triptych "—to use his own description—is less readable than

The Spectator

the two which have preceded it. There is something in it suggestive of hammering out material, and a tendency to preachiness in the style, which the reader is peculiarly...