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OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.I

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OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT. THERE is a fashion in Crime," was a remark made by Sir George Grey when discussing the best method of dealing with garotters. In what is there not a fashion ? In our social and in our political inter- course there is a fashion, and the omnipresent spirit pervades the tactics of party. We see no longer among us the haughty executive of Sir Robert Wal- pole; we have lost the chivalresque temper which made Pitt fight with Tierney. We look at such phases of political existence as bygone fashions. We can rule without the hauteur of Sir Robert, and Putney Heath is no longer a fashionable resort for contending and hostile statesmen. A quiet popularity is now the fashion among ministers, and, with very few exceptions, with but one exception; I may say, the present ministry is in the height of fashion. There is little scope for brilliant oratory, the fashion is against it. The opposition has the best of it- Derby, Disraeli, Cobden, Fitzgerald, Cave, Cochrarie, may be mentioned as most conspicuous. Neverthe- less, the opposition cannot compare in popularity with the lesser oratorical lights of Government. Gladstone's rhetoric is not appreciated by any means so thoroughly as his proposition to reduce the to- bacco duties. Such is the fashion. Sir George Grey is the black sheep, and during the present session he has been the scapegoat of all political parties. He is out of fashion most completely. Lately he has been the victim of Mr. Hennessy, and he could not kave fallen into the hands of a more inve- terate Parliamentary scalper. Mr. Hennessy is one of those men who have risen in spite of everything. He began by being a bore, and he gives promise of terminating his career as one of the most effective and admired speakers in the House of Commons. Sir George sent some detectives to Poland; Mr. Hennessy must know ail about it, and with the helr of Mr. Griffiths elicits that Sir George Grey acted without consulting either Viscount Palmerston or Earl Russell. I have heard a rumour that the Home Office is getting too hot for the right honourable baronet: he is abused out of doors, he carries no weight in the House—instance the Security from Violence Bill—and no useful measure during the year has been connected with his name. Possibly, however, the wish in this case may be father to the thought, and Sir George Grey's hinted probable re- signation may be the freak of some unscrupulous gossip-mougers. Whether it be St or not I give the report as it reaches me, neither vouching for its ac- curacy nor undertaking to throw a reflection upon its veracity. The desire is very generally expressed that the gallant soldier whose death was recorded a few days ago should he buried in Westminster Abbey. Greater men have certainly been laid in that resting place of heroes, but a braver, more truthful, or more self- denying soldier than Sir James Outram has never been seen in the British Army. Were his remains to be placed by the side of Lord Canning none would say that too high a mark of respect had been paid to one who had served his country so wen; for among those who saved oar Empire in the East there has not been one who has bad higher claims on his country's gratitude than the "Bayard of India." Let us not then grudge him a place among our illus- trious dead. The feeling in favour of Poland as against Russia. is growing stronger and stronger here. The meet- ing in the City was a very enthusiastic one, and the stone once set a-roiiing will hardly end here. The prevailing opinion is that the Poles, after so many years of suffering, struggling, and persevering, de- serve their freedom, and that Russia is acting an unnecessarily cruel part in thus trying to dragoon the Poles into tame submission. Depend upon it the Polish insurrection is growing into gigantic pro- portions, and it is at all improbable that Hun- gary, whose sympathies are entirely with Poland, will are long join the fray. An uneasy feeling is also,.it appears, gaining ground in Paris, where the Polish cause always has so many warm friends. Amongst the rumours that come from the French capital is one relative to the formation of" an alli- ance between France, Austria, Italy, and Spain-all these powers to join in a war against Russia, and to be rewarded—France with the much-coveted Rhine frontier, Italy with Venetia, Austria with the impe- rial crown of united Germany, and Spain with the guarantee of the maintenance of the temporal power of the Pope." I look upon this as one of the wildest rumours I have heard for many a day. How are France, Austria, Italy, and Spain to agree upon a war with Russia ? What is to be the pretext for de- claring war? And who is to pay the piper i The probability is that Russia, who is gathering up her strength, will make a desperate effort to break down all opposition to its tyrranous behests, and will dragoon Poland into at least temporary submission. A bill is now before the Commons for closing pub- lic-houses on Sunday. There is no likelihood of it" passing, but the subject of Sunday trading in in- toxicating liquors is now in other respects attracting a good deal of attention. The Maine Liquor Law advocates are acquiring considerable strength, and will of course use their influence in favour of any such measure as this; but quite independently of this power, there are two other powers which will be brought to bear upon any measure that has for its object the closing of public-houses on Sundays-a large portion of the reiigious community nud, stranger to say, a portion of the publicans them- selves. Put a far stronger power than all combined will be the voice of that part of the public who are opposed to legislative interference with Sunday trading, as well as of that. part of the public who talk loudly of their right to bay and sell when they like, and demand the privilege of getting "refreshment" all day and any day. Public opinion, taken altoge- ther, is not ripe for so large a change as that con- templated, but I think that opinion is gradually growing against" the publican's trading on the Sunday. An experiment has been made by one df our Aldermen, Mr. Wateriow, the stationer, which is de- serving of general attention. He has erected a block of buildings near Finsbury-square, which are to serve the grand purpose of proving thatimproved dwellings for the industrial classes can be made to pay sopie 8 or 9 per sent. Langbourn buildings, named after the ward of which he has been elected an alderman, are built to accommodate twenty families. They have cost him about £2,000, and the sets of rooms are already taken by respectable mechanics. The houses themselves are pretty looking, with balconies, each house having a winding external staircase, terminating in a flat roof, which can be used as a dry- ing ground for the inhabitants. They are built of an artificial fire-proof material, which, while it looks well, rcduces the cost of building one-quarter. The stuff of which they are made has no name that I know, for it has been made for the purpose, and is a mixture of clinkers, culm, refuse calcined coke, &c., with one quarter Portland cement. The leading ideas of Mr. WTaterlow are these, cheap construction, independent or separate lodging; and agreeable, pleasing appearance, and his object is two-fold—to supply cheap and healthy lodging to the better class of mechanics, while those who rent their sets of rooms from him will make room for a class below themselves. Knowing Mr. Waterlow, I do not believe that his object is personal profit, but he nevertheless wishes to show that we can improve the dwellings of our working population and gain by our philan- thropy. The present overcrowded state of London is such that any effort of this kind should be hailed with gratitude, but should not every town do the I same ? The condition of the dwellings of our work- ing classes in large towns is a subject calling for immediate remedy. The subject of our metropolitan railways excites an interest to others besides expectant shareholders. With eagerness the London public are making en. quiries about the various schemes afloat on the sur- face of our commercial life, and demanding that rail- way lagislation should be more circumspectly pro- ceeded with than it has hitherto been. In the Southern portion of the metropolis the railway mania has made extensive ravages. Unsightly arches and misshapen bridges abound everywhere, and earnest efforts have been made and are still being made to extend the system on the north side of the Thames. Both in the House of Lords and in the House of Commons there are, however, signs of increased vigilance, and it is clear that many of the railway bills now before Parliament will be thrown out. Among these I trust will be both the schemes the success of which would involve the disfigurement of Greenwich Park. The programme just issued by Mr. Mapleson, the lessee of Her M ajesty's Theatre, promises well for the brilliancy of the operatic season. On the 11th of April the theatre will be re-opened with a company unusually strong, and several novelties" are said to be forthcoming. The orchestra will as before be under the direction of Signor Arditi, and it has we are told been greatly strengthened. In short, in every department, if we may credit what we hear, the im- provement will be manifest, and if this indeed be the case Mr. Gye must look to his laurels. The bal- let is to form, as in the olden time, a conspicuous feature," the lessee having, as he assures us, en- gaged the three greatest danseuses in the world." If all those promises be kept, then Mr Mapleson will have deserved su cess and doubtless also have achieved it. -tc z

NOTES FROM THE DOCKS.

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TREFOREST.

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