Topics Of The Week.

was successful last spring , it by no means follows that another crew will be successful this . For ourselves , we will , for once , be oracular , and ray , Blue for ever ! Let our readers judge for themselves as to the particular shade of that colour we are most partial to . But the race is by no

means all there has been to attract the sportsman this week . Oxford has held her sports , and , of course , selected her champions for the Athletic Meeting at Lillie Bridge . There have been also a match for the Championship at Pyramids , in which Cook , the billiard champion , carried off the

honours against Richard , and a four-handed match at billiards , in which Cook and Roberts , champion , and exchampion respectively , played Stanley and Taylor , 1 , 500 , the former giving 300 points , and wining by 190 . Some marvellous breaks were made , the principal being Stanley ' s 210 , Cook ' s 180 , 161 and 122 ( unfinished ) , Robert's 280

and 126 , and Taylor ' s 345 . The West End tradesmen will have little to complain of if the season continues as it has begun . We have already in previous weeks announced that H . R . H . the Prince of Wales held two levees on behalf of the Queen . This week

Her Majesty in person has held both a Court and a levee at Buckingham Palace , the presentations at the latter being nearly 200 in number . On Wednesday , too , being the twelfth anniversary of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales , their Royal Highnesses gave a grand ball at Marlborough House .

The hope of last week , that Lord Aberdare ' s intervention would bring about the termination of the South Wales Lock-ont , [ has , thus far , at all events , not been realised . Meantime the greatest distress is reported to prevail in the districts affected , and some disturbances are said to have

occurred m the Unions . All men must be anxious to see the end of this disastrous state of things , and it behoves the advisers of the men to be very careful in the advice they tender . It was very well for the dwarf and the giant to go out to battle together , but , if we remember rightly , the

dwarf got all the hard knocks , and the giant all the glory . It is very well for professional agitators and others to talk of the rights of labour . The capitalists retort about the rights of capital , and meanwhile the poor men and their families are starving . Lord Aberdare ' s facts are capable

of proof or disproof : at all events , they seem to us to afford a basis for settlement without the sacrifice of anybody ' s rights . On Monday at the meeting of tho Royal Geographical Society , Mr . Clements Markham read a hi ghly

interestingpaper which he had compiled from the journals of Lieutenant Cameron , " On the Examination of the Southern Part of Lake Tanganyika in Equatorial Africa , " that enterprising officer having , it is believed , discovered an outlet at the south-western extremity , which may prove to be the Congo ,

and being now on his way to the West Coast , in order , if possible , to settle , once for all , this important problem . On Wednesday at the Society of Arts , John Street , Adelphi , the Rev . Horace Waller read a paper " On Livingstone ' s Discoveries in connection with the resources of East Africa . "

At last we hear from France that the Ministerial crisis is at an end . M . Buffet after apparently insuperable difficulties has at length succeeded in forming a Ministry , of which the most conspicuous members , besides himself ( Interior ) , are M . Dufaure ( Justice ) , M . Leon Say

( Finance ) , M . Wallon ( Public Instruction ) , Duke Decazes ( Foreign Affairs ) , and General Cisscy ( War ) . From Spain , we hear of a Carlist victory , but the end of the war seems no nearer . Will the two antagonists go on fighting , as did the famous Kilkenny Cats , till nothing is left of either ?

It would be better , we think , if Don Carlos and Don Alphonso tossed up for the throne . It would not be a very dignified way of settling their claims , but at all events it would save much bloodshed . Better peace with a monarchy than war and dinarchy .

It is only a few weeks since we reviewed a work entitled ductal I ' ressiuy by the author of Friends in Council . Little did we then imagine that in so abort a tirxc it would be our painful duty to record the death of the essayist , who has so often enlivened the hours of our leisure with his genial ,

kindly humour . We said then , and we repeat now , that " among the essayists of the day none" stood " so deservedly high in the estimation of the public " as he

whose very ^ unexpected death all classes are now lamenting ^ Considering how fluent a writer he was , we were justified in looking forward to many another pleasant rolume from his pen , Sir Arthur Helps was only iu his

Topics Of The Week.

58 th year , aud his latest efforts in Social Pressure were quite as brilliant as in his Friends in Council , by which perhaps , he is and will be best known in the world of letters . Nor was it only as a literary man that Sir Arthur Helps was known and esteemed . He was an old and valued public

servant , having , on quitting Cambridge in 1838 , become private secretary to the late Lord Monteagle , then Mr . Spring-Rice and Chancellor of the Exchequer . In the followingyear , on Lord Monteagle becoming Comptroller-General of the Exchequer , Mr . Helps was appointed private secretary to

Lord Morpeth , Chief Secretary for Ireland , and subsequently Earl of Carlisle and Lord Lieutenant . On the retirement in 1859 of the Hon . W . L . Bathurst , from the Clerkship of the Privy Council , Mr . Helps was chosen his successor , and this office is now rendered vacant by his

untimely death . Sir Arthur Helps received the honours of a Civil K . C . B .-ship in 1872 . Besides the two works we have already mentioned he was author of " Essays written in the intervals of Business , " " Companions of my Solitude , "

" The Spanish Conquest of America , " "The Life of Pizarro , " and " The Life of Hernando Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico , " " Brevia , " " Thoughts on Government , " and other works . He also edited the Prince Consort ' s

Speeches , and prepared for the press for Her Majesty her " Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands . " He was , indeed , a sincere and devoted friend as well aa servant of Her Majesty who has gracefully paid her early

tribute of respect to his memory . We cannot do better than quote the passage from the Court Circular wherein the Queen bears testimony to the loss she has sustained by the death of her Clerk of the Council : —

" By tho death of Sir Arthur Helps , the Queen has sustained a loss which has caused Her Majesty great affliction . As a loyal subject , and as a kind friend , ho rendered to Her Majesty very important service . Ho assisted , with a delicacy of feeling and an amount of

sympathy which Her Majesty can never forget , in the publication of her records of the Prince Consort's speeches , and of her life in tho Highlands , to which he willingly devoted the powers of his enlighfc . ened and accomplished mind . The Queen feels that in him she has lost a true and devoted friend . "

The annual Ball of Masonic and Military Orders of the Red Cross of Constantino K . H . S . and St . John the Evangelist and the Grand Council of the Unitjd Orders will take place , under their auspices , at Willis ' s Rooms ,

King Street , St . James s , on Wednesday , 31 st March , and the proceeds are to be divided amongst the Masonic Charities and the Grand Almoner ' s Fund . The arrangements will be made by the Executive Committee , under Sir F . M . Williams M . I 11 . G . S . and Grand Commander

St . John , Colonel F . Burdett M . E . Grand Viceroy aud D . G . C . of St . John ; H . A . Dubois G . A . Treasurer and Commander St . John , and C . F . Hogard G . V . Chamberlain St . John , Hon . Sees . All members of tho Red Cross and appendant orders are permitted to wear full costume , with

jewels of any degree , with the exception of Craft and Royal Arch . The tickets for Ladies will be 16 s , Gentlemen 18 s Gd , and double tickets 30 s , to include refreshments

during the evening , and a champagne supper . Non Masons are eligible to attend . Tickets can be had at the Grand Recorder ' s Office , 17 Great James Street , Bedford Row .

By the death of General Sir James Hope Grant , G . C . B ., the British army loses one of its most gallant and most experienced officers , at a time , too , when , owing to the changes that are taking place , his knowledge as one of the few generals who have commanded in fliinf before an

enemy would have proved of infinite value + o tho authorities . This brilliant cavalry officer was born in the year 1808 , and obtained a cornetcy , by purchase , in 1826 , in the 9 th Lancers , in which regiment he served 32 years , and of which , at the time of his death , he was colonel .

His first service in the field was in the first Chinese war when he was brigade-major to Lord Saltoun , and was present at the assault and capture of Chukeangfoo and the landing before Nanking . He also served in the first and

second Sikh wars ; being present at the decisive battle of Sobraon in the former case , and at the passage of the Chenab , the affair of Ramnuggur and the battles of Cbillinr . wallah and Goojerat in the latter . When the mutiny broke out iu India , Grant was in command a , i lieutenant-colonel of hia regiment at Umballa .