CLIPPINGS FROM THE SPECTATOR

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1710, 27 January 1874, Page 4

CLIPPINGS FROM THE SPECTATOR

The Oxford Union Debating Society j celebrated their Jubliee on October 23 at ' Oxford, when Ministers of State, a Lord Chancellor, Archbishops, and other great dignitaries recalled those struggles of youth over which a glory of recollection is shed that will never invest^ the debates of Parliament or of Convocation. Archbishop Manning wks one of the popular favorites of the evening, he and Mr Gathorne Hardy dividing apparently the honors of the enthusiastic cheering with the University Chancellor, Lord Salisbury. The mention of Mr Gladstone's name was received— so defective is youthful' taste— ■with a hiss, but perhaps it was less because ho is the Prime Minister of the Liberal party than because he could not make time to go to the dinner. * The AttorneyGeneral made an amusing and striking speech in proposing the toast of the University of Oxford. He reminded his hearers that Oxford's greatest men— Dr Newman and Dr Arnold, for examplehad never formed schools or cliques, that there were no Newmanians and no Arnoldians—but for that very reason the influence of Newman and Arnold went far beyond that of. party, leaders ; and so it ■was with the University itself. The Government could not escape from Oxford, whether the Conservatives or the Liberals were in. power. On one ' aide were Mr Gladstone, Mr Caldwell, Mr Lowe, MrGoschen, Mr Monsell ; on the other, Mr Hardy, Sir S. Northcote, Mr Hunt, Mr Mowbray. So, too, in the House of Loids, on one side were Lord Granville, Lord Selborne, Lord Kimberley; on the other, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Salisbury, Lord Carnarvon. Was lie not justified in saying, Esto perpetiui 1 Lord Salisbury replied to the toast, and was very thankful for " Esto perpetua," but laughingly asked the Government in •what sense Oxford was. to be perpetual. Was it without her endowments, or with them 1 In any case, however, the Union, as an unendowed and voluntary society, might flourish for ever, but th« University was more dependent on the goodwill of a Government. It is almost a phy that this grand occasion was not celebratbl by a formal debate held as much in the\ld boyish style as dignitaries so great coul& still command. They should have sent for Archdeacon Denison to lead off. The latest news from India is very serious. The rainfall in Bengal and Behar has been barely half the usual average, and famine is beginning to make its appearance in the granary of India. —fortunately- It" does riot extend to the Eastern districts, which can be emptied of their rice by railway and river for the supply of Calcutta and the metropolitan counties ; but Behar and Tirhoot grow ■wheat, and an adequate supply of food can hardly be brought down from the . North- West and the Punjab, which will suffer also. The Government has apparently decided upon the Madras plan, that of employing the population on public wprks ; but if Bengal proper is really stricken — we can hardly believe it — it will have to face a problem as severe as the Irish famine. ■ Colonel Nassau Lees will then be enlightened as to the •use of heavy balances, even if the Go- , vernment has not in addition to raisa a loan. : . .'.';. . One of the most serious. and annoying dangers with which Russian statesmen have "to. contend, is. the chance that their capital may some fine day disappear altogether. It is well known: to the Government that St. Petersburg, is insecure, and probably grows, more insecure every year, but no precautions seem to be of any avail. • On October 15, for instance, the capital must have been in frightful danger. The water driven by the wind into the Gulf of Finland, met the waters of the Neva, drove them back, and caused a sudden rising of the river, apparently to nearly 13ft, flooding the lower parts of , the ,city, and heaving up the wooden pavement in front of the Winter Palace for nearly its entire length. The streets, of course, were literally turned into rivers, and the bridges became impassible: But oue other flood, that of 1823, has risen so higlV and if the wind which hurls the Gulf of Finland on the Neva were only to blow steadily for three or four days, the piles might in the end give way. The Russian Government would, we have read, be willing to move the capital, but for the frightful expense attending it ; but could not Dutch engineers suggest some form of dyke? The force of the Neva can hardly be greater than that of the sea at some places on the Dutch coast.