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    officers in the East call upon him , addressing him through Lord Pasmobb , to reconsider those aspersions ° upon their body : but Lord Panmube himself is laid up with the gout ; and the House of Commons , if it be not distracted b y the ceremonials- ' And festivities of the week ,-will perhaps press for an answer , howit > is that the War : Department is to get on without the War Minister ? Mr . Latabd , too , has been proving to his new Scotch constituents who have appointed him Lord Hector of Aberdeen University , that he understands " the reasomateliy" the-education oftfae-day

    does so little to fit men for active life , since it overstrains their memory and clouds the development of their faculties . Notwithstanding his comparatively little regard for Parliamentary appearances and the reserves which have becqme a kind of routine amongst public men , Mr . Latard is rising in the public estimation . At least the Ministers ¦ will have to consider bow they are to deal not only with the individual Layard , but with the increasing class in Parliament which he represents . The question is the more urgent and difficult , since there are other oppositions in Parliament—that

    which gathers round the Manchester nucleus , —the dissatisfied Peelite nueleus , —the Tory nucleus , old and new , —all of-which threaten some fusion . We know but of one intramural diversion for the bother that is threatened for the . reopening session : it would be to arrange an entertainment within the walls of that theatre for the amusement and instruction of their French Majesties . Why not get up a sort of party-debate , with Mr . Disraeli lor stage-manager , as a display of our institutions ? It would be amusing , and would divert troublesome attention from real business .

    In one respect Government have totally belied the accusations of their enemies and the inferences of their friends . Yesterday the Chancellor otp the Exchequer sent to the City a notification , inviting the Governor and Deputy .-Governor of the Bank of England to a conference with Lord PALMERSToif and the Chancellor of the Exchequer , in orderio make preliminary arrangements for a loan . This settles one question—that Government , at all events , will not try to proceed on the principle of paying for everything out of the current taxes of the yeaiv And so far it falls m with the dictates of common sense , and with the rumours of extended war .

    In another it seems possible that Ministers may modify the calculation of friends and foes : a deputation has waited upon the Chancellor op thb Exchequer to dissuade him from the proposed measure on the newspaper stamp , and to substitute a new plan . This is a halfpenny stamp for newspapers , and a halfpenny ^ stamped cover -for ., a ~ single . _ postal . transmission pf unstamped printed papers . There is no doubt that this would yield a great increase of revenue ; and Mr . Edward Baines ' s representations to that purport appeared to have a strong effect on Sir George Coenewall Lewis .

    The Cambridge University Reform Bill has appeared . Its general structure is the same as that of the Oxford bill—a reform of the University constitution , a power to colleges to reform themselves by opening fellowships , &c , within a year , and a power to commissioners to reform them afterwards , if they omit to reform themselves . There is also the same modicum of University extension in the shape of private halls—which will

    probably be equally nugatory in both cases—and the same relaxation of tests up to the B . A . degree . The reform of the University constitution , if we may trust the writer in the Times , is a blunder . The Caput Senatus is deposed instead of the Board or Heads , whereas the Board of Heads is the real tyrant . We must observe , however , that the Board of Heads at Cambridge has not a legal existence like the Hebdomadal Board at Oxford .

    Independently of this , the ; proposed new governing body is bad , as being constructed on the " sectional " instead of the free system , the heads and professors each nominating one-third of the members from among their own body , while the remaining third is nominated by the colleges in a certain cycle . When will people learn the commonest lessons of freedom P The bill is brought in by the Lob » 'Chancellor , so that it will be first ; discussed in the Lords . The discord between ttio vefytwr oiid incumbent of St . Paul ' s , Knightsbridge , 1 ^ 7 l iPK ^ ed a climax ithis week . Last Saturday 4 ^ 'dp ^ bhwarden was compelled to protest agauwt iwe pagan rites ( practised by the incumbent ai ^ hia curates * , in . honour apparently of the Queen pf Flowers . On

    Tuesday , after a disgraceful uproar , Mr . Westerton , who , we trust , finds Protestantism " pay , " was re-elected churchwarden , and a resolution adopted , declaring that Mr . Lidi > ell ' s . mode of conducting worship is " highly offensive . " Where is the Bishop ? What a , mockery must episcopal authority be in this divinely Established Church of England , when bishops can be braved , and pastors and parishes quarrel at pleasure ! The law ealendar istuncommonly full this > week of eases that peculiarly illustrate our social , life . There is , for instance , rthe judgment in-thet « ase of Derbt versus Hopwood : a proceeding instituted by the executors of the late Mr . Hopwood to deprive Captain Edward Hopwood of certain rights

    which he claimed as the successor pf his late father , contrary to the claim of the Ciiptain ' s brothers and sisters . There is nothing unusual in the case , and the evidence intended to make out-the claims of the executors for the family on the one side , and of the eldest son on the other , disclosed a state of family feud of the most discreditable kind . We see brother scheming against brother , sister getting up scenes against sister , and the poor old gentleman—all the while with faculties declining —made the sport and tool of one side against the other . As the world faded from his eyes , he saw his children quarrelling for his succession , and that was the last spectacle he enjoyed of his earthly home .

    The case of Mrs . Ramsbotham has less moral significance . The lady is the wife of a physician of some eminence , and she was detected taking goods , which she had not purchased , from the counter of a linendraper . Attention had already been called to her movements by

    previous occurrences . It is explained that she was in a state of health which renders women liable to unaccountable wishes and excitements , and the jury Avas equally divided upon the point whether she was morally guilty or not . The result of the trial was ,. that the ( jury were " discharged by consent , " which ^ amounts to no judgment , and the case falls through . Everybody is satisfied to see the unhappy lady released from accountability ; but the question still remains—are such aberrations peculiar only to the classes well-to-do ? or , does it not happen sometimes , that there might be

    reasons for disbelieving moral culpability , although the garb of poverty lends an air of necessity to the act of purloining ? A much more painful case has occurred , in the conduct of Miss Emilie Gordon , a young lady well connected , who has outraged her country neighbours by most offensive eccentricities . But this case we have abstained from noticing , because we hold that it ought never to have been made public . We happen to know that this unhappy youngfTadjT has already beert undeirthat guardianship from which , it seems , she was prematurely removed .

    As we rise again in the social scale , the illustrations of life become somewhat blacker . Mr . Ernest Fitzuoy , a young gentleman of fortune , who will have 20 , 000 / . in June next , and who has distinguished himself amongst the sect of the restoration , at St . Paul's , Knightsbridge , has been tried and convicted at Chichester of issuing forged cheques . And the Honourable Francis "Villiers , fourth son of the Earl of Jersey , Member for Rochester , and Steward of the Jockey Club , has suddenly disappeared , leaving liabilities to the extent of 100 , 000 ? . He was last seen , we beliove , ostensibly following the hounds ; but the bailiffs have found it practically impossible to follow him . Others follow him in a certain sense . It is said

    that there are many distinguished persons , with or without titles , who will be dragged in by his sudden default .

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    T HE WA R . almost misnomerthis kto have such

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    It is a , wee , any heading ns " The War" at all . Since the fight on the 22 nd , a languor seems to have fallen on both sides—that is to say , as fara 9 regards actual hostilities ; but the Russians continue their energetic measures of defence , and wo continue our preparations for opening fire , though , up to the last advices , that long talkcd-of event had not boon initiated . The ltussians still keep possession of their three rifle-pits ; and they have dug four more , and have begun connecting them with each other by artificial works . The Times correspondent says , " Kvery look at the rifle-pits satisfies mo that the Russians mean them as rudiments of advanced works against us , and that they are likely to prove very troublesome . The

    Mamelon is a most serious ingredient in calculating tbe chances of an assault . The works on the east of it are &co \ wsy dangerous . The Russians haw already begun to arm them with heavy guns , and their fire . will-prove , I fear , extremely harassing " The weather has * become hot and summer ' -likp with hurrieanesat night ; but disease has not entirely disappeared . £ The 79 th Regiment contin ues to suffer severely ; . the men die at the rate of two a day , and one huxitiped have died within a month . Scurvy however , has diminished . Dr . Gavin , of the Sanitary Commiastoo , . has arrived , and complains , it is said tfaat'lie cannot * £ nd anyj-of the authorities whom he

    wants . Dr . " Sutherland , 'caving caught the fever at Scutari , > has goHe to Smyrna . to recruit himself . The railroad does not seem to have worked well ; and the waggons of materiel appear still to lag and halt upon the way . We read also of the arrival of 280 mulesof the continuation of the " races ; " of a little fight among the Croats ; of a fire on board a ship in the harbour , which is supposed to have arisen from the drunkenness of some of the crew , but which was extinguished ; and of a rumoured revolt of the Russian army at Perekop , accompanied by the murder of a general , and of some officers who were marching the men southwards .

    It now appears that our loss in the affair of the 22 nd was not one hundred , as at first supposed , hut only a little above fifty . There is no doubt , however , that the losses of the Russians and of the French were larger . From Eupntoria , we hear of no important action . An occasional reconnaissance , a few light skirmish es , and the routine operations of an invading army , form . the sum of our news from that quarter . A reconnaissance which took ^ place on the 23 rd of March would probably , says a Vienna paper , have become a general engagement , had not Prince Gortschakoff given orders to retreat ; but , at any rate , whatever the ^ obabilities , it came to nothing . It is reported ^ owever , that Omar Pacha occupies two villages half a league from Eupatoria , and that he is enlarging the circle of the fortifications for 50 , 000 men .

    The annexed account of the armistice on the 24 th , for the purpose of burying the dead on both sides , will be read with a deep-and pathetic interest . It is one of the niO 3 t striking episodes of the war ; and makes us involuntarily reflect upon the dreary mistake of all war ( unavoidable as it may be , and has been in this instance ) , when we see ruenj so prone to good fellowship and mutual service , constrained by the necessities of their position to become mutual murderers . One hour , courteous conversation and smiles ; the next , the fierce eye-glare and clenched teeth of deadly combat .

    THE ARMISTICE 01 * TWO HOURS . " Early on Saturday morning ( the 24 th ult . ) a flag of truce was sent in by the Allies with a proposition to the Russians for an armistice to bury the dead , which were lying in numbers—five or six Russians to every Frenchman and Englishman —in front of . the Round Tower and Mamelon , and , after some delay , an answer in the affirmative was returned , and it was arranged that two hours should be granted for collecting and carrying 1 away the dead on both sidesT All the ravines' leading to the front trenches "were crowded with officers hastening on horse and foot down to the scene of so much hard lighting . The crests of the hills and the slopes in front of the batteries were covered with men , and they dotted the deadly interval between the batteries which had been beshot and

    fore occupied alone by thousands of tons of fragments of shell discharged by French , English , and Russians during this protracted siege . The day was beautifully bright and warm . White flags waved gently in the faint spring breeze above the embrasures of our batteries , and from the Round Tower and Mamelon . £ » ot a soul had been visible in front of the lines an instant before the emblems of peace were run up to the llagstnflfs ; and a sullen gun from the Blamelon and a burst of smoke from Gordon ' s batteries had but a short time previously heralded the armistice . Tho instant the flags were hoisted , friend and foe swarmed out of the embrasures . Tho Riflomcn . of the Allies and of tho enemy rose from their lairs in the rifle-pits , and sauntered towards each other to behold their grim handiwork . 1 he wlioio of the space between tho Russian lines and our own was

    filled with groups of unarmed soldiery . . Within a faw hundred yards of tho Mamclon the sig at wns strange beyond description . French , English , " « Russian officers were walking about , saluting each otner courteously as they passed , and occa r ' ^ *"' ' ( ing into conversation ; and a constant ' » ™ ™ £ ° littlo civilities , such as offering nnd receiving cigars ^^^^ w ^ w ^ HS breeding . Their poliahod manners contracted «» " «« ably with their plain and rathor eoarao clotlnnfc . 1 ^ J wore , with few exceptions , the invariable long ««* ' J « over their uniforms . The French <«« r ^™ ro "" 3 grmde tenve , and offered « atriking contra * t ^ to nmy our , own officers , who wore Aroased h la Jlaluk \ n \ n , « wore uncouth head-dresses , catekin conts , a < l ^ noi . a script paletots . Tho Russians were rathe f ™ ° J ' reserved ; but they seemed to fraternise with tho 1 cnc better than with ourselves , «* d tbo men cortnn . lv » ot cm bettor with our allioa tuan with the few privates ol our

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    338 ^ THE LEADER . [ Saturday

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 338, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2086/page/2/