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of dread. Not that we have any fears for the issue, but that we know at how vast a cost even success would be purchased. The alleged cause for war was the misconduct of our ambassador, Mr. Crampton, and his dismissal by the American Government. There appears to be little doubt that in some points Mr. Crampton went far beyond his instructions, and illrepresented either the Government or the country. The Government must have seen this, and ought to have withdrawn him at once, for it can never be politic to keep a representative at a court where he has in any way rendered himself personally obnoxious. The question which has been decided at the time we write, is not whether Mr. Dallas shall be required to leave his post as ambassador here. We have the assurance of Lord Palmerston that he has no wish to suspend diplomatic relations, and that he is anxious to retain Mr. Dallas, in order to negociate with him about the Central American question. In every point our Government has shown a most laudable desire for peace, just as the American Government has endeavoured to hurry on a war. But, however much we may strive to avoid it, we feel certain that war may yet break out, and central America may supply the pretext. We have it on the best authority, that to the Americans foreign war is a political necessity, to ward off for a time the more dreadful struggles of civil war. For the contest between the North and the South, the slaveholders and the non-slave-holders, has nearly reached its crisis, and if not interrupted will break out into a most bloody strife. The Americans know, as well as we do, that they must ultimately submit to a disgraceful peace, that our forces both naval and military are better fitted for war than ever before, but they have to choose between two evils, of which war with us may be deemed only the lesser, and we must be prepared to meet them.

THE RUGELEY POISONINGS.

A CRIMINAL case which has held so prominent a position in public attention as that of the Rugeley poisonings, cannot well be passed over in reviewing the facts of the quarter. Regarded in some lights, it has been sufficiently discussed already; regarded in others, we hope that it will not soon be forgotten. It will be well now to let the question of Palmer's guilt remain where the verdict of the jury left it, and to rest content on the medical points, with the very decided opinions of the chief medical authorities in the country. It will be desirable not again to harrow the public mind with those

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morbid details on which the newspapers seemed to gloat with such peculiar delight, and to waive for the present the question of the lawfulness of capital punishment, and its application to Palmer. We take the case as it stands, pointing to his fate as a warning to those who are travelling the same path, in its first stage, if not in its last. The poisoner and his victim were types of a large class, to whom public attention has been for the first time largely directed. The "turf" and the "ring" embrace no inconsiderable portion of English society, and their baneful influence extends far beyond the actual sphere of their operations. It is not many years since gambling in one of its shapes-at the "hells" of London-called for distinct legislation; and, since then, it has been gradually assuming the form of "betting," which has now reached a height which we shudder to contemplate. The amount of crime caused by it among the lower classes led, not long since, to some partial remedial measures; but the evil practices of those whose open profession was more honest, and whose position in the world was more respectable, were tacitly passed over. Among them were Palmer and Cook the one representing those who had money to make, the other those who had money to lose. The former class has always been regarded as one of the most dangerous which it is possible to meet with; and we are sorry to know that every large town swarms with them: the latter comprehends many junior members of the aristocracy, and a large proportion of the young men of fortune throughout the country. They affect to look at Palmer and Cook as the church looks at a dishonest clergyman; but without the shadow of a reason. Nothing can be more exact than the analogy between Palmer's betting transactions, and the ordinary proceedings of Epsom, or Ascot, or Doncaster. The horses are so many dice on which are staked the fortunes and the happiness of thousands. The sums which are risked on the chance of one horse gaining a few inches on another are almost incredible, and show plainly the desperate nature of the game at which these gamblers play.

We hope that the time is not far distant when every form of betting will be made penal: for the old maxim of the jurists is very true, that what the law does not prohibit it sanctions. We do not believe in the argument, commonly brought against legislation of this kind, that the more gambling is put down by legislation, the more shapes will it assume, and the more malignant, because more secret, will be its evil. This is only partly true; every time that legis

lation is brought to bear upon some one of its phases, a new testimony will be raised against it, and its devotees will have a fresh opportunity of seeing its legal, if not its moral, criminality. Some one's eyes will be opened, and that is all that we can expect. Men like Palmer will cling to gambling so long as they determine that their bread shall depend upon it; but men like Cook will not so easily be seduced into the idea of its honourableness when they know that it is penal. We wait anxiously, therefore, for some form of legislation against it, and we trust that we shall not be disappointed.

Meanwhile, the fate of Palmer will be a sad, but a telling warning; his modes of raising money were worse in degree, but not worse in kind, than those of thousands who are still counted respectable members of society. The lust of money must indeed have reached a fearful pitch, when, to work out its own ends, it can poison a wife, a brother, and a friend. But we know that the same unscrupulousness is acting elsewhere, in different directions, with just as little regard to all that is holy in human feelings. In any shape, this curse of our century should be preached against, and prayed against it is rife everywhere,—with seeming legitimacy in the Exchange, with obvious illegitimacy in the betting-house; so that it covers the country like a flood, and threatens to overwhelm us like a whirlpool. But we can do no more now than trace the analogy, and leave those who need it to apply it to themselves.

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.

THE Cambridge University Reform Bill is now before Parliament; it will readily be seen how meagre are its provisions, and how little they affect the real evils which have to be combatted. We must point to Oxford as an example of a similar scheme, in the further stages of its development. We do so with the greatest pain, because we know that there, not a single change has been made which is worth the name, and because we are alike surprised and annoyed that a mere attempt at blinding men's eyes should so far have succeeded as to pass through Parliament. There were two strong parties in the House of Commons when the Oxford Bill passed. Mr. Gladstone was in the zenith of his power; and it was felt, that any measure to which he was decidedly opposed would have a difficulty in passing. On the other hand, Mr. Gladstone and his party were unwilling to lose the votes of the great body of Liberals, all of whom were bent

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upon university reform. Accordingly there was a fusion of parties: Mr. Gladstone consented to a little more reform than he had at first determined on, and the Liberals offered to rest content for the present with a very partial measure. But how was the public and the press to be satisfied? This was agreed to be done by the appointment of a Commission, which, it was promised, should deal with the colleges one by one, and restore them to their true position. The Bill which was actually brought before Parliament, was the second of two which had been submitted to the coalition : the former of which, wholly framed by Dr. Jeune, the Master of Pembroke College, is almost word for word the basis of the present Cambridge Bill. Nearly all that the Oxford Bill has done, and that the Cambridge Bill proposes to do, has been to alter the outward framework of the university: the state of learning, the whole apparatus of study with which a student has to do, is left just as it was before. It is of little or no consequence whatever, to the great majority of those who avail themselves of a university education, where the governing power lies, or what is the constitution of the different deliberative assemblies all that a student needs is, to have literary and pecuniary aids supplied to him, as far as the means of his college or university will allow. Reform should begin with the student, and its chiefest object should be to give him as much help as possible. This is exactly what it has failed to do at Oxford, and what it seems equally improbable that it will do at Cambridge. We cannot but consider it disgraceful, both to the legislature and to the country, that their chief seats of education, with all their splendid endowments and opportunities, should be allowed to have so little influence for good upon the education of the country. Hebdomadal councils should be left alone, at least until the education itself is improved, and the path of the student smoothed. So long as pretended reformers throw dust in the eyes of the country by schemes which wholly neglect the interests of the student, and leave him to fight the battle of poverty single-handed, or to pick up knowledge for himself as best he can,- so long will our universities be a standing reproach, and their influence be not for good, but for evil.

THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. ALBANS.

We are glad to notice a movement which has been lately set on foot for restoring this venerable fabric to its original

state, and obtaining for it the dignity of a cathedral. We have not many relics of medieval architecture which we can compare with it, either for size or beautiful simplicity, and even on this ground it would be desirable not to allow it to fall into decay. But there is the additional argument, that it would exactly meet the want of a separate cathedral, which is so much felt in the archdeaconry of which it is the centre. The hope that its restoration will facilitate the separation of that part of Hertfordshire from the diocese of Rochester, has caused the movement to take a very extensive hold on the sympathies of the inhabitants; and we believe that nearly one-half of the £20,000 which is required has been already raised. We bring the cause before the notice of our readers with the greater readiness, as we know that the most competent architect of the day is engaged for the work, and that he will not, like most modern church-restorers, utterly destroy every trace of beauty under the pretence of improvement.

THE SUNDAY BANDS.

THERE are certain persons in the country who are determined that their attacks on the Sabbath shall not cease until its sacred character is altogether destroyed. Again_and again have we to return to the charge, for every fresh repulse seems only to create a fresh point d'appui, so that, even at the risk of wearisomeness, it becomes our duty once more to defend God's day from its profaners. The question, lately, has turned upon the bands in the London parks on Sunday afternoons, which Sir Benjamin Hall had established, and which Lord Palmerston, at the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, had prohibited. The prohibition was so directly in deference to the feelings of the religious world, that an agitation immediately commenced, in which every kind of invective was hurled at the "Sabbatarians," and "Puritans,” as they were termed, whose "miserable prejudices" had so far curtailed "the people's enjoyments." Crowded meetings were held, at which the bands were claimed as a public right; and influential deputations waited upon the premier, to induce him to change his resolution: although we are glad to say that they obtained no better success than the assurance that the question of revival could not for a moment be entertained. But even now the enemies of the Sabbath pretend to have hope; the minds of the working classes are not allowed to be at rest, being infected with false views of their true position, and inflamed

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