CLIPPINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2593, 28 April 1869, Page 3

CLIPPINGS.

(,From the Spectator, of February.') The Librarian of the India House has, we learn, made a most splendid “ find.” He has discovered in a chest which had escaped attention nothing less than the library of Timour, collected by the Mogul in the course of his conquests. Among other treasures are documents of extraordinary value connected with the biography of Mohammed. These facts are, we believe, fully ascertained; but we have still to learn whether the chest was obtained in the first or the second seizure of Delhi, where it must, we imagine, have been religiously preserved by the heirs of the great Tartar. Mr Lowe has made two speeches at a Liberal banquet at Gloucester. The second, made when proposing “ The Liberal Party,” contained a scathing attack on Mr Disraeli and the Tories. Mr Disraeli, he said, has had the satisfaction “ of throwing aside every principle that he and his party have ever professed, of burning everything that they adored, and of adoring everything that they would have burnt, in order to prepare for him and them the most complete and calamitous defeat that any party ever sustained* in this country—a defeat which, if I don’t mistake, is fatal not only to the immediate destinies, but to the future of his party.” The Tories have three times come in in a minority, and have each time been lavish of the public money in jobs and contracts to purchase support, “ till they have come to look on office as so many shops in which they could sell their principles to the highest bidder.” The injury done to public morality by allowing Tories to come iu far more than counterbalances any good that can be derived from passing the measures they have resisted. Till the Tories recover from their “ profound demoralization,” no good Englishman can wish to see them in power. What with one thing and another, Mr Lowe will have a lively time of it next session. The Lord Chief Justice has delivered judgment in the Queen’s Bench on the case of “ Philips v. Eyre,” on the question whether the Jamaica, Indemnity Act passed by the Jamaica Legislature protected Mr Eyre from any penal

consequences for what he had done illegally in Jamaica, and decided that it did, even though the indemnity was ex post Jacto, and not given to Mr Eyre before he had committed the illegalities complained of. We understand that though the judgment was in favour of Mr Eyre on this technical point, its tone was as condemnatory as ever of the illegality of his proceedings before the Indemnity Act had cancelled that illegality. The controversy as to the legality of the ornate vestments in use —the chasuble, &c.—which the last judgment did not settle is to be legally determined. The St Alban’s judgment only laid down that, as to ornaments, none are lawful which were not sanctioned by the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI., but not that" all are lawful which were so sanctioned; since, according to many opinions, more recent enactments have limited the number of lawful ornaments. The Church Association has determined to bring a case before the Ecclesiastical Courts that will decide this matter, and they are said to be confident that the decision will be in favour of the Protestant and not of the Catholic usage. The monition resulting from the recent St. Alban’s judgment has been served on the Rev. A. H. Mackonochie. It admonishes him not only to abstain from the elevating of the bread and wine, the mixing of water with the wine, and the incensing, forbidden him already by the Dean of the Court of Arches, but from the use of candles on the communion-table during the celebration of the Eucharist, used for any other purpose than that of giving needful light, and from prostrating himself before the consecrated elements during the prayer of consecration. Last Sunday Mr Mackonochie issued an address to his parishioners on the subject, which is hot and angry, and not very sensible. He called the judgment an “oppressive wrong,” though he did not doubt that those who did it were persons with strong prejudices, not much knowledge, and little love, who flattered themselves that they were asserting a great truth. The judgment, he says, does not declare law, but “ overrides, on the showing of its own argument ” (where ?) “ even statute law, in order to make a law against us. I say against us. No doubt, the judgment was meant by those who began the suit to be against our Blessed Lord, in that which is dearest to him, the sacrament of His divine love; but by the good providence of our God upon us, the counsel of Ahitophel has been turned to foolishness, and the blow has fallen upon us.” We confess this last sentence is unintelligible to us in every respect. Who was it that wished to injure Christ? And if they did, what providence has changed the direction of the blow from the head of the Church to the Ritualistic clergy ? Mr Mackonochie seems to us a little incoherent. Mr Mackonochie will, Jiowever, obey it without reservation, so long as the Church and State are connected. He has extinguished the altar lights during the communion service. He will stand throughout the consecration prayer. The church is to be censed on days when there is a high celebration, before each of the services, but there is to be no censing during the celebration. He adds that he has adopted an Eastern use of keeping seven lights always burning in the church; but as they will never be extinguished at all, they cannot be regarded as in any sense ceremonial, only parts of the permanent furniture of the church. Mr Mackonochie has, we are happy to say, announced that forms, however graceful, are not of the essence of any act of worship. “ If there be a priest, and wine, in a garret or cellar, there may be the blessed sacrament,” —with or without vestments, candles, incense, or any other ornament. That is at least manly. What a pity Mr Mackonochie cannot hold that if there be a man, without priesthood, without bread, and without wine, in a garret or cellar, there, too, may be the blessed sacrament ! The Socialists of Paris are playing into the hands of the Emperor Napoleon. They are availing themselves of the privilege of public meeting to deliver the maddest speeches against property, marriage, religion, and all existing order. “ There are 3,000,000 of us in Franee,” says M. Bachelery—who appears not to be well up in statistics—“ who possess property, and 37,000,000 who do not. The 37 are in the power of the 3, but we mean to place the 3 in the power of the 37.” The fact is, that more than 25,000,000 of persons in France possess property, namely, the 5,000,000 of peasant proprietors, with their wives and children, who, be it remembered, are secured in their inheritance by law. Other speakers declare that wages must be suppressed, and that society must be regenerated by armed force, and placards calling the people to arms have been posted up in Paris. Some of these speeches may be made by agents of the police, but most of them appear sincere, and are rhetorical expressions of ideas held by thousands of workmen in the great cities. It is fortunate for France that they are not held by the peasantry. Lord Sydney has addressed a circular to the lessees of all theatres under his jurisdiction, that is, of all theatres in London north of the Thames, stating that the dress of the dancers in ballets and of actresses in burlesque is “ becoming a public scandal,” and inviting their suggestions on reform. They will probably reply that they await any orders his Lordship may give, he being just as absolute in the matter of skirts and calegons as over the words of the plays performed. A quiet hint from Mr Dod that there absolutely must be a little more attention to decorum would have been twice as effective as this circular. Mr Dod said in bis evidence about the licensing of plays that he considered gauze quite within his province, and had occasionally given orders which were at once obeyed. Of the 39 Wranglers. of this year, Trinity College has five, besides the

Senior; this is a smaller number than usual.' Its great rival, St. John’s, counts fourteen; the highest being bracketed second with three others (an augury of an animated contest for the Smith’s prizes.) The small colleges are fairly well represented, Emanuel has four, Christ’s Queen’s, Caius, Downing, King’s, and St. Catherine’s, two, and Pembroke, Clare, and Sidney Sussex, one each. Five names, Trinity Hall, Magdalene, Corpus Christi, Jesus, and Pembroke, do not appear. Mr Numa Edward Hartog is Senior Wrangler of the year, but cannot receive his degree unless the University will dispense with the oath, he being a Jew, sou, it is stated, of the Professor of French at the Jews’ College. This is the first time the honour has been carried off by one of bis race, and the incident will give Mr Coleridge a new illustration, specially valuable because even the fanatical section of the public does not wish to exclude Jews from the University. It is Catholics they dread. There appears to be some need for an Exchange and Mart in America, which, if it should be started, would astonish European readers by the new light it would throw on the equation of Transatlantic value. Thus, we take the following advertisement from an American paper:—“ I have a farm of 160 acres, 30 acres under fence, with cabin, crib, and stable on it. All of the land is as rich as the best river bottom, well adapted to corn and cotton, 16 miles from White Eiver, which is navigable for large-sized boats all the year. I will give this farm for a good portable engine and boiler of 16-horse power or more. No difference if the engine be second-hand, if good. Address, Jas. H. Mills, Aberdeen, Montrose eo., Arkansas” — whence it appears that in Arkansas ten acres of good rich river-bottom cotton land, within sixteen miles of a navigable river, are worth only just a single horse-power in steam. What a humiliating comparison for mother earth, to need ten acres of surface in order to create as much in the same time as the steam in a moderate-sized boiler fitted with a moving apparatus ! Or is it that the anarchy in Arkansas is so great as to compel terrible sacrifices for the sake of exchanging immovable property at any cost for moveable ? Count Bismarck either is persuaded that Germany must fight before her new position in Europe can be a settled one, or he at least wishes to be thought to entertain this belief. His speeches in the Lower House of the Prussian Parliament on the Ordinance for the confiscation of the private property of the ex-King of Hanover, and on that for confiscating the property of the Elector of Hesse Cassel, —to both of which the House has assented by large majorities,— were very threatening. He did not so much defend himself against the charge of espionage, with reference to the measures taken to prove the existence of the Hanoverian conspiracy and legion, as avow that, much as he disliked espionage, in the case of the internal enemies of Germany, it was a measure of simple selfdefence. As usual, he did not mince his language. “ I was not born for a spy. That is not in my nature. But we must pursue these reptiles into their holes, and see what they are about.” The Count intimates grimly that he would much prefer to have the reptiles strangled on Prussian soil; but that as there is, unfortunately, in parts of Germany, not yet sufficient loyalty for that summary process, the disagreeable necessity of despatching spies to follow them when they run to earth cannot be avoided. It is, however, Count Bismark’s expressions concerning the general threatenings of war which create most uneasiness. They are evidently carefully calculated to stir up the warlike pride and alarm the self-sustained spirit of Germany. Count Bismark admits that the situation was still graver in the autumn before the change of government in the Principalities, but his language is still alarming enough. For instance, “ Without being able to rely on peace, peace has not the value that it ought to have fora great nation. A peace which is exposed to the danger of being disturbed every day, every week, is not peace in the true acceptation of the term. A war is often less prejudicial to the general prosperity than a peace so ill-assured. (Cheers.]” Still more exciting in tone is the following, in reply to Herr Virchow:—“ Yesterday Herr Virchow could not see the point of the sword which was directed against our heart. The same deputy has also happened not to see at all the hundreds of thousands of bayonets which were hovering in the air. I will remind him of the misfortune of that chamberlain of King Duncan, who was overtaken by sleep, and who was equally unable to see the pouiard of Macbeth. It is the duty of the Government to keep its eyes open and to keep a sharp look-out.” France, at' least, might fairly retort that it was Macbeth who was so wide awake as to see the dagger hovering in the air, and that that dagger was, doubtless, his own. Interpret it as you will, such language from the most powerful minister in Europe is, at all events, not soothing. The long-vacant Chief Commissionership of Police in London has been filled up by the appointment of Colonel Edmund Henderson, C. 8., of the Royal Engineers. Colonel Henderson was for thirteen years head of the convict establishment in Western Australia, and in 1860 succeeded Sir Joshua Jebb. The appointment seems at first sight a good one. Colonel Henderson is a man in the prime of life, has succeeded as Director-General of Prisons, and has had special experience of the new police difficulty, the surveillance of criminals intended to bo free while they behave well. From his Australian record, we may venture to predict that although he has the misfortune to be called Colonel, he will not be popular with burglars and garotters, or unpopular with workmen engaged in political meetings. Dr. Tait was enthroned in Canterbury Cathedral in great state on Feb. 4, in the presence of six bishops of the

Southern province, hut-in the absence of the Archbishop of York, between whom and the Primate —we speak of the officials as such, and not of the individuals now holding these offices — there is a traditional dispute of long standing as to equality of rank. The procession up the aisle of the cathedral was splendid, containing, besides the six bishops and two colonial bishops in full episcopal state, more than two hundred clergymen; and the spectators, consisting of from two to three thousand persons, did something to fill and warm the great cathedral —which was at first far colder than the outward air. The Archbishop was afterwards entertained at lunch in the new library of the cathedral, and made a speech on the faith held in common by the clergy of all parties in the Church. Dr Tait did not believe in the theory of growing and threatening dissensions. He thought the clergy at large did their work “ with a zeal and harmony never exceeded.” Perhaps so, according to Dp Tait, for to him the points of difference are trivial; but then, broad, genial, and able as he is, he is no theologian, and can hardly realise, from his semi-Presbyterian point of view, the significance of the controversies which seem to him so trivial. The news from Paraguay is bewildering, as usual, but the most intelligible account is that on December 21, Lopez, with from 4,000 to 7,000 Paraguayans, was posted on the hills of Lomas Valentinas, nine miles from Villeta. After six days of continual fighting and assaults, mainly on the lines connecting Lomas with Angostura, Marshal de Caxias made a grand attack, which ended—nobody exactly knows how, but it is assumed at Rio, possibly on sufficient evidence, possibly also on no evidence at all—in the total defeat of Lopez, who was “ surrounded in a wood.” The war is ended of course, for the tenth time, but according to the Anglo-Brazilian Times Angostura has not fallen yet, and it is resolved in Rio that if Lopez is not taken, as he ought had he any regard to propriety to be, the war is to continue till he is, which is satisfactory news for those who see in this war the ruin of the last slaveholding empire in the world. The Kreuz Zeitung, always supposed to be Count von Bismarck’s organ, says that if the neutrality of Belgium is attacked, Allied Germany in arms will hasten to her defence. If that is official—and good strategists say that with Belgium hostile Rhenish Prussia would be untenable—Belgium is safe enough. It will not suit Napoleon to force an alliance between Great Britain and Germany, which would make France feel as if her throat were in a steel collar.