THE MAIL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXI, Issue 5491, 30 March 1875, Page 3

THE MAIL.

OVR PA1US LETTEK PAPJ!s!, .Tammy \> HIT ASSEMBLY AND Till MIMMliV 'I'm Assembly cannot even constitute a Mmistij, and it is useless speculating about what may follow its inability, which will be definitely tested in a few days, to pass piojcct& for the organisation of the counti y. No one approaches the hereafter, though statesmanship is said to be the wisest the nioic it can foresee. The regret is very genei \1, that the Marshal should have dehveied hi-, last message, which was uncalled for, and has not only placed him in antagonism w ith the united mmoiitics m the Assembly, but forced him to take his stand on Oileainsm winch istlic weakest and least popular of all the existing isms. Tlie Maishal demands that his power be delined, and to le.ive everything definite until his term of ofhee cxpnes. when all parties could grapple each otheis tin oats to settle the question of supiemacy. This, the nation will never consent to, in order to oblige any pretender It nw-ts on the House being put in Older now, and the ]ML>cnt employed to make pio\ision tm a 1.11113 day The \ciy laet of foieing li>i waid the piojcct fora Senate, jpii t Imm, and independent of, defining fust the ten in o| government it was destined to sen e, was ton openly Oile.mist to leccivo the suppoit o( the otlier parties. Orleanism thus lias played its last card, and lost. In the general (.lections it will disappear ; it has been 011 its tii.il since the overthrow of Thieis, and has been found wantiug. One reme(h is clear — the dissolution, and Marshal M.xcmahon may rest assured, if he adopts that programme, he will have the " entne nation for lovers;" but he will have no longer a royalist majoiity ; the popular vote will fiat the republic, and the Marshal has nevei ceased to lecognisc the Sovereignty of the Chamber The paity that s all aid of the ballot boxes is a party condemned 111 advance The Goidian knot is about being cut ; it w ill be as mciciftil as it will be timely, ieallv tl'C counti y i& woin out with the exceptional state ot things, and with thcchioiuc stcnlit\ of the Assembly. The people desne onl\ lianqiuhty, to find woik and to execute it. to be be lestorcd their necessary libcitio", and to be treated rather as men, than a--cluldien, by every Government that may succeed to power. Tin: < lii^is ix the reformed church 01 FRANCE is becoming more grave ; the difference of opinion between the orthodox and libeial Piotcstants, moro profound, Alieady the cry of " persecution" is raised, but it is to be hoped (he Government will settle the dispute by mcisuics of sagacity and model ation lather than by any sticteb of anthoiit\. A lecent decision of the Minister of Public "NVoiship, rather leans to gne time to the orthodox to conceit then plans for ousting thehbei.xls from theclui] dies thej at pi ('suit hold, and where the orthodox aie at the same tune in annnoiity It is not a question of dogma, but of eeclesiastie.il diuphne, which sopai.it'"5 the antagonists, now iapid'\ becoming 1'Jligi'ients '! he hbu.ils 01 11011contoinnst-, niteiatc their dcLeinun.itioii not to accept the doctunal decrees ot ,ui> synod, and the Government inclines to back the Synod, doubtless because it is an au thonty. Public opinion m France has not yet been appealed to, and that would at piesent only envenom tho qu.uiel, which ought to have been legul.itedaftei the family pattern onginally, but it is impossible to believe that opinion would look on with indifference at one-half of Ficnch Protestantism being .shown the door because it will not subseiibe to the nil ings of the other. DIMM! V LOUT) M UOH 1<> DI AIH In self-defence the Loid Mayor is justified in letuining to London ; thcie seeincd to be aconspnacy on the p.ut of his Fieneh admiieis. to bic.ikf.vst and dine him to death, evciy succeeding banquet being more Lucullian than its piedecessor. His Loidship bi ought his shenlls and tiumpeteis witli him, but it appeals he fmgot his medicine - man Paiisians ha\c certainly Mod in paying him all honouis, and Ins beautiful steeds must hi\ c made tin. mouths of lnppophagists waLcr. "(!od sa\ethe Q.ieen" was 111 a fair way of cutting out the "Marseillaise," especially as the Republican air has become unfashionable undei the lJcpubhc Had " M1I01' Stone," time ami stomach to remain longei withm our walls, "llule Biitannia" would ha\c , succeeded "Madame Angot 1 ' on the bairel organs, and Siraudm would certainly ha\e brought out Union Jack bonbons. Thcie arc no less than five difieieut photos of his lordship offered for sale, 111 which liaron Hanssman does duty for him, and doubtless he will leave behind him nnue hoioivwy dentists than he has teeth, and these are said to be au coniplct It would not be surpiismgif Sardou wrote a tragedj 01 moving drama, introducing the civic anthoiities of London; the unused up mateH.ilsof his la Haine, might be turned to profitable account, just aa the mannikins leprescnting his dead Guclfs and Glnbelines, now do the part of reveller 1 ? in the tinimphal car of Orpheus. The Parisians will gi atefully rember the services rendered to the inauguration of their new Opera, by the piesenee of the London authorities ; the Lord Mayor came like some Magi to salute its accession ; entering like a fany king, in the midst of his pompous cortege, to take his place at the man lage of Cinderella. But though tho French would laugh tit such a .ceremonial, if originated among themselves, would \ ie\v it as no higher than a masquerade, the moot thoughtless feel that the quaint forms and ccieinonies connected with the Doge of London, unite the present with the past,, novelty with ti.ubtion, leeent L.ws with antique customs, contempoianes with anecstois ; they mix; "the ashes ot ages with the constitutions of progress," and embiliu some fragment of history and perpetuate the triumph of some popular right. This 11101 al has not been o\ erlooked by the mode' 11 Athenians, who, after all, are not iconoclasts at heart. Though officially inaugurated I'lIK JiKW OVER V is not yet finished ; the left wing, the section intended foi the Imperial family, is unachieved, fault of funds. Loans had to bo negotiated to enable the structure to be opened as it is. A sum of 200,000 francs is necessary to provide the propei fittings up for its illumination alone, which lor the facade will consist of bronze figures of mainmoth dimensions sustaining reilectois The library has yet to be installed, and has aecomodation for .1 series of shehos ovci tno miles 111 length ; the " music hall w ill include manuscript music, copied, 01 to bo copied, as well as compositions never yel lcpii'-ented or cxecnted. Not the less cm ions will bethe "jewel room," whcie all the baibuie pearl and gold is prcsei ved '' and, though but imitation, possesses not the less a gicat value. The decorations alone employed in the fourth act of "L'Afiicunc are estimated at 25,000 francs. Among otliei uncompleted workt> ai c the smoking 100111, the rcstauiant, and tho lift. The lcst.unaut will be open to the geneial public, as well as to the fieouentei sot the Opera. The smoking room will be so consti acted as to ventilation that not a putt, will be able to stray into the building, and the lift is intended only for the aged. The execution of these woiks, but above all their dccoiation, would lcquuc some millions of tiancs to accomplish. The representations now arc very sober 111 compuisou -with the gala opening ; it is like tho banquet hall — descited. Many aie of opinion that the puces are fixed at too high a rate and if the new Ljiic.il Ihcatre succeeds, the opposition will tell on the (hand National Opeia Three francs for a scat in the attics, and ten tor one in the pit, aie only for the crowd w ith Peabody pui.se&.

SLAVE SHIPS C'ArTUnED — HUNDREDS OF feLAVLS MYDE FREE. Lovnov, Febmaiy 22. — Advices from Zanzibar report that a (loot of British men-of-war have bombarded ami captured Fort Momba/iqne, on the Island of Mouilu/, oQ the east coast of Africa. The engagement lasted five hours. Seventeen of the gamson w ei c killed and fifty wounded. Tw o sLi\ c ships weie captured with 300 slaves on board.

1J1K GREAT ANONYMOUS DOXOK. What can be moiciomantic and sensational than the incidents bi ought to light by the death of the late Thomas Attwood. Upwaub of 40 yi\ui ago, being then a Birmiugham banker," he ldentiliecl himself w ith the exti eme section of ladical politicians. He was president nf the Bimmgham Political Union, and a thoi ough-gomg Chartist. He it was who picsented to the House of Commons a petition said to have been signed by l,2S(i 000 pei bon^, and w Inch required 12 person^ to tany it into the House ; and he was chairman of the gicat public meeting at Birmingham, attended by 1.10,000 persons, at winch the \ast multitude decKued as if with one\oice that they would lefuse to pay taxes if the Reform Bill should be rejected by the House of Lords, and at the same time passed a vote of thanks to Lord John Kussell, which elicited from him the memorable expression, "It id impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail o\er the voice of a nation." Mr. Attwood w as mimensly rich, and his benevolence was commensurate with his wealth, while his bounty was distnbuted scciotly, and without ostentation For yeais p.^tsomc unknown mdmdual has been in the habit of paying in bank notes of £1,000 e;uU to tho tio.v-uiic-> ot the \auuu-, charitable institutions of (Jieat J>ntain. It now transpiies th it the anonymous donor w.is Thomas Afctwood, and th.it tlie aggicgite of these donations 1-, t.)o0,000. It may be safely assumed that this lepiesents only a poition of his bounty, and that large amounts weic disbursed by him in smaller siini^ He has left behind him upw.uds of a million sterling, and, w ith that w ant of business habits -which is so characteustic of business men, he omitted to make a will ; so that his piopei ty will bo scrambled for by all who can establish any soit of relationship to the deceased philantlnopist.

rBEXCII POLITICS. THE rBEXC'II CAPITAL CHAXGED FBOM PUJIS TO VERSAILLES, A coiiopondent anting fiom Paris on .~>th 1'cbiuaiy >aj ■» — I e\piessed a doubt in my h-t Icitu us to vhethei liuicli significance could 1 (.- attached to tbc implied acknowledgment of the lepublic by a majority of ono, 111 the Assembly on the 30th January. L'uUm it it, that four days later— that is, on the 81 d li^t —the loyalists triumphed over their iuhci^aues on the great question of the capital, the Chamber deciding .by 332 to 327 that the seat of (iovenunent and of the Lcgislatiue should be Veisailles, thus, as as it \uire, ieiidcungtb.edistraiichuein.ent of l\u is a pai t of the Lonstitution Tlic Uonapiitibts cvuseis gainintj a formidable footing, and its adherents aie foiming >i \.ibt seciet boc.ety tlnoughout the nation.