28 AUGUST 1869

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The Times' Commissioner in Ireland has contributed a most remarkable

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fact to the discussion on Irish tenure. Mr. Bianconi, the great car proprietor, bought in 1855 two lots of land in Portar- lington. The lands yielded 2305 a year, but were...

3 *,,* The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

The Colonists are at last becoming conscious that the Govern-

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ment, in refusing aid to New Zealand, in announcing to the Dominion through Sir John Young that it can have independ- ence for the asking, in withdrawing troops from the Cape,...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE event of the week has been the International Boat-Race, which came off on Friday, the 27th, at 5 o'clock. Harvard was not as good as we thought. The conditions were most...

Harvard has been lucky in her week, for there probably

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never was one in which Englishmen had so little to talk about. Nothing has occurred anywhere worth recording for politicians ; statesmen are travelling, or climbing, or bathing...

Macmillan's Magazine for September contains a paper so re- markable

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that we notice it here. It is Lady Byron's own ac- count of her differences with the poet, given by herself to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, who was on intimate terms with her, and was...

It is reported in every direction that the Harvard crew

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trained on milk, vegetables, and fruit, and great surprise is expressed that they should have been so nearly successful. Their victory certainly would have been a triumph for...

The Liquidators of the Albert Assurance Office have published their

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proposal for reconstruction. We have analyzed it elsewhere, for the benefit of our Anglo-Indian friends, who are interested in it to a singular extent, the "Medical and...

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In the dearth of better subjects, the discussion on the

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propriety of Formosa has been going on all the week without any particular result, except to fill Drury Lane. Mr. Chatterton, the lessee, writes to say that he has tried to...

A Congress of Trades' Unionists has been held at Birmingham

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to consider the proposed legislation upon their associations. The spirit which prevailed was not altogether commendable. The delegates ask protection for their funds, and the...

The Times hints, we believe correctly, that a silent struggle

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is going on in the Prussian Cabinet. Count von Bismarck is weary of some of his colleagues, particularly of the Minister of the Interior, a man of the old repressive school, and...

The Trades' Union Congress was evidently strongly in favour of

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a reduction in the hours of labour, and passed unanimously a Tather extravagant resolution :—" That it is the firm conviction as well as the duty of the trade representatives at...

One of the numerous "railway wars" in New York has

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very nearly ended in a proclamation of martial law. Mr. Fish has been trying to get possession of the Albany and Susquehanna Rail- way in the usual way, by buying shares,...

The discussion on the capacity of Man for progress or

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degeneracy has been continued before the British Association, Sir John Lub- bock leading the way with a reply to the Duke of Argyll. The papers as reported—and the reports seem...

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What are these good folks at the Cape at? Perhaps

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Sir Frederick Rogers, in the interval which must elapse before he has forced all the Colonies to join the United States, will inquire. According to the news received by the last...

Mr. Wallace, in the same discussion, stated a fact of

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great value to those who believe, as we do, that conscience is inherent, but he drew from it a deduction it will scarcely bear. He has .bad an immense experience of savages, and...

The Bishop of Winchester has, it is stated, signified his

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inten- tion to take immediate advantage of the new Act enabling Bishops to resign. He only waits to wind up pressing affairs. It is be- lieved, though we in no way vouch for the...

The gradual decline of President Grant in American opinion is

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noteworthy, for there is little evidence of any strong political reason. He is very lenient to Conservatives, but that may be wise ; and he has failed to oust the politicians by...

The Times publishes a very pathetic letter from a nailmaker,

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who says there are 22,000 men, women, and children in South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire starving, in consequence of a strike forced on the nailmakers by their rate of...

Sir Bartle Frere, in a paper on "Geography" read before

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the British Association on Saturday, made a suggestion which, so far as we can remember, is new, and will have results. People have discussed the prudence of making a road from...

We would call the attention of our readers to the

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very remark- able, and to us quite unexpected, evidence of Mr. Coningsby as to the piety of American workmen. The general run of evidence has been the other way, to show that...

There is, then, to be some starring in the provinces,

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Punch notwithstanding. The Attorney-General, Sir Robert Collier, is the first member of the Government who has addressed his con- atituents. He told them that this House of...

The popular impression about Italy as the land par excellence

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of assassination has, it appears, some basis in fact. The proportion of homicides to population is highest in the peninsula, being 10.82 for every 100,000 souls, while in Spain...

Console were on Friday evening 93f to 93i.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS ON CHURCH PATRONAGE. T HE Duke of St. Albans has declined to do his duty to the parishioners of Redbourne. He is patron, by law, of the State vicarage of...

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WHO IS TO BE LORD JUSTICE?

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P ARTLY owing to the universal absence of the lawyers, partly to the want of any man whose claims to the place seem paramount, there is very little speculation about Sir C. J....

THE " ALBERT " AND ITS INDIAN POLICYHOLDERS.

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W E recommend the Anglo-Indian policyholders in the Albert Life Assurance Company to reject the compro- mise suggested by the Liquidators, to stop all payments what- ever, to...

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THE RETURNS ON RAILWAY INVESTMENTS.

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W E believe it is . the understanding in the City that the Railway accounts, which are now almost all made up, for the past half-year, have been "good." To outsiders there- does...

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TFIE BURLINGAME BUBBLE.

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MHE Burlingame bubble would seem to have burst. It is just thirteen months since the Chinese Mission, nominally headed by Mr. Burlingame, but really controlled, we imagine, by...

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PRESIDENT HUXLEY.

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T HERE is, perhaps, no one in England outside the domain of politics with whom we have contended so often or so fiercely as with Professor Huxley. We usually disagree with his...

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A NEGRO GRAMMARIAN.

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"1" F the writer of the work referred to below*did not, in a letter to the Secretary of the Philological Society, speak of himself as "born of African parents," no one...

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THE TOTAL ECLIPSE IN AMERICA.

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T is rather a singular coincidence that this year, as last year, the session of the British Association should be in progress when news has arrived of the successful...

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A TRIP TO THE SHETLANDS.—I.

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T HE far North of her Majesty's dominions are less known than any other part, except, perhaps, the west of Ireland. To the great mass of tourists and sportsmen whom summer skies...

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THE WORKING-CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. BY BOBFZEtT CONINGSBY.

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No. IL T HE study of the three R's over, the young workman in America enters the great school of life, where his education is continued by the three P's,—the press, the...

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THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

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CXIII.—THE WELSH MARCHES :--SHROPSEEIRE.—THE TOWNS. fpliE town of Shrezvsbury is situated nearly in the centre of the county of which it is the capital, on two gently rising...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE BATTLE OF THE LANGUAGES. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " EPEOTATOR1 SIR,—Before accepting Mr. Geldart's principle, "that language used as a test of race is utterly fallacious," it...

MR. LOWE'S POUND.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR:] SIR,—May I submit to you a practical objection to Mr. Lowe's scheme in reducing the value of the sovereign? The cashiers at the Banks...

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" FAITHFULL v. GRANT."

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[To TRE EDITOR OF THE " EFFCTATOE. - ] Stn,—Had Mr. Grant merely quoted the London Review, your inference would be correct, but unfortunately he enlarged upon a paragraph...

BOOKS.

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1848-1851: A GLANCE BACK AT A PRESIDENCY.* THERE is not a more obscure or forgotten period of modern history—though it is not a quarter of a century behind us —than, in the life...

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MR. PINDER'S LESS KNOWN LATIN POETS.* THE question that one

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naturally asks after running through the contents of this volume is, what does Mr. Pinder mean by "the less known Latin Poets "? All, it would seem, except Horace and •...

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THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.*

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YET there is room. Perhaps more than half the interest with which books like the one before us are read, takes its rise from this source, the bracing effect of this one fact....

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SHOOTING OVER TEN THOUSAND MILES.* CAPTAIN TOWNSBEND started from England

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for the Far West with a brother officer and a complete hunter's equipment. He was away about five months in all, and during that time he shot buffaloes, elks, antelopes, several...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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A History of Chemical Theory. By A. Wurtz. Translated and edited by H. Watts, F.R.S. (Macmillan.)—This is an admirable and philo- sophical review of the growth of chemical...

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Free Town Libraries. By Edward Edwards. (Tritbner.)—Mr. Edwards tells us,

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in his preface, that he intends this volume to serve "as a handbook for promoters and managers of free town libraries." For this purpose, he has collected a great mass of...

A Persii Flacci Satirarum Liber. Edited by A. Pretor, M.A.

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(Riv- ingtons.)—This volume belongs to the Catena Classicorum and is one of the most valuable and well executed of the series we have seen. The editing of Persius is indeed a...

A Book of Scottish Pasquils, 1568-1715. (Edinburgh : Patterson.)— This

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is a book of satirical poems, lampoons, Bre., most of which have something to do with prelacy, the Covenant, bishops, general assemblies, Royalists and Royalists, Jacobites and...

Typhaines Abbey : a Tale of the 2'wdfth Century. By

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Count A. de Gobineau. (Sampson Low.)—This is a story, told with some power, of an incident in the great struggle between feudalism in France and the rising power of the towns....

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Tim Doolan, the Irish Emigrant. By the Author of "Mick

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Tracy" (Partridge.)—This is a tale written in the interests of the movement for Protestantizing the Irish population. Readers will now know what they may expect. We cannot say...

We have received the first volume of a series which

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"the Scottish Burgh Records' Society" propose to publish. It contains the earliest collection of Burgh Laws, dating from the earlier part of the twelfth century, the Guild Laws...