Daily News from London, Greater London, England • 5

THE DAILY "HEW; ECEMBEIT PRUSSIA. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS. 99s owh OpBaBBPOHDJBKT.) BERLIN, Nov. SO. There is a temporary check to the onward inarcii of the County Beform Bill.

The long-threatened division the Cabinet seems to be near, thougli felTits pretensions are arraying it, but against But what thenP If the Army can be 7d on against France, why should those who live that they know infinitely better than the what is good for it, part with their power partial renewal of the Assembly would, no Inbt ba a great gain to the oause of peace, order, common sense; but M. Thieks is as little I koly to obtain the consont of that body to this limited measure as he would be to get it to provide 77 its complete dissolution. France has the Neatest oause of complaint against an Assembly whioh is either its representative or nothing; but the and material means of imposing those ehts do not exist. In those circumstances, is impossible not to feel the greatest anxiety for result. Perhaps the Monarchists, who are for rteinoment leagued against Franoe and the Pre-hjEHT, will find before long that great nations jjg not so helpless as those who would take advantage of their embarrassments may imagine.

iHEoponing of the second Session of the present fortv-second Congress, and the reading of iiraigionit property family kfejt'tar adopting the Rood old fashions of the partisans: of the Neapolitan, BoTOBBOsrs They are becoming pure and simple I 'and teaching Spanish merchants, manufacturers, bondholders, shopkeepers, and taxpayers, in general, how muoh they lose by not inviting baok to govern them a respectable and regular Monarchy represented by highway robbers, and a Party of Order led by anarchists and insurgents, whose principles may be judged by their' actions. Canon KincIsiot has been leoturing lately at Chester on Heroism, and in the course of his address he undertook to explain tho raiaon d'etre of the sensation novel. As far as his own individual taste went; the Author of Alton Locke assured his listeners that he could no more read one of these productions "than he oould eat a dead dog." Blithe could sympathise with those who encouraged the manufacture of suoh works. "Those who read them so greedily were consoious of capacity for passion and action, both good and evil, in themselves, and for whioh in their hum-" drum daily lives they had no vent or room." From this Mr. Kingsley passed on to disoourse on the use and etymology of the word "herp" and of the word moral," referring as an instance of oourage to the familiar illustration of the sinking of the Birkenhead.

The main point in his dis- course, if there was any, would seem to be that are more resounding than sound, and that he fiction is a rather discreditable refuge of uneasy has a greater aptitude to get the Government into minds from the burden of a monotonous existence, difficulties than out of them. On these grounds and that properly we ought to resort to faots for- it has long been thought that M. Viotor Lefrano examples and impulses of self-saorifice and of the would soon be restored to the tranquillity of pri-higher life. Mr. Kdsgsley here seems to be un- vate life.

But it will be a very shabby thing if grateful to the art in whioh he has gained for bis colleagues throw him over upon yesterday's himWf so muoh of honourable distinction. Both vote. I do not think they mean to do so, and that in his Chester leoture last Tuesday, and in the if the latest news be true, that all the Ministers, sermon on our physical deterioration delivered at except M. Viotor Lefranc, remain in office, it can Birmingham some time ago, Mr. Kingsley has only be beoause of extreme sensitiveness and de-shown a disposition to adopt rather melancholy termination on his part.

The saorifioe of M. opinions of his countrymen, and to apeak generally Victor Lefrano' would resolve nothing. The position in a disheartening tone whioh must, sound rather of the Government is that the addresses of ffl- CRISIS IN GRANGE Qraoi! 'ova own aowmvosvEsrc-)" PARIS, Banna 1 Two Ministerial Counoila were held at Versailles to-day one at noon, and the second at four o'6loofcto; consider tho very grove crisis caused bv the defeat of the Government yesterdoy. The absurdity of regarding the vote of censure as affecting M. Victor Lefrano alone struck all.

the Ministers. M. Jules Simon, who knows that the Rurals mean next to attack said last night to M. Victor Lefrano If you resign, you must not go out alone." The entire Ministry placed their resignations in M. Thiers's hands this morn: ine.

The latest news, however, is that M.Victor Lefrano, though greatly pressed by M. Thiers and his colleagues to remain in office, persists in offer-ing'bimself up aa the first victim of that Ministerial responsibility which the De Kerdrel Committee colled for. It is true, though the fact is not generally known, that M. Victor Lefranc resigned on the day of the Changarnier interpellation. It is a general opinion that he is not strong enough for the place." He has a good voice and a certain fluency whioh have often made him pass for an accomplished orator, and in fact marked him for office at Bordeaux, But it has been found by experience that his speeohes "Municipal Councillors," not of "Municipal Counoils," whiohhe was oensured far not having put down, were perfeotly legal.

His sucoessor, whether M. Oosimir Perier or anybody else, must say the same thing. His retirement will be no step whatever towards that modus vivendi between Assembly and the Executive Power which is a desideratum. It is evident that M. Thiers must take some energetic resolution to make the support of the country, which is behind him, effective to overrule the small majority of the Assembly, which is anti-Republican.

The statement in some of the evening papers that tho defeat of yesterday was owing to careless and accidental abstentions is quite wrong. A number of Centre Right and even Centre Left ti who voted in fav0ur of M. Dufaure's' motion deliberately left the Government the luroh on Prax-Paris's motion. These are trimmers," who shrink from a vote which would force M. Thiers to resign, but who hate the.Republic, and will harass and annoy its President on all secondary questions.

Truly indeeddidM. Thiers say on -Priflav The life von lead me is friehtful." Unless he finds some way out of the difficulty, there will be a Ministerial crisis at least once a week. Talk and argue as you will, the dilemma constantly recurs. The bare majority of tho Assembly is Boyalist; Thiers is Republican, and assumes that the country is with him, hut he has no legal means of appealing to the country. The very expression appel au pewple, so plausible and seductive by itself, has been for ever discredited in France by December 2, 1861.

I see no hope for M. Thiers unless he foments the agitation for a dissolution, which has spontaneously token a great beginning. It is mpossible for him, after his repeated appeals to the "true majority" of the country against the hostile Assembly, to break with Gambetta, whose party is the most popular of any. While waiting for the pressure of public opinion to force the Assembly to dissolve itself there are many things tending to that consummation which M. Thiers may legally do.

He -may decree to-morrow and it is wonderful to me that he has delayed so long thB-opening of the polls for1 six seats, now vacant. Had these seats been filled up sooner, the result of the vote against Victor Lefranc might have been different. Then the President' of the Eepnblic could, and certainly ought, to dismiss a vast number of oivil and military functionaries, who- are working might and main in favour of his declared enemies, now stigmatized by the majority of 36, Batbie, D'Audiffret Pasquier, and Raoul Duval. He might and shoiild dismiss General Duorot, who has, in a most disgraceful circular, asked the commanders of gendarmerie in the whole area of his great command to act as spies, and send him lists of," dahsrerous characters, it tne frssiaent were rgjnWely to enter upon this course, he might find, J. on a mdtion for a dissolution, the majority of 36 which supported him on November As far oan another course is "bound in shal- lows and inmisenes." The substitution of some 0faet MfoiAy for M.

Victor Lefranc will only en- oourage nis enemies, His position assumes that he has justice and the country with him, against an usurping Long Parliament, and in suoh a state of thines it is puerile to allow a Minister to be turned out by a bare majority of 6. To accept such a defeat is to invite others, which will surely follpw unless a bold stand be made. The London School attention fco iionn nallfld to some fisrures which form a curious commentary upon the opposition whioh has been raised, anji very much fostered by the managers of voluntary BOhools, against the decision of the School London to provide school accommodation for 100,600 proceed when their omera was re the adverse criticism whioh has been passea upon nun- ti.j a tr timn with resnect to tho number of children for whom they have decided to provide accom-modation, we have always looked upon tte 100,600 as a good deal too low. There can be no greatharm setting down those figures as the basis on which to work for the first two or three years, but in the end we are convinced that additional accommodation will ba needed; for the proportion of children requiring elementary education to Hie gross total of the population is probably a good deal larger in the metropolis, taken as a whole, than in an averase district. tSclwol Board ChronieU.

Monument to a iatb Goveenob or Tekbey. We learn by telegraph that tine Jersey States, at a special meeting held yesterday afternoon, agreed without a dissentient to a vote of for theerectioaof a monument in mamorv of General Don, who twice occupied the post of Governor of that idand, and commenced the erection of Fort Eegentj ond planted the military roads, for whioh Jersey ia oo well known, Tho monument is from a design ty Eobinet, an eminent French, sculptor, Consbbvancy Boaed. The Board of Trade baa offered the appointment of representative on the Conservanoy Board to Mr. Jonathan Thorp, who has been viceohMrman oi the Board for twenty-five, years, and We understand that Mr. has accented jfaepost, Isfhioh is ajosnuansnt anfy mature to spewlWilkwiltosiMVlVne ostensible oause in the disturbance is the determination of the men ijb have a' certain workman who was dismissed from the Fulham Gas Works reinstated, But this dismissal, it is alleged, was merely the first protest of the masters against a spirit of disoon-tent whioh had been prevailing for some time, and whioh was chiefly made visible in the workmen shirking their duties.

That suoh discontent should exist seems the more strange that the men at most of the gas workB have received a considerable inorease in wages within the past few weeks and that Sunday labour, against whioh a strong protest was made, has been reduoed to a minimum. Notwithstanding these concessions, the men were obviously dissatisfied and the dismissal of this Bingle ooke-backer at Fulham, for a. manifest neglect of his duties, was made the signal for a revolt which has become almost general. It would at first sight seem a monstrous thing that an employer of labour should not be able to dismiss a negligent workman without beooming the object of an onslaught on tho part of a Union. It is possible, however, that something lies behind th-p dismissal of this man, or may seem to lie behind, whioh is pretty muoh the same thing so far as the feelings and resolution of his fellows are ooncerued.

We know how the dismissal of Police-constable was regarded by his companions anel there are not wanting hints to the effect that this "coke-backer" had been getting tip some' little agitation among his fellow-workmen, who would probably regard his dismissal as an act of vengeance on the pert of their employers. Be that as it may, the various companies are mustering volunteers as rapidly as may be, and will doubtless be able to tide over the evil time. They oall upon the inhabitants of London to be economical in their consumption of gas a concession whioh must have become easy by oonstant, if involuntary, habit. It will be difficult to indioate the fluctuations of the struggle by any diminution of a gas supply which is already, one would fancy, at its lowest point, The local assessors of inoome tax are doing their best to make the tax insupportable. Complaints of suroharees have always been made, but just now, when a serious movement against the tax nas oeen oegun, uiosb uompiauiiDs are muiuii universal.

It is the duty of the assessors to see that the tax is not evaded and when they have any reason to suspect that an income has been returned greatly under its amount they are empowered to charge on some higher amount. But it is evident that this power was given them to prevent fraud, ond not merely to enable them to liaise the proceeds of the tax as high as possible, Parliament means, as far as it can, to get fourpe. from every pound of income and has no intention of getting eightpence by overcharge. The assessors have no right to make an overcharge at a venture; they have only a right to add to a return when there are distinot reasons for believing that the return is false. Unhappily they are not required to state their reasons for suspecting falsehood they can tell a man he is a rogue by making Borne monstrous surcharge on him, and all that he can do is to appeal," and, if he does not ohoose to submit his boots to scrutiny, get the Commissioners, as an act of graoe, to let him off the excess of payment.

Suoh a system cannot last. It gives officials a power which they are in the very nature of things incompetent to exeroise. It demoralises those who levy the tax and those who pay it. An honest man will make, as far as he oan, an honest return. He finds that return doubled be appeals, and the Commissioners take off one-half the suroharge.

Next year he himself allows in his return for the inevitable suroharge and thus saves himself at least the trouble of an appeal; and justifies his oourse by, persuading himself that he has oarried out the spirit of the Aot. No doubt many oases of dishonest returns come before the assessors. The GhanoeIiLOR of the Exoheotee once told the public of some remarkable oases in which men had tacitly confessed to enormous incomes though their own returns had shown but small ones. In all suoh cases the assessors had some data to go on in making the additional charge, and could have stated reasons for the addition if called on to do so. If the inoome tax is to be continued, thiB power of surcharge must either be entirely withdrawn, or some guarantee muBt be given that it shall not be used in the arbitrary and random fashion whioh has raised such legitimate complaint.

Our Berlin Correspondent, in the letter, as well' as in a Speoial Telegram of later date, which we publish, to-day, refers to the rumoured divisions in the Prussian Cabinet on the subjeot of the Counties Administration Bill. Count ton Roon, according to the Berlin newspapers, has resigned the Ministry of War; and his example, it is TZTZ ZZ the Minister of Agriculture, In the meantime, the Feudalist Opposition in the Prussian House of Lords not relented nor repented, but they have resolved, it seems, to stay away from the division on the "Counties Administration Bill, at least in sufficient numbers to enable the Government to obtain a majority with the assistance of a new batch of five-ond-twenty Life Peers 'nominated by the King. It is reasonably idoubted whether this batoh will suffice for future legislation. The recaloitrant Peers may stay away to let the Counties Bill pass, but there is the Bill for regulating Ecclesiastical Discipline, which, being supported by all the Liberal party, they may be tempted to oppose, in company with the Poles and the Ultramontane Clerical party. As the Cologne Gazette remarked the other day, By the Districts Administration tne neoes-" sary organs were to be oreated for the enforoe-" ment of the contemplated offensive and defensive laws and' the non-presontment of these measures best of all proves that the Distriots Administra-" tion Bill is an indispensable condition either for their formal enaotment or their praotioal effi-" oienoy." The Feudalist Peers are well aware that the Counties Bill is only the first of a series of measures in the same politioal direotion, and they may not be willing to relinquish all their privileges and all their principles without a struggle.

The King and the majority at least of the Cabinet have fairly thrown in their lot with Liberal Prussia'and Liberal Germany and it seems probable that the Upper House of the Legislature wili have to undergo a thorough reconstruction before it can be got into working order. The Party of Order (to whioh, we suppose, the friends of Legitimate and Hereditary Monarchy belong) are becoming for the application of their principles in France and in Spain. In France, it is true, they have not yet taken to the road," and become mediaeval bandits and freebooters, plundering rail way trains and stage coaches, and levying blaok mail upon villages and the suburban distriots of large towns. The French Party of Order ore more refined and academical in their practices; they ore content to arrest the convalescence of their unhappy country, to paralyze commeroe, to disturb industry, to vex and harass the publio peace, and to throw the national administration into confusion and disorder, in order that a Republican Government may not have the credit of liberating the territory end restoring contentment and prosperity to the people. In Spain, where the Party of Order are loss oivilizod, the.gartisftns of Monarchy, to.

the name great irresponsible crowd is olamorous for notion with regard to Cuba, while many oalmer voioes are earnestly urging the wisdom of inactivity. Ono course or other General Grant must before long decide on taking. In Home affairs, the question of interest upon the Bonds has to be settled, the Navy has to be reconstructed, and the condition of tho Civil Servicehas to beref ormcd. This latter reformation would alone make the fame of a statesman, The whole system of the Civil Service is admitted by every impartial and patriotio American to be the great danger and disgraoe of the country. A oondition of things one of the smallest incidents of whioh is that a politioal pariy levies a regular income tax, for party purposes, upon all the officials whom it helps into power, hardly needs a word to be said in its further condemnation.

Speaking as well-wishers of General Grant's Administration, we should be glad to think that the Civil Servioe will ooncern him more than San Domingo and that any aspiration he may have towards a foreign policy will be suppressed in favour of the less herpio considerations involved in tariffs and rates of interest. The country just now is in a oondition to make what Americans call an entirely new departure; and theprinoipal interest attaohing to the present Session will consist in the probability of its enabling us to see the path along whioh the coming party of progress is to tread A strike among the stokers of the Metropolitan Gas Companies needs not seriously alarm the citizens of London. If the worst were to befall us, and our supply of gas be totally out off, we are not very sure that we should be much more to be pitied than we are at present. A total cessation of gas would drive us into devising some other and more effeotive means of lighting our streets and rooms whereas at present we are content to let things take their course, and submit to a state of semi-darkness whioh considerably astonishes the inhabitant of other and better-Bupplied cities who pays his first visit to London. It wbb not always so.

The streets of London have been well lighted and most of us can remember when the spectacle presented by the long rows of the Piccadilly towards Half Moon-street and Down-street, and rising again towards Hyde-park-gate, was one of the sights of London. A great city at night has its picturesque aspeots, as every one knows who has beheld the old town of Edinburgh lit with a thousand fires in the gathering dusk and if we in London could point to no such imposing illuminations, we had, at least, the long rise and fall of brilliantly-lit streets, with the skies above them "flaring like a dreary dawn." But that is all over. For some considerable period, the points of flame along our thoroughfares seem to have been growing smaller and smaller, until at length they present a mere furce of illumination. When once the traveller gets beyond the regions in whioh the pavements are lit up by the shop-windows, he finds himself in a desert of darkness, studded by feeble spots of orange. The eoene around him recalls the stage of a theatre when the footlights have been turned down and in the vague gloom that hems him in he has but glimpses of spectral houses and figures that predispose the mind to thoughts of burglars, garotters, and sudden death.

As for our houses, happy are they who place their faith in candles. Apart from the foot that lungs, pictures, and furniture aro found to be slowly deoaying iu the poisonous vapours produoed by the consumption of the gas, who does not know the prevailing sense of dreariness which is lent to a room by two or three feeble burners twinkling behind melancholy globes The further oorners of the chamber are steeped in that nebulous gloom in which the world is supposed to have been wrapped before the darkness was separated from the light. The eyes smart, the head burns, and the mind begins to indulge in sombre fancies about the shortness of life, and about thevariousmeans that maybe taken to make it still shorter. The London oitizen is, therefore not to be terrified by any strike among the workmen of the gas companies. We cannot be muoh worse off than we are.

By slow degrees the light afforded us by our meters has been grow-iug less and if the last turn has to be given, and the noxious vapours finally shut off, then welcome blaok night and the end of things. No suoh crisis happily need be feared. The supply of gas to the Metropolis may, for a few nights, be reduced in quantity, if that be still possible; and we observe with satisfaction that the police authorities are alive to all possibilities, and nave adopted serviceable precautions. But beyond some such temporary inconvenience, we have little to dread. Stoking, as American writers would probably call the duties of 'a stoker, cannot be described as skilled labour.

The world is never likely to run short of stokerB, nor is their art one that threatens to become ex- tinct. The companies, however, appeal to the public in the present juncture for sympathy, and co-operation, and promise to do their best to render the effects of this unexpected movement on the part of the men as slight as possible. As regards sympathy, we should be sorry to utter prophecies but so far as orbearanoe is concerned, the companies may reokon upon that, as they have enjoyed it so long already. The pnblio is really very long-suffering as regards railway, gas, and other companies of a like nature but it might be worth the while of suoh bodies to inquire how long this patience is likely to last. There is a strong disinclination on the part of many people to have the Government continually interfering with duties whinh nnirht to be left to Drivate enterprise but if private enterprise fails, and officialism succeeds, theory must go to the wall.

There can be no doubt that the Government has been most successful in; the working of the telegraphic system, olthough the experiment has been made under many obvious disadvantages and that in time the sending of telegraphic messages will become as important a branch of revenue as the sending of letters now is. If the public and the Government of the country are alike to bonefit by such changes the one in reduotion of cost, the other in increase of revenue there is no saying where the application of the prinoiple may stop but in the meantime, if the various companies thus threatened care to hold their own and manage their own affairs, must begin to show a little more deference to the wants of the public. With proper management it is quite certain that the two classes of companies more directly threatened at present railway companies and gas companies-might fully satisfy the demands of the public and prove amply remunerative as well. The dividends paid by most of the gas companies show not only that they are lucrative investments, but they could well afford to be a trifle more generous to the public. In the case of the railways, the cost of adopting the interlocking system at the stations, and of the block system throughout the lines, would almost certainly form but a proportion of the sum that has to be paid for the wanton sacrifice of life and property caused by the present defective arrangements.

There is really no need why the GnvRrnment should burden itself with such schemes if they were worked with some little regard for the publio convenience and in the case of the gas companies, which show themselves to be sufficiently flourishing by the dividends they pay to their shareholders, it might well bo considered whether some portion of these profits should not be devoted to the service of their customers in the issuing of a better quality of gas. As to the merits of the immediate dispute be- men mi it would be pre- strange to those acquainted with the vigorous and sanguine temperament and the robust Characteristics displayed iu his books. THE COURT. WINDSOE CASTLE, Deo. 2.

The Queen, accompanied by Prinoess Beatrice, walkedand drove this morning. The Bev. Canon Kingsley has left the Cautlei Colonel Du Plat and Colonel F. Ponaonby have sno- oeeded Lord Charles FitzBoy and Major-General Hon. A.

Hoxdinga, C.B., as Equerries in Waiting to her Majesty. The Forthcoming Visit of the Prinoe and Pbjkcesb op Waeeb to Dbebt. The town of Derby its in a state of considerable excitement in coneeqaenee of his Rnval Hiehnoss the Prinne of Wales havina consented to preside on the Annual Speeoh Day of Derby Sohool (as has been already stated). We now understand that his Eoyal Highness will reoeivo an aadrefls from the Mayor and Dor poration in the Market-place, and on his return, after dia .1.. 1 111 nJ.

Tnfl. tributing the school prizes, will visit the Derbyshire Inflr Tnnrv. A rcnantinn committee has been formed Gon sisting of the Mayor, ex-Mayor, the Head Master of the Sohool, and several other gentlemen residing in the town and neighbourhood. Tho whole line of route will be beautifully decorated, and there will be illuminations on a grand scale in the evening. The roads are to be kept i bv rezular troops, volunteers, and police.

The sum of i 2,200. has already been subaonbed towards the expenses, Aa a much largor number of visitors are espeoted to be preBent on the School Speeoh Day than on previous oooa-BionB, the Drill Hall, a room capable of accommodating 2,000 visitors, has been secured for the occasion. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire has expressed his intention of hems nresent. and it is expected that most of the nohi of Derbyshire and the neighbouring oonnties will also oe present, xne awaccum uub ueuu uuuuiutu-uuy enhanced by the foot that the Princess of Wales will accompany the Prinoe. The- Festivities at Sandringham.

Sand-einohaii, Mootav. The party at Sandringham House broke up this morning. The Prinoe of Wales, Prinoe and Princess Christian, and Prince Arthur, attended by General Knollvs, W. P. Knollys, and Colonel Fitzgerald; also Lord and Lady Sydney, the Eight Hon.

W. E. Gladstone and Mrs. Gladstone, the Eight Hon. W.

E. Porster, Sir William Gull, and General de Bulow, Danish Ambassador, leit for London by ordinary train from Wolferton at 10.50. At Lynn Station large numbers of the townsfolk assembled to see the distinguished visitors, and great anxiety was manifested to gain oight of the Premier, thiB being his first appeaianoe in the locality, and he was briefly, detained byjone enthuBjastioJIadmirer, Who lorcea nis way to tne carnage wmuotv, unu ouuruu to shake hands, Tlie pom politely aoquiosced, and. returned the salutation. After a short stoppage, the returned the i train left Lynn at ll.no per Great eastern ui ne.

The Princess of Wales remains at Sandnngham to-day, ana Gunton-park, Lord Suffield, where her itoyal JUgnness win oe jc the Prinoe of WaleB on the same or following day, The City of London The Aroh-bishop of Canterbury has conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon the Eev. Edwin Abbott-Abbott, M.A Head Master of this school. Munhtcent Donation. The Treasurer of the Eoyal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, City-road, acknowledges the receipt of a fourth donation of paid to the account of the Messrs. Glyn and bankers.

We have forwarded the donation of H. W. (31.) to the Society of the Eoyal National. Lifeboat Institution. The Tradesmen and the Civil Service Association.

A deputation of tradesmen appointed at a meeting reosntly held at o3, Grove-road, upper Jtiouoway, waited yesterday upon Mr. Torrens, one of the members for the borough of Pinsbury, at his houBe, Pimlioo, for the purpose of representing to him the unfair competitioa-to which tradesmen are now subjected by the SClfclowS Dennis, who read the resolutions passed at themeeting! appointing the deputation, whioh called upon the (tovem. salaried servants of the Crown from becoming active members of trading companies. Mr. Munn, who ad- dressed the hon.

member on the part of the grooers, Btated that he saw the name oi uoionei uenoerson, we commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, down amongst the members of the association. Whether he was ek active director or not he did not know but he thought he would be better employed in keeping order amongst the 8,000 or 10,000 of the police of the metropolis, who, it was notorious, had for some time. been in a- state of insubordination. Mr. Wahid, of Knowsley House, Grosvenor-road, Highbury New Park, also addressed the hon.

member on behalf of the drapers. He stated that neither they nor any other traders objected to the prinoiple of cooperation; they acknowledged the right of consumers to oombine for the purpose, if they could, of obtaining the artioles they needed at a cheaper' rate and of better quality than thev oould now obtain them, but they did no one knows exactly the nature oi it, or how serious it is likely to become. At this moment the; casus belli is the creation of new peers. On subjeot there are two parties in the Cabinet the one recommends a small addition ics the number; of Liberal peers, in the hopa of intimidating the majority without materially changing the character of the House; the other; would render assurance doubly sure by sending in a large instalment of fresh members The latter plan is, of course, supported by the more Liberaland Radical factions. They count on tha introduction of enough peers to form a permanent Liberal majority, whereby the Herrenhaus itself may, at no distant period, be essentially modi-fled.

This is a oontingenoy whioh certain Ministers, regard with alarm. Their temporary interest at members of the Government being overshadowed by' their permanent interest as members of aa. Tipper House and an aristocratic corps, they are not quite easy in their present position. Count von Selohow, Minister of Agriculture, is put down as tho leader of the Opposition in the Cabinet, and with him are associated Count Itzenplitz, Commerce; and General von Boon, War. It has long been known that tha General disliked the Counties Reform, but his parto in opposition is probably negative rather than positive.

The three Ministers who represent, in a broad sense, the Junker ideas and the Junker, charaotor are Eulenberg, Itzenplitz, and Selohow. Their Dresence in the Cabinet, though they fairly represent Old Prussia, seems to be an anomaly i to-aay, ana me explanation mereui iu a uunuus commentary on the present Government. Two circumstances render the nosition of a Cabinet Minister in Prussia the reverse of ogreeable. He must be exposed to the Premier's overbearing, not to say brutal, manners, and he must shaoe himself to the exigencies of the Premier's tyrannical system of administration. He must learn, otner words, to oeor anronta and to live without opinions.

An indispensable man, whose duties bring him but little in oontact with Prince Bismarck, may, like von Roon for instance, live from day to But self-respeot has driven away nearly all the representatives oi thn oldiSaimeexcentthe three I httve named. Count Eulenburg's conduct of, the Counties Bill is tha best possible illustration ot tne saorrnoes wnicn ne is obliged and is willing to make in order to guard hisportfolio. Hisoolleagues, Itzenplitz and Selchow, have swallowed many bitter pills, but the report thofc they revolt against the last which the Premier is trying to foroe down tneir tnroats announces tardy assertion of their independence. Berlins would not be surprised therefore to hear of the retirement of these two, and even of 'Eulsnberg They may survive the Counties they believe inthe Herrenhaus. To suggest the possibility that the Junker element may be finally driven oufi of the government of Prussia is; to sum up in wot lines, the long, not to say perilous, strides that Prince Bismarck is now making.

I recommend you not to place too muoh- confiV. dence' in the bulletins from Varzin. That tha Chancellor needs and desires rest is ofi course beyond dispute but the despatches about his grave illness, about relapses, counoils of physicians, prohibition to work, may well be reoeived with some incredulity Even the Berlin press begins to suspect something. About tho time that "his physician was summoned by telegraph to Varzin," a lopalj caricaturist issued a sketch of the emergency whichi required the presence of the man of medioiuej. The Premier is shut up, away from all with two friends, and a pack of cards.

The doctos was wanted to moke up the party at whist. This rather palpable hit has, you may depend on it, a basis of truth. Bismarck may not be playing at cards, but he is playing a game of some sort, or a comedy; and no particular sagacity is needed to make one sceptical. I repeat that the general condition of his health is notoriously bad. It is only some of the features of the Varzin retirement that awaken one's suspi-? cions, and make one inquire whether there may not be.

a degree of method in the present illness. The details of the Spitzeder swindle at Munioh, as they come out from day to day, reveal an incredible degree of simplicity oh the part of tha victims. It resembles the Mississippi scheme iu impudence, but nothing else. Law began honestly and perhaps soundly; he captivated the ablest flnanoierB, and he had broad and magnificent plans. But Mdlle.

Spitzeder was a deliberate swindler, so far as can be learned and she robbed only the poor and ignorant. The outlines of her system aro almost vulgar iij their simplicity. She founded the Daohan Savings Bank; entered the Catholic? communion; and then offered to receive hoards on deposit, at enormous rates of interest. The simple peasants and artisans, attracted by piety and high interest, brought their little savings to thia excellent daughter of the Churoh, and asked no security. For a while she was an unmistakable queen.

She gave liberally to the Church and charitable societies; the clergy extolled her virtues in private.and in'public; and the Catholic press sounded her praises. In order to give an appearance of regularity to her enterprise, she opened likewise a loan department. This was eon-ducted- on a similar extravagant scale but her olients being mostly needy officers and. prodigal she took only small risks and exacted high interest. The aim of the woman seems to have been to collect a large sum of money on deposit, and then to abscond.

But the plofc transpired before the denouement. The' Bishop began to be. suspicious, and warned his flock against the bank, though the under clergy wero faithful to the laBt. The police, became watchful. At last Mdlle.

Spitzeder was arrested on' suspicion, and the whole enterprise collapsed like a There was no capital except the deposits, and they had been in great measure squandered, or sent out of tha country and the only satisfaction for the simpla people of Bavaria is the imprisonment of their successful swindler. They will doubtless learn by their experience that, as a rule, people cannot borrow money at a figure ten times above the nominal rate, and do a legitimate business. The exposure oflthe swindle isroactingon the Ultramontane party. A run is feared on the Catholic savings bank of Baden, and suspicion is raised unjustly, without doubt about other institutions of the kind! patronised by the Church. Sir Francis R.

Sandford, C.B., has been appointed Secretary to the Committee fit Council on Eda- cation in Scotland. The Vicxobia UfSTrrtrrE. ijast mgnt tne nrsn meeting of members for the present session was held at the rooms, Adelphi-terrace the Eev. C. A.

Eow in tha chair on which occasion a paper was read by Mr. O. Brooke, F.B.S., vico-president, On Force and Energy." Tho writer commenced by observing that the principle of the conservation of energy was impugned by some persona on the ground that, if established, it would lead to uiato-rialiBm, pantheism, or atheism; but he held that, if properly limited, it would have no such result. Force he denned as a mutual action between different portions or pitr-ticles of matter, by which they were either attracted or repelled from each pther, and the conservation of energy implied that no hind of energy could be produced by human agency escept at the expense of an equal amount of the same kind, or an equivalent amount of some other kind of energy. From this it fol.

lowed that ao far as physical law was concerned, the totar amount of energy in the universe muBt remain unchanged. But to assert that it was, under all circumstances, unchangeable, was a very different matter. Tha oreation of matter nvuBt necessarily imply the creation energy, and those who denied 1 the possibility of the oua must that of the they must, in fact, deny the existence of Omnipotence. It was much to be regretted! that the principle of the conservation of energy had by some been misapplied to questions far beyond its legitimate) scope in a fruitless effort to supersede the necessity of an omnieoient Creator. In the opinion of tha writer the indisputable establishment of this principle conveyed only a more exalted idea of that infinite wisdom by which the perpetually recurring transformations and interchanges, not only of tho materials, but also of tho nature, were Tendered subservient to tho pre determined Jaws which governed the comfort aud welfare of all oreated beings.

were read from the Kev. Mr. M'Catm, and by the Eov. Mr. Mooie, both of whom, were winded to in Mr.

Brooke's essay. A long discussion followed the leading of the but it wasat once too-abstract and too detailed to be suitable for interesting wading. A vote of thanks to the writer was agreed to. BinceSie last meeting 66 members joined the Institute. Cetstatj Palack.

Qnb Shemng Day. Monday, Deo. 2. Admissions by season tickets, 1,335 i-ditto on payment, 692. Total, 1,927, ton yesterday under conditions of somewhat ouliar interest xuu gruuu uuuiuab una woou i mL.

i. Lt. 1 AariAci. The President is practically re-eieotea. Ihe journal hitherto associated with the name of hie rival recommends that the eleotors returned to choose Mr.

Greeley shall give their votes to General Grant. But the question which has been decided for the present in favour of General Grant was not settled finally by the votes of last November. Wemayexpecttoseeinthepresent Session the shadows of the coming events, of the new political combinations which are to deoida now and untried issues. Then General Grant Erst came into office the political questions were1 so unlike those of the present hour that they seem almost to have belonged to a different generation and a different chapter of history. General Grant was elected to carry out to its full conclusion the policy which the outbreak of the Southern rebellion had at length forced upon the Northern States.

gis rival at that election sought to be elected on the "round that it was still possible to reverse that policy. The election of General Grant and the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con- ttitution settled all that question for ever. No man Js any longer to suffer disqualification in the United States on account of the supposed inferiority of his race and the colour of his 6kin. The Abolition struggle has been finished, and is consigned to history as completely as the struggle for national Independence. The polioy of reconstruction has likewise been settled.

No great question of national reorganization awaits the present Congress. But it is all themore likely that this Congress may (how some indications of a coming reorganization fl political parties. The attempt of Mr. Greeley's supporters at the late election was premature in every way, injudicious in most respeots, and deoidedly objectionable in many of its features alike to true Republicans and true Domo- Mats. But we confess we think it highly probable that a third or new party will yet be formed from Ihemoro moderate of the Republicans and the Democrats, with a new and distinct political purpose.

There soon will be nothing whatever of the old issues left to fight about. The two great American parties cannot be sharply defined as our liberals and Conservatives are, the one always For improvement, aud the other always for the maintenance of things as they are, so that, however the conditions of the struggle may alter, the relative bearing and purpose of the rivals remain llways the same. On many questionswhere quality of race and the limits of State rights are Hot concerned the Demoorats claim to be the farty of progress in America. In the economical polioy of the country the Democrats are nearly all Free-traders. So, too, are jaany of the Republicans; bo are the great farmers of the West.

There seems no reason why Ihetime should not come when the Free-trade Republicans will see there is no longer any issue teparating them from the enlightened Demoorats li nearly so much importance as that question Which invites them to combination. The Civil Service reform, too, is a subject whichmight naturally tnough bring together the best men from both of the peat political parties. It would be impossible as yet to estimate the change in the conditions of American politics which some such new combination would introduce. Free Trade may prove to be the sort of chemical ingredient described in a picturesque and allegorical passage of the Elective Affinities," which suddenly dissolves old adhesions and creates new and unexpected combinations. It is not likely that the present Congress, which is entering upon its final Session, will Dee any decisive course of action inaugurated, cither by the Administration or by any political party in the Capitol.

But the Session will be sufficiently memorable if, meeting under such new conditions, it gives us some indication of the political severances and amalgamations which are destined to influence the future. General Grant meanwhile reappears before the country with apolitical strength which is deoidedly Increased. In the Senate and the House of Representatives big party are distinctly in the majority. Ifhreo-fourths of the Senate and more than half the House of Representatives may be reckoned Bolidly as on the side of the Administration. In the new Congress, his hands will still further be strengthened.

He is in the flush of a great success at home, and his foreign policy has had at least Dne decided triumph. General Grant naturally Bpeaka with satisfaction in his Message of the settlement of the long-outstanding differences with Great Britain by the Awards of Geneva and Berlin. The result of the Alabama Arbitration was not viewed with great elation in America in fact, Mr. Fish, by the claims whioh he so suddenly put forward, and so suddenly withdrew, was regarded as having turned what might have been thought a victory into a mere humiliation. But the San uan Award was piece of unqualified good fortune for General Grant and, although It camo too late to affect hie already certain re-election, it crowned his triumph with a new prestige.

These are assuredly favourable conditions under which to re-enter on the office of President, General Grant, perhaps, ought to be ad-cd, in the spirit of the classic story, to sacrifice to the gods his most precious possession in order to avert the doom of reversal which such marvellous good fortune must otherwise bring after it. People say that the President still clings tenaciously to fcis favourite schomo for the annexation of San Domingo. Perhaps, if so, it would not be unwise for him to treat this as the precious possession to oe sacrificed in propitiation of the divinities who we jealous of too much mortal success. If the SanDomingoscbeme be revived, it will undoubtedly revive with it all the strong and passionate antagonism which so nearly split up the Republican party two years ago. The voice of a somewhat Impatient section of the American public has long been crying out for some decided polioy in reference to the condition of Cuba.

There are even people suspicious enough in their estimate of political motives to insist that General Grant's refusal aitnerto to advance distinctly into such a policy was only owing to tho wish of the Government at Washington to allow no step to be taken which "tight seem out of keeping with the spirit of the Alabama Claims while those claims were yet under discussion. However that may be, General Ouant will not find the Cuban question on easy one to deal with. Those behind are very lustily frying forward," like the people in Maoatjlat's Mad, and those before are, crying "'iMfr" A objeot to Government olerks who were in the receipt children in addition to that afforded by existing schools, high salaries from the Government, becoming direotora of jj appears from these figures that, prior to the passing of such associations, and from their position giving to these i je Elementary Education Act, managers of voluntary associations a prestige whioh they would not otherwise BCiK)0is, while they wore in a position to apply for building obtain, and they also objeotedto the association admit- grants from the Education Department, were in the ting the public, as they now did by the issue of os. tickets, i oOUBtant habit of proceeding on the assumption that a pro-to participate in the advantages of that association. Mr.

sion for elementary education was necessary for one-Crawford, and Mr.C. F. Brooks, secretary of the National gjsth of the population. Sir Francis Sandford, in reply to a Chamber of Trade, and Mr. Owens, on the part of the repreSentationrecentlymadetothoDepartmentbvtheGIou-chemists, enforced the same views, and they, as well as all osat0rand Bristol Diocesan Education Society, siid that the other members of the deputation, pressed on the hon.

ru6 0 providing for one-sixth of tho population has been member the necessity of proposing and supporting areao- generally found to be. not only theoretically but practi-lution in the House of Commons, prohibiting members of Jay accurate," and the validity of the estimate was never the Civil Service from.becoming active members of any canSd in question until after School Boards had begun trading association. Mi'. Torrens, in reply, expressed his their-work. if the fechool Eoard for London had entire sympathy with the views of the deputation and wte upon the estimate of one-sixth of the population, promised that they should have both his voice and his vote they wohld' have found that the gross number of schl in Parliament in furtherance of their objectB.

piftCeg required in the metropolis was They, OPENING OF a Workmen's Hall. The Drury- however, after careful consideration, reduced the number lane Christian Mission held a meeting last evening at 63, to In other deducting the accom-Drury-lane, to inaugurate a workmen's hall, whioh had modation already existing, they decided to Pr been completed at that addreBs, and which is henceforth additional accommodation for only om-to be devoted to the various usefed purposes of the mis- On the ono-sixth estimate tbey muse nave Bion. The hall, which is a plain, substantial interior, provided additional accommodation for xne capable of accommodating a couple of hundred I Bitters, London, Board's estimate is tterefore MJ has been built at an expense of 4807., all colleoted by the per cent, upon the gross number less than that upon exertions of the leading members of the mission. Mr. which the managers of voluntary schools were ouimtto Butt opened the proceedings yesterday evening ny ntatinff that.

t.ron vears since, the members had assemble in an old hall but, thahkB to the generous support of friends, they had now a new and commodious one, whioh would be devoted to religious moral and educational and scientific leoturea. Mr. Butt was followed by Mr. Hambleton. the secretary, who gave a long and interesting history of the rise and progress of the mission, and a detail of the difficulties and expenses whioh had to be met in raising the new hall.

On the ind of December last year he paid 17s. 7a. for pulling down the old hall, and on the 2nd of December this year they were assembled in the new one. The cost had been all of whioh, he was happy to say, had been paid off, and they wereready to start free of debt, but with an empty exchequer. Mr.Hambleton proceeded toexplam the various objects to whioh the building would be devoted religious servioes and prayer meetings on Sundays, Bible classes, musical classes, and moral and educational lectures during the week.

The Baroness Burdett-Coutte, besides sending them 100Z. and two pictures, had promised also to Bend them a lecturer; and Profeawr Bernaya had also promised assistance. Mr. Hambleton's statement, which ma mr.nTi atfontfnn. wan.

intersnersed With aneodotes illustrative of the sucoess whioh had attended the labours oi the mission; and an emphatio assent was tn tA nrmHniiB and sunnoit IIS 000. I support its good. In that nnn A ardworkine noiehbourhootL. After Mr. Hambleton bad resumed hiB seat, tho meeting was by one otiro ssortemot misfion,.