Royal Commission, but suggested such a change in the language of the motion as would point the attention of the Commission to the various causes of shipwreck, with the view of suggesting remedies.

4.-After a two hours' speech from M. Thiers, the Assembly votes the preamble ofthe Duc de Broglie's bill by 475 to 199 votes. "I am," said M. Thiers, "the President of the Republic, and I promised you to restore intact the powers entrusted to me. (Bravos from the Left). I shall not allow it to be interfered with by any interest; but it is an incontestable and undeniable fact that what has been entrusted to me was the Conservative Republic. There are very respectable men who prefer the monarchy to the Republic, but if we speak as honest men, it must be confessed that it would be very difficult at present to establish a monarchy. (A cry from the Right of 'difficult, thanks to you!') Gentlemen, let us have political as we have religious toleration. Political toleration does not mean the abandonment of Faith, just as religious toleration is not apostasy. It is a respect for the opinion of others; it is admitting that a man may serve another form of government to ours without being a bad citizen. Monarchy is impossible, and the definitive and immediate Republic is wanted."

Our

President Grant enters on his second term of office with a message to Congress, declaring that his efforts "will be directed to the reestablishment of good feeling between the different sections of our common country, the restoration of the currency to a fixed value compared with the standard value of gold, possibly to a par with it; the construction of cheap routes, the maintenance of friendly relations with all our neighbours, as well as with distant nations, the re-establishment of our commerce, and the recovery of our share of the carrying trade on the ocean, the encouragement of manufacturing industries, the elevation of labour, and the civilization of the aborigines under the benign influence of educationeither this, or war to extermination. superiority in strength and the advantages we derive from civilization should make us lenient towards the Indian; the wrong already inflicted leaves a balance to his credit, and the question to be considered is, 'Cannot the Indian be made a useful member of society by proper teaching and treatment!' For the future, while I hold office, the subject of the acquisition of territory must have the support of the American people before I recommend it. I do not share the apprehension that there is a danger of governments becoming weakened or destroyed by extension. As commerce, education, and the rapid transit of thought and matter by telegraph and steam have changed everything; I rather think that the Great Maker is preparing the world to become one nation, speaking one language-a consummation which will render armies and navies no

longer necessary. I will encourage and support any recommendations of Congress tending towards such ends.'

4.-Sir James Fergusson, Bart., gazetted to be Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New Zealand and its dependencies.

In his evidence before the Select Committee on Endowed Schools, Lord Lyttelton said he held that no man ought after his death to be able to direct the application of his property; "It should be left to the commonwealth to deal with it after a certain time, and so all restrictions in section 19 should be removed. Nothing is more sacred than a trust, but it ought not to be perpetual. The time will come when it will be held to be a superstition that a dying man may direct what is to be done with his property."

Replying to remonstrances forwarded to him from the Mess of the Northern Circuit, regarding a supposed slight on the Attorney. General of the County Palatine, who had been passed over in the case of the Queen v. Cotton, Sir John Coleridge writes :-"There either is a right in Mr. Aspinall or there is not; and although it is for the Treasury and not for me to decide, I certainly think that the Treasury have decided rightly in the negative. If then, as I think, there is no right, I am unable to perceive upon what ground the Mess of the Northern Circuit should apply to the AttorneyGeneral that any particular gentleman should represent him in any particular case. It would

be highly inconvenient if in any instance where the choice of the Attorney-General was disapproved of by the Mess he should be applied to by resolution to alter his choice, and direct a gentleman indicated to him by such resolution to be instructed to represent him. With a very earnest wish to avoid offence, I must decline to be a party to any such proceeding.'

5.-Speaking at Croydon on the occasion of presenting a portrait to Mr. Locke King, M.P. for East Surrey, Mr. Gladstone praised the guest of the evening as combining political independence with that regard to party ties without which political progress was impossible. "We are in the middle," he said, "of an adjourned debate, and that adjourned debate is upon a vote of censure. What is it about? It may seem strange to some that all this row should exist about an Irish University Bill; but somehow or other an Irish question is very commonly found to be a suitable and convenient subject for a row, and as to this Irish question in particular, it seems to have acquired a peculiar aptitude for this purpose, arising out of the joint operation of two circumstancesfirstly, that it is rooted in a real necessity for legislation; and, secondly, that this legislation has been pressed upon the Government for, I think, three, if not four, of the successive years of its existence with such eagerness and urgency, and our plea that we were otherwise occupied has been so scornfully rejected by some, that it

has only been by an appeal to the confidence of the House of Commons-by what is called staking our existence on the issue-that we have been able to secure for ourselves the opportunity of dealing with it at all, and presenting to that House the views which we might conscientiously entertain. Well, we have done that, and in the midst of the din of the battle I am not going to anticipate the issue. To-day a measure may be upon the crest of the wave, and to-morrow it may be in the trough; but the same measure which was one day on the crest of the wave and the next day in the trough, may on the third day be on the crest of the wave again." In subsequent observations the right hon. gentleman said that "when the hour of dissolution-not of Parliament, but of the Cabinet-should come, it would find him and his colleagues not unwilling victims. But we will not," he added, "abandon our positions unnecessarily."

5,-Died, at Glasgow, aged 103 years, Miss Ann Wallace, a lineal descendant of the Scottish patriot, registered in the Barony parish as born in July, 1770.

6.-Debate resumed on Irish University Bill, Mr. Horsman, Mr. Hardy, and Dr. Playfair objecting to the measure, the latter also protesting against the exclusion of mental science and modern history as a sacrifice of free inquiry to ecclesiastical dictation, which could only end in making the students bigots or infidels. Mr. Fortescue and Mr. Lowe replied, the latter creating some amusement by declaring that the "gagging clauses" were "not of the essence of the bill," and might be amended or removed in Committee.

A deputation of Irish members wait upon Mr. Gladstone to inform him that they felt bound by every sense of honour to support denominational and religious education as against secularisation. They added that the Roman Catholic body, though vastly in the majority, did not demand endowments, but that if any class were to be endowed they claimed a proportionate endowment. If, therefore, the Government did not see their way to making such alterations in the University Education Bill as would meet the objections of their constituents, the Irish members belonging to the Liberal party would be bound to vote against the bill. This would pain them much, but they were inflexible in their determination. Mr. Gladstone replied that the Government must be considered as much masters of their own position as the Irish members were of their own actions, but that if they would put their views into writing he would submit them to his colleagues in the Cabinet.

The National Assembly pass the second clause of the Duc de Broglie's bill relating to the promulgation of "urgent" bills by the President, and to the President's right of veto.

Died, aged 70, the Right Hon. F. L. Corry, M.P. for Tyrone, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty.

Died, aged 50, Robert W. Thomson, C. E., inventor of locomotive traction steamengines.

9.-Pastoral by Cardinal Cullen read in Irish Roman Catholic churches, in which Mr. Gladstone's bill was described as richly endowing "non-Catholic and godless colleges to those who for centuries have enjoyed the great public endowments for higher education in Ireland, and then, without giving one farthing to Catholics, it invites them to compete in their poverty, produced by penal laws and confiscations, with others who, as the Prime Minister states, are left in possession of enormous wealth. The New University scheme only increases the number of Queen's Colleges, so often and so solemnly condemned by the Catholic Church and by all Ireland, and gives a new impulse to that sort of teaching which separates education from religion and its holy influences, and banishes God, the author of all good, from our schools."

Died, at Addlestone, Surrey, aged 81, Charles Knight, an early labourer in the field of cheap literature, and a writer of various historical works of standard excellence.

10. An application having been made to the Exchequer by Earl Stanhope on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries, that examination should be made at the public cost of the tumuli on the plains of Troy, Mr. Lowe replies :"The question is, are excavations undertaken for the purpose of illustrating the 'Iliad' a proper object for the expenditure of public money? I am sorry to say that in my judgment they are not. It is a new head of expense. It has no practical object, but aims at satisfying the curiosity of those who believe that the narative of Homer was a true history,

and not the creation of a poet's imagination. But while I regret to be unable to accede to your lordship's suggestion, I submit that there is a way open by which the money may be provided. It is said that the schoolboy enthusiasm of Europe liberated Greece from Turkey. Is not the literary enthusiasm of wealthy England equal to the enterprise of exploring scenes which are ever recurring to the imagination of everyone who has received a classical education? The Daily Telegraph, with my hearty approbation, is exploring without any assistance from the public purse the secrets that lie buried under the mounds of Mesopotamia. Shall it be said that a large number of wealthy English noblemen and gentlemen can find no better expedient for the gratification of a liberal curiosity than to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to employ for its satisfaction money wrung from the earnings of the poorest of the community? I sincerely regret that the spirit of Herodes Atticus has not descended to modern times, and feel convinced that if one-half the energy which is devoted in attempts to obtain aid from Government were given to create a spirit of private munificence, this and many similar objects might be attained with the utmost facility and com. pleteness.

10. -Adjourned debate on the Irish University bill resumed by Mr. Vernon Harcourt, who declared his intention of supporting the bill, although he admitted that it was not a successful specimen of legislating according to Irish ideas, and that it had been received in Ireland with a unanimity of disapprobation. Mr. Bernal Osborne also spoke against the bill to-night, and Mr. Cardwell in its support.

11.-Defeat of Mr. Gladstone's Government on the Irish University Bill, a division taking place about 2 A. M. on the morning of the 12th, on the motion that the bill be read a second time, when 287 voted against and 284 in favour. The announcement of a majority of 3 against the Ministers was the signal for a tumultuous burst of cheering. Besides the Prime Minister and Mr. Disraeli the principal speakers to-night were Col. Wilson Patten, Mr. Dodson, and Mr. Bouverie, the latter denouncing the bill as scandalously inadequate, pleasing nobody in Ireland, and yet likely within twenty years to hand over the University to priests. Mr. Disraeli rose at half-past ten to comment on the bewildering character of the debate. "Here is the hon. member for Surrey," he said, "Mr. Locke King, who, after recent proceedings, could scarcely refuse to propose a vote of confidence. (Laughter.) But this I can say for myself, and many gentlemen on this side, we have no wish to oppose it. If her Majesty's Government have not the confidence of the House of Commons, I want to know what have they the confidence of? It is a House returned under their auspices. (Loud cries of No, no,' from the Ministerial benches.) Well, elected under the exciting eloquence

of the right hon. gentleman. (Cheers and laughter.) When I remember that campaign of rhetoric, I must say I think this House was formally as well as spiritually its creation. (Laughter.). . . This is essentially a material age; the opinions which are now afloat, which have often been afloat before, and which have died away as I have no doubt these will die in due time, are opposed in my opinion to all those sound convictions which the proper study of moral and mental philosophy has long established. But that such a proposition should be made in the land of the University which has produced Berkeley and Hutchinson makes it still more surprising. We live in an age when young men prattle about Protoplasm, and when young ladies in gilded saloons unconsciously talk Atheism. (Laughter.) And this is the moment when a Minister, called upon to fulfil one of the noblest duties which can fall upon the most ambitious statesman-namely, the formation of a great University, formally comes forward and proposes the omission from public study of moral and mental philosophy." (Cheers.) Mr. Disraeli next amused the House by his reference to the proposed Council of twenty-eight persons. "They are all to be distinguished men. They are all to be-and I thought the expression was a happy one they are all to be 'eminent men of moderate opinions.' (Laughter.) The House is pretty well aware how twenty-eight gentlemen would be obtained under the circumstances. I suppose that Cardinal Cullen would be one of them, and his Eminence would be paired off with the Primate of the Protestant Church. (Laughter.) Then, under the circumstances in which we are placed, the Provost of Trinity College would be a most admirable councillor, and Monsignor Woodlock would be another. Then would come Lord Chancellor O'Hagan, who would probably pair off with the right hon. gentleman who filled the same office for us. (Laughter.) And you would have in your council very much what you have in this House—two parties organized and arrayed against each other, with two or three trimmers thrown in on each side." (Cheers and laughter.) Describing the commencement of Mr. Gladstone's policy of confiscation when he mistook the clamour of the Nonconformists for the voice of the nation

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"You have now,' continued Mr. Disraeli, "had four years of it. You have despoiled churches. You have threatened every corporation and endowment in the country. Cheers.) You have examined into everybody's affairs. You have criticised every profession and vexed every trade. (A laugh.) No one is certain of his property, and nobody knows what duties he may have to perform to-morrow. I believe that the people of this country have had enough of the policy of confiscation. From what I can see, the House of Commons elected to carry out that policy are beginning to experience some of the inconvenience of satiety, and if I am not

mistaken, they will give some intimation to the Government to-night that that is their opinion also." (Cheers.) Mr. Disraeli concluded:-" Although I have not wished to make this a party question, although I have no wish to disturb the right hon. gentleman in his seat, although I have no communication with any section or with any party in this House, I may say with any individual of my own immediate colleagues, must do my duty when I am asked, 'Do you or do you not approve this measure?' (Cheers.) I must

vote against a measure which I believe to be monstrous in its general principles, pernicious in many of its details, and utterly futile as a measure of practical legislation." (Continued cheers.) Mr. Gladstone wound up the debate by defending all the essential details of the measure, declaring that "where we have earnestly sought and toiled for peace we find only contention; if our tenders of relief are thrust aside with scorn, let us still remember that there is a voice which is not heard in the crackling of the fire or in the roaring of the whirlwind or the storm, the still, small voice of justice, which is heard after they have passed away. To mete out justice to Ireland, according to the best view that with human infirmity we could form, has been the work, I will almost say the sacred work, of this Parliament. ('No, no,' and cheers.) Having put our hand to the plough, let us not turn back. Let not what we think the fault or perverseness of those whom we are attempting to assist have the slightest effect in turning us from the path on which we have entered. As we have begun, so let us go through, and with firm and resolute hand let us efface from the law and the practice of the country the last-I believe it is the last -of the religious and social grievances of Ireland." (Loud and prolonged cheering.) On the result of the division being made known, Mr. Gladstone said :-"I think, Sir, after the division that has just taken place, the House will expect to hear a word from me. I apprehend that the effect of the vote is to lay the bill aside for the moment. It is capable of revival, but it requires a motion for the purpose of reviving the order. The vote of the House has been a vote of a grave character, I need hardly say; and as the House never wishes to enter into deliberations upon secondary matters while the question of the existence of the Government is in doubt, probably the best thing I can do is to move that we now adjourn, and that we adjourn until Thursday." (Cheers.) The house accordingly adjourned at twenty-five minutes past two o'clock till Thursday the 13th. Thirty-six Irish Liberals voted against the bill, and fifteen Irish members in its favour. 11.-The Supreme Court of Judicature Bill read a second time in the Lords.

that in consequence of the vote on the Irish University Bill, her Majesty's Ministers had tendered their resignation; and to permit of the necessary new arrangements being made, he begged to move that the House at its rising should adjourn till Monday the 17th.

13.-On entering the House this afternoon a Royal Messenger waits on Mr. Disraeli commanding his presence at Buckingham Palace. "Her Majesty (the right hon. gentleman explained) did me the honour of consulting me upon the subject of the ministerial difficulty. She inquired of me whether I was prepared to form a Government and carry on her affairs. I then informed her Majesty distinctly that I was quite prepared to form an administration which I believed would conduct her Majesty's affairs efficiently and in a manner entitled to her confidence, but that I could not undertake to conduct the government of the country in the present House of Commons. That was the information I gave distinctly and clearly to her Majesty, and from that position I have never for a moment faltered."

Died, at the Cloisters, aged 72, the Rev. Evan Nepean, canon of Westminster and chaplain in ordinary to the Queen.

14. - Letters from Zanzibar describe Sir Bartle Frere's mission as a failure; the Sultan maintaining that he and his Arab chiefs must reject the treaty, not only for the financial reasons which he had previously put forward as his main objection, but also on the ground that slavery was a time-honoured institution, sanctioned alike by the Mohammedan religion and ancient custom, and its abolition would lead to insurrection and disaster; and that, moreover, no confidence could be placed in any new treaties.

15. Died, aged 68, Rev. Henry Wall, M.A., professor of logic in the University of Oxford.

Treaty signed at Berlin for the speedy evacuation of French territory by the Germans.

Dispute between the Greek and Latin Christians at Bethlehem concerning the curtains in the Grotto of the Nativity, burned in 1871, and which the Ottoman Government were to have replaced in order to end the traditional jealousy of the two bodies. To-day the Greek Patriarch formally protested "against the violations committed by the Latin clergy, who rely upon the right of the stronger, and tread under foot the secular rights of the Greek nation to the Grotto of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, at Bethlehem. We ask the Supreme Government not to allow this outrage against the nation."

17. Mr. Gladstone announces in the Commons that, while passing Sunday (yesterday) in the country, he received a communication

from her Majesty to an effect which led him finally to abandon any expectation that upon the present occasion the party in opposition would construct a Government to carry on the affairs of the country. At the same time, in reply to an inquiry from her Majesty, he at once stated that he placed any services he could render at her Majesty's disposal, and that he would take steps forthwith to proceed to consider, together with those who had been his colleagues in the Cabinet, how far they were disposed to resume their offices, and at the same time to consider the state of public affairs and the business of this House after the events of last week. In conformity with Mr. Gladstone's desire the House, at its rising, adjourned to Thursday the 20th.

18. Mr. Mill presides at a meeting of the Land Tenure Reform Association held in Exeter Hall, and explains its two main principles-first, no more land, under any pretext, to become the private property of individuals; secondly, taxation on the land, in order to give the benefit of its natural increase of value to the whole community, instead of to the proprietors, these being allowed the option of relinquishing the land at its present money value.

Close of the strike in South Wales, the remaining workmen agreeing to-day to resume work on what were known as the "Dowlais terms."

19.-Testimonial of the value of 5,800l. presented to the Rev. Dr. Moffatt in recogni. tion of his services as a missionary in Africa.

The Committee appointed to report on the column of the Place Vendôme decide to re-erect the monument as it stood, and to record by two inscriptions the date of its demolition and of its reconstruction.

20.-Intimation made in both Houses of Parliament that Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues were now in a position to carry on the Government as formerly. Quoting from a "Memorandum" submitted to the Queen, Mr. Gladstone said he "will not and does not sup pose that the efforts of the Opposition to defeat the Government on Wednesday morning were inade with a previously formed intention on their part to refuse any. aid to your Majesty, if the need should arise, in providing for the government of the country; and the summary refusal, which is the only fact before him, he takes to be not in full correspondence, either with the exigencies of the case, or, as he has shown, with Parliamentary usage.' To this charge Mr. Disraeli replied in another "Memorandum :"-"The charge against the leader of the Opposition personally that by 'his summary refusal' to undertake your Majesty's Government he was failing in his duty to your Majesty and the country is founded altogether on a gratuitous assumption by Mr. Gladstone, which pervades his letter, that the means of Mr. Disraeli to carry on the Government were

not exhausted.' A brief statement of facts will at once dispose of this charge. Before Mr. Disraeli, with due deference, offered his decision to your Majesty, he had the opportunity of consulting those gentlemen with whom he acts in public life, and they were unanimously of opinion that it would be prejudicial to the interests of the country for a Conservative Administration to attempt to conduct your Majesty's affairs in the present House of Commons. What other means were at Mr. Disraeli's disposal? Was he to open negotiations with a section of the late Ministry, and waste days in barren interviews, vain applications and the device of impossible combinations? Was he to make overtures to the considerable section of the Liberal party who had voted against the Government-namely, the Irish Roman Catholic gentlemen? Surely Mr. Gladstone could not seriously contemplate this? Impressed from experience, obtained in the very instances to which Mr. Gladstone refers, of the detrimental influence upon Government of a crisis unnecessarily prolonged by hollow negotiations, Mr. Disraeli humbly conceived that he was taking a course at once advantageous to the public interests, and tending to spare your Majesty unnecessary anxiety by at once laying before your Majesty the real position of affairs." Mr. Disraeli now assured the House that "the Tory party at the present time occupies the most satisfactory position which it has held since the days of its greatest statesmen, Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville. It has divested itself of those excrescences which are not indigenous to its native growth, but which in a time of long prosperity were the consequence sometimes of negligence, and sometimes, perhaps, in a certain degree, of ignorance. (Laughter from the Ministerial side.) We are now emerging from a fiscal period in which almost all the public men of this generation have been brought up. All the questions of trade and navigation, of the incidence of taxation and of public economy, are settled. But there were other questions not less important, and of deeper and higher reach and range, which must engage the attention of a Constitutional Minister. There is the question whether the aris tocratic principle should be recognised in our Constitution, and if so in what form; whether the Commons of England shall remain an estate of the realm, numerous but privileged and qualified, or whether they should degenerate into an indiscriminate multitudelaugh, and 'Hear, hear ')—whether a National Church shall be maintained, and if so, what shall be its rights and duties; the functions of corporations, the sacredness of endowments(cheers) the tenure of landed property, the free disposal and even the existence of any kind of property. (Cheers and laughter.) All these institutions and all these principles, which have made this country free and famous, and conspicuous for its union of order with liberty, are now impugned, and in due time will be. come great and 'burning questions. (Cheers.)

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