NOTES OF THE MONTH.

Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 3224, 31 December 1875, Page 3

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

[Speotator, October 16th.] The Sultan's partial repudiation of his debt has been the chief topic of the week. No further explanation of this act has been offered, and no extenuation vouchsafed. The second half of the interest on the £2.000,000, or £6,000,000 sterling, is, as we explained, to be paid ia bonds bearing 6 per cent interest, issued at par, whereas they are worth only 30 per cent of the par value, and the total affair is, in fact, a composition effected by violence, of 12s 6d in the £1. This might be endurable if the interest now offered were secure, but, as we have urged elsewhere, there is nothing to prevent Constantinople repeating the process, and very much to induce it. There has been much talk during the week of action by the Bondholders, but they are, of course, quite powerless, and none of the Governments are disposed to interfere. The Due Decazes may probably instruct the French Ambassador to remonstrate against the repudiation of bonds > secured on special taxes, but as the interest on the loan of 1855, guaranteed by England and France, ia to be paid, the Powers have no locus stand I. The Khedive has not as yet followed the example of the Khalif, but his difficulties are believed to be severe.

The Lords of the Admiralty have rather astonished the world bj their minute on the results of the late Court-Martial on the lose of the Vanguard. They justify the ViceAdmiral in command for continuing the rate of epeed through the fog, though they censure him for an opinion which he incidentally expressed, that it is within the discretion of leaders of divisions to act, with regard to speed in a fog, independently of, and contrary to, the orders of the Admiral. They also disapprove the signal made by the Admiral for the alteration of formation, as not tending to keep the squadron so much under his control as another signal named would have done. They declare the lose of the Vanguard to have been chiefly due to. the slackening of the epeed of the Vanguard, and to the improper sheering out of line ordered by Lieutenant Evans, of the Iron Duke ; and they justify Captain Hickley in increasing speed so far as to recover his station, "he being warranted in supposing that Her Majesty's ship Vanguard was maintaining the speed at which she was going when she was last in sight." Aβ to the absence of the fog-signal in the Iron Duke, and the unreadiness of everything in the Vanguard fox pumping and closing the watertight compartments, the Admiralty Minute Bays not a word. The incapaoity which the catastrophe elicited, seems ultimately traceable to the "grey matter" of the Admiralty's brain. The Aoaoal etaftum of a Qoreraor of Ohio

tcame off on October 13th." It t*"* ye it£ great importance, as the strugg.'e hi be.-nonie one between the adTocatesof " ban and " soft" money, and was expected to she the fV*ltnff of the Western men on that in portant point. The Democrat candidal Mr Allen,' * 8 a leader of the Inflationist while his opponent, Mr Hayes, strongly for * resumption of cash payment Up to the day of the election bo! parties were c confident, as the Democra carried the Btate >n 1874, and the, Bepubl cans have the Administration behind then The result was the ejection of Mr Hayes, I a majority of 4000, *'n an unusually heav vote. In lowa also, the Democrsl felt confident of carryi.'ijg. they hare bee defeated by crushing majoTltieSy the House < Bepresentatives being almost unanimous] Republican, The Democrats' will allege th« this change is owing in great: jwrt to G-eneri Grant's " appeal to Protestant feeling"that is, to his denunciation of State grant for sectarian eduoation —but though tha may have had some influence, the vote i understood to show that a paper-cur rency platform will raja the party whic! adopts it. The State Committee of the Bavariai Parliament has passed, by eight to seven, ai address to the King, in wbien they stote t&a they represent the majority' of the Bavaria people, and that this peopTe is losicg it attachment to the Crown, seeing thafc on< prerogative after another is jesigned to th< Empire, which does not represent on al points the interests of all Germans. Thi 3one of the address is one of indignatioi vrith the Ministry and the King, and if it is passed,' the Cabinet must resign; or govern ie defiance of Parliamentary precedent. The Chamber, however, though' it contains a small maj6rity of Ultramontanes; has not accepted the address yet, and before the vote is taken the whole influence of the Ifing and the Government;, which is Tery great,-will be exerted against: acceptance. A secession of a few 1 members is the moae* probable, because She laws' which irritate the . majority passed' by 1 ths" Jkmperial Parliament,- and cannot be repealed by the Bavarian one. The majority, over, are- indisposed* to' drive mattenrto a; point at which an open collision between-the little kingdom * and the Empire would be even probable. Theyeannoti while opposed to the King, rely v upon> the Army; Lord Carnarvon's scheme of Confederation advances in South Africa;' The ditch 4 States have signified their readiness to con*' aider it, subject to certain reservations about boundaries, and the Cape Colony intends toreconsider it a-refusal to seed delegates/ Sir Henry Barkly, who has from the first been inimical to the scheme, baa called Parliament together for the 10th November, and it is understood that fche Premier, Mr Molteno, will then propose' that delegates be sent; either oa the' ground that his objections have been removed by Lord Carnarvon's second despatch, or with an open avowal that pnblic feeling is unexpectedly strong.' in favor of Federation. There seems to be no doubt that a dissolution would result in a large majority for the plan, which has struck the imaginations of the people. If it were possible, as we fear it is not,, to- retain Cape Town as the capital of the Confederation, all serious-opposition would vanish. The South African3i like the British North Americans, will probably insist on a new capital, nearer to all the provinces, ana will locate it a good way off" from civilisation.

Mr Grant Duff presided at the department of "Economy and Trade" in the Social Science Congress, and the most interesting part of' hie address was, as-might be expected, its graphic personal touches. In recalling, the period of the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of 19617, be spoke of Napoleon's- motives for encouraging Freetrade in France, and especially Free-trade with England. " You recollect,. 1 dare say," he said (what, of remembered),

" Henrich Heine's phratte,. 'the foture belonge- to our enemies-the Communists, and Napoleon is only their Jbhn tbe Baptist.'" Hut it was- not solely the wish to herald prosperity to the masses- which made Louis Napoleon so anxious for a treaty with England;: he had also been deeply imbued, said Mr Grant Duff, with, the idea lately expressed by M. Lavaleye, in a parody on one of the scriptural proverbs, "The fear of England is the beginnings ci wisdom," and he knew that if he did not make it the interest of France to be at one with England, he should be forced, by the high pressure of that time, to pick a qnairel with her. Accordingly the treaty was- concluded, and by virtue of its provisions and the effect of the

"most favored nation clause" in that and other treaties, it came about that after only three years the value of our trade with France and Belgium had more than trebled. Mr Grant Dnff then went on to review the prospects of the next few years, using the recent papers printed by the Cobden Club, to show where there is danger of a retrograde movement, and why. Bat Mr Grant Duff is essentially more literary than economical. To shut him up in a politico-economical discussion is like puttisg a cover over a chandelier, or twisting up fine hair in curlpapers. When he fell into statistics, he became in* distinguishable from any other man.

The Congregational Union has made its mark this year by the ability and dash of two of its speakers, the president of the year, the Rev Alexander Thomson, and the Rev Edward White, the ablest of the Congregational editors, as well as one of the ablest preachers in that communion. Mr Thomson's address was on the relation of

" Culture" to " Nonconformity," and was chiefly a clever criticism on articles in the Times and the Spectator, which appeared in May last on occasion of certain very liberal speeches made in the new Congregational Memorial Hall. Mr Thomson said that the National Church " threw a strange glamour over men, as when the gipsy rover was taken for a gallantknightand the withered beldame for a young beauty," and he illustrated his meaning by comparing each blunders as the Bishop of Lincoln's and the Vicar of Oweton Ferry's refusal to give the title of " Reverend " to a Wesleyan minister, and the Vicar of Spalding's silliness and narrowness in imprisoning a child for the theft of. a geranium, with the language held about the

liberalising influence of the Established Church.. But where was the "glamous" which misled the public as to the character of these blunders ? Not the most cordial of

the apologists for an Establishment ever suggested that it ensures against bigotry and folly, bat only that it ensures that a fresh current of healthy criticism shall be turned full on bigotry and folly,—as happened in these cases. The sects can do, without comment or rebuke,, what the National Church cannot do without exciting, ridicule and in* dictation. And so much the better for the National Church. Mr White sees- this, though he takes up his parable, like Mr Thomson, for Disestablishment. He had to speak on the abortive effort made by & few Liberal clergymen to obtain the liberty of preaching in Nonconformist pulpits* and he was moat lively and humorous in hia description of the importance of getting the free play of national thought to enter the rather close cells of denominational piety. •' How would you like," he asked, " to be shot np on a desert island, with nothing to read every week ' except the Christlam. Wcmtd ard the English Independent ? Or, if- you are a Baptist, nothing else but the Freeman and the Earthen. Vessel V u lf it were possible, 1 should like to see our Independent Ohurchea ; subject to a rather frequent influence > from men who would remind them that ' Christendom * is a wider word than is sometimes remembered, and includes a vast his-, torical development of thought, and un immense variety of modes of feeling vud expression besides those exemplified in the declaration of faith of the * London CfcayelBuilding Booiety.' " " I quite Bee the. «eoeesity for discussing, as you have dona bo ably, the questions,' How to get more polished ?' • How to get better paid 7■* and * Haw to get buried at last in the parish churchyard 1 ' but I would willingly devote a whole year, by way of » change, to the celebration of the many virtues and to the study of the many excellent method* even of the Anglican clergy." That is an admirab'.e argument for a Establishment, though Mr White Sexterouely caot&morpbowd it, by one q|

those neat turns of the wriat of which tkil* ful politiciane are always capable, into something pretending to be an argument for the speediest possible disestablishment and die* endowment of the Church. On October 14th, in the drenching rain, the Corporation of London paid a state Visit to Epping Forest. Some 140 close carriages, conveying members of the corporation atadt their guests, followed by the Lord Mayor and sheriffs, in all the splendour of gilt coaches and belaced footmen, proceeded fromi the Bnareshrook Station, on the Woodforcl and Loughton line, by a circuitous route through some of the prettiest parts of the forest, past the King's Oak at High Beech, to Fairmead Lodge, in the grounds of whichv a noble marquee had been creoted. Here a breakfast, provided on tbe usual lavish scale of city entertainments, was duly disposed of, to the svfeet attains at a Guard's band, and 1 \vas followed by a series of toasts more or less relating to the preservation of the forest, end tiro eweatial service rendered by the city ra that work. Mr Sha-w Lefevre, in proposing ihetoastofthe dhy.ga veatr interesting , sketch of the earfler efforts to aTrest tbe appropriation of the Forest, and 1 waftoly commended tbe scheme which the City purpose for the restoration of enclosures, an J the fature management of the 5000' acre* which will thuß l be dedicated , to the publibf enjoytmmt. It is , gratifying' to observe that those who are doing similar good service in' other places were not forgotten. A toast tb , the Commons Preservation Society, the Nevtf Forest Association, and' other bodies interested in securing open spaces," concluded' t&e list, anu'#Bß cleveriy responded to by Mr Briacoe Byre; of the New 1 Forest. In spite of therain, the chief object of the city, to showhow really beautiful a piece they are striving for, was probalfty gained. Doubtless many who had their* first glimpse of the Forest yesterday will visit it again under more favourable conditfions. Bristol is preparing to erect a memorial bo Bisbop Butler l -—one of the few great En^listr , thinkers of the eighteenth century who have retained 1 ;, and perhaps even in;rea&'ed, Uheir hold ever the minds of men in ihe nineteenth—by building one of the ivestern towers of BrSrtel Cathedral, now in Hoceae of restoration, as a monument to his nemory, Bristol haviftg been his first see before he iras translated to Durham. The tfea would Be a good one if it were possible d any way Co- ear-mark a tower in a great Holding as a personal monument. But is there iot something dnmsy in that idea 1 Indeed ia here not sozsetbing gauche in the English hewy of monnnaents generally ? Every true ise , of tbe anaibgical method is a tribute to he great autnor of "The-Analogy." But' Hem is no very close analogy between Jrehqp Bntler and a tower even of that atnedral where'hie body lien.