LONDON.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2431, 23 October 1866, Page 5

LONDON.

(FEOM OUB OWN COBBEBPONDENT.) London, 27th August, 1866. Europe is once more tranquil. A treaty of peace was signed on the evening of the 23rd inst., between Prussia and Austria, and the war which at one time threatened to produce a wide spread conflagration over threefourths of the Continent of Europe, has fortunately come to an end — and that without producing the fearful devastation "and the wholesale slaughter that had been anticipator:. These results are owing to the moderation and good sense of all parties concerned, no less than to the sudden collapse of the Austrian army, and the exhaustion of her strength, in all the resources (men alone excepted) necessary for waging a protracted and .successful war. The Emperor of Austria clearly perceived that he had measured himself with an antagonist of no ordinary vigor, and that it would be a mere waste of men, money, and prestige to continue a conflict from which nothing could be expected but defeat and disaster. Accordingly as soon as the fatal battle of Koniggratz had shown him the strength of his opponent and his own weakness, he lost no time in seeking to bring about an honorable peace — however bitter the admission that his great army was beaten in one brief, but eventful campaign. Had the war been continued, and had the Prussians, who pursued the fugitive Ausftrians to within sight of the towers of captured the Austrian capital, the Emperor Francis Joseph would have been driven into Hungary, with perhaps the loss of half his dominions ; and such a fearful discomfiture might have compelled him to abdicate to appease the anger of his enraged subjects. As it is, the unfortunate Emperor enjoys no pleasant time of it either with the army or with the people. The army are naturally chagrined that no opportunity is given them of renewing the combat, or, of winning back the laurels which their Prussian opponents won from them in many a well fought|contest — while the people are naturally annoyed at the curtailment oi Austrian territory, the expulsion of the Emperor from the leadership of the Germanic Confederation, and the repeated defeats sustained by an army which enjoyed the reputation of being the most highly trained, the most efficient, and the most splendid troops in Europe— an army too which had been maintained at an enormous cost by a country whose financial condition has for a long time been that of j virtual bankruptcy with a paper curreccy, \ and without any power to raise a loan in the money markets of Europe. Such being the ! state of Austria we cannot wonder at the eagerness with which Francis Joseph embraced the opportunity afforded by the intervention of the Napoleon, of making peace with his wily antagonist. The only wond*r is, knowing now what we did not know at the ! outset, that Austria should have gone to war at all, and that she should have so strenuously resisted and rejected the overtures made before the outbreak of hostilities, for an adjustment of the matters in dispute, I at the proposed conference at Paris. The attitude which Austria then assumed seemed to indicate unshaken confidence in her own power and resources ; but now that we can see how utterly wanting were all just grounds for such confidences we are struck with i amazement at the judicial blindness of the Austrian Emperor, his Ministers and Generals. It now appears that the army of Francis Joseph was in no ,wise prepared for an immediate war. In the first place the army itself was not throughly organised — the levies were incomplete, and the corj>s d'armees unformed, the commissariat too, and the ! materiel and supplies of all kinds werelamenfcably deficient and defective. There were, \ moreover, divided councils at headquarters, and a lack of generals. Benedek was the best, but he was old, and was far from being an able strategist. He did not command the confidence of his subordinate | officers, and it is said that in several engage- ' ments some of his Generals went counter to his .express orders by fighting battles at places and under circumstances when they should have abstained from doing so. Austria was also at a disadvantage in having her army J composed of a great variety of races and nationalities, speaking different languages, I and wanting in that peculiar esprit de corps and that homogeneity which belong to the Prussians, all of whom are Germans, with a common tongue and a common fatherland. It is now alleged that Austria never believed in war at all, thought that somehow it could be averted, and imagined that Prussia was as ill prepared and as unwilling for war as she was herself. This was a vain delusion, Prussia turned out to be thoroughly prepared at every point. Owing to the perfection of her military system, she was enabled to call out an army of upwards 6*00,000 meninthe

courseofafortmghtorthree weeks, all perfectly trained, organised and equipped, and constituting perhaps on the whole the most efficient army that over took the field, Prussia owes this result to her military system, which by means of the conscription converts her young men into soldier?, who as soon as they have spent two or three years J in the army and learnt their business, quit I the ranks of active service and fall back once more into the occupations of civil life, where they form the army of reserve. They are of course liable to be called out afc any moment as long as they are fit for service j and there it is that Prussia has always an immense standing army at hand, drilled, and ready to take the field without the expense which a. regular army entails. Besides this, there is the staff or regular force of some 250 or 300 thousand men. keifc up as the nucleus or school in which the raw levies are trained, and this consists for the most part of young men between 22 and 25 years of age. In | Prussia it is no disgrace for a young man of good family to enter the ranks as a conscript. He there finds men of ability, and of good j education and social standing like himself, and should he show himself throughly efficient in practical anditheoretical knowledge he may look forward to obtaining hi3 commission in due course. This is also the case to a great extent in the French service ; and the opinion is begining to gain ground in this country, that our army will have to be organized upon a totally different system, before we can make it as efficient for all purposes as the armies of Prussia or of France. This subject has been discussed at considerable length in the English Press within the last few weeks, and in this discusssion the Times has taken the lead. It is thought that we must introduce some modification of the Prussian system, though the conscription is not hinted at. Owing to a variety of causes the British Army is not popular in the sense of being attractive to our young men, and it is exceedingly difficult to find recruits, so that the rank and file of the service have to be drawn from the lowest strata of society in the large towns and rural districts. Eecruits of this kind are for the most part men without the rudiments of education, of rude and disorderly habits, and requiring a severe system of discipline in order to secure obedience and due subordination. This system is not only distasteful to the men themselves, but it acts as an effectual check to the more respectable and well conducted men of a superior clases ever thinking of entering the ranks of the army as a matter of choice. In fact, it is only young men of lax habits and adventurous dispositions who are ever attracted by the fife and drmn^of the Eecruiting Sergeant, and many of these soon regret their bargains — when it is too late to draw back. At one . time a large portion of the British, army was recruited in Ireland, but owing to the decrease of population from emigration and other causes in. that country, the number of recruits drawn from that part of the United Kingdom has greatly diminished within the last five or ten years. Besides this, wages of ordinary laborers have increased so much latterly that the pay of the soldier has not sufficient attraction for the able-bodied young peasant, who, as a " navvy" can get 20s. or 255. a week on railways and other public works. From this it will be seen that it is no easy matter to keep up the ranks of the tegular army with active and well-built young men. In India alone we now have to maintain an army of nearly 80,000 British troops — of whom it is doubtful if 20 per cent, ever find their way back to this country — a perpetual drain upon our military resources. Accordingly the great problem of the day is to render the army popular and attractive to young men of a superior class, such as now join our Volunteer forces, and who, for the most part, are to be found in the ordinary walks of trade and commerce, behind the counter, or else in the warehouse or counting house. Many of these men dislike their tame if not effeminate callings, and would gladly exchange their quill or yard measure for the rifle and bayonet if the army held out any prospect of a " career" like that presented by the armies of Prussia and France. But what with the companionship of rough and uneducated comrades — men of low tastes, habits, and modes of thought - what with strict discipline, confinement, and loss of caste implied by the condition of a soldier in the ranks— and what with the improbability of his ever attaining any higher grade than that of a non-commissioned officer, the young man of adventurous spirit sticks to his business and leaves the British army to take care of itself. Under thi3 state of things there is a growing I conviction in this country that to make the British army, what it might become, popular and attractive, as well as " respeotablo" an<£ efficient, it will be necessary to introduce a considerable modification iu-to the mode of appointing the officers of the regular army by the total abolition of the purchase system (which is peculiar to the British service — excluding the scientific corps— artillery and engineers) and by giving a certain number of commissions annually to young men of decided merit who shall have passed a certain number of years in the ranks, and who shall be found qualified by practical knowledge and education for the position of qfficers. There is of course a Btrong feeling against any such change as this on the part of the upper and governing classes in this country, for whose sons the British army has along been a kind of close borough, and they are naturally anxious to maintain their privileges intact. They allege in support of the present system the necessity of British troops being officered exclusively by " gentlemen ;" — meaning by that designation the sons of the aristocracy and gentry — men of birth and position who have been educated at the public schools and military academies, and who for the most part have private means of their own apart from their military pay, and can afford to buy their commission and their way upwards, tinder this system it is urged, you get at once, a superior class of men to command the ranks of the army, and the men are naturally more inclined to follow and obey them than if they belonged originally to a lower grade in the social scale. All this, doubtless, is true to a great extent, but it is far from being the whole truth. If the rank and file of the army were to be recruited exclusively from the lower ranks of the population, or rather of the populace, then it might be desirable to have the officers drawn from the upper grades of society. But the real question at issue is this : — How far is it expedient and advisable that the British army should be raised from the same social stratum as formerly? And then is it possible to effect this object, and at the same time to make our troops as efficient and intelligent ' in actual warfare -as-the Prussian army for

j example. If this can be done — why let the* i present system, continue. But, on the other hand, if the social status of the army is to be raised, so that it shall no longer be dis creditable for the son of respectable, parents to enter its ranks as a private soldier, then the system will have to be modified. And . depend upon ifc when once young men filled I wi.hmilitaryardourandambitionfindthatthe hare the same chances of attaining the rank of a commissioned officer, as are open in the armies of the Continent, we shall then hare such an army as Great Britain has never seen before ; some of the best of our Volunteers will not hesitate to join - the ranks of the regular army, and in such a case, both the Volunteers and the Militia would become the constant " feeders" of the Line. These are the opinions which are fast gaining ground among men of high .intelligence in this country, who perceive, with feelings, somewhat akin to dismay, the danger which may accrue to our power, , prestige, and authority throughout the world, from the unsatisfactory condition o our armies when compared with the. armies of Continental and other powers. Instead of taking the lead, as we ought to do, in naval and military improvements, we are driven to the necessity of following tamely in the wak© of others — of learning lessons in ship-building and naval artillery from Prance and the United States, and in military organisation and the use of arms of precision from Prussia. The Crimean war gave us the first intimation of our backwardness, and it is but just to say that we have made considerable progress within- the last ten years. But thon much still remain* to be effected before we have put our house thoroughly in order. It is the opinion of military men with whom I have conversed, that if we were to be invaded to-morrow, our enemies would find us but ill-prepared. The numbers of our regular forces is- ridiculously small. Our Militia is utterly inefficient and unreliable — and our Volunteers, highly drilled as they are, would not be prepared to take the field upon any sudden emergency—" tor lack of a proper commissariat system, military train, and all that belongs to the equipment of an army in the field. The experience which we have gained from the American war, as well as- from the Italian campaign, and the recent war in Bohemia, has opened our eyes in a great measure, to our own shortcomings as a military power ; and, for my own part, I see no .means of putting our army on a proper footing, but that of introducing some system of conscription, „ or else, of making the military career attractive to young men of enterprise and education, in the way aboy,e indicated. Our timehonored prejudices must give way to- the supreme interests of the commonwealth, and our privileged classes must be content to forego their own desires for the sake of the nation at large. This is a matter of considerable import and gravity, which it behoves every man, whether military or otherwise, to discuss with calm deliberation, by the aid of such light as recent experience has thrown upon the subject. Already, ifc has been determined to arm all our'troops— • regulars, Volunteers, and Militia— with the breech-loading rifle ; and, in the course of a few months, all our Enfields and other weapons on the old system will be " converted." This is the first step in advance, and it has been taken without loss of time. Let us hope that it will be followed by other measures of military reform — for much depends upon promptitude. France is by no means in a good humor at the present moment. She has recently been terribly snubbed by Prussia, and in fact a war between that power and France was considered imminent two or three weeks back ; but happily it has been averted for the present, and as war seems the order of the day our turn may come next. We can scarcely hope to escape the general fate. I have just made allusion to the danger which lately threatened of a war between France and Prussia. It would appear that while negociations for peace were pending between Austria and Prussia, the Emperor Napoleon put in a claim to Prussia for some " rectification of the French frontier " on the Rhine, in consequence of the great extension of territory which Prussia had lately acquired in Germany. It was well known everywhere that France had made these demands, and the result was looked forward to with eager expectations. It was even anticipated that Prussiawonld not hesitate to comply with the wishes of tho French Emperor; but she not only hesitated, but absolutely, and it is thought peremptorily, declined to accedo- to such a request; and had the ruler of France persisted in his demands immediate war would have been the result, but he quietly, and as some people think, tamely withdrew his claims, and said, " Oh, very well — no matter — it ia not of the slightest importance. We won't quarrel about such a trifle." Louis Napoleon is accordingly represented by the caricaturists of the day as sitting at table with Count Bismark, while the latter points to some " humble pie," and invites the latter to eat some of it, which the Emperor does. My own impression is that France would go to war with Prussia, but that she feels herself unprepared at the moment, and she knows that if a war were to ensue the result would be that all Germany, to a man, would back up the King of Prussia, whose power and authority would thereby be all the more strongly consolidated and established over the whole of Germany. So for once the Emperor Napoleon made a mistake, and had to give up his point. But it is just possible- that all this was a preconcerted affair between the Emperor and Count Bismark, for reasons best known to themselves. This is my own impression, — for Napoleon is too wily and too cautious a diplomatist to make an absolute demand without feeling his way beforehand, —so as to be able to retire from the scene without the mortification of a direct refusal. Prussia has already made peace with Bavaria and some of the minor^ states of Germany — lately opposed to her— upon their paying an indemnity for the expenses of the war. Others of the minor' states have been annexed unconditionally, among which I believe is Frankfort, the ci-devant seat of the German Diet, which will no longer exist asa free city. In Italy negociations are still pending for the cession of Venetia, tke question of boundaries and other minor points being as yet undetermined. There are some indications that the Pope is meditating a new course of policy, to be adopted between himself and the kingdom of Italy. Some think that his Holiness intends to give up Borne to Victor Emmanuel, but if my private information be correct he means to do nothing of the kind. The Pope argues that he holds Borne in trust, and that he has no power or authority to give it over to another ruler. If they take it by force, he says, well and good, but hand it over willingly he

an never consent to do. By-the-bye, Archbishop Culleti, the first Irishman who was ever made a Cardinal, lately returned to Dublin and held a grand " reception " of the faithful at his palace in Dublin. It^ was a •'proud day for ould lreland entirely" to see one of her sons at length made a real "Prince of the Church"~a dignity one would suppose which thousands of these same eons had already merited for their devotedness to their mother, fully as much as any of that mother's pure favored Italian children. Here, then, at length is ono form of *• Justice to Ireland ;" but it was a long time coming ; and after this who shall deny the Irish the merit of being a patient, a long suffering, and a grateful race. Why the claims of Irish dignitaries to the purple or scarlet (whichever it be) should so long bave been overlooked, is a curious question, and one which I cannot pretend to solve; and even, in the present case, Cardinal Cullen has so long been residing at Rome away from his own country, t * - *-. he has far more of the character of au ' ■ 'Han than of ■ an* Irshmari, and perhaps this circumstance may account for the singular favor shown to him at Rome. I cannot help thinking that j the Irish have always shown themselves too tamely submissive in cases of this kind, and that, had they exhibited a little more spirit in their dealings with tho Pope, he would not have snubbed and overlooked their claims so long as he lias done. It certainly seems too bad that, during a period of six or eight hundred years, the dignity of Cardinal — the highest in the Pope's gift — should have been withheld from his most faithful and devoted children, and bestowed almost exclusivey upon Italians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen. But this is their own affair. The " Reception" held by Cardinal Cullen last week, would liave raised a storm of indignation twenty years back, among the Orange-men of Ireland. But fortunately for its peace, religious animosity engendered by Protestant ascendancy is fast abating in Ireland ; and some glimpses of reason shine out now and then among the zealots of party, which gives hope for the future. Fenianism seems dying out as fast as it can — at least, it gives no signs of its existence just now. The Habeas Corpus Act is still suspended, but Lord Abercorn, the new Lord Lieutenant for Ireland, who made his public entry into Dublin in great state last week, has. it is said, ordered a number of suspected persons — Yankees and Yankee-Iviah — who had been •confined for some, time, to be let loose, on condition of their " making tracks" across the Atlantic with the least possible delay. It is thought that Fonianism is still alive in the United States,* and that the leaders are sanguine of making a descent upon Canada some day. What if they altered their mind and made a descent upon Auckland or Wellington instead ? There would be much greater chance of their success in that quarter, in the absence of a fleet or standing army, than there would be in Canada — if tho question of distance could be set aside. Those fellows are mad enough for anything. All they want is to get standing ground somewhere, so as to gain the character of " belligerents" — which, somehow or other, they think ah easy matter I am happy to inform you that the cholera, which made its appearance in London about six or seven weeks back, is on the decline. In the course of a month the death-rate roar from nil to 1500 in a single week. This was. of course, in addition to the ordinary mortality from other causes. Great anxiety was experienced at the outset, lest the disease should spread and extend itself all over the metropolis, and • every effort has been made to check the progress of this fearful scourge. Societies were organised in every parish in London for house to house visitation, for purposes of cleansing, ventilating, and disinfecting where necessary, nnd also for the purpose of distributing medicines and giving medical adviCe, food, clothing, and other . assistance, gratis, where the sufferers were poor. Immense good has been done in tin's way. The charitable public too have opened their purses liberally ; and at. the mansion house alone no less than £15,000 were received in the course of a' couple of weeks for the relief of the poor of East London. In I fact, this disease has been confined exclusively to the poverty-stricken, rlenflplycrowdpd, ill-drained, ill-ventilated, and badly watered districts of Befhnnl Green, Bow, Poplar, Limchouse, and Shoreditch, which localities are onlv known by name to the denizens of Northern and Western London. These are the fever haunted districts of the metropolis, and no one who has not visited those localities can form tho slightest idea of the foul and pestilential dens, scarce fit; for the abode oK rats and other vermin, in which hundreds of thousands of human beings are packed togptlier in an atmosphere that reeks of every impurity that tho imagination can conceive. This? is the focus of the cholera ■which seems to associate itself with dirt and poverty in every form. It is impossible to say with certainty whether foul air, filth, and bad food have morn shave in propagating this disease than impure water. The merli(?al men and the scientific andsanatoryauthorities have now come to the conclusion that the disease has been chiefly propagated by impure wafer supplied by the East London Water Comnanv, and taken from the river Lea, somewhere above Old Ford. This water is found upon analysis to be full of impurities, including salts and organic matter of various kinda. This watev taken from certain reservoirs has been suprlied in all. or nearly all the districts, in which i »o cholera has made most havoc ; the supply of tin's particular water went hand in liand with this disease an it spread. Filtration has little or no effect in removing the impurities in question, which are hold in solution, ami can only be detected and eliminated by chemical analysis. To the eye the water appears not only perfectly pure and "dazzling," but it is exceedingly pleasant and grateful to the palate. Nevertheless this water is laden with pestilence and death. But the impurities of which I speak are not confined to the River Lea; they are to be found more or less all over London, I)U t chiefly in woJh; pumps, and springs within and around tho city of London. '" Owing to tho infiltration of sewage from waterclosets, drains, and cess-pools, and owing to the vicinity of old church yards where tho soil lias become completely saturated and poisoned by the, emanations arising from decomposed bodies, the water which percolates through tho soil of London becomes impregnated with all sorts of foreign matter. So far has this fact now been recognised by sanitary inspectors and medical men that the principal pumps in the leading thoi'outfhfares of London, and even in the Temple Gardens, have all been locked up ; and the medical faculty have issued a ukase against drinking water of any kind whatever that has not

been previously boiled. For it appears that heat and heat alone effectually destroys the noxious properties of " pure spring water." This will be sore discouragement to teetotalisra, which -n ill never more be able to vaunt with certainty the merits of its favorite beverage. It will also be a caution to those persons who drink it habitually with their meals instead of beer or wine. The opinion of medical men seems to differ a good deal as to the contagiousness of cholera ; but they all seem unanimous in stating that the " germs" of the disease itself are chiefly to be found in. the fseccs, in the discharge from the bowels, and stomach, and that unless these matters be speedily disinfected they must in the process of decomposition give out the seeds or germs of the disease, and so propagate them through the medium of the atmosphere. This is a point upon which no difference of opinion exists, but there is very great difference of opinion among medical men as to the mode of treatment. In fact, the Royal College of Physicians are divided upon this subjeet.and it may with great truth be affirmed of the contending opinions expressed and published in the medical and other journals, '• Quot homines tot sentevticn." At all events, whether it be owing to the remedial and precautionary measures adopted, or to the change in the temperature — the weather being unusually cold for this time of the year — the disease has been on the decline for the last three weeks, and i*" the present rates of decrease continue, there will be no cholera in London by the end of September. It has made its appearance in some country districts, but not to any extent, and there is every reason to hope that we have seen the worst of the malady. The cattle plague may also be said to have been subdued, if not completely trampled out. It still prevails in a few districts here and there ; but whereas the death-rate among cattle was 18,000 per week when the disease was at its climax, it has now become reduced to something like 200 a week, if not less, and we may therefore confidently look forward to the end of the year to see this murrain j extinct. We have every cause to be thank- J fui that its ravages were not more sweeping, for otherwise meat would have reached such a price that poor people could not ] touch it. The harvest too seems to be of a fair average character — oats and wheat a moderate crop — barley, peas, and beans very good — roots of all kind, including potatoes, above the average in yield and quantity. Trade too has been recovering its activity, owing to the lowering of the Bank rate of discount on the IGfch inst. to 8 per cent., and a further fall on the following week, Thursday last, to 7 per 'cent. I believe there is no instance in the history of the Bank of England in which it was obliged to maintain its rate of discount at 10 per cent, for so long a period as in the present case — upwards of three months. Considerable clamour has been raised against the Bauk Directors, and the Bank Act, and the Government, in consequence of this high rate of interest for money — us though the Chan cellor of the Exchequer had any power or authority over the Directors of a private Corporation to tell them how to manage their business. The public, even the intelligent mercantile and trading public, have strange notions of the " partnership" which I is supposed to exist between the Govern- ( ment and the Bank of England — in fact, the Bank is looked upon ns a kind of" Govern- j ment concern" like the Mint, the Treasury, or the Custom House, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is supposed to exercise unlimited influence over the Governor and j Company of the Bank of England — than which, of course, there cap not be a greater i delusion. The Bank of England, on account of certain privileges in the way of issuing notes to a limited extent, takes care of the public monies-, and pays the dividends upon public securities— such as consols, Exchequer Bonds, &c, and that is all. So that in point of fact the Chancellor of the Exchequer has nothing whatever to do with the rate of interest which the Bnnk may think proper to charge. Business, aa I said before, is improving; there have been fewer bankruptcies than might have been expected, and confidence is being restored, though slowly. Some of our railways are in terrible straits — unable to pay the interest on their ordinary loans, debentures, and preference shares, lot alone the original shares or stock of the companies. The Great Eastern and the London, Chatham, and Dover are in this unenviable condition. The latter is in chancery, and a receiver has been appointed — the former will I shortly be in a similar position. The secret | is too many " extensions" — too much money borrowed and sunk. This is a caution. The recent wool sales were well attended. Thero was an improvement in prices of Id or I^-d for s good clean wool, and the tendency is upward. The restoration of peace will give a stimulus to trado for some time to come, and fair prices may be expected for wools for tho next year or two. The American cotton crops will be vei*y " sparse" this year — but, more, it is said, by a competent judge, who lately made an cxpres journey through the cotton states— than 1,200,000 bales At all events, there is no immediate probability of a glut of Southern cotton in tho Liverpool market to come into competition with wool, and thereby lower tho latter. Tho. most recent accounts from the manufacturing districts are of a very favourable character, and show considerable activity. I have no special matters to corntnuniento touching your own colony, only that you will be glad to learn that your credit is rising in the market, and the quotations for your loan ar# rising. I belies I told you some time siuco that such would be the case. The nrvs from your colony has recently been o>' a satisfactory character, calculated to re n.ssure capitalists who doubted your solweoy, or who were imperfectly acquainted with your resources. The mail from New Zealand via Panama was delivered in London f<>uv or fivo days sooner than the Suez ni:iil (via Marseilles), which only come to hand on the 18th inst. As to the heavy portion, it was partly delivered on Saturday, the 25th inst., and a portion still remains undistributed, among which is the usual file for your correspondent. There will be no mail dispatched for your colony on the 2nd proximo, awing to notice having been received from the Colonial Government that some changes were to be made in the day for forwarding home the mails. I think it will be necessary to make changes on all sides before long, as the present arrangements ennnot bo satisfactory to any body. In fact, the Panama mail reaches Wellington before the Suez mail of au earlier date, and the same happens on the return journey. The items of miscellaneous news are not of great importance. Parliament was closed on the 10th inst. by commission, and the f

session which has been a in the one point taken up by the late Cabinet, came to an end without glory. The speech from the throne was a mass of verbiage below the average of such compositions, and there is nothing to be said about it. A few hopes, promises, pious ejaculations, and regrets. It was utterly unworthy of the two great statesmen— -great in every sense of the term, who are now the leaders of the Cabinet. I mean, of course, Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli. The Reformers are still somewhat blatant, and threaten " a deputation to the Queen" for the purpose of removing her present ministers. The Low Church folks in the colonies who are so strongly opposed to the High C hurch doctrines and ritualistic practices of such men as Bishop Hobhouse, will doubtless be glad to learn that the lead- 1 ing " ritualistic" clergymen in London are j about to be prosecuted for their practices, i This will test the legal right which they set up to introduce florid and elaborate musical services, similar to the "high mass" of the Roman Catholics. Thero has been an extraordinary development, in this | direction within the last few years, so j that now it is next to impossible to distinguish the common service from the mass, while the doctrines taught are almost identical. I don't think these prosecutions are Being set on foot from mere blind bigotry or intolerance, but in order to give all parties concerned the opportunity of testing the legality of tho practices complained of. Complained of, they are certainly, but not by the congregations who worship in the churches, but by the outer world ; and their congregations are for the most part composed of young men of good education and considerable intelligence, belonging to the middle and upper ranks of society. Among whom, at least in London, what is called " Et'angelicalism" is at a discount. There is a growing tendency Homewards, and if the safety valve of ro> ligious zeal should be fastened down in tho Church of England, by forbidding "ritualistic practices" the result will probably bo that the church will " burst up," and fall to pieces, and that the clergy with their congregations " driven out of the Church by persecution," as they, will call it, will join the Church of Rome in thousands and tens of thousands. Don't take this for exaggeration, it is a simple fact and nothing more. The Church of England is merely a name at present — a camp divided into three groat sections, consisting of " Evangelicals" — " Broad I Churchmen," (Latitudznariansj — and " High j Churchmen" (Embryo Romanists) ,\ and among tho clergy, tho Jafcter predominate, and their claim appears as good a right to be considered orthodox, as men who graduate naturally towards dissent ou the one hand, aud infidelity oa the other. No nesvs in tho evening papers.