28.-Versailles reports make mention to-day that at Blois Colonel Belew burnt the bridge, as the enemy on the left bank of the Loire was pressing forward against the town. On the following day the enemy withdrew again in a southerly direction. On the same day the Second Corps captured, at Nozeroy, a transport waggon. The 4th Reserve Division, on the 26th, advanced as far as Passavant, capturing 200 more prisoners. Reports from Arbois state that the advance guard of the 14th Division of the Army of the South having come up with the retreating French army a mile west of Pontarlier, on the Swiss frontier, Sombacourt and Chaffois were taken by storm, and about 3,000 prisoners and six guns captured. The news about General Bourbaki was still contradictory.

29.-Rumours circulated of the suicide of Generals Ducrot and Bourbaki.

At a political gathering held this afternoon in the great theatre, Bordeaux, a unanimous protest against the armistice was passed, and a resolution voted, demanding, firstly, the maintenance of power in the hands of Gambetta; secondly, war à outrance; and, thirdly, the assembling at Bordeaux of a committee, the members of which should be elected by Republican associations in the principal towns of France.

30. In the American House of Representatives to-day a resolution offered by General Butler was passed by 172 to 21, that the Congress of the United States, in the name and on behalf of the people thereof, do give O'Donovan Rossa and the Irish exiles and patriots a cordial welcome to the capital and the country.

Lyons journals publish the programme of a new Ultra-republican Society formed in Paris, under the auspices of MM. LedruRollin, Delescluze, and Peyronton. They advocated the establishment of an indivisible Republic, the constitution of a sole assembly empowered to elect a revocable Executive Power, the suppression of the permanent army, the creation of a national militia comprising all citizens, a reduction in the budget, the suppression of all aristocratic titles, and the annulment of privileges. It also repudiated wars of conquest, and urged that no negotiations could be entered into with the enemy as long as he remained in the country.

31.-Another adjournment of the Black Sea Conference, owing to the indisposition of Earl Granville.

-The Spanish troops in the capital to the number of 40,000 take the oath of allegiance to the new king.

31.-The City of London Relief Committee despatch their first consignment of provisions

for Paris.

Uneasy feeling in the money market, caused by a report from Berlin that the German conditions of peace included the cession of Alsace and Lorraine, with Belfort and Metz, the payment of a pecuniary indemnity of ten milliards of francs, the cession of Pondicherry in the East Indies, and the transfer of twenty first-class men of war.

At several meetings of electors held towards the close of this month, the members present were interrogated regarding the contemplated vote for a dowry to the Princess Louise, and in most instances expressed an intention of giving it their support. The most prominent exceptions were Mr. Fawcett, at Brighton, and Mr. P. A. Taylor, at Nottingham.

M. Jules Favre intimates to the Subprefect of Havre :-"Paris has negotiated because it had no more bread. It is urgently necessary that it should be revictualled. Every facility will be given in this respect. Repair your railway immediately. As soon as it is clear, you will send all disposable provisions and fuel by way of Rouen and Amiens. Act immediately."

M. Gambetta issues another proclamation from Bordeaux, followed by a decree in name of the Delegate Government, enacting that all who from the 2nd of December, 1851, until the 4th of September, 1870, accepted the functions of Minister, Senator, Councillor of State, or Prefect, were disqualified as representatives of the people in the National Assembly. The decree also declared ineligible all persons who between the same dates had accepted official nominations, and whose names appeared in the lists of candidates recommended by Prefects to the suffrages of the electors, and who were described in the official Moniteur either as candidates of the Government or Administration, or as official candidates. A third decree prescribed the electoral arrangeCount Bismarck protested against this decree as arbitrary and oppressive, and stated that only freely-elected deputies as stipulated in the Convention would be recognised by the Germans as representatives of France. decree was also repudiated by M. Jules Favre and his colleagues in Paris, but the contention between the two authorities led to the elections being adjourned from the 5th to the 8th.

ments.

The

Died at his residence, Eton-road, Haverstock-hill, T. W. Robertson, dramatist, aged 42.

The Duke d'Aumale, addressing the electors of France, writes, as to the question of war, "I had no share of responsibility, direct or indirect, in the events or the acts which have produced the war and the actual situation. I have a right to stipulate my entire liberty of appreciation or of reserve. I am further authorized in doing so by the inaction which has been imposed upon me, when I urgently claimed the right of fighting for my country. On the second point I will explain myself with complete sincerity. When I consider the situation of France, her history, her traditions, the events of the last years, I am struck with the advantage which a Constitutional Monarchy presents. I believe it can respond to the legitimate aspirations of a democratic society, and guarantee, with order and security, every kind of progress and of liberty. It is with a mixture of filial pride and of patriotic sorrow that I compare France in her actual state with what she was under the reign of my father. As to this opinion, I have a right to hold it as a man, and as a citizen I believe it my duty to express it; but I do not mingle with it any spirit of party, any exclusive tendency. In my sentiments, in my past, in the traditions of my family, I find nothing which separates me from the Republic. If it be under this form that France wishes freely and definitively to constitute her Government, I am ready to bow before her sovereignty, and I will remain her faithful servant. Whether it be a Constitutional Monarchy or Liberal Republic, it is by political probity, patience, a spirit of concord, abnegation, that we can save, reconstitute, regenerate France."

Acknowledging the offer of the English Government to aid in the relief of Paris, M. Jules Favre writes: "Permit me to see in it a proof of that precious sentiment of union which ought to bind all nations together, and lead

them to help each other, instead of fighting and destroying one another. It was reserved to your intelligent country to give to the world this example of solicitude for misfortune. I beg you to be the interpreter of my gratitude towards your fellow-citizens, towards the inhabitants of London. The inhabitants of Paris have suffered cruelly; they still suffer much, but they console themselves with the thought of having done their duty, and of being recompensed by proofs of esteem and sympathy such as those which you are good enough to afford them."

3.-The first provision trains arrive at Paris, four entering by the Orleans, and four by the Lyons railway, each composed of fifty carriages with 4,500 tons of beef and flour. Between this date and the 7th the provisions forwarded to the starving people were said to have included 1,057 bullocks, 3,093 sheep, 14 cows, 31 pigs, 856 tons of cereals, 8,050 tons of flour, 500 tons of biscuits, 285 tons of preserved beef, 162 tons of preserved mutton, 8 tons of salt, 80 tons of hams, 1,435 tons of salt pork, 26 tons of fresh fish, 210 tons of codfish, 140 tons of butter, nearly 1,000 tons of cheese, 74 tuns of oil, 1,270 tons of vegetables, 10 tons of fruit, 27 tons of forage, 70 tons of cakes, 144 tons of various provisions, 1,740 tons of coal, and 94 tons of oats.

4. For the twelve months preceding this date, 9,460,338 messages were forwarded from postal telegraph stations in the United Kingdom, or on an average 181,929 each week; showing an increase on the previous year of about 50 per cent. The outlay on works and working was 720,000l., and the revenue 600,000/.

5.-Explosion of a powder waggon on the railway between Bandoz and St. Nazaire, causing the death of sixty people, and serious injury to about 100 others.

6. The Government of National Defence issue a decree, disbanding the regiments of the Mobilized National Guards of Paris.

M. Gambetta resigns his post of Minister of the Interior in the Delegate Government of Bordeaux, on the ground that he was no longer in agreement with it in "ideas or hopes." At the same time he advised the Prefect of Lille that his opinion was, after mature reflection, "on account of the shortness of time and the serious interests at stake, you would render to the Republic a supreme service in carrying out the elections of February 8, with the reservation to adopt whatever determination may seem fit to you.'

Explosion in the powder magazine at Dunkirk, caused, it was thought, by the incautious use of lucifer matches, and leading to the almost instant death, by fire, of over sixty people, mostly women and children employed on the premises known as the old "Etablisse. ment des Bains."

3 R 2

The Daily News announces the retirement of Vice-Admiral Sir Spencer Robinson from the office of Controller of the Navy. This resignation was authoritatively contradicted in next day's Times. On the 9th the Times confirmed the original announcement by stating that Captain Robert Hay had succeeded ViceAdmiral Robinson as Controller and Third Lord of the Admiralty. (See p. 982.)

Publication of the Emperor of Austria's letter empowering Count Hohenwart to form a new Cabinet. "The Government knows that no State is stronger than Austria when on a friendly footing with foreign countries, and with a free development and a conciliatory policy at home. Having placed all nationalities on an equal footing, the Government will give free play to all legitimate peculiarities, but, on the other hand, will never more make precarious compromises with separatism at the expense of indispensable attributes of State unity. The Government takes its stand on constitutional right, upon which before all it will practise conciliation, while bringing into full play the fundamental laws of the State."

Acknowledging the arrival of food supplies in Paris, M. Jules Ferry telegraphs to the Lord Mayor of London, president of the fund for relieving the distress :-"I have taken charge of the first part of this magnificent and fraternal gift. The City of Paris expresses to the City of London its profound gratitude. In the extremity of its misfortunes the voice of the English people has been the first that has been heard by it from outside with an expression of sympathy. The citizens of Paris will never forget the circumstance; and if the souls of the two peoples are united, we shall have faith in the future."

The whole departments of the Côte d'Or, Nuits, Beaume, Arnay-le-duc, Saulieu, Pouilly, Sombernon, exclusive of the Seine, occupied by the troops under the command of General Von Hann.

M. Ledru-Rollin declines the honour of election to the Bordeaux Assembly, and states that he will now bear but his "own share in this lamentable catastrophe, which is already sufficiently heavy for the responsibility of a private citizen." Generals Trochu and Ducrot also declined.

8.-Elections throughout France for the National Assembly called to meet at Bordeaux. M. Thiers was found to be returned for the greatest number of seats, and had also the largest number of votes. In Paris M. Louis Blanc headed the list with 216,000 votes;

M.

Victor Hugo followed with 214,000, Garibaldi 200,000, Edgar Quinet 199,000, Gambetta 191,000, and Henri Rochefort 163,000. Thiers, twentieth on the list, polled 102,000. The Prince de Joinville headed the poll in the department of La Manche. At Strasburg the Mayor received the largest number of votes, 9,937. M. Ledru-Rollin was elected at Toulon and General Garibaldi at Nice. M. Gambetta was elected at Marseilles, with Thiers, Trochu, and others. In the Département du Nord the Monarchical candidates were successful, receiving an average of 195,000 votes against 47,000 on the Republican list.

8.-The ex-Emperor Napoleon issues a proclamation from Wilhelmshöhe:-"Betrayed by fortune, I have preserved since my captivity that profound silence which is misfortune's mourning. So long as the armies of France and Germany confronted one another, I ab stained from all steps or words which might have divided the public mind. I can no longer be silent in the face of the disasters of my country without appearing to be insensible to its sufferings. When I was compelled to ser render myself a prisoner I could not treat for peace; my decisions would have seemed ric tated by personal considerations; I left to the Government of the Regent the duty of deciding whether the interests of the nation required a continuance of the struggle. Notwithstanding unheard-of reverses France was not subdued. Our strongholds still held out, few departments were invaded, Paris was in a state of defence, and the area of our misfortunes might have been limited. But while attention was fixed upon the enemy, an insurrection broke out in Paris. The seat of the national representatives was violated, the safety of the Empress was threatened, a Government installed itself by surprise in the Hôtel de Ville, and the Empire, which the whole nation had just acclaimed for the third time, was overthrown, abandoned by those who should have been its defenders. . . . As regards myself, bruised by so much injustice and such bitter deception, I do not come forward to-day to claim rights which four times in twenty years you freely confirmed. In the presence of the calamities which afflict us there is no room for personal ambition. But so long as the people regularly assembled in its comitia shall not have manifested its will, it will be my duty to address myself to the nation as its real representative, and to tell it that all that may be done without your direct participation is illegitimate. There is but one Government which has issued from the national sovereignty, and which, rising above the selfishness of parties, has the strength to heal your wounds, to reopen your hearts to hope, your profaned churches to your prayers, and to bring back industry, concord, and peace to the bosom of the country."

9.-The Italian Chamber of Deputies adopt the clause of the Guarantee Bill relating to the Pope's Dotation. The Library and Gallery c

the Vatican were afterwards declared to be national property.

9.-Died at the Residentiary House, Amencourt, aged 73, Henry Melvill, D.D., Canon of St. Paul's. He was succeeded in the Canonry by Dr. Lightfoot, Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge.

Parliament opened by the Queen in person, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Louise, and other members of the Royal Family, who, preceded by the great officers of state, passed in procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. The Royal Speech (read by the Lord Chancellor) was of unusual length, and began by a reference to the war raging till recently between France and Germany, in which it was said, "I have maintained the rights and strictly discharged the duties of neutrality," and been enabled 66 on more than one occasion to contribute towards placing the representatives of the two contending countries in confidential communication." Her Majesty had offered congratulations to the King of Prussia on accepting the title of Emperor of Germany-an event "bearing testimony to the solidity and independence" of that country, and conducive, it was hoped, to the stability of the European system; had upheld the sanctity of treaties by commencing a Conference in London; and was a party to a joint commission for adjusting several questions of importance with the United States. Allusion was made to the elevation of a Prince of the House of Savoy to the Spanish throne, to the inquiry into the Greek massacres-unhappily not yet carried to a termination "answerable in all respects to my just expectations"-to the massacre at Tien-tsin as justifying a policy of conciliation and forbearance, and to the friendship and good understanding prevailing with sovereigns and states abroad. The only reference to domestic affairs was a brief statement of the consent given to the marriage of the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne. Bills were promised for the better regulation of the army and auxiliary land forces of the Crown-a change "from a less to a more effective and elastic system of defensive military preparation"-Religious Tests in Universities, Ecclesiastical Titles, Disabilities of Trade Combinations, Courts of Justice and Appeal, Adjustment of Local Boundaries, Licensing, Secret Voting, and Primary Education in Scotland. The Address was agreed to without a division, though Mr. Disraeli commented with some severity on an armed neutrality as a very serious thing for a nation that for a year and a half has been disbanding its veterans; a very serious thing for a nation with skeleton battalions and attenuated squadrons, and batteries without sufficient guns, and yet more guns than gunners; a very serious thing for a nation which is without a military reserve, has left off shipbuilding and reduced its blue-jackets." Mr. Disraeli thought the present war part of a great German Revolution, more important politically than the French Revolution. It opened a new

world and new objects, and had entirely destroyed the old balance of power. Its first consequence was the repudiation by Russia of the Treaty of 1856. And here our Government suffered the consequences of their own repudiation of the Saxon guarantee, for they exposed themselves to the answer from Count Bismarck that they had themselves done only four months before what they were now so angry with Russia for doing. The proper answer to Prince Gortschakoff's note was to warn Russia that she must take the consequences of such an act, and he believed that if we had answered thus we should have heard no more about it. The natural result of the Conference would of course be that Russia would get all she wanted-as Russia always did in conferences and congresses, especially when she met Prussia there. Mr. Gladstone explained that the conditions under which the Saxon guarantee was given had long since changed, and that Prussia was quite able to take care of herself. As to the neutrality of the Black Sea, he declared that Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston both set little value on it, and that neither Austria nor France regarded it as a restriction which could be permanently enforced. Had we gone to war on that account, we should have had to do so alone. Accepting the challenge as to the state of our armaments, he appealed to the familiar test of arithmetic. The army of 1862, which Mr. Disraeli denounced as "bloated," amounted to 92,270, and in 1870 it was only 3,000 less; the difference could scarcely be called attenuation, especially as we had now a reserve of 23,000, which we had not in 1862. Moreover, the estimates of 1868, for which Mr. Disraeli was responsible, gave only 87,500 men. Though anxious to take the most hopeful view of the armistice, he could not deny that the future of Europe was full of danger. He repudiated non-intervention as a rigid policy. Whatever our security, power, and independence, we had no right to wrap ourselves up in an absolute and selfish isolation. We had a history, we had traditions, we had living, constant, perpetual, multiplied intercourse and contact with every people in Europe. We should be unworthy of the recollections of our past, unworthy of the hopes of the future, unworthy of the greatness of the present, if we disowned the obligations which arose out of those relations to others more liable to suffer than ourselves.

9.-Joint Commission announced to meet at Washington for settling Fishery disputes, Alabama claims, and other outstanding differences between the United States and Great Britain.

Died in Boston, aged 80, George Ticknor, a cultivated American littérateur.

10.-Earthquake shock experienced at Darm.

stadt.

1871.

Mr. Childers's "Minute" regarding the loss of the Captain leading to a difference of opinion as to the share of responsibility incurred by Admiralty officials, the Prime Minister (in the absence from ill health of the First Lord) endeavours to ascertain from Sir Spencer Robinson when it would be convenient for him to withdraw from the office of Controller. Sir Spencer replied that, not being a consenting party in any way to the transaction, he could only say that the arrangement was entirely in the Premier's own hands. "The fact that my office as Lord of the Admiralty is held, as you rightly state, during pleasure, will not, I hope, prevent you from acceding to my request that I should be allowed to see a memorandum which has led you to withdraw your confidence from me. I am sure you will see the justice of complying with this request, when you remember that in June last I consented to remain in a position far from satisfactory to myself at your request, on your representations that my services at the Admiralty were most valuable to the nation, and that their cessation would be injurious to the public interests." To-day Mr. Gladstone writes:-"There will be no objection whatever to the production of your reply to the minute of the First Lord. It is clearly due to you. But in order to avoid what would be an inconvenient precedent, the date of the reply should be posterior to your quitting office." Sir Spencer, thereupon, closed the correspondence:-"I regret that I cannot consent to alter the date of my reply to Mr. Childers's Minute. Any inconvenience that

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may arise from the precedent you refer to must rest on Mr. Childers, who officially published a paper containing grave charges against my self while I was one of his colleagues, without giving me an opportunity of explanation or remonstrance. He thus left me no alternative but to reply to him officially, or submit to the undeserved stigma he endeavoured to inflict on me."

11. The 200,000,000f. loan authorized by the City of Paris taken up by bankers in the capital.

He

12. The National Assembly at Bordeaux meet this afternoon for a preliminary sitting, the oldest member, M. Benoît d'Arzy, occupying the chair. Next day M. Jules Favre, in the name of his colleagues at Bordeaux and Paris, resigned their power as the Government of the National Defence into the hands of the representatives. Thanks (he said) to your patriotism and reunion, we hope that the country, having been taught by misfortune, will know how to heal her wounds and to reconstitute the national existence. "I hope that I shall be able to confirm to those with whom we have to negotiate, that the country can do its duty. (Loud cheers.) The enemy must know that we have the honour of France at heart. will also know that all France will decide. In conformity with the eventuality already foreseen by the Convention, a prolongation of the armistice will probably become necessary. Let us render this prolongation as short as possible, in order not to lose a moment, and let us but think of the sufferings of the population of the invaded districts." The Chamber then adopted a motion for the provisional application of the standing order of 1848 and 1851. At the same sitting General Garibaldi, loving the Republic but hating the priesthood," renounced the office of Deputy with which he had been honoured by several departments. resigned command of the Army of the Vosges, He also and soon after took his departure for Caprera.

The report from Paris to-day is that the city is perfectly quiet and engaged in the task of revictualling. M. Jules Favre was leaving for Bordeaux.