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b TOWN TAXJK. !

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b TOWN TAXJK. BY OTJB SPBCIAL COBBBSPONDBNT. j --+-- i 0.- rozdwa tcifl understand that we do not hold ourselves rtspon tiblt for our abis Correspondent's opinwru* — i IT is not surprising that the prospect of soon hav- I ing to be Lord Mayor of the City of London, and, j consequently, of having to keep up its reputation ] for "splendid hospitality," should have induced Mr. Mechi to resign his alderman's gown, as he has just done. But the present Lord Mayor (Mr. Phillips) seems to be going in" for the costly honour of a re-election. At any rate, he deserves to have that compliment offered to him, for rarely has the office of chief magistrate been filled by one who so worthily represents the liberality of the great English people in the way of dinner-giving. The last one his lordship gave was to the Ministers, and in proposing the health of Lord Derby he made a very good point by describing him as the smooth-tongued chief, from whose persuasive lips sweeter than honey flowed the stream of speech; a quotation from the Prime Minister's translation of Homer. He was not so successful in his little speech about Mr. Disraeli, for he hoped that the Chancellor of the Exchequer might "be as success- fulwith facts as he had hitherto been with fiction," a taunt," as the Lord Mayor called it, to which Mr. Disraeli retorted that "candour and frankness were evidently not without charms in that hall." Lord Derby regretted that he had been compelled to take office with money at ten per cent., and cholera in our midst; rejoiced in the coming har- vest and in peace; briefly alluded to the war on the Continent; spoke cordially of the new link between England and America, in the shape of the Atlantic cable; promised a new and stringent Health Bill this session; and with reference to the Hyde-park riots, affirmed that no cause, ho -vever good, could be furthered by intimidation and vio- lence. WITH regard to the fearful spread of cholera, now that the disease is amongst us, everything is being done that ought to have been done before it appeared. The streets are being cleansed, in- spectors are hunting out all the filthy places, and the doctors are in fall activity. The Treasury has granted a sum of money to enable the Government medical health officer, Mr. Simon, to carry out a special series of experiments, and the Bishop of London has called for a fund for the relief of the sufferers who are still alive. This appeal has been nobly responded to, and by the money thus obtained, which is given to the clergy of the dis- tricts affected for distribution, much good will doubtless be accomplished. Meanwhile, from certain disclosures which have been made here, I would advise your readers to abstain from eating mixed pickles." It appears that when the pickles become rotten, it is the practice of some tradesmen to put them into soak again, and that when they come out of this soak they are simply poisonous. Cholera and death have, in more than one case, been traced to this cause. As to the ten per cent. rate still maintained by the Bank of England, and which has now lasted for more than three months, all that can be said is, that it is causing great distress at home and great distrust abroad. Trade is being crippled in every direction, and foreigners regard the high rate of interest, which the requirements of the Bank Act of 1844 force the directors to maintain, as an indication of our being bankrupt. They don't believe in our bills, and will take nothing but solid coin from us, so that the usual bill cur- rency of the world is suspended to a corresponding extent. The worst of it is that there is no pros- pect of an improvement. An immediate reduction of the rate of interest would, in all probability, of the rate of interest would, in all probability, stop the foreign demand for gold; but then it is admitted that this measure would be a bold and experimental one, and not altogether justified by the state of the Bank reserve, so that the foreign demand is likely to continue, and to this will be added the gold withdrawn for harvest purposes, and even for travelling expenses in the autumn. On the whole, therefore, it is a not un- reasonable expectation that matters will get worse before they mend, unless, indeed, some mea- sure is adopted, of which there is no present indi- cation, by which the Bank directors may be au- thorised to disregard the arbitrary sum fixed upon by the Act of 1844 as the amount which they must keep in reserve against the notes issued by them. The whole question of the Bank Charter Act re- quires full reconsideration, and, indeed, Sir Stafford Northcote has promised that it shall receive the attention of Government. THE fact that Hy de-park at night was a refuge for the destitute, for poor, miserable, and de- graded human beings of both sexes, has been generally acknowledged, but these wretched occu- pants of the park were formerly, at any rate, harmless; now it is quite otherwise. The recent Reform demonstration has shown the "roughs" the power which they possess, and respectable people are stopped and robbed with complete impunity; not only in the park itself, but in north London also. These outrages have taken place to such an extent that it is proposed to do what ought to have been done years ago—abolish the park-keepers, and place the grounds under the supervision of the police, at the same time lighting the main thoroughfares with gas. As this will necessitate an increase of the police force, I hope the oppor- tunity thus presented of looking into the organi- sation of that body will not be lost. There has been a growing disposition of late years on the part of Sir Richard Mayne to con- vert his constables into soldiers; and no greater mistake could have been made, for (as the experience of the Irish constabulary proves) the more of a military character you impart to a body of this kind, the less efficient does it become for its proper purposes—the preservation of order, the protection of property, thief-catching, and the like, duties, in short, which require one man, and not a "body of men to perform. The policemen should be taught and ba required to act singly; and if anything further is necessary, then, as the phrase runs, let the military be called out." The present system fails in both respects, for the men are neither good policemen nor are they good soldiers. 0 A BOOK has just been published which is attracting a great deal of attention in the literary world. I allude to Mr. Buchanan's f! London Poems." The Spectator says cf them that they combine many of the beauties of Wordsworth, with something of the dramatic vivacity and grace of Mr. Browning," but that as a lyrical poet Mr. Buchanan is far deeper and sweeter" than Mr. Browning, and it ranks him among the feremost of living poets. And other notices of the book which I have happened to see are equally laudatory. The Athenaeum, for example, says that the poems "are a true and o-enuine work, the result of real observation and example, says that the poems "are a true and o-enuine work, the result of real observation and S o 4 t j personal emotion." High as this praise un- I doubtedly is, it is not more than the work deserves. I I have carefully read it, and must acknowledge 1 that next to Mr. Tennyson's best poems, I prefer I these London Poems to those of any modern I poet I have come across: the subjects are so various, they are so musically treated, and the I author shows such a sympathy for the sufferings of poor humanity, that it opens the very strings of one's heart. Punch will soon be deprived of one of his I standing jokes, for it is stated that Sir Edwin II L-andseer has finished the three lions for tho base of the Nelson column, and by those who have seen I them they are pronounced to be wonderful works I of art. IT is reported that Lord Cowley has resigned the Ambassadorship at Paris, and that either Lord Malmesbury or Lord Percy will succeed him. Z.

SUMMARY OF PASSING EVENTS.

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE MARQUlb…

MR. GLADSTONE AND THE REFORM…

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

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