Our Weekly Budget.

Commons of the town of Birmingham . In doing so , Mr . Chamberlain spoke at length of the great services Mr . Cross had rendered in connection with his " Artisans' Dwellings Act . " The toast was drank with great enthusiasm , and appropriately responded to . The same evening , Mr . Bright ,

another of Birmingham ' s representatives in Parliament , was present at a lecture on International Arbitration , delivered by the Rev . W * . Glover , of Manchester , in St . George ' s Hall , Llandudno . Our readers are no doubt well posred in the views held by tho Right Honourable

gentleman on the subject of Peace and War , and it will suffice for us to say that ho again enunciated them on this occasion with more than his usual emphasis aud perspicuity . Other speeches on the political events of the day call for no particular comment .

On Saturday , a Cabinet Council was held at the official residence of the Prime Minister , in Downing Street , when all the members of the Cabinet were present . On Monday morning , the Marquis of Salisbury , Her Majesty ' s Ambassador Extraordinary to attend the approaching Conference

at Constantinople , left Charing Cross , accompanied by the Marchioness , Lady Maude Cecil , Lord Cranbourne , and Messrs . Carrie , Lee , Northcote , and Hosier , his Lordship ' s secretaries . The distinguished party reached Boulogne at a quarter to three p . m ., and after lunch at the railway

station , left for Paris by the tidal train . On Tuesday , the noble Marquis , accompanied by Lord Lyons , our Ambassador at Paris , had a lengthened interview with the Duke Decazes , the Prench foreign minister . He reached Berlin on Wednesday evening , and was received by Mr .

Macdonnell , the first secretary to the Embassy , Lord Odo Russell himself being too unwell to meet him on his arrival . Shortly afterwards , Lord Salisbury drove to the Poreign

Office , where he had an interview with Prince Bismarck . On leaving Berlin , he will take Vienna on his way to Constantinople , in order to have an opportunity of seeing the Austrian Prime Mininster , Count Andrassy .

The senior general on the British Army List , General Sir John Bell , G . C . B ., died on Monday , at his residence in Cadogan-place . General Bell was born in the year 1782 , and entered the army in 1836 as an ensign in the 52 nd Poot . He served in Sicily in 1806-7 , and during the whole

of the Peninsular War , from 1808 to 1814 , taking part in nearly all the actions fought by the Duke of Wellington , including the sieges of Badajoz and Cindad Rodrigo , and the battles of Vittoria , the Pyrenees , Nivelle . Orthes , and Toulouse . He also served with the army

in Louisiana , U . S ., December , 1814 , to June of the following year . He bad also held the post of Chief Secretary to the Government of Cape Colony from 1828 to 1841 , and was Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey from 1848 till 1854 . He became major-general in 1841 , and was created

K . C . B . in 1852 and G . C . B . in 1860 . This distinguished officer ' s services had thus extended over little short of three quarters of a century , his life having been prolonged to the very great age of 94 . A meeting was held on Monday at the London Cabmen ' s

Mission Hall , King ' s-cross , when about five hundred cabmen and their friends sat down to tea . After this came the business of the evening , which was presided over by Mr . S . Morley , who was supported by Colonel Henderson , Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police , and other friends and well-wishers of the institution . The financial

report for the past year showed a deficit of about ; wOQ on the building fund , and of £ 236 on the general business . However , the Shelter , opened a twelvemonth since , had proved a great success , having on an average accommodated over 500 cabmen weekly . The Chairman having

briefly addressed the meeting , and handed over to the secretary a cheque for £ 100 towards lessening the deficiency in the building fund , Colonel Henderson rose , and was received with loud cheers . He told thoso present some home trnths , pointing out that while the

licenses were about 13 , 000 , the convictions for drunkenness during the year reached a very ugly total . At tbe same time , the number of articles left in cabs , and delivered to the Lost Property Office at Scotland-yard had risen under ihe new regulations from 3 , 500 in 1870 to 16 , 000 last

year . One case in particular he mentioned , in which a diamond necklace worth £ 1 , 000 had been picked up by two gentlemen , and thrown into a cab , aud the honest cabman took it at once to Scotland-yard . In concluding his remarks , Colonel Henderson assured the cabir . eu present of the interest he took in their welfare , and his wish

Our Weekly Budget.

that they might go on prospering more and more every year . Great damage has been caused to shipping , in various parts , by several severe storms . The Cape mail steamer ^ Windsor Castle , bound from Dartmouth to the Cape , after experiencing very dirty weather , struck on a reef off

Dassen island , thirty-five miles from Table Bay , on the 23 rd September . Fortunately , the passengers , crew , and mails were all safely landed . At Liverpool , on Sunday morning , a gale prevailed off the Mersey , and caused considerable loss . The steamer Anglia was towed into

Dundee , on Monday morning , in a disabled state , while the Coral Queen , of West Hartlepool , which sailed on Saturday evening for Gothenburg , had to put back into port on the evening following in a very damaged state . At the

Admiralty , a telegram has been received , from Admiral Ryder , dated Nagasaki , 20 th November , and reporting the loss of H . M . S . Lapwing , in a great gale off Chefoo . No lives , however , were lost .

The publication of further papers , in which the Emperor of Russia has expressed his views to our Ambassador , Lord A . Loftus , has had a somewhat reassuring effect in somo quarters ; while in others , people are sceptical , not so much of the sincerity of the Czar ' s intentions , as of his power to

control the enthusiasm of the Russian people in the Slavonic cause . They call to mind that similar professions were made by the late Czar Nicholas to another Ambassador of ours at St . Petersburgh , Sir H . Seymour , and yet

those professions had no effect whatever in staving off the crisis which came only a few months later , and resulted in a war most disastrous to Russia . People , therefore , are little inclined to have much faith in the utterances of the

present Emperor , the rather that the more recent protestations that further conquests in Turkestan were not contemplated , has proved utterly false . We trust , however , tho Czar ' s declaration may have more than a verbal meaning , and that the Conference , so soon about to

assemble , may be enabled to settle all difficulties without an appeal to arms . There is little else in the way of news . The Turks have agreed to the Conference , General Tchernaieff has been commanded not to return to Russia , and the Servian Ministry have sent in their resignation to

Prince Milan , who , however , at the time of writing , is said not to have made up his mind to accept them . Meanwhile , Europe is concerning itself much about the mission of Lord

Salisbury , the leading continental journals offering their opinions on his journey from various conflicting points of view , according as they are impelled to this or that particular political bias .

We are indebted to the Masonic " Record of Western India for the following items of news : —At the meeting of R . A . Chapter " Malwa , " No . 139 , Mhow , on the roll of the Supreme Grand R . A . Chapter of Scotland , held on 23 rd September , the office-bearers for 1877 were elected and installed

as follows -. —Comps . J . W . Butler P . Z ., J . Street P . H , B . V . Hughes P . J ., A . J . Philips Scribe E ., J . Hembridge Scribe N ., M . Ardaseer Ramjee P . Soj ., AV . Batcheler 2 nd Soj ., J . Taylor jun . Soj ., and A . B . Mercer Janitor . At

the meeting of the Lodge " Industry , " No . 1606 , Deesa , —English jurisdiction—W . Bro . W . Alexander Lewis was installed as W . M ., the installing officer being W . Bro . G . E . Maule P . M . The Master then elected the following

officers : —Bros . C . Hensen S . W ., T . Brady J . W ., D . Warren S . D ., J . Anbrary J . D ., J . Johnston I . G ., J . F . Cole Secretary , T . Mitchell Treasurer , Preston Steward , and W . Benn Tyler . The installation of the " Pleiades" Lodge , No . 1487 , Sholapore—English jurisdiction—was held on

the 7 th September , tho W . M . elect being W . Bro . J . Carrs , who had presided over the Lodge during the past year . Bro . Carrs having been duly installed , elected as his officers

Captain H . La Poor Trench I . P . M ., J . Edwards S . W ., W . Sayers J . W ., J . Bailey S . D ., J . Todd J . D ., Dorabjee Muncherjee Secretary , W . Stewart I . G ., and B . Robson Tyler .

The Keystone announces the early issue of a second , revised aud enlarged edition of Bro . Fort ' s Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry , published about a year

since . This speaks favourably for the merits of Bro . Fort ' s history . We gather from the same source that at the Quarterly Communication of the Grand H . R . A . Chapter of Pennsylvania , the reports of various committees showed