EUROPEAN ITEMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 937, 8 May 1883, Page 2

EUROPEAN ITEMS.

Loktdon, April 23.

The forces of Mahdi, the Falls Prophet, recently attacked one of the cities of the Soudan, but they were successfully repulsed by the Egyptian troops which, however, were compelled to retire to obtain fresh supplies, and are now making active preparations for a renewal of the contest with Mahdi. It is rumored that Mr Forster will succeed the Marquis of Lome as GovernorGeneral of Canada. The Irish National Convention held its first sitting yesterday at New York. Looney was elected President, and in the course of his opening address upheld the action which the Irish had taken all through the agitation, and refrained from saying a word which might be considered a condemnation of dynamite outrages. The excitement attending upon proceedings of Convention has led the United Government to take action regarding the matter. A Cabinet meeting was held yesterday in Washington to consider the subject, and a discussion took place as to the beat means of suppressing the Fenian head centres, and of preventing the leaders of the party from stimulating their agents to farther dynamite outrages. Representatives from Canadian land companies have waited upon the Dominion Government and proposed that Parliament shall vote the sum of one million dollars for immigration purposes, and enable 10,000 persons to 'settle upon the land.

Earl Dufferin haa found it necessary to draw the attention of the Turkish authorities to the disgraceful manner in which Armenia is being governed at the present time. It is reported that Sir John Macdonald, Premier of Canada, has been accused of having committed perjury. It has been ascertained that Guy, the clerk in the Telegraph Department, who asserted that he had been kidnapped by Fenians and kept in confinement for several days, is suffering from mental aberration, the result of injuries he received to his head about Easter last.

The Czar has definitely reaolvedj to abandon all idea of coronation.

Considerable excitement prevails in London over the proposed duplication of the Suez Canal, the necessity for which was recently urged by a deputation of merchants upon Earl Granville. A secret meeting of the promoters of the dynamite policy has been held in New York. O’Donovan Rossa, who was present, announced that ho still had an unshaken belief in the value of dynamite as an agent for obtaining their demands, and that he was prepared to continue its use until those demands have been conceded. The German Government has entered a protest against the manner in which the Porte is carrying on the administranon of Armenia, and strongly advises the Sultan to introduce a number of necessary reforms.

It is reported that a crisis in Egypt is imminent, the Khedive having refused to accept the reforms proposed by Lord Dufferin.

The affairs of Egypt, it is said, are in a highly unsettled state, and British troops are constantly kept on patrol. A number of Arabs recently attempted to destroy a Greek Church, and a serious conflict followed in the course of which several Greeks wore killed. The British troops eventually came upon the scene and put an end to the disturbance.