... ce. I FRANCE.-The question of religious teaching in the national schools has been once more briskly discussed in the Senate. Last year M. Jules Simon amended the Bill for primary education, as passed by the Lower House, by carrying an addition providing that the masters will teach their pupils their duty towards God and towards their country. The Chamber, desirous of eliminating all ...

... ?? I ?? ?? 0 I.A.-B THE ARMY ESTIMATES.-Mr. Childers' statement of our military position may be regarded as fairly satisfactory. Recruits are somewhat younger than could be wished, but they come in freely, although the period of service has been raised from six to practically eight years. Allowing for the growth of population, the Army is pecuniarily less of a burden on the country now than ...

... 1 R~uF.AL J'OTES rW. ,R ,, 4o THE SEASON.-March has been a genial month thus far, and the rainfall has been very welcome. To see the pastures in March as green as in ordinary seasons they are at the beginning of May, is a sign of the singular character of the season; but it does not indicate necessarily that the hay crop will exceed an average. Early fecundity too often means a premature ...

... ?? I~ - ?? 1 CATHEDRAL REFORM.-The first report of the Royal Comn- missioners for inquiring into the Condition of Cathedral Churches in England and Vales has just been issued. They recommend the early appointment by Parliament of a Privy Council Committee for Cathedral Purposes, to consist of the two Archbishops, the Bishop of London, and provided they are members of the Church of England, ...

... LIAMENT,) ? I I PROCEEDINGS in Parliament at the present epoch alternate between furious liveliness and a point at which existence is divided from inanition by an almost imperceptible boundary line. A further peculiarity is that the dulness takes place during what are working hours for the ordinary world, and that it is in the watches of the night, when considerably more thanhalf the world is ...

... MR. ANDREW MARSHALL PORTER, Q.C., M.P The New Solicitor-General for Ireland ST. GEORGE HENRY LOWTHER, EARL OF LONSDALE Died Feb. 8, aged 26 THIE LATE EARL OF LONSDALE ST. GEORGE HENRY LOWTHER, fourth Earl of Lonsdale, whose early death from inflammation of the lungs occurred on the 8th ult., after an illness of brief duration, was born October 4th, 1855, educated at Eton, succeeded his father ...

... 00Ol 0 t~ I~~o ~~ IJ 0 00C~ THZ Queen has again spent a few days in town this week. Before leaving Windsor Her Majesty took the Princess 1-lelen of Waldeck for several long drives in the neighbourhood, and on Saturday night the Queen gave a dinner-party. Her Majesty did not go to church on Sunday, but Princess Beatrice, Prince Leopold, and Princess Helen attended Divine Service in the morning ...

... 'r ? THE WIMBLEDON MURDER THiE result of the trial of George Henry Lamson for the murder of his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John, will have surprised nobody who has paid any attention to the case. The inquiry lasted seven days, and with every new itenm of evidence the proof of guilt grew more and more plain, until at last the cumulative force of the whole was so overpowering that not even ...

... 0 & ?? a GOURTK THE QUEEN has left England for Mentone. Before ?? Her Majesty entertained several members of the Royal Family and a number of guests at the Castle for the baptism of the Duke and Duchessof Connaught's baby-daughter. The ceremony was performed on Saturday in the Private Chapel of the Castle by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Windsor, and the Queen, the Emperor of ...

... N THE FLOWER-HARVEST IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE is excep- tionally plentiful this year, and the violets in particular have yielded a most abundant crop. THE PROFITS OF THE LATE ELECTRICAL EXHIBITION IN PARIS are 13,000/., and are to be used to establish a central laboratory for the special study and development of the science of electricity under direct Government control. Altogether the ...

... RURAL JmOTE i i I i k I~ t i I pp 0-iLi i ~ . iI PI 1 , . , THE SEASON.-February was not to pass without some rainfall, but farmers were by no means displeased at the moderate moisture. The state of farm work is very forward, barley, oats, and peas being in some cases already sown, while in others the sowings are the preoccupation of the present moment. The young lambs have done and are doing ...

... ?? THE LORDS' COMMITTEE ON THE LAND Acr.-Mr. Gladstone's burning indignation against those wicked Peers was probably not altogether genuine. But the incident of the Committee afforded a good opportunity for trying to rally together the disjeca memnbra of the Liberal Party. The Lords are about to ride roughshod over our liberties. Radicals, to the rescue ! So there was a meeting of the party, ...