W. E. GLADSTONE, Esq.

(Lord Hatherley

Lord Selborne
Earl De Grey
Lord Aberdare
(Earl of Kimberley
Viscount Halifax
JRobert Lowe, Esq.
W. E. Gladstone, Esq.
JH. A. Bruce, Esq.
Robert Lowe, Esq.
(Earl of Clarendon
Earl Granville
(Earl Granville
Earl of Kimberley

Edward Cardwell, Esq.

Duke of Argyll

John Bright, Esq. (res.) Ch. Fortescue, Esq. (Lord Dufferin John Bright, Esq. (Marquis of Hartington W. Monsell, Esq. JH. C. E. Childers, Esq. G. J. Göschen, Esq. Earl Spencer

SC. H. Fortescue, Esq, Marquis of Hartington SA. H. Layard, Esq. A. S. Ayrton, Esq. W. H. Gladstone, Esq. (Sir R. P. Collier Sir H. James (Sir J. D. Coleridge Sir James Jessell (Sir W. V. Harcourt J. Moncreiff, Esq, (Geo. Young, Esq.

(See May 31, 1869, p. 872.)

Resigned Feb. 1874.

Feb. 24.-Earl Granville, on the part of her Majesty's Government, endeavours to obtain some modification in favour of France of the war indemnity of six milliards of francs said to be demanded by Prussia. Government, he wrote, felt the difficulties which arise from their ignorance of the offers made on the side of France, and they bear in mind that this country is one only among the neutral powers, all bound by the obligations of friendship to both parties. But her Majesty's Government are willing, in consideration of the extreme pressure of time, to make representations to Germany on the amount of this indemnity, and to tender their good offices in the spirit of friendship to both parties, under the conviction that it is the interest of Germany, as well as of France, that the amount of the indemnity. should not be greater than that which it is reasonable to expect could be paid."

Invasions of Looshai tribes into the tea districts of Cachar and Sylhet, North-east India, leading to the despatch of a combined party of British and native troops to recover a young girl named Winchester, who had been carried off after the murder of her father.

26. Some remarks in the way of censure having been made in Parliament regarding the manner of the withdrawal of the British ambassador from Paris in September last, Lord Lyons writes to-day from Bordeaux :-"I conceived at the time that it was my duty neither to reject the advice of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, nor to separate myself from my principal colleagues, and I thought it would be on all accounts inexpedient for me to allow myself to be shut up in Paris and to be deprived of all speedy and satisfactory means of communicating with your lordship. My subsequent experience has, I confess, confirmed me in these opinions. On the day after I left Paris, all communication by road with that place was intercepted, and on the following day the last telegraphic wire was cut. The diplomatists who were left in the besieged city were refused by the German authorities positively all facilities for corresponding with their Governments otherwise than by letters left open for the inspection of those authorities. having resided at the seat of the Delegation of the Government at Tours, and having followed them to Bordeaux, have been accepted by the French as manifest proofs of the desire of her Majesty's Government to maintain intimate and friendly relations with them, while my doing so has afforded her Majesty's Government the readiest and most effectual means of maintaining such relations in fact."

My

26.-A person understood to be a police spy, engaged in watching the National Guards defiling in front of the Column of July, seized by a mob of infuriated Republicans, and, after being subjected for hours to a series of gross outrages, is at last bound hand and foot and thrown into the Seine.

27.-Proclamation signed by Thiers and Picard posted in Paris, urging the inhabitants to accept even the hard terms of peace imposed by the Germans as the only means of saving France. During six days, it was said, the negotiators fought foot by foot, and did what was humanly possible to obtain the most favourable conditions. "If the Convention be not respected the armistice will be broken, and the enemy, already masters of the forts, will occupy in strong force the entire city. Private property, the works of art, and the public monuments are guaranteed to-day; but should the Convention cease to be in force misfortune will await the whole of France. The fearful ravages of war, which hitherto have not extended beyond the Loire, will then extend to the Pyrenees. It is absolutely true to say that the safety of Paris affects the whole of France. Do not imitate the fault of those who did not wish us to believe, eight months ago, that the war would be so fatal. The French army, which defended Paris with so much courage, will occupy the left of the Seine and ensure the loyal execution of the new armistice. National Guard will undertake to maintain order in the rest of the city, as good and honoured citizens, who have shown themselves to be brave in the face of the enemy, and this cruel situation will end in peace and the return of public prosperity.'

The

months past. By midnight the streets were reported to be unusually clear, a result partially accomplished by the closing of the theatres and cafés.

The first Act of the Session, authorising an annuity of 6,000l. to her Royal Highness the Princess Louise, receives the Royal assent.