POLITICAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1309, 27 January 1868, Page 4

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

(From the London Spectator.) Parliament assembled on Tuusdny, ths 19th instant, for despatch o c business, and the Queen's .'rpcej-h wai read to a thin assemblage. The ifensaga —tho Uepubli:an woi-d is Lord Derbr'B—is not len?rhy, the mosl prominent placebjing togiven the Abyssinian expedition, which is declared to be for the •' liberation of my subjects nlona ;" and to the Italian question, on which Her Itcjesty " tru'-ts " that Napoleon will be able to retire so as "to remove any possible ground of mis&nderstandinfr " with Italy—a sentence not pleasantly received at thn 'i uilerics. The " treasonabl.i conspiracy, commonly known as Fenianism, baflled and repressed in Ireland, lias assumed in England tho form oforitunizedlviolence anil assassination," and requires to be rigorously put down, " but Her Majesty reliej ujnn the firm"administration of the law and the loyalty of the groat mass of her Buhjecte." The Scotch Hofor--n B'li is then proraiied. a Boundary Ttili, it " Bill for Preventing Bribery and Corruption at Klef.lione " i tioiidatio:> ie innocuons•ippirently—a Public Hihoola' Bill, consoli dating Mercantile Marine A< fa, a Cuttlo Plajiue Bill of a relaxing kind, mid a Law Amendment Bill, beeidea some measure or other, apparently not a Bill, on general educii'.ien It U " filiiiis " Htutr, all that, buh a. Htile more would have becm acoeptatle. Very few of theaa aubjec-te will ba touched in the ad interim siting, vrhieh it- seems nlear will be confined to Jtsly, Abyssinia, ar'd Feniiinism. The great debate upon .ihj>einia ia fixed for Tuesday, but lord. Dnrby and ' Lyveden, in the Upper House, Mr. Disraeli and i,fr. OUadttone, in tho Lower, hive alludod to the eubieot, and the general drift of ti,«ir remarks ia this. 'The Government; inserted the word " alone " in tha Quean'K t-peech, to show they mean to rnti'e vrber. the prieonerfl aro liberated, and 'they do meiin, thou«h tln-y think retiring maybe a .lifScult proce3£. Lord D i-by was especially explicit 171 repudiating- ,;nj- idea of remaining, for Fanitary or ether ptirponea. - Mr. observed, with truth, that Parliimerifc wns still entirely -unpledged 11pm tho subject, and Mr. Gladstone, while affirn-.ing th-.t po nt in a 6tii ftfiajw manner, Hinted vU o tlist ho should' resist any mode .of p-.yins for tha oip«dition except taxation within tlie.yniir. It would seem probable, that on Tuesday little objection will fce raised to tho expedition, but a. goud deal to its magnitude, which, 10 judse from the Abysiintsn eorresponden% of the Times, grows every day. gentleman reports that actur.loperationscinnot begin till FeliJuarv. that the total number of people employed .will sdircely ha under fifty thousand, tlmt! tho en-erprisi will |jrobably eonstime two seasons, and that thora is a tulkof-35,000 transport wniinala being required. Surely Sir K. Kapier, in his wiae eageruesa not to f-.i1,-ia over-estimatiug probablo opposition and underestimtttim; coat. 'Xiie Indian Army cannot be eo immorenble ai all that, and every man ann beast will h-ive to be eonvoyod by nhip, while tho watering of such a crowd will foe a most difficult lifiterprKe. If we are to keep Abyt-einia, well; but if not, every c imp follower not absolutely indispensable will b-> ;i bunion to the expedition.