The Spectator 1868-12-05: Vol 41 Iss 2110

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or Spectator FOR THE No, 9110.) WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, UNSTAMPED, 6d, STAMPED ... 7d 1868,

LETTERS TO THE Eprror— Bunsen and the British Quarterly

THE ween Topics OF THE DAY—

Resignation of the Tory Ministry ea ™ Revietl..occcrersereresessecovscecccecoree The Incoming Administration . The Canons Mr. Lowe's Educational M: unifesto t r 6 | Balliol Sehe Lord Lindsay on Toryism 427 a7 Ce The Minority Clause ........4. | Books— The Gree mock Stowaways . ‘ Dr. Newman's Oxford Sermons,,, 1456 Masses and Prayers for ‘the D ud - 0) 0 | Juste’s Life of King Leopold ...... 1438 The Genevese Poisoner........0...0+. | Another Book on Water!oo.,........ 1459 THe PROVINCIAL History OF ENG caxp— | Strange Work ........ « 1440 LXXXIV. — Central England :— CURRENT LITERATURE « 1441 Rutland, Leicestershire, and ~ BLICATIONS OF THE W 1442 Nottinghamshire.—The Towns THe New PARLIAMENT » 1442 (COMUENUCT) .rerrersereseeeresceenseees 1433 | ADVERTISEMENTS 1442-52 YEWS OF THE WE EK NEW ‘ TEK. ———<———— HE Elections are over with the exception of the contests in the Orkneys and the two Scotch Universities, and the total result is an overwhelming majority for the Liberals. After giving seven doubtful members to the Tories, viz., J. I. Briscoe, Sir R. Clifton, G. Tomline, Lord Elcho, W. H. Maxwell, Henry Matthews, and fl. A. Butler-Johnstone, the returns are—

Liberals. Conservatives. South Britain—Boroughs and Universities 210 nats 97 Ba Counties .....ccccrcoveereees - dd oon 132 UND tiicnisicionen . 265 229 Scotland—Boroughs ..........00+++ 26 0 . Counties ......-000+ 23 . 8 BOD sitiicecctnnsin . 49 ote 8 Ireland—Boroughs and Universities ...... 28 13 -~ Countics .......06. poessenesene wie ° 26 TOD iiiiciimnnn & én 39 —showing a majority for Mr. Gladstone of 36 in England, 41 in Scotland, and 27 in Ireland, or a total majority of 104. If we win the 3 undecided seats in Scotland this will be increased to 107 ; if only 2, it will be 105, within 5 of our original prediction, and quite enough for all practical purposes.

Mr. Disraeli has not been deceived by the hurrahs of his county supporters. He knows that even were his Cabinet not divided on the Irish Church he is hopelessly beaten, and has resolved to avoid a struggle in which victory was impossible. Accordingly, he repaired to Windsor on Wednesday to tender his resignation, and on the same evening issued a circular to his supporters declaring the resolution at which the Ministry had arrived. ‘The Govern- ment had, he said in this manifesto, believed that the country would not sanction the disestablishment of the Church, that they had therefore advised an appeal to the new constituencies, but that “* Although the general election has elicited, in the decision of numerous and yast constituencies, an expression of feeling which, in a remarkable degree, has justified their anticipations, and which, in dealing with the question in controversy, no wise states- man would disregard, it is now clear that the present Administra- tion cannot expect to command the confidence of the newly elected House of Commons.” ‘Therefore, the Ministry have felt it due to their own honour and the policy they support not to retain office unnecessarily for a day, and have resigned, but “they remain convinced that the proposition of Mr. Gladstone is wrong in principle, probably impracticable in conduct, and if practicable, would be disastrous in its effects.” They will therefore offer to his policy an uncompromising resistance. We have discussed Mr. Disraeli's conduct elsewhere, and will only say here that it seems to us, although astute, still manly and straightforward. He is a gamester in politics, but having lost the rubber, he pays the stakes without a squabble. Mr. Disraeli, on his interview with the Queen in which he resigned office, took the natural, manly, and straightforward course of advising her to send for Mr. Gladstone, who is, of course, primarily and exclusively responsible for the special policy on

was at HIawarden when Mr. Disraeli resigned, was summoned by telegraph to Windsor, and was with the Queen on Thursday afternoon, and by her commissioned to form a Government, on the composition of which nothing had last night officially transpired. Of any mere speculative estimates of the elements which might be desirable in it, our readers will find enough elsewhere. Baronetcies were bestowed before the Ministry went out on Francis Arthur Knox-Gore, large squire in Mayo; Smith Child, large squire in Staffordshire, who has fought elections ; Robert J. HL. Harvey, squire in Norfolk, formerly Member for ‘Thetford ; James Walker, considerable Yorkshire squire, with property in Bucks; Mr. 'T. G. Moss, Raby Hall, Lancashire; and George Etienne Cartier, eminent French Canadian, once leader of a rebel- lion, now an influential member of the Government of the Dominion. Ile deserves the label for real services to the Empire, and none of the other gentlemen have done any particular harm. The “crisis” which was in active preparation in and to which Lord Stanley alluded in his speech at Lynn, has apparently been postponed. ‘The idea was to arm all the Slavonic people of ‘Turkey for a general revolt under the lead of Prince Charles of Roumania, with the double view of upsetting the Sultanet and embarrassing Austria if she iuterfered with Germany. Very strong pressure was, however, applied to arrest the movement, and at last Prince Charles received, it is alleged and denied, a private hint from Berlin. ‘Thereupon the insurrectionary Minister Bratiano fell, a new man nearly unknown elsewhere came into power, and Roumania promised peace with all mankind, and ordered all munitions of war to be laid up—and oiled. Note as the main facts that the Slavons are looking to Prince Charles as their leader, that the situation never quite gets beyond his control, and that everybody in those regions begins to say, ‘* This is a strong man.” Let him appoint his own cooks, and with care,

Roumania, The end of the Revolution seems to be no nearer in Spain. S$. Figuerola has only raised some 3} millions of his 20-1illion loan ; the Treasury requires funds, and Republican pronunciamentos are going on all over the country. General Prim has signified to the Gaulois that he is not trying for a Dictatorship, and that he is engaged in no transaction with the Bourbons, and it is said that he has still a candidate in his pocket. The date for tle assembling of the Cortes is, however, still unfixed ; strong proclamations are necessary against disorder; the Government gives way in every direction to the pressure for appointments; and S. Olozaga goes back to Paris. ‘The end of this, we may safely predict, will either be disorder, and then military rule, or an informal Republic with too much power in the separate States, the former solution being the more probable.

Another constitutional crisis appears at hand in Prussia. It appears from an over-brief telegram of the Ist of December, that the Government has been appointing honorary jiwiges to the Supreme Court, thus packing that tribunal. Herr Windhorst moved in the Diet that suci conduct was illegal. ‘Thereupon the Minister of Justice told him that, if needful, he would appoint more Judges,—in the regular way, we presume,—and put their salaries in the Budget, and if a conflict ensued, the Government would not shun it. For his part, he ‘* had no Liberal tendencies,” which seems true enough, ‘The Chamber, however, adopted Herr Windhorst’s motion, so that if the new Judges are appointed, the Diet stands pledged to refuse their salaries. Fortunately, Count yon Bismarck has returned to Berlin, and will probably discover means of maintaining authority without packing the Supreme Court. We are a long way yet from the minor appointments, but we do hope that among them we shall not see this time the name of Mr. Layard, whose selection commits this country to the old ‘Turkish policy abandoned by Lord Stanley. Mis great special knowledge might surely be made useful in other ways. Mr. Cartwright, who

which the Government have been defeated. Mr. Gladstone, who | knows more of Continental politics than a dozen average Under